Super-targeted, visually appealing, and socially relevant. That’s the power of Facebook Ads in a nutshell. Tried ‘em yet? Share what works for you in the comments below!
Need to know more about them? You’re not alone. What we’ve noticed over time is that a lot of the info about Facebook Ads out there falls into one of two categories: Success stories told after the fact, or hypothetical “101″ scenarios. So we’re going to bridge that gap here, and pull the curtain back on a campaign we just started for our 3rd Annual “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit (NH’s largest social media conference), taking place 10/27 at Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford.
EXPERIMENT TEST PLAY
If you run ads – on Facebook or anywhere else – it’s in your best interest to play with different versions to see which one knocks it out of the park. Facebook makes it super-easy to do this! After you create the first ad of a campaign, use the “Create a Similar Ad” link. You then start your second ad with an exact copy of the first one, ready to be tweaked for testing. Umm, playing.
Here’s a shot of the four ads we created to run on Facebook for the next two weeks:
5 TESTABLE PLAYABLE ELEMENTS
There are four up-front elements with which you can play, and one big background area. Here’s how we’re doing it for this campaign:
1. Headline. 25 characters, not a lot of room to work with. We’re looking at three hot buttons – the desire for belonging, self-achievement, and the nurturing response – and one without that’s purely informational.
2. Image. In this case, we’re holding the image constant across all four ads, so the differences in performance will not come as a result of the image. For your own ads, play with images and other things you might not have considered: Borders, photo treatments (i.e. sepia, black & white), and stylized text where the image would otherwise go.
3. Body copy. We’re playing with four different body copy versions here. To run a strict test, we could have kept these constant across all four, so that we’d know it was the headline specifically that caused the different responses. In this case, though, we’ve written the body copy to be consistent with the hot buttons in the headlines, so that’s what we’re REALLY playing with. We’ve also introduced elements of scarcity (i.e. sell-outs), urgency (tickets going fast), and additional value (i.e. 50% off).
4. Social Proof. If you advertise something that exists on Facebook, you get the option to do a Social Ad. Those are the ones that say “John Smith Likes Epiphanies, Inc.,” or “Jane Jones Is Attending.” And you think, “Hey! John likes it, and Jane’s going, so I should too!” For our ads here, we’re sending people out of Facebook, to our Eventbrite registration page. So we don’t get the social option.
5. Targeting. This is the “big background” piece I mentioned earlier. Age, gender, location, interests, education, work, connections, relationships, languages – all of these aspects of a person’s life are fair game for advertisers!
You see four ads above, and we’re actually running them in front of two sets of people, so it’s eight ads in total. The first set of four are running to an estimated 23,000 people: Age 24 and up, in New Hampshire, who fall under the “Small Business” Broad Category Targeting area of Facebook. The second set of four is running to an estimated 3,000 people: Age 24 and up, in New Hampshire, who are already Likers of our own Facebook Page or of the NH Division of Economic Development’s Facebook Page.
BUT IS IT WORKING?
Webtrends reported overall campaign performance showed average clickthrough rates of 0.063% in 2009 and 0.051% in 2010. If you start dropping below those numbers, its time to reconsider your ad! Even for the most effective ads, you’ll probably see their performance drop within a week, so be ready to play with new ideas.
And don’t forget to track the action on the other side! You may be getting clickthroughs to your Page, but are people actually hitting the “Like” button? Or in our case, will these ads drive registrations for our event?
We’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you. Which ad do YOU think is going to be the best performer? Or would you write a whole different ad? Let us know in the comments!
About the “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit
The 3rd Annual “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit isn’t just a social media marketing and networking conference for New Hampshire professionals. It’s a full-day ADVENTURE…in big ideas, best practices, bold action, boundless opportunities, and the power and possibilities of collaborative karma.
You’ll hear speakers from Microsoft, Constant Contact, Meltwater Group, and more. You’ll learn how to expand, engage, and LEAD with video, email, and mobile marketing, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, geotargeting, and hyper-local search. Plus, you’ll see how connecting with influencers, partners, and your ideal audience is easier and more effective than ever before. Get your early bird tickets now – they’re 50% off and they’re going fast!
Can you possibly meet everyone you want to meet when attending a trade show, conference, or seminar?
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