Full Service Social Media Marketing

But, wait, what? I'm a social media marketer. Not a digital advertising expert. This isn't my area! I don't know how to do this stuff?!

Ehhhhh--wrong.

If you're working in social media these days, you've gotta know how to make your way around the Facebook Ads Manager. And you've gotta know how to take that awesome content you've been sharing organically to your Business Page and pump it out to specific, targeted audiences, at specific times with some budget behind it to really make it fly.

But don't worry - it's not that hard. And also, it's SUPER effective. If you haven't been doing this, you've probably been feeling frustrated with your low engagement and flatlining increase in Page Likes. Have you? Awww, I feel ya. You're not alone. Facebook has changed it up on us. That damn illusive algorithm! Now it's "pay to play" baby. Bottom line. So time to get into it.

There is some good news here, though!

1. Facebook advertising is very effective and can help you reach more of the right people faster.

2. You don't have to invest a tonne to get results.

If you're just getting started with Facebook advertising, here are the first Audiences you're going to want to get set up before you kick things off.

#1 Customer List

When you upload a list of your customer's email addresses into Facebook Ads Manager, Facebook will go and find those people's profiles and put them into a nice little list for you.

Here's how you do it.

Why is this useful?

You can run specific ads to this audience that make sense only for them. For example: tell them about a referral program you've just launched, make them aware of a members-only event you're hosting, etc.

Why else?

When you run ads targeting new customers, don't waste your valuable advertising dollars serving these up to your existing customers! You can opt to "Exclude" this audience when creating your ad and Facebook will avoid these people for you. Neat-o, hey?

#2 Subscribers

You probably have a list of people that have provided their email addresses that you market to with newsletters and such, and you can continue that great work here on Facebook!

Why is that an awesome idea?

People need reminding. They need to see the same message multiple times before they actually take action. So hit 'em with an email, and then serve them up a Facebook ad or two and you're more likely to see them convert!

This audience is generally most likely to convert because they are already aware of your business/product and likely trust you on some level, as they've provided their email address to you. They're in what we marketers call the "Consideration" phase.

#3 Website Traffic

You've probably been on the receiving end of this type of advertising.... Leisurely perusing your own News Feed and BAM - there's an ad for you from a business who's website you were just on yesterday! How the heck?! How did they know? Well... because marketers are VERY smart. Muhahahaha!

How do I create this list?

First you need to set up and install your Facebook pixel. Here's how you do that. Once that's done, you can create this audience.

And once this has been tracking for awhile (very ambiguous timeline, I know, but it depends on how many visitors your website gets - you need at least 100 people in your list) you can create a lookalike---oh wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. That's coming up.

#4 Engagement on Facebook

Create a custom audience of your "Super Fans" - the people that seem to LOVE your content and are constantly engaging with it.

What content would I serve them?

Well, you'd probably want to target these people when running contests based on engagement or any content that you really want people to interact with. For example: comment below to win, tag a friend who would love this, etc.

Why do I need this audience?

Two reasons. First: Your "Super Fans" could still be missing your stuff. Facebook's algorithm isn't perfect. So serving it up in an ad format targeting them is a better way to ensure it hits them so they can engage away. Second: If these people love you and love your content, then creating an audience of them is really a perfect representation of your target market, right? So once you have all them all compiled into this list, you can analyze them and find more people like them! How? Lookalike audiences, of course! And it's finally time to tell you about them. (My favorite part because they're just SO effective!)

#5, #6, #7 and #8 Lookalike Audiences

Your next four audiences are the easiest to create, but are also going to be incredibly useful for you in reaching NEW customers. I say don't bother with trying to pick specific demographics and key interests that align with your target market. Not that it's totally ineffective, but it's going to take you a lot of guessing to get it right AND there's no guarantee that your target market is doing a good job of telling Facebook what they're interested in. Instead, let Facebook's AI (artificial intelligence) do the hard work for you and figure out who is most likely to buy from you.

That's what lookalike audiences are!

For each of the audiences you created above, create a Lookalike Audience of it and Facebook will take a close look at your original list and find more people like that for you!

What types of ads are great for these audiences?

Anything designed to bring new people in the door. For example: introductory offers, messaging around the specific pain points your business addresses, etc.

That's it! You're ready. Go get these set up and start running some ads. And don't forget to study your results to see which audiences work best for you! You can (and should) always tweak things as you go to continually optimize.

Happy advertising!

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