Drive More Revenue with Facebook Advertising
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Drive More Revenue with
Facebook Advertising
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How To Create Top-Performing Facebook Ads
What began as a social network for Harvard students in 2004 and soon spread to college campuses across
the country is now the biggest social networking site in the world. Yes, if you haven’t guessed it already, we’re
talking about Facebook. On average, Facebook logs approximately 734.2 million unique global visitors a month.
Even more significant, Nielsen’s data reveals that U.S. users spend an average of seven hours and 46 minutes
on the site each month—more than any other Web property.
According to emarketer, ad revenue is projected to hit $5.16 billion by the end of 2012, up nearly $2 billion from
2011.
More supporting evidence of plans for future growth in Facebook Advertising: 92% of marketers are using
Facebook; 72% plan on increasing their investment (Search Engine Watch).
What does all this mean for your company? With the advent of Facebook ads, brands have a prime outlet to
reach their audiences in a highly targeted fashion. As we will show, Facebook ads present a unique opportunity
to market your brand and generate more awareness, engagement, leads and sales for your organization.
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The Basics of Facebook Ads
In a nutshell, Facebook ads are a platform by which businesses, brands and individuals can promote a product,
service, event, business page and much more across the social network. Ads appear in the right-hand column
in a variety of locations, such as a user’s home page or even personal timeline. Ads appear based on the
targeting filters selected when creating the campaign (more on this later).
To understand all that Facebook ads have to offer, let’s first look at the different types. Knowing the variety of ad
styles can help you define your campaign’s goals.
Basic Ad Types
• Standard Ad: While it is generally recommended to use Facebook ads to promote your brand within
the social network, there are times when using an external URL, such as a link to a form on your company
website, is beneficial. This ad format enables you to insert an external website address into your ad,
meaning that users will be directed away from Facebook and onto your site.
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• “Like” Ad: A “like” ad drives traffic directly to a specific Facebook page. The headline is set as the default
name of the page within Facebook to which you are sending traffic. This type of ad will work best if you are
trying to increase your fan base. Users can “like” directly on the ad or at the page you send them to.
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• Event Ad: This kind of ad drives traffic to a Facebook event. For example, a university hosting an open
house for prospective students can have them RSVP on the event page or directly in the ad itself.
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• Featured Stories: Overall, featured stories are great ways to increase engagement with your brand’s
business page. Featured stories employ a form of social advertising, showcasing an action a user has taken
related to your page. For instance, let’s say John Doe likes your business page. A sponsored story could
then appear to John Doe’s friends (assuming they are in your pre-defined target audience), letting them
know that he liked your page. This type of social influence can encourage them to like your page as well.
Featured stories include the following categories:
o Page “Like” Featured Story
o Page Post “Like” Featured Story
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o App Used / Game Played Featured Story
o App Shared Featured Story
o Check-In Featured Story
o Domain Featured Story
Now that you have a sense of the many different formats available, let’s examine some details. The following
are five helpful tips you should employ when developing your Facebook ad campaigns.
Tips for Creating Facebook Campaigns that Deliver Results
1. Use Facebook’s “Interest” Targeting Filters
One of the greatest advantages of using Facebook ads is that you can create highly targeted campaigns
geared towards people’s interests. In Facebook’s advertising parlance, “interests” refer to keywords found
in a user’s profile or other pages they have liked. An interest could be as general as “sports” or specific
as “NCAA basketball.” Marketers should think about their target audiences and create a list of keyword
“interests.”
As you’re building your campaign and selecting your target interests, Facebook will display a box to the right
that tells you the estimated reach of your campaign. Pay attention to this number, as you will ideally want to
target at least 10,000 people. If your reach falls below this number, consider adding more “interests” or try
broad categories. In general, you want to be specific yet not limit your visibility with the potential customers
who may have less information in their profiles.
2. Employ Social Advertising in Your Campaign
Another important feature of Facebook ads is social endorsement. When creating your campaign, you
can choose to target your ad at friends of existing fans. Be sure to do this. Seeing that one of their friends
already likes your brand or checked in at your location will act as a recommendation on your behalf and
further encourage them to engage with you as well.
3. Use Ads To Drive More Facebook Engagement
For many brands, a Facebook page is an extension of the company website. As such, it is important to build
relationships with users on Facebook. Instead of creating Facebook ads strictly to drive sales, consider
using them to increase engagement. Design a campaign that increases your page’s fan base. Once people
have committed to liking your brand, you can then implement creative ways to turn them into customers.
If you’re looking to dramatically drive more “likes,” targeting traffic to your fan page will have the greatest
immediate impact.
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4. Develop Multiple Versions of Your Ads
Like with any ad campaign, you’ll want to test multiple versions. Try using different ad types and seeing
what gets the best results. Test a “sponsored story” against a new ad message. While both may be aimed at
increasing “likes” of your page, one may perform better than the other. In addition, try mixing-and-matching
your ad copy with different images.
5. Monitor Results & Rotate Ads
Facebook provides a great dashboard to monitor results. Two data points you’ll want to watch closely are
the campaign’s CTR (click-through-rate) and your “connections.” Generally, a CTR of 0.02–0.05 percent is a
good benchmark. If your CTR drops below this, it may be time to rotate that ad out. You’ll also want to look
at the number of connections your ads have produced. “Connections” are counted when someone likes your
page from your ad. You may find that a certain ad has a high CTR, but is not delivering many connections.
If this is the case, consider adjusting your ad. If generating sales or leads is your main goal, track goals in
your site’s analytics platform to make sure you are getting conversions. In this situation, connections are not
nearly as important: It’s what users do on your website or landing page that matters.
6. Segment Campaigns by Specific Demographics
After running campaigns for a couple weeks, run a ”responder demographics” report and look at the
different demographics that have the highest click-thru rates. Then, consider creating new campaigns
targeting just those demographics and write copy specific to those audiences:
As Facebook continues to dominate the world of social networking, Facebook ads present a significant
opportunity to reach your target audience and generate engagement. If you’re looking for ways to drive
interaction with your social network, consider advertising on Facebook. As you get started, feel free to drop
Fathom a note if you have any questions. As experienced search-engine marketing and display advertising
professionals, we are prepared to help you meet your Facebook marketing goals.
Sources: Fathom Research & Strategy, eMarketer, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, ThinkGoogle, Forrester,
Mashable, SearchEngineLand,Hoovers
5About Fathom
Fathom begins with the end in mind—achieving its clients’ financial objectives. As a full-service digital agency,
it helps clients surpass business and financial goals in an ever-connected digital world. Ranked one of the top
interactive search firms in the nation, Fathom delivers effective and high-return strategies that drive revenue at
every digital touchpoint. Its proven expertise makes it an easy choice for mid-cap and large enterprises alike by
offering simple and accountable solutions to a complex world.
The company has offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit and San Diego.
About the Author: Brandon Bornancin
As director of business development, Brandon is leading digital marketing & sales efforts
across Fathom’s Fortune 500 accounts in the technology, retail, manufacturing, finance,
healthcare and education industries. Brandon has worked with some of the world’s most
respected brands such as Adobe, Autodesk, Express, Forest Laboratories, Google, Grange
Insurance, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Intuit, Jim Beam Bourbon, KeyBank, Kohler, Microsoft,
Microstrategy, PartyPoker, Robert Bosch, Sherwin-Williams, Sanofi-Aventis, Speck Products,
TomTom, Victoria’s Secret Pink, Vitamin Water & Xbox among others.
His digital expertise spans across experience design, social marketing, digital commerce, mobile strategy, and
search marketing. In addition to his full-time role at Fathom, he enjoys spending time developing new software
and technology prototypes that capitalize on emerging trends in digital.
About the Author: Joe Castro
As director of online advertising at Fathom, Joe is constantly working on high-level strategy
with account executives and online advertising specialists at Fathom. He also is continuing to
research and ensure Fathom’s online advertising department is finding new opportunities to
deliver results that matter for our clients. Joe has worked at Fathom since January 2007. He
has helped run successful online advertising campaigns for several clients from many different
industries focusing on: education, healthcare, technology, and travel.
Hours: 8:00 – 5:00 ET, M-F
Tel: 1-866-726-5968
Simple. Accountable. Results that matter.
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