Facebook Advertising is one of the most effective ways of promoting your business online. Whether running a local business or something more global, Facebook has proven to be one of the most effective platforms to promote your efforts. Of course, there are plenty of other methods, like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for the long run or browser-based PPC ads like in the case of Google Ads, but – when it comes to social media – Facebook is the number one with everyone being long behind it.
This article will discuss how Facebook Advertising works, what you can do with it, and how to implement it in your business while not ruining your advertising budget. Of course, there are plenty of elements of Facebook ads that we could not address, as the topic is rather broad. Still, we believe that after reading this article, you will have some understanding of what it is, work on your opinion about it, and if it’s essentially a tool that you could use to boost your online presence. So, with that in mind, let’s get into some details!
What Is Facebook Advertising?
Let’s first briefly explain the central concept at hand – Facebook Ads. What is it exactly, and how can you benefit from it? Simply speaking, it’s the way that you can promote your business online using the Facebook platform. You have probably seen many ads on Facebook while scrolling through your feed. Those ads are there because someone paid for your attention.
The ads are usually created based on the targeting options that Facebook provides to its advertisers. Then, after choosing the right age, gender, and hobbies, you can set your ad budget. That will then be bid against the other advertisers’ campaigns. Whoever paid the most – wins, and their ads will be displayed to the audience.
There are plenty of ways to utilize this tool for marketing. A well-drafted Facebook Ad campaign can do a lot of good for your local business, your brand awareness campaigns, boosting your sales, or even more basic things like getting greater reach on your social media platform or just getting more likes. Whatever it is, you can count on Facebook Ads to deliver as it is one of the biggest media platforms in the world, with around 25% of the whole digital marketing in its grasp, including the giant Google Ads.
Facebook Ads provides dozens of different possibilities for creating your Facebook Ad campaigns. You can choose your ad format, with even video ads being available on the site, as well as photo ads, ad placements, and one of the best targeting options on the market. As you can see, Facebook Ads work well in all those environments.
Additionally, when it comes to cost, it’s one of the cheapest social media platforms out there, providing some pretty impressive reach for that price. With billions of users worldwide and an advanced Facebook Ads Manager to help you set your bidding, it’s essentially a dream come true for almost every internet user. And, if you add to it the enormous data that Facebook collects daily, you can be pretty sure that your Facebook Ads campaign will get great returns.
Facebook users are among the most highly spied-on individuals on the internet. It may be a problem for many, but for advertisers, there’s an enormous potential to target your ads more precisely and with even better results. So, if you would like to create a Facebook advertising campaign that will reach the people you want to convince – it’s a great platform all around.
Facebook Ads Benefits
Facebook currently has almost 3 billion active users worldwide. And even though people have been trying to predict the end of this medium, it seems to be growing and growing, getting even more advanced with its targeting options, making the Facebook advertising platform one of the best ways to promote your business online.
People visit only two websites more often – Google and YouTube, so you can imagine just how big this giant is. And, if you are wondering what is the number 4 – yes, it is, indeed, Instagram, owned by Meta, the company that created Facebook.
Additionally, number ten is WhatsApp, also owned by Facebook. You can simply choose it to present the ad on Facebook and Instagram while setting up your campaign. Depending on what kind of ad you are running, it may cost some more, as those are integrated, yet different platforms after all. So, as you can see, whether we like it or not, Facebook ads worth is pretty high regarding reach.
Budget Friendly
Whenever an Ad Creative comes to us with their ideas, we often ask – how much it will cost in the end. Well, with Facebook Ads, it’s not that much. Facebook advertising costs are among the lowest in the Social Media landscape. Facebook has one of the most significant conversions and CPM, with Instagram being a close second regarding CPC.
Facebook Ads performance compared to the costs is just astonishing, primarily because you can utilize Facebook and all the other platforms from the Meta family, emphasizing Instagram. Effective Facebook Advertising can bring you much attention while not ruining your budget.
Mobile Advertising
Facebook and Instagram are mobile apps. Let’s face it, it’s not like you are turning on your computer and logging into Facebook in order to see what Mark is doing in his free time. The stats are astonishing – 98.7% of users access Facebook and Instagram via an app on their moblie phone or through the browser. And – it’s great for your business. Why?
Well, as the OpenPR report states, the mobile market reached 102 billion dollars in 2022, and it’s growing substantially every year. We are also reaching 7 billion phone subscriptions worldwide, so you can safely assume that most people in the world will have a phone in the next few years.
So, as the second biggest advertising platform and definitely the number one accessed through mobile – Facebook advertising is the future of marketing. People are buying more and more through their phones, and if you are on the largest phone-based app – you can certainly get in front of many people faces with your ad. Even Mark!
Everyone Is Here!
As you may have noticed – everyone is on Facebook. Studies have shown that it’s the biggest audience on the market. And, one of the most problematic ones, as you can not only meet your mom there but also your child. It’s one of the few platforms where you can choose any demographic, even blindly, and they will be there in some shape or form. So – advertise away!
Custom Audiences
If you look at your Facebook Business Page, you will quickly notice something called Custom Audiences. Here, you can create an ad that will not only give you an insight into all the random people on Facebook but – all the people you have already interacted with. It works like this – you can upload the information you have gathered through your newsletters or list of customers from the past. Facebook will use that information for retargeting options or just getting those people to invest their time in your business. The more data you have, the better your targeting options will be, so be sure to utilize all you have and feed the algorithm to your audience.
Lookalike Audiences
Additionally, you will not only be able to create a list of names or potential users whose ads will be shown on their Facebook news feed but also use advertising Facebook options to create lookalike audiences. That can increase your visibility and even advance the possibility of people interacting with your product, as they are similar to the audiences you have already created on Facebook.
Advanced Targeting
One of the most significant advantages of Facebook is the targeting options. As we have mentioned before, Facebook has been gathering our data for years, interpreting our behavior, and doing lots of shady activities regarding our privacy. Nevertheless, it has some upsides to it. If you want to promote your gaming shop locally, Facebook knows people near you and can help you get to them. And they will be interested.
Facebook advertisers praise the advanced targeting system because you can target not only essential demographic elements like age or gender but also – location, hobbies, and even purchase history. Facebook knows a lot about customer behavior, so if you want to advance your business and take it to the next level, it’s one of the best places to do so.
Facebook Ad Formats
The next big thing about Facebook is the amount of potential ad formats you can utilize to create effective Facebook ads. You will be able to do photos or videos, posts, banners, and whatever else you would like to promote your business with. You can even enable a whole Facebook Page if that matters to you. Or use a video ad in Reels where you just spin around showing the BUY THIS sign. The possibilities in this online advertising strategy are endless! Getting to your target audience with the correct ad copy is critical to reaching the campaign objective, and with so many possibilities, Facebook feels like the right choice.
Enormous Reach
Regarding reach, Facebook is one of the most prominent players in the market. As we have mentioned, there are only two more prominent websites worldwide. One is essentially a web browser to access other websites; the other is a video-sharing website. So, Facebook is the world’s most significant “true” social media, still, after so many years.
Facebook (and Instagram) can provide you with the highest ROI, conversions, leads, or whatever else you need. It’s one of the most excellent services for small and big businesses, with companies spending millions of dollars on Facebook advertising worldwide. Advertising on Facebook is one of the best ways to increase conversions due to the number of people logging in daily. Other social networks can only dream of such traffic. So, advertise on Facebook if you want to find success!
Incredible Analytics
Additionally, Facebook is known to have one of the best analytics tools in the world. Similarly to Google, it has an advanced system where you can see all the relevant information about tracking your ad and keeping your daily budget at bay. It can be used for small businesses or even bigger companies. It will show you the conversion rate, who your clients are, and your competitors if new audiences arrive at your door or your demographics stay the same. Additionally, you can see all the “Cost-Per-X” statistics and what kind of money you are spending on driving traffic. Getting into it can be a time investment, but if you are paying attention to your analytics, you can gain a lot of advancement when saving money and getting even more out of your ads.
Great Retargeting
Additionally, you will be able to get to the right audience and get to them again! Let us explain. For years now, retargeting has been a primary focus of most companies, as it is much easier to market something to people who have already been interested in your products to gain more sales than to find completely new customers from around the world. Conversion rates for remarketing are astronomical; thus, many marketers are focusing on this kind of advertisement.
Facebook is a leading platform for adding more pressure to existing ones, as it can bombard users with images, articles, messages, video views, and everything in between to get you to check the website or a fan page again. It has a tremendous track record in that regard, and in-depth analysis will show you that generating leads using retargeting is right.
Locally or Worldwide
The next thing you can do to get more qualified leads is to target the location of your customers. It’s as easy as that – you can promote your particular store you want people to visit or create your online brand worldwide to get more attention and advertising options. Whatever your campaign objectives, Facebook can help you get those locally or worldwide.
It’s as simple as that – you create an ad, set up all the metrics, and with detailed targeting, Facebook will show your ad to your neighbors or people interested in your page worldwide. And, with three billion users worldwide, you can get new or existing customers to invest in your product.
Paid Traffic
And finally – let’s face it, Facebook is made for profit, and so is your business. That’s why, even pushing a little bit with boosted posts, you can generate some astronomous traffic. Most genuine businesses are still not promoting their products on social networks, hence – losing in the long run. So, if you don’t want to let the better competitors overcome you, start getting more traffic today! Compared to the usual marketing campaign level, overall costs are much lower with Facebook. Ad spend on digital advertising is a much better return on investment than most classic ads, like TV or newspaper.
Facebook Ads – Limitations
But it’s not all bed and roses. Facebook ads also have their limitations, like everything on the market. In this part of this article, we will discuss all the things that can limit the scope of your Facebook Ads to better inform you if it’s the right approach for your business and your company. Of course, it will all depend on your particular situation, location, what kind of business you are running, and if you have low or high prices. With that in mind, let’s get into some details on Facebook Ads limitations.
Apple Products
Fortunately for users, unfortunately for Facebook advertisers, Apple has been trying tirelessly to limit the amount of data that Facebook is gathering from its products. It is evident with the latest iOS 14 update, where the system will inform the user that they are being tracked by an app and can turn off that option.
Mobile devices are essential for Facebook, as most of the traffic comes from there, and considering the popularity of iPhones, it can be an obstacle for the media giant. This will mainly impact the targeting options, as you will not be able to prompt your products as effectively to the iPhone users without their data.
How big of a problem is it for the Facebook ads? Well, it depends. iOS is currently at nearly 30% of the whole global market, so it’s a big chunk, but it’s not everything. And, it’s not like Facebook will stop collecting data in other ways or with the users’ consent with something to encourage them. Nevertheless, it’s an obstacle that they need to take into consideration.
It’s Getting Expensive!
…well, not really, but it is much more expensive than it was even a few years ago. Facebook has been gauging the prices constantly for the last few years, and bidding is getting more and more expensive each day. Of course, it does not mean it’s not a suitable advertising method, but it can be a problem for Facebook in the long run, especially if they reach the medium price of most companies. Many users may then leave Facebook for good, as they will be encouraged to do so because of the more excellent prices.
Is it a big problem? Well, yes and no. Yes, because higher prices will drive lower interest, but secondly – it is still a little too cheap for the market standards. So, Facebook is essentially keeping the costs low in order to stay competitive. And they will be competitive no matter what with this kind of user database. You can expect some increases, but it will be rather yearly, not daily, so things are positive!
It’s Getting Hard(er)!
Well, as with everything in the world, it’s not getting easier out there, so you can imagine that setting up a Facebook ad is the same. It was a pretty straightforward process back in the day when you didn’t have thousands of possibilities. Nowadays, you can be sure that you will encounter something incredibly complicated when setting up your ad, like if you would like to target people who have been previously interested in a product that is similar to yours but not that much.
At GamerSEO, we provide professional assistance for your advertising needs on Facebook, Google, and many other platforms. Additionally, we can help you out in setting up your website according to the SEO best practices.
How Effective Are Facebook Ads?
So, let’s circle back to the topic in question – how effective are Facebook ads? Well, as in all cases – it depends. As we have described time and again, Facebook ads have been known for how cheap and advanced they are when it comes to gaining reach and targeting individuals. But how effective they are in actually bringing the results?
Is It Still Worth It?
In many studies, advertisers pointed to Facebook as one of the best marketing tools out there, with the highest ROI among all the social media platforms, and even, in some cases, being better for them than Google. The 2021 HubSpot study showed that 70% of businesses surveyed pointed to Facebook as the greatest ROI advertising tool they have used. Additionally, Instagram was a close second.
How to Use It?
But, not all the possibilities that Facebook provides are the same. Studies have shown that the right ad placement with a call-to-action button can grant you even 3x the click-through rates. Additionally, ads with higher quality were outperforming the simpler ones as well. Of course, all of this is based on imperfect studies, but it shows one particular commonality between all of these elements. Facebook ads are performing greatly if done correctly. Whether it’s a CTA, a nicer post, or just a more creative ad, Facebook will reward it with greater reach and even better results. Especially while focusing on the mobile aspect of it.
How Does It Work?
The process is pretty simple. You set up your campaign and set your goal. It can be anything from growing your sales, installing the app, or getting more likes in your posts. Whatever it is, you need to set it up. Then, the bidding comes up. Your ad will be put against other ads with a similar target audience. The highest bidder usually wins.
You can influence the price of your ads by making them more or less specific or even retargeting the previous clients. Overall, the process is pretty easy, but setting up a campaign is not, so be sure to use professional help in that regard or just hire someone who knows how to do it. It’s not the easiest of tasks, so if you want to create something meaningful, it will take some practice. Fortunately, Facebook is very responsive when it comes to ad testing, so you can be sure that if you find the right ad for you, you will be rewarded for it with views and reach.
How Effective Are Facebook Ads – Conclusion
And here we are at the end of our road! As you can see, Facebook ads can be a great asset when it comes to running a successful business. It can provide you with an enormous reach for a reasonable price and get you some of the most interesting results when it comes to targeting your audience and getting the most out of your ROI metrics.
You can create your very own ad or do it more automatically. With the right approach, you will be able to reach many people, whether it means getting some locals to find your store or growing your business worldwide. Facebook has almost 3 billion active users, with half of them logging in every day, so you can imagine that this kind of potential cannot go unnoticed.
Additionally, you will be able to test your ads with lower amounts in order to find out what works for you and what does not. Studies have shown that Facebook is still bringing a lot of money to advertisers, and it’s probably not going anywhere any time soon.
Thanks for stopping by! We hope that you found this article informative! If you like this one, be sure to check out other ones on our site. We have a lot of texts on gaming, office-related topics, advertising and marketing, and even software. We are positive that you will find something to your liking. That’s it for today, we stay safe, and we will see you in the next one!
A PPC specialist who started with organic social media. For several years, the core of his activities are:- Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Twitter Ads, Linkedin Ads. He has led campaigns with a global reach, e.g. for FootballTeam, G2A, ETOTO, as well as many smaller campaigns in the sports, construction and financial industries. Has full focus on ROAS. Privately, a fan of football, history of wars and Star Wars.