We have covered how the always-on page post ad is the workhorse of your Facebook ad campaigns.
But it’s not enough to have just this one ad.
You want to reach the newsfeeds of folks who aren’t fans yet but should be.
So clone this ad (“create similar ad”) to target people by their job titles, their hobbies, the magazines they read, the other products they like, and even where they work.
Pop quiz– which of these ads below is performing the best?
My apologies that the numbers are small.
Well, you could say it’s the first ad since it got the most traffic— 76 clicks and 54 post engagements at 10 cents per engagement. 23 of these even went to the website. Not bad.
You could even say this audience is most relevant since we’re targeting welders, plus people who like certain welding companies. This is for a site that sells DIY Welding Kits.
But if you said it was the second to last ad, because it had the highest CTR (3.175%) and a lower cost per engagement (6 cents), you wouldn’t be wrong either.
Notice the high click-through rate results in a lower cost per click. We’re getting rewarded for good performance– to have great content and to choose the right targets.
But if we’re rating ad performance by cost per engagement, then the always-on ad targeted to fans wins at only 3 cents per interaction.
Yes, this is the lowest cost per engagement. However, do not make the mistake of comparing this ad’s performance against the other ads. People who are fans are already predisposed to engage with you, so long as your fan acquisition efforts are solid.
This is the equivalent of comparing people who search for your name on Google against people who search generically for the thing that you do. Self-selecting.
Also, note that the mix of interactions is different– the fans drove mainly photo views, which are not as strong as a website click or share. Of course, it depends on the type of post you have and the corresponding goal.
Finally, we have an industry influencer ad.
In this case, we’re targeting people who work at prominent welding companies, so that we can establish our name.
The CTR and CPC of this type of ad don’t have to be strong. When you’re targeting the media or highly educated folks, they’re less likely to click. In fact, the post might get almost no clicks, but still drive incredible value.
My business partner, Dennis, wrote a blog post targeting Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans. He got only a few visits but got a call the next day from the Chairman of Quicken Loans because of it.
So balance quality vs quantity.
Sometimes you get lucky. Getting mentioned in insidefacebook.com because of your Facebook marketing efforts is a great thing, too.
Net-net, create multiple always-on ads to make sure fans, friends of fans who have similar interests, prospective buyers, people in your email list, and the media are all getting a steady stream of your content.
Readers, what strategies are working well for you?