The use of social media is on the rise. These sites, which were previously used for socializing and catching up with friends and family, are now being used as advertising platforms for businesses.
Facebook is the leading online social media site with an estimated 2 billion monthly active users as of June 2017.
It has numerous features such as live chats, sharing and tagging pictures and images to mention a few.
It is not a wonder that most companies are going for online marketing strategies, with over three million active advertisers recorded in March 2016.
An active advertiser is said to be one who has advertised on Facebook in the last 28 days. However, this does not guarantee instant rewards for the company due to various reasons. You can improve conversion rates with these four easy ways;
1.Send your visitors to your landing page instead
It is always advisable to use optimized landing pages as opposed to company websites.
On the landing page, potential customers get more detail of what the advertisement entails.
It provides them with information they need to know about the specific product as well as reviews from other people who have used the said product and their experiences whether positive or negative.
If the link on the advertisement leads to the company’s website, the potential customers will be bombarded with unnecessary information along with having to look for the product or offer they saw.
Chances are they will get bored and go back to what they were doing no matter how attractive the offer was. The landing page should have the following features;
- The most crucial part of your landing page is the headline. The headline should be clear and to the point, and give the visitor information about the product or service in a short time. You can get better outcome by skipping the advantages of using the product or service and go straight to the results of either buying or downloading the product or service.
- You should also have a subtitle to add more information in regards to the headline. Here, you can include the benefits your potential client can get by using your product or service.
- You could include reviews or testimonials from people who have used the product or service and got positive results from it. You can also include pictures of you or your staff members handing out vouchers or coupons to lucky winners if you are promoting an offer by your company.
- Last but not least, you should have a clear call to action. This is to encourage the visitor to try out the product or service or the offer your company may have. The offer can be a free trial period or something of the sort.
2. Get more specific by using the exclusion button and also use retargeting ads for prior visitors
Audience Insight is a tool on Facebook that was created to aid advertisers know their target audience and target ads more effectively. You can also use it to know more about your audience. You can check out for other similar interests your target audience may have, demographics, location and pages they like.
You can use this in the targeting section when developing your ad.
The exclusion button is the least used option but can come in handy when you want your ad to reach to a specific audience. For example, you can have an ad that targets single men who own dogs as pets and another ad that you want to target married men with kids who own dogs as pets.
If there is a group of single men with kids who own dogs, then that may fall in any of the two target groups stated above.
However, you can use the exclusion button to block them out so as to reach a more specific target.
Retargeting ads are used for the members of the audience that have already visited your ad and not made a purchase decision yet but are still likely to purchase your product.
3. Quality video ads with a touch of creativity
Just because ads are based online does not mean they should be of low quality. Just as you would laugh off a poorly produced television advert, which is the same way your audience will ignore your ad if it reeks of poor quality.
Good quality images or/and videos are important when you want to capture your audience’s attention.
Invest in a professional photographer or videographer who will capture what you desire for your ad and an editor that will give you a satisfactory finished product.
Quality online ads may not be as expensive as quality television ads but they are just as important for best results.
You can also get creative when designing your ad and go for carousel types. With this type of advertisement, you can give out as much information as possible that is accompanied by attractive images.
4. Use different copy lengths on your ads
There is a theory that states that any advertisement that has a shorter copy will perform better that one with a longer copy.
While in theory this sounds true, in actual sense this is far from it. When it comes to Facebook ads it is always advisable to test, this is because target audience react differently.
When developing your ad copy, always have in mind the people you are targeting. Convey a message that will capture your audience. You can write a long and short ad copy with the long one having some storytelling incorporated in it.
Always have a call to action in the advertisement that tells the audience what they are getting into. It can be a bold blinking sign that asks the visitor to get more information about the product, book a room or a flight or simply get a free sample.
When it comes to Facebook ads, there is no guarantee that that one approach way will give you the desired results. You have to keep trying and testing different strategies as well as giving those ways enough time around in order to be able to estimate or weigh their outcome.
With time, the different approaches that work for you will stand out and, you can use them to continuously evaluate the level of progress attained.