Traditional advertising usually consists of things like direct mail, billboards, and commercials. But often, these advertising techniques can be extremely expensive, and it can be hard to measure your return on investment (ROI). But luckily, there are a vast amount of options available to marketers regarding social media advertising. Worldwide, there are over 1.49 billion monthly active Facebook users. Advertising on Facebook can provide you with the opportunity to reach a targeted audience, generate the specific results you are looking for and is much more affordable compared to traditional advertising techniques.

First, let’s break down the different forms of advertisements that Facebook offers. Depending on your end goal, you can choose the type of ad that is suitable for your business.

Page Post Engagement

Page Post Engagement is an ad that promotes a specific post, either of text or a photo. For example, a service professional could share a post of their renovated office, and receive likes and comments in the hopes that those users will be drawn to their Facebook Business Page.

Page Likes

This ad type is pretty self-explanatory. Users use this option to increase the number of likes on their Facebook Business Page. This type of ad is a good option if you want to show off your Facebook page and share insightful, useful content with future followers. It’s an excellent opportunity for small businesses to increase their reach, both at the time and in the future.

Clicks to Website

In this ad, the call to action is to visit your website. As with the other forms of advertisements that Facebook offers, you can choose the target audience and demographic you would like to reach. When users click the ad, it goes right to your website. You can direct them to a specific page, such as your services offered, or just the home page so they can explore what you’re offering.

Website Conversions

This ad is a little more complex than the others, because what users can do is alter the code in their website and track user actions, such as entering their email for your newsletter or reaching out to your office. We suggest having a contact form on every page of your website, so this type of ad might not be directly applicable to your practice.

Video Views

Video advertising is one of Facebook’s newest forms of advertising, and can be good for businesses that have high-quality videos that they think prospective viewers would enjoy. This may be more applicable to big businesses that have a budget to create good videos, but small businesses could benefit from this form of advertising, as well.

App Installs

This is an ad whose call to action is for users to download their app. Rather than have a button that says “Like This Page” or “Visit Website,” it says “Install Now” and directs users to their app. Keep in mind, this form of advertisement is only shown on mobile devices because then users are on their device ready for the download.

Offer Claims

Offer ads are perfect if you want people to come into your office and have face-to-face interactions with your team. To create an offer, your Business Page must have at least 50 likes. Examples of offers may be an aspect of service for free or a discount. Depending on your business structure, this may be a good way to get people in the door.

Event Responses

Facebook Events have been around for a while, which is why businesses take advantage of their reach. If you have an event or seminar, this ad may be the best option to promote that event. Marketers can adjust the geographical reach of the ad to attract prospects in the appropriate area.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the types of ads that Facebook offers, we’ll explain how to get started with Facebook advertising.

  1. Choose the type of ad (explained above) that you think is right for your business and the engagement that you are hoping for.
  2. Create an Ad Account. You will be able to set the account you want the advertisements for, the currency to use, and the time zone you are in.
  3. Target your ad by choosing the demographics that you want your ad to reach. You can choose things like gender, geographic region, age range, and interests. Facebook will give you a scale on how broad or specific your reach is.
  4. Set your budget. You can choose to have a daily or monthly payment and the cost that you can afford. Obviously, the more you spend, the more people Facebook will let you reach.
  5. This is the fun part. Now, you can create your ad. You can select images and text and Facebook will generate a preview of what your ad will look like to viewers. Make sure to create an ad that is engaging and that will grab viewers’ attention.
  6. Review and place your order.

It should come as no surprise that social media advertising is the future of marketing. It’s less expensive, more direct, and easier to track. It’s easy to take advantage of the clear ROI, eight billion daily views, and targeted audiences.