Advertising on Facebook

Why should/would you advertise on Facebook?

Get more page likes - while I don't think this is a great way to measure your overall success on Facebook, growing your audience is always a good thing!  The more people you get your message in front of and get them to interact with your content can only expand your social reach.

Promote your page posts - if you shared a really cool picture, or put together a great event on your page, you can pay to get it in front of more people.  These can either show up on the side of others feeds or ow they have an option where they show up in the middle of users home page feeds.  

Get more users - if you have created a FB app, you can pay to have this in front of people as well.  So contest pages, games, etc. 

Increase attendance - get your special event page in front of more people and gain attendees by paying to have it placed in front of people who are likely to attend.

Advertising Targeting

Facebook makes it so easy to get your message in front of your intended target.  It easy step by step process allows you to target location, age, gender, even what they are interested in based on how they have set up their preferences.  A handy little box to the right, when you are building your criteria will even tell you the estimated size of the audience your ad has the potential to get in front of.

Tip for setting up ads

• Name each campaign you put together based on the criteria or run that you have created.
• You will never pay more than what you have set the budget to be.  This can be as little or as big as you would like!
• Set up a few different versions of you ad to test out and see which one performs better. 
• Test each one our for a week with a smaller budget to get a feel for them. 
• If you have more than one ad running at a time, Facebook will automatically allocate a higher percentage of your daily budget to your ads that are performing the best.  
• Take time to get to know the ads manager to help measure the success and see the performance of each campaign.

Facebook Content Ideas

How many times a day should I post on Facebook?

Experts may try to answer this for you, but I say there is no answer.  You don't want to post to often, especially as a business.  I have removed many a business from my timeline because they post so much it's all I see.  (Friends too....=), but don't tell them I said that.)  But, you want to post enough that you stay top of mind and relevant for your fans.  You also don't want to post, simply for the sake of posting.  If you don't have anything to say or share, don't!

What should I post to Facebook?

My biggest advice here it to be a resource to people.  Share stuff they can learn from and as cheesy as it sound, stuff they will think is cool.  90% of the content you post needs to be engaging rather than promotional.  10% can be used for direct promotions.  Pictures and videos are eye catching and highly recommended to accompany your post!

How do I measure the success of my posts?

See our previous post here on a great way to measure your reach!

Quick ideas for content:

• Read other blogs- see what is trending and put your own spin on it.
• Answer a frequently asked question
• Put together a video
• Interview an expert- this can even be someone in your company.
• Ask a question - open ended or a poll
• Share a post or article that relates to your business.  Be a resource!
• Say thank you or celebrate your fans and customers.
• Share a quote
• Write a list....top 5 ways etc.

What ideas do you have for content?

Cheers!

Kristen

What You Need to Know About Facebook Pages

• You need to have a personal account on Facebook in order to create a Page.
• Your Page will be tied to your personal profile as the admin of your page; however, only you and Facebook need to know the connection exists.
• You have the option of interacting on your Page as your Page and keeping your personal profile protected. Or, you can visit your page as your personal profile to comment and share as well.
• You can have an unlimited number of Facebook Pages.
• You can have an unlimited number of fans (Facebook users who “Like” your page).
• Sidenote - you are limited to 5,000 friends on your personal page even though most average about 120.
• Facebook Pages are public—anyone can find and view your Page whether they are logged into Facebook or not.
• All content posted on your Facebook Page gets indexed on Google (you're searchable!).
• You can target your posts by location and language. (Look for the button right next to the “Post” button).
• Just like your personal profile, you can add a large cover image to your Page and you should!
• Facebook has tight rules around what cannot be placed on Page cover images, including no contact information or calls to action.
• You can add applications to your page, including your own custom content—video, rich text, graphics, opt-in box and more.
• You can add additional Admins (highly recommended).  There are 5 levels of access you can grant to users on your page; Manager, Content Creator, Moderator, Advertiser and Insight Analyst.

Need help getting started, let me know!

Kristen