Are you intimidated by Facebook advertising? With over 10 million active advertisers on Facebook, it’s a very competitive platform for any business.
When used correctly, Facebook advertising has the potential to reach nearly three billion active users – more than any other social network. However, it’s not easy to master the art of Facebook marketing for an eCommerce business.
We’ve got some handy tips and tricks for harnessing this powerful marketing tool.
1. Catch their eye with high-quality images
Images are often the first thing that consumers notice about an ad. Selecting the right image can be the difference between piquing someone’s interest and losing a potential customer.
Make sure that the images you use are colourful. Avoid the same blue and white colour scheme as Facebook, or your ads will blend in with the rest of the timeline. This makes it more likely that people will scroll right past them.
One method for choosing images is to consider the emotional connection you want to create with your audience. If you choose images of smiling people, potential customers are more likely to associate your product with feeling happy themselves.
It’s also important to make sure that your images are the right size for the ad you choose. Poorly sized images can look unprofessional and lose their impact. Luckily, Facebook have a useful guide to image specifications for each ad type.
Consider using minimal text on your images. Facebook used to have a rule where any ad with text that took up more than 20% of the total image space would be rejected. While this is no longer in place, Facebook still limits the reach of ads with more than 20% of the image covered with text. By following this rule, you can make sure your ads are allowed maximum reach.
2. Offers & giveaways
People love discounts and free stuff, making them a brilliant way to reel in your audience.
There are many ways to go about this. Consider everything from discount codes entered at checkout to limited time bundles and free gifts. Don’t just tell them what they’re getting for free – tell them how much it’s worth. A free product is all well and good, but it becomes even more enticing once you know it normally sells for £25.
By adding the urgent element of a time limit, customers are more likely to buy here and now. Anyone who knows your brand but is on the fence about actually making a purchase could be finally persuaded by a cheeky discount.
Even simple statements of standard concessions such as “free delivery” and “20% off over £100” can convince a customer that they’re getting a good deal.
3. Start strong with your headline
Research suggests that while 8 out of 10 scrollers read headlines, only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This puts a lot of pressure on the headline you choose.
Avoid clickbait-style language – people associate this with spam. Communicate a sense of urgency without exaggeration and emotion. Choose more subtle language techniques such as strong verbs and addressing the reader directly. Rhetorical questions can also catch a reader’s attention.
Emojis add eye-catching colour to the text, while communicating simple things very quickly. Be careful not to overuse emojis, though, as this can once again come off as spam-like.
Similarly, numerical facts and figures stand out amongst text. They also encourage more trust than clickbait headlines.
4. Customise your audience
Facebook allows you to target ads at specific audiences. By choosing who will see each ad, you can make sure you’re saying the best thing for each demographic. This is perfect when you are targeting multiple customer types. Each one is likely to be looking for something different from you.
Creating lots of different ads for different audiences may seem like a lot more work, but each ad is likely to have a higher engagement rate. When you know who’s going to see your ad, you can show them the side of your business that’s most likely to appeal to them. You can also target more than one demographic with a single ad.
Tailoring ads to a custom audience can also help you tempt back previous visitors. This includes people who have already been on your website but abandoned their cart, or people who have bought from you before.
5. Seeing double – target a lookalike audience
Facebook’s advertising tools allow you to target users based on your existing customer base. By entering a list of email addresses, you can ask Facebook to show your ads to users with similar interests, behaviours and details to those who have already shopped with you. This is a useful shortcut to finding the right people.
You can even select how closely you want your lookalike audience to resemble your initial input. This gives you more control over how specific you want your advertising reach to be.
Lookalike audiences need to be based on at least 100 email addresses. It’s recommended by Facebook that you use 1,000 – 5,000.
6. Choose your call to action carefully
A lot of advertising focuses on bringing in customers. Choosing the right call to action button can help you keep them, too.
Consider what would be the best step for people to take to express interest in your ad. Facebook has a whole range of call to action buttons. You can ask viewers to book an appointment, sign up to your email list or purchase your product, alongside many other options.
Selecting the right button can help you keep an audience for longer. Especially when you combine it with audience customisation.
Need a hand from an eCommerce Facebook Ad agency?
In such a highly saturated market, it can be difficult to get Facebook ads right. Fortunately, you can avoid wasting money on trial and error by enlisting the help of an eCommerce Facebook Ads agency.
Hoopla Marketing can help you make the most of your advertising budget from the get-go, drawing on a wealth of social media marketing experience. Our team will create a Facebook Ads eCommerce strategy for your business, then implement, monitor and optimise it for the best results.
Want to find out more? Simply email info@hoopla-marketing.com or call 0161 731 0048. Also, don’t forget to read our guide to social media advertising if you’re new to this strategy.