master-facebook-ads-strategyIf you could laser-target your ideal buyers with advertising they’re interested in at the optimal times in their shopping process, all without wasting budget to reach those that’ll never buy from you, would you want to know how?

In case you haven’t heard, Facebook Ads can be very valuable for increasing leads and closing sales.

Developing a successful Facebook ads strategy is crucial. It’s no longer okay to just post on Facebook, try to grow your fanbase and hope it will work for you. More than likely, it won’t! Hope is not a strategy.

Done right, Facebook ads give you the ability to target very specific audiences using advanced tools that are just not available through traditional mediums.

Before doing any marketing or advertising, it’s always smart to start with goals and a strategy. Set goals for the results you want to achieve and that will help you plan your Facebook ads strategy.

The backbone of successful Facebook ads strategy is Targeting the right audience.

Your Facebook ads won’t be successful unless you figure out your target audience. There are many components to successful Facebook ads but even with so-so ad copy, if you’ve targeted well, you can still get results.

The reason people are getting such huge results from Facebook ads right now is because it’s possible to target at all the different levels during the buying process. Targeting smarter is where the big wins are with your ads. The more specific you can be with your targeting, the better results you’ll see.

Audience Demographics

Facebook offers many demographic options to create your target audience:

  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Relationships
  • Education
  • Work
    • Employers
    • Job Titles
    • Industries
    • Office Type
  • Generation
  • Parents
  • Politics (US)
  • Life Events

Interests

Identify the interests of your ideal customers and Facebook ads manager will create an audience of people who have expressed an interest in or liked pages related to those interests.

Leverage Facebook Graph Search

Research and define the interests of your ideal customers. The Query we use is: “Favorite interests of people who like [your business page]“. You can go as deep as you need to find information:

  • “Favorite interests of people who like [your competitors’ page]“
  • “People who work at [local business] and like [your product or service]“
  • “Groups of people who like….”

The possibilities are truly limitless. The goal is to know as much about your ideal customer as possible in order to serve them ads that are relevant to their needs and desires. When you master this, your results are leads and sales.

Remember: you don’t want to waste money serving ads to people that don’t want your products/services AND people don’t want to see ads for things they’re not interested in.

Behaviors

Drilling down to specific target audience behaviors is a more advanced technique and very powerful. Facebook partners with 3rd party data companies to supply you with specific audience behaviors. There is a specific section for Automotive shoppers along with many, many other types of shopper behaviors. Buyers that are “near market” and Shoppers who are “in market” are two lucrative behaviors to focus on.

So the next time you complain about Facebook tracking everything you do, think about how valuable this behavioral information is to you as a marketer. You just might see things differently.

Custom Audiences

Take an existing list you have and upload it to Facebook. All you need is one column of email addresses (.txt or .csv file) You need at least 100 matches (people in your database that are also on Facebook). Facebook creates a custom audience for you that you can target inside of Facebook.

Lookalike audiences

These are people most like your fan base. Create a custom audience first and then you can create a lookalike audience that’s similar to your own database. A Facebook ads strategy using lookalike audiences is a great way to find new customers to like your page or drive them to your website.

Side note: If you bought any Facebook fans, these strategies will not perform for you and you will waste your money.

Target Audience Size

Something that’s often overlooked is the size of audiences you create and target. 600-800,000 is a good ceiling. Remember, not all these people will be reached. Facebook will show your ad to those who have the propensity to convert – those most likely to take that action you’re looking for. Not all those people will be on Facebook for the length of your campaign and some are not active at all on Facebook.

Website Custom Audiences

Facebook will build an audience of people who visited your website. You install a tracking pixel on your site and serve ads to people who’ve come to Facebook after visiting your site. There are so many scenarios here (I’m sure you’re thinking about some right now). Lookalike audiences work well here too: “Go find me people who are like those that are visiting my website.”

Achieve Your Goals

  • Set the goal of your ads FIRST.
  • Work out your strategy
  • Execute strategy
  • Track results

Here are three examples of successful Facebook ad campaigns to inspire you:

1. Goal: Create higher engagement on your blog and Facebook page.

  • Targeting strategy: Fans and/or Non-Fans in your market area.
  • Type of Facebook ad: Page Post Engagement.

Create a blog post that tells a compelling story about your business. In this example, the subject matter is the filming of a commercial. The blog post tells the backstory of how the owner’s daughters came to star in it (along with other employees). Syndicate the blog post on Facebook and promote that post. You get more people reading your blog and engaging with your Facebook page…and the content is your commercial!

2. Goal: Generate Leads.

  • Targeting strategy: Behaviors – New vehicle shoppers (in market).
  • Type of Facebook Ad: Website Conversions (Promotes specific actions for people to take on your website. You’ll need a conversion-tracking pixel to measure your results).

Utilize a website landing page and drive people there with Facebook ads. Be sure to add a call to action and include the all-important Lead Form (so you can collect the prospects’ contact info).

3. Goal: Increase revenue by offering a special to your current customers.

  • Targeting strategy: Custom audiences – upload your current, segmented customer database.
  • Type of Facebook Ad: Clicks to Website.

Create a page on your website outlining the special and serve ads to your newly-created custom audience. Bonus strategy: Post the special on your Facebook page too with a link and then promote the post.

Author information

Kathi Kruse

Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.

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