Whenever we spend budget on a communications campaign we must be able to demonstrate a return. This is equally true for social media advertising. This new posts gives some inside tips on getting the most from Facebook advertising.
by an anonymous guest blogger
A little while back, we got in touch with Facebook to solve an issue we were having with our page. Surprised to receive an email from a REAL LIFE person, who worked with us to resolve the issue, we were then further amazed when they then emailed to ask if we would be interested in a half hour PHONE-CALL to get advice on how we could be doing Facebook advertising better.
Hugely excited, having been previously unaware that Facebook had a customer service team, let alone a real-life person I could speak to on the phone, I rallied the troops (i.e. my own team plus comms people from around the country on Facebook) and canvassed for any burning questions on the topic of Facebook advertising – keen to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Q: ‘If you could ask Facebook a question, any question, about Facebook advertising, what would you ask?’
And in came a bunch of questions.
I didn’t get the chance to ask all of them, but covered as much as I could in the time available. Here’s how it went.
Thank you to everyone who contributed questions. Shout if anything’s not clear / you’d like to know more - I’m @kitleytea
Here follows a rough transcript of my conversation with the lovely Laura from Facebook…
Does Facebook have a grant or any benefits for non-profit organisations, like the Google Ad Grant?
No
Evaluation: what is a good measure of success for non-profit organisations? Is it reach and engagement? And what is a good return in terms of amount spent?
I don’t work with non-profits enough to know what a good measure is for them specifically.
But in general, Reach is not a good Objective to pick when creating a new Campaign. It is also not a good measure of success.
Relevancy score is a better measure of success than anything else (more on this later).
So what Objectives should we pick to help us get the best results?
Use Brand Awareness. This will target people who are more likely to click on your ads.
Or, if it’s a video campaign, use Video Views, which will target people who are likely to click on your videos.
Reach tends to be more expensive – and Video Views will actually reach more people and be better value for money.
Targeting: is it better to err on the side of over-targeting (because we think we know who our audience is and who our content is more relevant for) or under-targeting (because Facebook may know more than we do and may help us reach people we would otherwise miss)?
Your value for money will come from making sure your audience is properly targeted.
When setting up your Ad Set, make sure you always target People who live in this location (unless you want to pick up everyone who’s passing through)
Check your Audience definition dial on the right-hand side, when setting up your ad set.
You want the dial to be in the green at the 12 o’clock position.
If it’s in the red, it won’t perform and will cost a lot more when it does get shown.
If it’s too far into the yellow, then you won’t be reaching the most relevant people, and you might need to narrow down more by Demographics and Behaviours.
In general it’s more effective to target by Demographics and Behaviours than Interests. Someone can be interested in something for a short amount of time, but Behaviours and Demographics - e.g. being a parent, a smartphone user, a university graduate - are less deniable.
Imagery: is there evidence as to what kind of images get the best result, or which display method works best (i.e. Carousel, Slideshow etc.)? Does using the same image for two posts have a negative impact?
Video is always the most effective kind of content. It needs to be 20 seconds. No more no less.
(I was amazed at how definitive Laura was about this – but she works for Facebook, she knows)
Carousel is a good second-best if you don’t have access to making videos or slideshows, but Laura thinks Carousel is more effective than Slideshow.
Always use Video views when you’re first marketing, and then do re-marketing post to the people who have already engaged, as a reminder.
Video gets people’s attention, and then the Carousel gives them a chance to scroll through at their own pace. Don’t use Video again for re-marketing as they’ll just scroll past it because they’ve already seen it.
Budget: do we get a smaller Reach per £ than we used to? A colleague has noticed that a year ago £100 reached over 50,000 in a certain radius, and now reaches only 20,000.
Well we wouldn’t recommend Reach as an Objective. The system is always evolving and becoming more advanced. If you’re always targeting the same audience you might find it becomes less effective over time. But it’s difficult to answer without seeing the exact adverts and being able to compare.
Political ad rules: will the new transparency rules for US be rolled out in the UK? Will they affect local government organisations if this happens?
We don’t know. That could just happen overnight and we wouldn’t necessarily be told in advance!
Is there anything else you think it’s important for us to know to do Facebook advertising better?
Yes!
Always use the right Objectives and detailed Targeting.
Use Instagram placements only, for anyone under 16. Don’t even bother leaving Facebook options on for them.
Check out the relevancy score for each of your adverts a day after they’ve been published. They should be between 8 and 10. If they’re any lower, switch off the ad and try again, as you’ve clearly not pitched it right.
Image via The Library of Congress
