Several businesses are turning to Facebook ads to increase sales in 2021.
Many of you would know what Facebook is by now, even people in their eighties are using it! Facebook aka FB – it started as an online social media and social networking site in 2004, taking over Friendster in a short amount of time.
It can be accessed anywhere with internet connectivity and as long as you are at least 13 years old, you can create an account and look for friends online. They can be your real friends or interesting strangers that you like to befriend online. All it takes is to send a friend request to them and upon the other party’s acceptance, you gain yet another new friend in your FB circle.
Facebook has grown from sharing photos, videos and hashtags to advertisements, indicating your mood for the day and checking in to blogs, the current FB live, watch party and stories.
From a simple social networking site to an influential information site that can affect political landscapes around the world – it has become the new information source compared to the Straits Times and Channel News Asia.
FB groups and pages were initially created for the purpose of sharing personal hobbies and interests; this gradually moved to businesses and communities creating their own pages in order to reach a wider audience.
This is part of Facebook advertising and today we are going to talk exactly what it is about; why so many people are turning to Facebook ads to increase sales.
For traditional business models that were in use since our parents’ generations, ads were usually placed in the newspapers, television, radio and then evolved to open spaces on the internet, bus stop panels, using bloggers and Youtubers etc. However, advertising has evolved and exploded primarily onto Facebook. Why?
Here are 7 top reasons why Facebook ads is the preferred marketing tool for businesses worldwide:
1. You can set your advertising objective
Depending on the nature and age of your business, you might want to do different things at every stage and being able to do that just gives FB the competitive edge over other forms of advertising.
If you are just starting out, you can choose lead generation and brand awareness as primary objectives whereas for seasoned entrepreneurs or business owners, they can choose reach and conversions as the objectives to drive their companies into the next level of profit.
2. Demographic targeting
Traditional advertising was often limited to region and country plus random people who happened to come into contact with the advertisement but with FB, it has bridged the gap and also for other parameters like age, gender and language.
It helps you to reach your target market easily be it region-specific or age-specific etc. If you are planning to run a global conglomerate, it makes the process even sweeter. Just a simple click of the mouse puts you on the world map without needing to liaise with someone from another country to run your ads.
3. Behavioural targeting
Facebook uses data from third party partners, coupled with their own algorithms to figure out specific target audience behaviours online and offline, FB allows advertisers to target audience segments based on their buying or interest behaviour.
You will notice that fashion ads will usually “pop up” in your feed if you love to purchase clothes online or travel ads sliding by when you are a member of many travel interest groups. This is the new smart way to increase sales.
4. Budgeting is possible
Traditional business advertising often causes a hole in our pockets even before we see success and sometimes, giving up on the business or advertising because the cost was just too high.
With Facebook ads, you not only can set a daily budget but also be able to set the ad start and end date; thereby knowing how much you exactly spend on each ad campaign without causing a break in your bank account. A powerful marketing tool on a low budget – every newbie entrepreneur’s dream!
5. Set your preferred format
For businesses like fashion and luxury watches – photos, videos, stories and collection are more apt for executing the ad campaign whereas for real estate and insurance products – carousel, slideshow and messenger prove to be more suitable. Human beings are sensory creatures and we capture information differently hence the need for various types of ad formats.
6. Automation
Taking a break during the weekend or going on holidays is no longer an impossible feat with the scheduler in Facebook ads. You can plan and schedule your ads during working days and they run even when you are held up by other business appointments or just want to spend time with your loved ones. The burnt weekend mode is no longer applicable. Hurray for automation!
7. Analytics
We usually need to wait for someone to consolidate the results or outcome of our ad campaigns from traditional advertising and the reports only come back a few days later.
With the analytics in Facebook ads manager, this is no longer a hurdle as we get to observe and analyse the results in real time. We will then know whether we should continue, stop or even tweak the campaign, it also helps to save and give ourselves time ahead to plan the next ad campaign.
Now that you know the 7 top reasons for using Facebook ads, we hope this will greatly help you move forward in the next step of your business. Technology is ever changing and what better way to use it to improve not only our personal lives but business growth too? All the best and have fun in your advertising journey!
