Paid ads, promoted posts & sponsored stories on Facebook – Do they work? How do you get the most out of them?

Yesterday I spent a good hour just getting one ad ready to put out – it was time sensitive, and I only got the payment details from the client at 11am…

Lesson1:
I swiftly set up the ads, as we wanted to time a post for a live update later that day. The payment was accepted the ad was ready to go… then we waited over 12 HOURS for it to be approved. Moral of the story – get your ads ready to go at least 24 hours before you want to push them live. Previously I’d had no trouble getting promoted posts live pretty much straight away but for some reason (I guess with FB adverts being more popular now) it’s taking longer to get them approved by Facebook.

Lesson2:
Had I known the exact audience criteria before starting the ad, well in advance, I could have sought all the groups, pages and fan groups of the various people and audiences I wanted to target. Sitting there racking your brain for the right search criteria on the spot is not advisable and you will miss things.

Tip: In a list or spreadsheet list all the top level categories for instance PET OWNERS, then all the sub categories like Dog Owners, Cat Owners, Fish, Aquariums, Guinea pigs, then find all the relative groups for each one for example: Dog Owners may have some funny groups like “dog-shaming, dog costumes” these will still have the right people in them, then all the other categories like Husky owners, Bassett Hounds etc. The lists are so long but the more specific you are the bigger your target audience will be and if there is no competition for your post, your clicks will be cheaper (if you want a CPC campaign). So be specific and think deep. It will pay off! (Note you can spend hours doing this, if you do it right!)

Lesson 3:
Sponsored stories are a gold mine. In my opinion ads are very much old hat – you see an ad – you instantly know you are being sold to and you tend to switch off, I know I do. This is why sponsored stories are fab… create a story, or use a previous post on your wall and use that as a sweetener. Maybe you got 53 likes on a picture you posted up on your page. If they found it engaging – so will others. Use this to create a buzz about your group and get more likes using a CPC campaign on a sponsored story that worked for you before. Do not underestimate the power of a sponsored story.

So I think for the amount of money you spend (maximum of £25 per day – I’d say) You can get a lot of engagement for your money compared with Google Ads. They are great if you want to sell a pair of shoes that everyone is searching for. But for businesses who want to be seen for the first time and maybe haven’t got the audience and SEO backing of a big marketing team & budget – this is the way to go.

Anybody can be seen on Facebook for very little money.

If you need any help or advice or your campaigns managing for you – please get in touch. I’d be happy to help.