The Winds of March Bring Change at Facebook
With the winds of March comes change at Facebook; it’s a new design for Facebook business pages. Although mandatory use of the new design does not start until March 30, 2012, now is the time to test and tweak it to see how it will work for your company’s page whether you’re a small business planning your social media marketing strategy or you currently have a Facebook business page.
For more details, take a look at Hubspot’s recent article: The-Complete-Guide-to-Setting-Up-the-New-Facebook-Page-Design
Gibbons Digital has already implemented the new design. Check us out at Facebook.com/GibbonsDigital
Facebook Ads 101 for Small Businesses
Most small businesses start out in social media by setting up a Facebook page. However, leveraging Facebook to achieve business objectives may seem like an elusive goal. Facebook ads may the answer. Here are the simple steps to get you started using Facebook ads.
Facebook ads can be useful for small businesses
Define your goals
Before you begin, it is best to determine your goals for the Facebook ad campaign. The goals could be simply to increase the number of fans or people who “like” your page. Or you may have more traditional goals like more traffic to your main company website or an increase in direct sales. It’s important to know what you’re trying to achieve because it will impact how you design your ad.
Design your ad
The next step is to design your ads. You’ll need an ad title, ad text, a destination URL, and a call to action. Keep your goals in mind as you work through this process. For example, the destination URL for an ad designed to increase your fan base should be your Facebook page. Likewise, if you’re trying to generate sales, your destination URL should be the specific product page that you’re advertising. The call to action will also obviously reflect your goals. It’s recommended that you include an appropriate, eye-catching image in your ad. Click-through rates are much higher for ads with images than those that are text only.
Targeting
Facebook allows you to define the audience who will see your ad. There is location targeting by country, state/province, city, and within x number of miles of a city. You can also select particular demographics such as age range, gender, as well as language preference and education levels. There’s a robust set of likes, interests and connections options that are worth exploring.
Campaign Pricing and Schedule
Once you’ve defined your target audience, you’ll need to set up a daily budget for your ad. In addition, you will indicate whether your campaign will run on a cost-per-impression (CPM) or cost-per-click (CPC) basis, and if CPC, what your maximum bid will be. The higher your bid, the more likely your ad will be shown. Last define the schedule for your ad.
Measurement
Once the ads are running you’ll be able to monitor the statistics by going to the Facebook.com/ads/manage page. There you’ll see daily figures for key measurements such as number of impressions, number of clicks, click through rate percentage, etc.
Additionally, you’ll need to monitor your Facebook page or website using web analytics to see if you’re achieving your business objectives.
In future posts, I’ll cover Facebook ads in more detail including targeting options and measurement.
