Do you want people to message your business who (a) have a birthday in the next week and (b) who watched 75% of your last Facebook video?
You can! (And that’s just using 3 of the 5 Facebook features highlighted in today’s post.)
The Facebook Ads platform is a treasure island waiting for explorers to find creative ways to reach the right people with the right message. Plus, there isn’t a single “X marks the spot”. You can grow your own treasure chests by testing new strategies and combinations of features.
Not using Facebook Ads? Read Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords to learn why you probably should be.
1. Target People Who Watched X% of Your Video
You can create a custom audience of people who watched:
- at least 3 seconds of your video
- at least 10 seconds of your video
- 25% of your video
- 50% of your video
- 75% of your video
- 95% of your video
There are many ways to use this targeting option.
For example, we like to show videos to “cold” audiences of people who are very relevant to a client’s business, but who haven’t yet engaged with them on Facebook or visited their website.
We identify the Facebook users who watch a significant portion of those videos, and then begin targeting them as “warm” audiences of people who now are somewhat familiar with our client’s brand and will likely be receptive to engaging with more ads later.
2. Use “Audience Insights” to Find Patterns in Audiences
You can use Facebook’s Audience Insights tool to find patterns in audiences.
You could upload a list of customers’ email addresses and learn their demographic details (e.g. age, gender), what Pages they like, what part of the country they live in, what common interests they share, and much more.
You can use the insights you learn about your customers (or people who like your Page, people on your email list, or people who visit your website), to strategically target other people on Facebook who share the same demographics/interests.
3. Reach People Who Have Birthdays in the Next Week
Ever wanted to reach someone with a birthday coming up? Maybe advertise a spa treatment or a fun dinner spot?
You can do that with Facebook.
Birthdays aren’t the only “life event” option.
You can also target people who have upcoming anniversaries, new jobs, relationship status changes, and more.
4. Run “Messenger” Ads to Get People to Chat You on Facebook
Are you selling something that needs explanation?
You probably know that most people don’t buy something the first time they visit your website. That’s why you should use remarketing.
“Messenger” ads are a really neat new feature that we’re testing in remarketing campaigns.
Messenger ads are super simple: The call to action for your ad is to “Send Message”. Clicking the ad takes people directly into Facebook Messenger, where they can ask you their burning questions and you get a one-on-one opportunity to sell your product/service to them.
Messenger Ads can be particularly effective for remarketing campaigns, but you can use them to target new people as well, just as with other Facebook ad types.
5. Collect Leads Without Taking People Away from Facebook
When you’re browsing Facebook, you’re browsing Facebook. You’re not necessarily wanting to leave Facebook to go load a slow website and figure out what somebody is pitching you.
But . . .
You don’t have to leave Facebook if the advertiser is smart and uses a Lead Ad.
A Lead Ad is hosted completely within Facebook. When a Facebook user clicks the ad (image, carousel, video, etc.), a form opens within Facebook asking for their information. Better yet, Facebook autofills info from the Facebook user’s profile so that they don’t have to thick-thumb their name and email address into little boxes.
Lead Ads work for all kinds of things, from getting people onto newsletter lists, to scheduling test drives, to requesting free quotes.
Just Scratching the Surface . . .
There are so many ways to use Facebook Ads to make money.
The five features we highlighted in this post barely scratch the surface of what’s available, not to mention all of the new tools Facebook is constantly rolling out.
Curious to know if Facebook Ads is a good fit for your business? Already using Facebook Ads and not sure if you’re maximizing its value? We would love to do a free evaluation for you. Let’s talk!