Using Facebook ads allows you to run advertisements in users news feeds, in the margins or within the app, to target users in a native location and situation. With margin ads classed at the more ‘traditional’ of the options, they are considered cost efficient but less likely to see engagement levels similar to news feed ads due to the more native nature of the latter.

Targeting

Facebook ads offer great ROI with the ability to set up ads for relatively low cost. Moreover, you can target your audience based on their demographics and schedule them to ensure that they’re shown at a time when they’re going to perform at the optimal level.

Using analytics in the Facebook ads backend manager, you can easily see how your ads have been performing and make changes to ensure you regularly improve them based on previous data. A/B testing is a great way to test variations and ensure you’re using the right approach.

Creating ad copy for your Facebook ads

In order to create a great Facebook ad, you’ll need to assemble a number of elements, which have been optimised to suit the desired purpose, to ensure you can generate the best leads.

Headline

Your first hurdle is standing out from the crowd. Remember, your business isn’t the only one trying to make themselves known on Facebook, so a catchy headline is important. It should highlight your key value proposition and convey brand personality.

Immediately showing prospects what makes you different from the rest of your industry in a few words isn’t easy and headlines shouldnt be used to try and cram in a whole story. Instead, it should be written in your tone of voice and use language which grabs your visitors attention. Consider what will make them click on the ad, if they were to only read the headline.

Keep it short and sweet. The average length of a Facebook ad headline is just five words, according to research by AdEspresso. Making the headline too long can result in losing the users attention, reducing the likelihood of a click through. Focus on making your headline clear and concise, focused on your unique offering and use the body copy or post text to flesh out the longer piece of information.

Ensure your prospects know what they’ll get from clicking on your link – if it takes them to a guide then make sure that’s known in the header. There’s no time to mess about with fluff and vagueness.

Imagery

Alongside your headline, your facebook ad imagery is one of the first elements which will capture your audience’s attention. Not to mention that Facebook’s algorithm loves images and videos, due to their increased shareability. As the largest elements, you should take some time to seriously consider what imagery you’ll be using in your ad.

It should support the headline in terms of being relevant and should make users want to learn more. You could use stock imagery, but this should still be considered in terms of relevance and should feel aligned with the brand.

Alternatively, you could use your own imagery, whether this is photographs you’ve taken of your offices, shop interior or exterior or products. If you choose this route, you should ensure that your images are clear, crisp and are reflective of your brand.

Finally, you could create your own illustrations. You could use these to convey data or represent your product or service using drawings or shapes which are aligned with your overall brand. If you have a cartoon mascot, this could help build brand association by using this within your ads.

Body Copy

One of the key takeaways of this guide is to never simply reuse content for every ad. Make sure every ad is tailored to fit your target audience, with imagery and copy that specifically speaks to them. This my be completely altering the words you use, changing to tone of voice or even simplifying.

It’s also a good idea to refresh your copy regularly so that your audience doesn’t get bored with what you have to say. Your CTR can drop if you fail to create a variety of ad copy which tests different messaging, length of copy and tone of voice.

A couple of great ideas to keep in mind when creating copy to use in your Facebook ad is

• Consider your audience – how do they talk to each other, how do other brands they like to speak to them, what do they interact with the most
• Can you create a sense of urgency? Does your ad showcase an offer, and if so can you make this more time sensitive to encourage immediate action
• Make sure you give them something to do. By using verbs you can encourage the user to undertake an action such a buy, get, try or test.
• Use emojis appropriately. It’s not a good idea to overindulge in emojis in any case but make sure you use them in the right context, and don’t overdo it.

Finally, one of the key points to remember when creating your ad copy is relevance. Yes, the most important thing to remember is to make your ad relevant to your audience. You can use the Facebook feature which shows you a relevance score to determine if what you’ve created it suitable to your audience. The higher the score (1-10) the most favourably your ad will be treated by Facebook. Make sure you truly understand who you’re speaking to, without this, you won’t be able to make a compelling and captivating ad.

Landing pages

Every ad has a purpose,a dn with that purpose you should consider where your ad is actually going to take those who click it. If it’s a product, it makes sense to link through toi that product page or an information page about the product if it can’t be purchased online.

Your landing pages, much like your ad, should consider who you are talking to and tailor the ad copy to fit their demographics. If your core audience are small business owners then use examples, case studies and language which will make sense to them and their operations. POsition your  offering in a way where they can see how it will benefit their lives and how it exceeds the capabilities of your competitors.

As a core component for success within Facebook ads, your landing page should aim to feature highly relevant information for your target audience. Whether you want them to download an asset, register their details, make a purchase or create an account you should ensure you include a clear call to action, persuasive copy and a clear link between ad and landing page – such as aligned visuals, matching terminology and consistent tone of voice.

A/B testing

In order to improve the effectiveness of your Facebook ads, you should undertake split testing. It allows you to create different versions of your ad, with the same target audience, to uncover which copy, imagery, timings, or landing pages receive the highest conversion rates or CTR.

You should test a single variable at any one time, so that you;re able to attribute which element is responsible for higher or lower CTR or interaction. You should start out with a presumption of what you want to achieve such as ‘My cost per result will be lower if I include a video on my landing page’.

From here you can establish a timeframe across which you want to test, define a large enough portion of the audience to test the variable out on and implement your ads. You can repeat this process as many times as you like, refining the content you use to continuously optimise your ads for better results.

Creating Facebook ads

Facebook ads are a highly accessible platform which allows brands, SMEs and startups equal footing to reach their target audience. The more effort and consideration you put into your Facebook ad and landing page creation, the higher the chance of reaching your target audience and securing your desired results. If you’re still unsure of how to create the best Facebook ads to suit your objectives, get in touch with us today.