Does Facebook advertising work?

With over 2 million Kiwis active daily on Facebook, and together with some sophisticated advertising features recently added to their platform, Facebook has emerged as a highly effective and powerful advertising medium for all businesses. It’s very accessible to small businesses and now supports features that allow some very nice targeting options including localised geo targeting down to 3km.

Facebook advertising is ideal for small businesses wanting to drive relevant traffic to their website for the purpose of generating leads and sales enquiries. The cost of advertising on Facebook is also very competitive compared to other forms of online advertising and can produce some attractive cost per conversion rates.

Doesn't necessitate a strong organic program

A lot of businesses discount doing Facebook advertising because they believe it will require a strong organic program in Facebook and the don't want this added burden. While you do need a Facebook page, you can successfully run your FB advertising without organic activity and normally we would terminate ad traffic to the website rather than the FB page.

Facebook Ads work really well for mobiles

It’s also a great medium through which to target audiences on mobile devices as Facebook provides a great mobile user experience and this is reflected by 90% on NZ users now accessing Facebook daily on their mobiles.

This also makes Remarketing campaigns in Facebook ideal and a great way to to present your brand and proposition to previous visitors to your website.

How much do Facebook ads cost

You can advertise on FB from as little as $5 per day and having a big organic presence in FB is not a prerequisite, although you do require a FB page. Facebook advertising is highly complimentary to running Google ads and an ideal channel to extend your online presence. Its fast becoming a must target channel for generating leads and enquiries and you should at least have some of your budget dedicated to FB ads.

Boost your organic reach with ads

Many of those businesses that invested heavily in their organic Facebook programs are now frustrated and struggling with much lower organic reach. The advertising options provide the best way to more comprehensively reach followers and other target audiences.

Flexible audience targeting Options

FB provides a good demographic spread with over 50% of users being over the age of 40 and its slightly more female centric than male. Below are some of the audience targeting options and these can be used in combinations to better reach your audiences:
• Location (by area/city)
• Age brackets
• Gender
• Language
• Relationship/marital status
• Parental status
• Income
• Interests (lifestyle and entertainment interests)
• Behaviours (range of options based on online behaviours)
• Custom audiences (like Remarketing lists and email databases)
• Connections ( including followers that have liked your page)

If you are not familiar with the FB ad platform, its worthwhile getting some expert help to determine the best targeting options.
See our managed Facebook advertising services for small businesses and some examples of Facebook advertising we have managed for customers.

Alternatively see FB’s advertising guide

Ad format options

There is a singe image ad format and a multiple image (up to 5 images) carousel styled ad format. The ads can appear on desktop in the right hand column and within the main feed and on mobile in the main feed.
Video ad formats are also available and are growing in popularity.
Tracking code can be implemented to measure website conversions from the FB advertising campaign activity.

Some best practice tips

• Use engaging and interesting images
• Keep headlines short and concise (4-6 words long)
• Adcopy descriptions should be clear and to the point and 12 – 18 words long
• Use a call to action (see more, buy now, sign up etc)
• To avoid ad fatigue, have variations of ads and rotate them every 2-3 weeks

Contact us today to discuss your FB advertising strategy.