The Facebook ad system is based on a supply and demand bidding system. It can be tricky (and expensive) to get the results you want from your Facebook ad campaign. Here are some tips to get your costs down and results up:
Paying for your Ads – CPC vs. CPM:
CPC you pay for each click. CPM you pay for each 1000 times your ad shows up on a profile. I recommend “Cost per Click” for beginners. The only way CPM will be cheaper is if your ad beats the average click through rate.
Bidding: During peak times the suggested bid is very high. It dips in the middle of the night. To get more clicks for less money, post your ad around 4am.
*Insider tip: If your ad has a low click through rate, the bid price will go up. If your click through rate gets too low, Facebook will stop running the ad all together. Change the text slightly and repost to start over fresh and start getting impressions again.
Hitting your Target:
Your audience is segmented based on the keywords in their profiles. The best keywords are the most expensive. (Remember, ad rates are supply and demand) Get creative and find back doors to your target market.
Ex: If you’re advertising a hybrid car, “Green” is probably the first keyword people think of. Try using an activity someone who cares about protecting nature might be interested in like “camping” or “hiking”.
Getting Attention – Creating your Ad:
If you begin the ad process by clicking “Promote with an Ad” under the picture on your home page, you will not be able to control the title field. At the very bottom of the page, click Advertise->My Ads-> Create Ad, then copy/paste the URL from your FB page. This allows you to title the ad however you want.
Text: 140 Characters. Make ‘em count!
Picture: Use a photo editing program to tweak and add attention grabbing text to your picture. Max image size is 110 x 80 pixels. Keep this aspect ratio in tact when creating your image so text is not distorted.
Getting Results:
One of the most overlooked features of Facebook is that it’s customizable (If you know some HTML). Using the Static FBML application, you can create a custom page inside your fan page that relates directly to your ad.
People spend on average less than 15 seconds on a webpage after they click an ad. If you want to get results from your clicks, the content on this page is key! All the info you want them to see should be on this landing page.
