Facebook is a powerful tool to reach a highly-targeted segment of customers, develop your brand’s authenticity, and drive new business. As more and more companies discover the many functionalities of the platform, paid ads on Facebook are becoming increasingly popular—and effective! However, before jumping into Facebook advertising, consider the tips below to make the most out of the platform.

Take Stock of Your Assets

As with every social platform, having great content and a loyal following is key to implementing successful campaigns. If you’re just starting out, take a moment to ask yourself: do I have relevant and creative materials that I can use for my ads? This may include photographs of your products or services, videos with captioned audio, a mobile-friendly website, and branded graphics and overlays. Facebook is primarily used for entertainment and personal connection by your audience. For this reason, your content must always be fresh, engaging, and consistent with your brand. If you don’t already have a library of resources, the first step you should take is to develop new assets and put a team in place to generate more content for the future. Some important assets include:

• A mobile-friendly website that guides visitors to browse multiple pages
• Thematic photos of your products and services that match your brand’s personality
• Videos of your company or products in action

Define Your Goals

Facebook allows you to set a multitude of goals to deliver the results your company is seeking. However, the Ads Manager should be thought of as an ecosystem, where multiple campaigns should work in unison and build off of each other. Your campaigns should be stacked into short-term and long-term goals that will ensure your Facebook engine is nurturing your customers with varied, relevant content. For example, some timeline-driven goals could include:

• Re-engage website visitors on Facebook through retargeting (short-term)
• Collect e-mails from new visitors to begin building a database of prospective customers for future engagement and nurturing (short-term)
• Increase conversions and revenue through sustained advertising (long-term)
• Drive traffic to your website to boost overall brand awareness and page followers (long-term)

Identify the Right Audience

There are millions of users you could potentially target on Facebook. The challenge is narrowing it down to the audience that will actually buy your product or request your service. At first, it will be a little like shooting in the dark. However, with time, your audiences will begin to show affiliation to your brand. If an audience is underperforming, act quickly to turn it off and redistribute your budget. This will ensure you boost the right ads to the right people. Before you build your audiences, consider these tips:

• Research your current followers to identify key demographics, interests, and brands they enjoy to create custom filtered audiences
• Retarget users who visited your website by connecting Facebook to Google Analytics
• Find users similar to your existing customers by building a Lookalike audience from your email list

Test, Analyze, & Iterate

It’s a mistake to expect that your ads on Facebook will be an overnight success. It is often a multi-touch process that requires various rounds of testing and iteration. Remember, when you first start advertising, your audiences and content have not yet been refined or informed by real data points. Once your track record on the platform increases, so does your brand’s credibility. Your audiences will also mature as they get more exposure to your company and your products on Facebook. Always report on your campaigns consistently to understand how to improve and optimize your ads to reach your goals.

• Test different types of media (photos, videos, animated GIFs)
• Test different age groups, geolocations, and interest groups
• Analyze data from Facebook to determine what type of content resonates the most
• Analyze website data from Google Analytics to identify trends and preferences about your products or services
• Adapt your audiences as you gain more insights from those who engage with your ads
• Adjust your ad types and goals according to the preferences exhibited by your audiences