When somebody asks me “how do you build a Facebook fan page quickly?” – my answer always is Facebook ads. Unlike pay per click, which can get very expensive with little result, Facebook ads are still reasonably priced, and usually end up with a great click rate because you can target the ad very specifically (Google does not have the same demographic data – so you can’t customize those results quite as much).
Here are five tips for creating successful Facebook ads:
1. Target your audience carefully.
When I first started out with my fan page, I targeted women entrepreneurs because that is who I eventually wanted to reach. Because my targeting was right on — a good percentage of people who clicked over to my page liked it.
2. Consider using sponsored stories.
Sponsored stories are ads that revolve around a specific action in Facebook (liking a page, etc.). Sponsored stories can be less expensive than traditional ads – and they can broaden your reach and build social proof because the actions your followers take are included in the story. As with anything, test this out and see if it works better for your audience.
3. Use Social Proof.
Facebook ads are different from Google ads because people who are in Facebook are there to be social and interact, not to find something specific. Google ads are based upon people searching for specific keywords. Because people are on Facebook to be social – social proof becomes every more important. One way to increase your social proof is to make sure that make sure you keep the box next to “Show stories about people interacting with this page with my ad” checked when you are setting up the ad. When somebody “likes” your page, their friends who are also part of your target market will see the fan’s name showing in your ad increases the chances of attracting new “likes.”
4. Make sure that you have a call to action in your ad.
Just having an ad show up on a fan page is not enough to induce people to click. One of my coaching clients got 10,000 people to her page by asking people to “click if you like Jesus”. This worked, because of the subject matter, but also because her site was a religious site. Even the most compelling call to action won’t bring results if the page doesn’t reinforce what is in the ad. In short, make sure you deliver what you promise.
5. Don’t forget to split test.
Facebook provides great tools for tracking the success of your ads, use them. Tweak your ads (only one variable at at time, and wait until you have enough data for the results to be valid) consistently to get better results. I have seen people change just one word in an ad to double its effectiveness.
Do you use Facebook ads? What questions do you have about making them more effective?
