As of July 2016, Facebook announced the decline in your organic reach for business page. The main reason for that is because Facebook wants to show users what they want to see from their friends. Facebook has a great handle on what is important to you based on who and what you interact with most while you are on Facebook. This means that business pages will see their organic reach decline significantly. This also means that you may want to start using Facebook Ads to increase your reach on Facebook. Here are 5 tips when using ads on Facebook:

  1. Create the right audience. Like with any ad, you want to make sure you target the right customer. Don’t waste advertising dollars on people who will never be interested in what you are selling or promoting. Facebook has tons of insights on their users. Take advantage of that!
  2. Facebook Tracking Pixel. It’s important to track your ad dollars and Facebook has made it easy to do that. You can install this pixel on your website to know how many conversions you received from your Facebook ad to your website.
  3. Utilize Ads Manager and Power Editor. It’s easy to choose to boost your post but I want to encourage you to spend time creating a quality ad with a precisely targeted audience. When you use ads manager and power editor, Facebook will walk you through the process of creating the perfect ad.
  4. Visual Content Tools. You want to use images or videos that will engage your audience so they will view your ad. Some of my favorite apps to create engaging images are: Canva, PicMonkey, Adobe Spark, and Wordswag.
  5. Call to Action. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a call to action within your ad. You want your potential customer to do something. That may be to go buy a product off your website, sign up for your newsletter, like your business page, comment on your ad, or call into your store. If you don’t ask them to do something, it makes it even harder to know if your ad worked.

Do not let Facebook Ads overwhelm you! They can be very successful for your business if you utilize them in the correct way. If you have questions or need help with Facebook feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Kinsey Terry is a Program Coordinator for the University of Georgia SBDC in Rome. Kinsey organizes, executes, and handles the marketing of all Continuing Education programs, teaches the Starting Your Own Business class, and promotes awareness of the SBDC through speaking engagements, management of our social media presence, and other public relations activities.