Why Facebook Is Still the Best Advertising Medium

Looking for a solid reason to advertise on Facebook? How about 2.6 billion of them? That’s right. The social media site currently has more than 2.6 billion active users on its platform every single month.

That’s 2.6 billion people who could potentially see your ad, depending, of course, on the audience you’re targeting. This is precisely why Facebook ads still hold the crown as the top online advertising medium accounting for more than 50% of the total ad revenue in the US – which is a lot if you think about it.

So, how do Facebook ads work, and what makes them so effective compared to other digital marketing methods? Here are the top reasons why you just can’t go wrong with them.

You’ve seen them. The sponsored posts that show up when you’re scrolling through your Instagram and Facebook timeline – those are Facebook ads.

In some cases, you may have skipped over them and continued scrolling. In others, you may have paused to check out what the advert was about and maybe even clicked on it if it piqued your interest.

Now, imagine if you and thousands, maybe millions of other users did the same thing, and even went ahead to purchase from the advertiser’s website. You can see the scale of the revenue that that simple ad has the potential to generate.

In the past year alone, Facebook made more than $69 billion in ad revenues. So, if you’re wondering whether people still click on Facebook ads, well, those numbers speak for themselves.

There are several ways to advertise on the platform. You can promote your business page or specific posts on your page. You could also promote your website itself. Even though Facebook has recently been focusing on native ads to keep traffic on its platform, you can still successfully direct users elsewhere.

Here’s why advertising on the platform is the best option for small businesses and large scale enterprises alike.

First, you need to identify what your marketing objective is in line with your business goals. This is what informs the type of ad creative you’ll make. This is the image and text that your target audience will see when they’re using the platform.

All you have to do is ensure that it looks great, is engaging, and is optimized for mobile viewing. Always go with bright visual banners and keep videos short. The sweet spot is just under 15 seconds.

Over the years, the platform has gone above and beyond to make its targeting options better than ever. Keep in mind, though, that there are two targeting options you have to choose from – specific targeting and broad targeting.

Specific targeting tells the system to show your ad to a specific demographic no matter what. These types of Facebook ads cost tremendously more than if you were to employ broad targeting with your ads. If you’re looking to stretch your marketing budget to get more results without breaking the bank, broad targeting would be the way to do it.

There are several places on the platform where your ad can appear. The placement options include Facebook feeds, instant articles, in-stream videos, right column, suggested videos, the marketplace, stories, Instagram feed, Instagram stories, audience network, and messenger.

The best way to reach more people and get more data for Facebook Audience Insights is to activate all the placements. That way, you can use the analytics features to optimize your ad placements for better campaign results.

Bidding refers to the amount of money you’re willing to pay for a specific action taken on an advert. Different types of bids exist. There’s the cost per click (CPC) or cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM).

With that being said, all you have to do is set a budget, and you’ll only pay for the clicks or impressions your advert gets for the duration it runs. The best part is that Facebook ads cost will never exceed your budget.

You can set a daily budget to put a cap on the amount that you’re willing to spend on a specific ad set, or you can set a lifetime budget for the ads in your campaign to be spread evenly throughout the duration that they run.

This is essentially a group of ads that all share the same settings with regards to where, when, and how they should run. Every ad set has a shared set of audience characteristics, allowing you to customize them based on factors like age, gender, geographical location, and lots more.

The rule of thumb when creating ad sets for your Facebook campaign is to keep it simple. Group your best audiences into two to three sets and create three to six ads for each of them. To get between 50 and 100 conversions per ad set each week, you’ll need to set a budget of anywhere between $40 and $50 per 5-dollar lead.

To figure out how to get the most out of your ads and which ones work best for particular audiences, the platform has plenty of free tools and resources you can use. A/B testing, for instance, allows you to toggle between different strategies as you figure out which one works best to deliver the results you seek. You can change variables like the ad placement, creative, or even the audience to improve on your future campaigns.

The Campaign Budget Optimization tool exists to make efficient use of your campaign budget in line with your bid strategy. Make use of the free Facebook ads course available on the platform to get the hang of how to create powerful and effective ads. Alternatively, you could get a Facebook ad agency to do this for you and help get the campaign results you want.

If you’re wondering whether Facebook ads are still relevant today, the answer is a resounding yes – No question about it. Once you learn the ropes and can create engaging ads for your business that target the right audiences, you’ll be able to turn the world’s largest social network into a steady source of leads and conversions.

Not quite sure where to begin? Get in touch with a digital marketing expert today to get started.