When it comes to advertising on Facebook, you have many options for the best strategies for your business. These strategic options depend on who your target audience is and how you want to reach them. You also want to ensure that these choices are in line with a robust digital marketing strategy.

The first decision you will have to make when advertising on Facebook is the type of promotions you want to use. You'll need to decide if you need to use boosted posts or create ads in the Facebook Ad Center. While both of these options create what are considered advertisements, they offer very different customization options and have different capabilities for reaching your target audiences.

Below, we go over the different options for boosting posts and Facebook Ad Center ads, and we throw in some tips of the trade while we’re at it.

Easiest Way to Advertise on Facebook - Boosted Posts

A boosted post is a regular post on your timeline that you put money behind to reach your chosen audience. These boosted posts are still considered ads, but they don’t have all of the same customizations that are available in the Ads Manager.

A good strategy for boosting a post is to select a post with good engagement that can drive traffic to your website. You also want to make sure to put some thought into the strategy behind the other steps required to complete a boosted post:

Select your target audience. With this step, you want to make sure that the audience you select fits within your target geographical and age range. You want to narrow the audience down, but not so much that you don’t get a wide enough reach. Use the gauge at the bottom of the audience selection tool to make sure you have a nice balance. If you hit the sweet spot, your indicator will point to green.
Set your budget. With this option, you can set the maximum amount of money you want to spend on your boosted post (minimum is $1/day) and how many days you want your ad (boosted post) to run. Make sure you are spending enough to reach a fair amount of people each day the ad runs. The budget options will let you know how many people you are likely to reach with your chosen dollar amount.

Boosting a post allows you to reach a wider audience and optimize for page likes, comments, and shares. However, if you want to focus your Facebook advertising strategy on things like app installs, website conversions, video views, and shop orders, the advanced customization options in the Facebook Ad center are going to suit your needs better.

Facebook Ad Center

Facebook makes advertising on its social media platform fairly easy with the Ads Manager. The instructions for creating an ad on Facebook for Business boast that their “advertising solutions are for every level of expertise.” If you have the time to create and run an ad campaign on your own, the Facebook Ad Center has plenty of easy-to-use tools and reporting.

Let’s take a look at the different steps for creating a Facebook Ad with some added tips for success:

Objective. The first step suggested by Facebook is to choose your objective. This is where you will set what you want to accomplish with your ad. Do you want to drive conversions on your website? Do you want more people to download your app? Is the goal to increase your brand awareness? The answer to these questions should fit in with your overall digital strategy. Make sure you are focusing all of your efforts on the same set of goals to reach the desired results from your campaigns.
Audience. The second step is to select your audience. You may already know a bit about the people you want your ads to reach (age, location, etc.), but spend some time creating a profile for your target audience. Write out their interests, other products they might purchase, and even where they might go on vacation to relax. The clearer the picture you have for your audience, the better you will be at creating a custom audience that reaches the exact people you want.
Location. Facebook allows you to choose where you want to run your ad (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network, specific mobile devices). You can select automatic placements that will show your ads where your audience is most likely to see them, or you can edit placements, which may make your ads less likely to reach as many people.
Budget. When you go to select your daily or lifetime budget and for how long you want your ads to run, be sure to check the “Predictable Reach and Frequency” of those ads. You want to make sure you are putting enough money behind your ads to make them worth the effort.
Format. Before you place your ad order, you will need to choose a format for your ad. Each formatting option is versatile, meaning they will look great on whatever device they are being viewed. Here you can choose to have a single image, video, or slideshow. Tip: select an option that allows for movement, like the single video option. Movement catches the eye of your audience and makes your ads more effective and visually appealing.

The main differences between a boosted post and an ad are the options you have for how the ad is presented (carousel, static, video) and the advanced targeting options available in the Ad Center.

Facebook Ad Policies

Before you place your order, make sure that your advertisement adheres to Facebook’s advertising policies. These policies cover everything from inappropriate content to the amount of text you can have on a graphic.

One of the policies a lot of people miss is calling out “personal attributes” of the people you are targeting. Many people mistake this to mean that you can’t use the word “you” in an ad, but the truth is that you don’t want to make any assertions about a person who might see your ad - it can be creepy if an ad seems to target you too much on a personal level.

Final Thoughts on Facebook Ads

While Facebook Business Manager states that creating ads is easy enough for just about anyone to give it a try, a lot more goes into creating an effective ad for achieving your desired outcomes. You will need time and dedication to plan out a strong strategy that will align with the rest of your digital campaign. Luckily, Facebook provides a ton of resources for you to read through and research so that you can have a better understanding of what you can accomplish with your ads.

Choose a Digital Marketing Agency to Help with the Social Media Strategy for your Business

If you don’t have the time or willpower to take all of this on yourself, don’t give up on your social advertising strategy just yet! Agencies like Zeekee’s parent company, Bell Media, have the expertise to create a digital marketing campaign that includes a robust social media strategy.

Bell Media helps companies with social media advertising services to reach the right target market with the right message. The social media advertising channels of choice for Bell Media include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat platforms. Contact Bell Media today if you are interested in taking your social media advertising to the next level.