Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform, with 2.41 billion active monthly users¹. It presents a great opportunity to engage online shoppers who are searching for products like yours on Facebook and Facebook Marketplace.

Fifty-six percent of people visit Facebook to get more information², such as researching products and finding local businesses in their community. As a local business yourself, Facebook helps you target these prospects and make them aware of your brand, which means people could visit your store within the same day of viewing your ad.

Starting off a Facebook ad campaign could seem daunting if you are jumping in for the first time, but something we really enjoy about Facebook is how well its advertising platform can be adjusted to your business goals. Below we’ll delve into how you can customize your Facebook ad campaign to maximize your results.

The Power of Facebook Advertising

The average Facebook user clicks on 12 Facebook ads per month, or about once every 2.5 days³. This shows that users pay attention to and interact with Facebook ads versus simply scrolling past them, revealing Facebook ads to an effective avenue to reach shopper. Because Facebook also owns Instagram, your ads can engage shoppers there, too.

Multiple Ad Types

In addition to offering a very impressive reach, Facebook provides multiple ad types to align with your business’ marketing goals. These ad types include:

• Traffic ads designed to drive more traffic from Facebook to your website
• Engagement ads to build up “likes” for your Facebook page and business events (such as sales and trade shows) so that customers stay connected to your brand’s news
• Lead Generation ads allowing prospects to fill out a lead form directly on their Facebook newsfeed  
• Conversion ads, which encourage prospects to visit your website and submit a lead form
• Catalog Sales ads to re-engage Facebook users who viewed your website inventory and encourage them to return and make a purchase
• Reach analytics to see how many Facebook users are viewing your ad content and how often
• Brand Awareness to get in front of prospects who have seen your ads before, creating repetition to build recognition and increase the likelihood of conversion

Highly Targeted Ad Audience

Along with choosing ad types that align with your strategy, your Facebook ads can capitalize on targeting a highly promising audience. Facebook has the most precise audience targeting ability of any social media site and allows businesses to create specific audience groups to ensure your ads are seen by qualified shoppers. The high-level targeting helps to increase your website traffic while ensuring your ad spend turns a real profit.

Choose the audience type that drives the shoppers you want to see at your store:

• Core audience, which are the people most likely to convert based on location, interests and demographics
• Custom audience, which is identified through key shopper actions, such as visiting your website, making a previous purchase and/or interacting with your business’ Facebook page (you can custom-create these remarketing lists based on your needs and goals for your marketing campaign)
• Lookalike audience lists to identify additional shoppers who share the same interests and/or demographics as your target audience – expanding your reach to target more relevant prospects

Cost-Effective Facebook Ad Spend

One of the most beneficial aspects of Facebook advertising is its affordability for businesses of all types. You have the opportunity to forego a cookie cutter approach in favor of a strategy that truly works for your business. Regardless of the size of your marketing budget, you can tailor your Facebook ad spend to meet your goals without exceeding your funds limit.

Facebook makes it easy to adjust (ie, increase or decrease) your budget at any time based on your campaign performance. This is because Facebook’s ad platform is both flexible and full of insight into the performance of each ad at every step of the campaign. Knowing what is working for your audience and what may not be catching their attention allows you to make quick, informed decisions about your advertisements. Being able to pause, start and alter your ad campaign budget based on the performance of each ad makes Facebook advertising a very cost-effective strategy for businesses of any size.

Conclusion: Why Advertise on Facebook

Social media continues to increase in popularity for online shopping, especially as younger generations mature into consumerism, and we’re looking at the platforms that are most likely to create results for businesses.

The vast amount of ad types and audience targeting options makes Facebook a powerful platform to get in front of the right shoppers and drive more leads to your business. It’s easy to get started and create a custom ad campaign that fits your needs and goals exactly. No matter the size of your business, you can reach a greater market share of shoppers that are interested in making a purchase.

If you have questions about starting a Facebook advertising campaign, please feel free to connect with our industry experts to discuss your best options.

¹HubSpot

²Facebook

³Hootsuite