For some online businesses Facebook advertising would seem to be the perfect solution. After all, for very little money, businesses can reach millions of Facebook users, engaging with them in real-time and forging lasting relationships. A stream of repeat business, and the creation of online ambassadors for your brand, can be the result when this type of advertising is effectively used.
Of course, the use of Facebook advertising is not without its pitfalls. One big problem is “click farms.” Facebook has a copious amount of click farms; profiles that were developed for the mere reason of selling likes. While you can purchase 1,000 likes for a mere £5, realistic marketers know that the money put forth for this to happen is pretty fruitless.
With your page on Facebook you should be aiming to build an engaged audience. The problem is that many unsuspecting Facebook marketers will use advertising to bring likes from the click farms. The click farms will like everything they come across but that’s all. They aren’t real people so no interaction will ever take place. Basically, it means Facebook advertisers are paying money for robot likes that are meaningless.
How to build a real Facebook audience
Have Clearly Defined Goals
The first thing you must do is take a look at the basics of your marketing and decide whom your audience is. This should be done for all campaigns – regardless of what type of campaign it is. After all, advertising indiscriminately wastes both resources and time. Be sure you have a clearly-defined campaign with goals that are also clearly defined. Don’t just build an audience just to have an audience.
Target Your Audience
The good thing about advertising on Facebook is that you can target certain types of people. You can target by:
• Interests
• Hobbies
• Employment
• Location
• Age
• Gender
Targeting people may also be done by life events. For instance, if you have a wedding business, you can reach those people who have recently got engaged. If your business deals with baby products, you can reach people who are pregnant or have just recently had a baby. The location method of targeting people is good if you’re trying to expand your reach in your own town or are testing the water for new markets. If you are based in Nottingham, you can choose to also target customers in Derby, Leicester an the rest of the East Midlands for example.
Once you’ve broken down your audience by their respected groups, you can start targeting them. You may have a broad customer base, but a series of parallel advertisements that are different from one group to the next, allows you to “speak” to your targeted markets and focus on what they’re looking for. This allows you to closely watch the responses and use that information at a later date – in more advertisements.
After that, you’ll need to get into the social media’s manager advanced settings to set the target audience up. While the initial cost is going to be a little higher, you’ll end up, overall, saving yourself a lot of money.
Choose The Location If Nothing Else
If there’s nothing else you do with Facebook advertising, choose a location that you want the advertisements to run in. For instance, your location should be set to certain towns. If your business operates around the world, choose a list of countries you’d like to have your advertisements be shown in. Keep in mind that there are some exceptions. Click farms generally operate out of Bangladesh, India, Mexico and Pakistan – avoid these when you can.
After you’ve gotten your advertisement up and running, you’ll need to professionally manage it. Be sure you keep an eye on the people who like your page, making changes when needed. It’s important to understand that Facebook is a very useful marketing platform for businesses. But, if done incorrectly, it can be quite costly too. Be sure that, for the sake of your business and your sanity, that it’s done right the first time out.
Photo: Image courtesy of Marco Paköeningrat on Flickr