The Marketer s Guide to FACEBOOK ADVERTISING

Transcription

1 The Marketer s Guide to FACEBOOK ADVERTISING

2 Contents at a Glance INTRODUCTION 1 SO WHY FACEBOOK ADS? 3 THE 10 STEP PLAN FOR FACEBOOK ADVERTISING SUCCESS 5 STEP 1: ESTABLISH YOUR GOAL AND YOUR TRAFFIC DESTINATION 6 STEP 2: SELECT YOUR FORMAT 10 STEP 3: PICK YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE 14 STEP 4: WRITE AND DESIGN YOUR AD CREATIVE 16 STEP 5: SCHEDULE AND BID 24 STEP 6: FOLLOW THROUGH ON THE LANDING PAGE 26 STEP 7: BUILD AN ENGAGED FAN BASE 27 STEP 8: STEP IT UP OUTSIDE OF FACEBOOK 30 STEP 9: MEASURE THE RETURNS 31 STEP 10: OPTIMIZE 33 IT S A WRAP! 34 ABOUT MARKETINGPROFS 35

3 INTRODUCTION What do you think about the following statements? Are they true or false? 1. Facebook delivers more ad impressions than any other website or network, including Google. 2. Facebook click-through rates are well below 1% on average. 3. Facebook ad engagement rates were down in early Facebook Ads cost more on average than traditional banner ads. 5. Facebook advertising rates have gone up in Facebook is forecast to be the top online display ad revenue producer two years running. Now for the answers 1

4 Introduction They re all true. Surprised? Social advertising is on the rise and nowhere more so than on Facebook. In fact, Facebook isn t merely the leading advertising platform among social media sites, such as Twitter and YouTube, it is officially the largest publisher of online display ad impressions and has single handedly eclipsed all the traditional players Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and AOL which dominated this industry for so long. So far, 2012 is proving to be another strong year for Facebook, and forecasts are that Facebook will account for the most online display revenue for the second year in a row. Facebook, of course, has been paying very close attention, and it raised its advertising rates yet again in response to the demand. TBG Digital s Global Facebook Advertising Report Q reports a 41% average price increase year over year (Q vs. Q1 2011) and a 22% jump in average CPC (cost per click) rates and a 15% increase in average CPM (cost per thousand impressions) in just one quarter (Q to Q1 2012). That may seem bold, considering both Facebook s notoriously low click-through rates, which average between 0.04% and 0.05%, and its generally poor performance in direct revenue generation. To add insult to injury, Facebook also increased the number of ads displayed on the page to seven this year, which is already pushing ad engagement rates lower, according to TBG Digital, which reported a 6% drop across the top five markets (Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US) and 8% on average for the US between Q and Q Yet, advertisers come in droves. They also give the network high marks. Not long ago, The Pivot Conference and Brain Solis s The Rise of Social Advertiser report found that 69% of social advertisers rate Facebook s paid offerings as either excellent or good. And among local businesses surveyed for MerchantCircle s sixth Merchant Confidence Index report, 64.9% of those who have used Facebook Ads say they would do so again. How can this be, you ask? There s good reason, and we re going to tell you what it is. Then, we re going to give you a 10-step process for getting started with Facebook Ads the right way, so you can beat these averages and get the most out of your investment. 2

5 SO WHY FACEBOOK ADS? The first obvious reason is critical mass to the tune of 901 million monthly active users as of the end of March 2012, according to Facebook and 55% penetration among worldwide Internet audiences, according to comscore Data Mind. Moreover, those users are impressively engaged. Facebook reports that more than half of them (526 million as of the end of March 2012) log in daily. com- Score s 2012 State of Social Media report claims that one of every seven minutes spent online is spent on Facebook, and Nielsen found that US consumers spend more time on Facebook than on any other site. Now, you may be thinking, Yes, I m aware of that and that s why I already have a branded Facebook Page set up for free, mind you to reach and interact with those masses. And to that we say, Great job! A Facebook Page is practically a must these days and whether or not you have one can impact which ad features are available to you. In other words, if you have one, great (you re already on the right path), but if you don t, now s a good time to look into it. But here s something you may not know: No matter what your brand sentiment, no matter the quality of your content, and whatever your industry or niche, most fans will never revisit your Page after they Like it. Rest assured, though: That content you re posting is still valuable, and some of your fans are still seeing it from time to time; but, for the most part, such activity is occurring in the Newsfeed, not on your Page. comscore found that Facebook users are times more likely to consume branded content in the Newsfeed rather than a Page. Getting your message to appear in the Newsfeed, where it has a better chance of being seen in the first place, is not an easy task, either not when you re at the mercy of Facebook s enigmatic EdgeRank algorithm. All that changes with Facebook s paid offerings, such as Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories, which greatly increase advertisers odds of getting placement on the Newsfeed page or directly within the Newsfeed itself. Heads Up! You ll need a company Facebook Page to get the most out of Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories. Head to php to get started. For tips and tricks on creating a fan-tastic Facebook Page, check out Tame the Giant: The Complete Field Guide to Facebook Marketing. 3

6 So Why Facebook Ads? Even that s not the real catalyst behind all this ad revenue growth. The true secret sauce has to do with the social context and social proof that Facebook has ingeniously woven into practically every aspect of its on-site experience, including advertising: Numbers of people who have Liked a brand s Page or RSVP d to an event Specific names and profile pics of friends and personal connections who have taken the same actions: A recent Nielsen Online Brand Effect study found that these types of social ads generate a 55% greater lift in ad recall than non-social ads, though individual cases may vary. Earlier research from Nielsen and Facebook also found that Newsfeed/homepage ads with social context are four times more likely to increase purchase intent of a product or brand and twice as likely to increase awareness, compared with standard display ads. What we re learning is that despite low click rates, some Facebook offerings, such as Sponsored Stories, provide a distinct advantage and real returns. Though often difficult to measure, track, and attribute properly, those offering are delivering on business goals by influencing awareness, sentiment, and sales via peer recommendations. Fun Facebook Fact Facebook ad budgets allocated to social ads increased from 5% in March 2011 to 23% in March Social ads are expected to account for 50% of Facebook ad budgets, on average, by the end of Source: Marin Software Those elements are integrated to catch our attention, build trust, and reassure us to act similarly. And studies suggest they work. 4

7 Step 5: Schedule and bid If members of your audience are anything like the average Facebook user, you can count on them to spend significant amounts of time on the site and, depending on how narrowly you target, to see your ad pretty frequently. That might sound like a good thing, but it often results in rapid burnout. Avoid burnout. In addition to undermining your goal and wasting your budget, low click-through rates translate into lower engagement metrics, which means you ll have a harder time getting placed in the Newsfeed and so will end up with a higher cost per click. Plus, Facebook may just deactivate the ad. To avoid those issues, schedule your ads using the following tips. Select specific start/end run dates and times, instead of selecting the Run my campaign continuously starting today option. Take breaks between campaigns to appear fresh and new again. Target Friends of fans, which allows your ad to reach new eyes as it garners new Likes. Fun Facebook Fact Saturday is the most common day that people click on Facebook ads, according to TBG Global s analysis of 66 billion ad impressions during the first quarter of Monday is the slowest day. Source: TBG Global data via Allfacebook.com Fun Facebook Fact Facebook ads are generally short-lived, with the most common lifespan lasting between 5 and 14 days. The next most common lifespan is 1 to 4 days. Source: Social Fresh Scheduling tips Run campaigns with multiple ad creatives. Rotate ad creatives regularly (every 3 to 7 days). Webtrends found that ads tend to start burning out after 3 to 5 days. Research when your audience is most active on Facebook and run tests to determine optimal timing for ad campaigns. CPC or CPM? Facebook ads are auctioned on either a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand (CPM) impressions basis. With CPC, you re only charged for the clicks your ad receives, whereas with CPM you pay each time your ad displays. It s also important to note that Facebook ads placed on a CPC basis tend to get better placement, and therefore more clicks, than those run on a CPM basis. Mostly, the choice should depend on your goal: If you re focused on getting conversions or testing performance, start with CPC. If your goal strictly revolves around brand awareness, consider CPM. 24

8 Step 5: Schedule and bid Time to bid Facebook offers a suggested bid range, though you decide the maximum you re willing to bid for each campaign. Winning ads are selected based on not only each ad s bid amount but also the quality of the ad, as determined via user feedback and its previous performance, if any, on the network. Heads Up! Keep an eye out for Reach Generator, a new option that allows certain brands to pay a set fee to guarantee their ads and posted content are seen by 75% of their fans within a given month. Facebook studies show that these special placements can generate significantly higher clickthrough rates than standard ads do. For example, Reuters reported that a beta test performed with the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group reached 83% of the brand s fans and produced 80% more Likes than usual. Note: As of this writing, Reach Generator is restricted to select accounts. 25

9 Did you enjoy the read? The best marketing and educational investment ever. I have learned about where marketing is going, been exposed to the best minds in the business, been challenged to rethink my assumptions about the marketplace, and gotten ideas about how to merge old and new marketing. PRO member Christine Whittemore MarketingProfs creates information-packed PRO products like this one every month. And our website is a rich and trusted resource used by a vibrant online community of more than 400,000 marketers from organizations of all shapes and sizes. Our article library, online seminars, conferences, discussion forum, and special reports provide the tactics, tools, and troubleshooting you need to tackle the most difficult marketing challenges. Join the MarketingProfs community today! (866) support@marketingprofs.com

10 ABOUT MARKETINGPROFS Kimberly Smith is an author of several MarketingProfs reports, including The Marketer s Guide to Strategic Landing Pages and Content Machine: The Street Guide to Building a Successful Content Marketing Program in 7 Weeks. Kim can be reached on Twitter MarketingProfs is a rich and trusted resource that offers actionable know-how designed to make you a smarter marketer from social media and content marketing to lead generation and online conversions. More than 400,000 MarketingProfs members rely on our free daily publications, virtual conferences, and more to stay up-to-date on the most important trends in marketing and how to apply them to their businesses. Plus, MarketingProfs delivers enhanced professional development training via online seminars and short webcasts, in-depth how-to reports, research, interactive planning tools, online courses, and in-person events. MarketingProfs helps the smartest marketers worldwide turn even the toughest marketing challenges into success stories. 35