Facebook Ads can be an effective way to advertise and promote your brand to you target audience - but done badly, it can cost more than you get it sales. In this blog post, we will discuss what Facebook Ads is and how you can get the most out of advertising through Facebook.

Below is a short summary video of this article. You might want to watch this first.

What is Facebook Ads?

Facebook Ads is a form of online advertising where businesses can promote themselves and their products. It has experienced huge growth in the past few years, but with a growing number of businesses advertising, the effectiveness of ads has become more challenging.

The basic idea behind Facebook ads is that the advertiser sets up an advert with a budget to reach an audience on Facebook. The ad appears on someone's Newsfeed if they have "liked" their business page or if they have shown interest in similar products or services related to their industry.

As well as advertising on Facebook, you can also promote your brand on third-party sites as well as on Instagram.

Facebook Ads is an excellent way to connect with your target audience because it allows you to customise what you want your customers to see.

With Facebook Ads, you can also tailor your messaging and choose who sees it by setting up a campaign with a defined target audience.

You might, for example, want to target people aged 30-40 who live within 20 miles of London and have an interest in reading books, or you might target business owners in New York who have an interest in playing golf… you get the idea.

You can pay for ads in various ways such as for ads that lead people to specific landing pages, or based on how many times your video has been viewed. You can also purchase ads on a cost-per-click basis or cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM).

If you would like to know more about the different ways to advertise on Facebook, get in touch with Think Twice Marketing. We would be happy to run through the various options available.

Tips for Facebook Ads success

Here are some quick Facebook Ads tips for making your campaign a success:

Be specific with your targeting

Facebook advertising is all about targeting your audience with an advert that will resonate with them based on what they like, who they are, and what they do.

The more specific you are with your targeting and with your messaging, the more likely they will respond to your ad.

A classic mistake many advertisers make is to target their audience too much on interests. This means that many people outside of their target audience will see the ad, leading to wasted money and less effective lead generation.

Imagine you are providing services to plumbers. If you target people whose job role is “Plumber” then you are reaching the right people but, if you target people who have an interest in “plumbing” then this will include anyone who is thinking of becoming a plumber and possibly anyone who is in need of a plumber.

If these incorrectly targeted people see or click on the ad then that’s wasted money spent on ads. And to make things worse, they might see the ad instead of someone who actually is a plumber!

Also, use language and words that your target audience uses. The more you use your target audiences tone and words, the more likely they will resonate with your ad.

Use Facebook Pixel and re-targeting

Apple has introduced privacy featues that make re-targeting harder but it should still be used in your marketing. Not everyone uses an iPhone when browsing the internet and accessing Facebook and there is still a huge potential if re-targeting is done propertly.

Facebook pixel is code that tracks conversions. Facebook will give you the code which you can then add to your website to track visitors.

The Facebook pixel code also tracks any user behaviour related to your campaign. It can track when a user sees an advert, clicks on it, and when they take any action on the website linked to the advert.

This helps to understand how effective your campaign is. It also helps with re-targeting.

Re-targeting is the process of showing ads to people who have expressed interest in a company’s goods or services. Once a prospect has visited a website or clicked on an ad, they will continue to see related ads. For many people starting out in marketing, this might seem strange but it’s a highly effective way to increase conversion rates.

Nowadays, every business with an online presence should have its own Facebook pixel set up for tracking and re-targeting purposes.

Create a well-worded ad

In terms of Facebook Ads tips, this is possibly one of the most important. A well-written Facebook Ad is essential to the success of a business. A clear and concise message is not only what catches the eye of consumers, but also what instils trust in potential buyers.

Would you buy from a badly worded ad or one that has spelling mistakes?

A good advertisement should also never be too complicated or too difficult to understand. It should be well worded and designed to appeal to your target audience.

The most successful advertisements are those that are able to communicate specific benefits and value to their target audience. They should also have a strong call to action.

Need help with your advertising?

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post, full of Facebook Ads tips to grow your business. If you want to take your Facebook Ads campaign to the next level then help is available.

At Think Twice Marketing, we specialise in creating Facebook and Google Ads to get you results. We work with clients to properly define the target audience and messaging so that they get the results they deserve.

If you would like help to ensure that you don’t waste money on ineffective ads then get in touch today.

When creating videos for marketing, there are various types of videos you can use. The type of video you use will depend on your objectives and other factors such as who your target audience is.

Here are some of the most popular and most effective type of videos you can use:

(Note: You may come across different names for some of these videos. We mention some of the alternative names where possible).

Animated videos

Also known as dynamic illustrations or explainer videos. Animated videos can contain cartoon-style drawings and animation such as a hand, writing the words across the screen. Animated videos are normally very short (up to 2-3 minutes) and have a very high tempo.

Animated videos are great for explaining how a product or process works which is why they are referred to as explainer videos.

Here’s an example of an animated video we did explaining how Google Search works.

Animated videos are great for keeping the attention of your target audience but on the downside, they don’t have real people in the videos and possibly lack the personality of some of the videos mentioned below. A video featuring you, people in your business or your customers talking about your service allows potential customers to become more familiar with your brand and to build a stronger bond.

Corporate/Brand videos

Corporate videos are a great way to show how professional and established a business is. These videos tend to be longer than animated videos and for best results, they are typically up to 10 minutes long. The video might include shots of the offices, the manufacturing or design areas, staff and possibly customers. A mixture of music and spoken audio (whether that’s someone in front of the camera or a voice-over) brings the video to life.

Corporate videos promote the brand and the company as a whole. They are useful for presentations and for showing to potential clients when bidding for business as they give valuable insights into how the business can help.

These types of videos, however, aren’t usually the most exciting videos, and they only connect with customers on a higher, possibly more superficial, level.

Testimonial videos

Is your product or service any good? How can anyone trust that you deliver a good service or that you will deliver on your promises?

The ultimate way to do this pre-sale is to be referred to and recommended by another customer who thinks what you have done for them is amazing. Of course, this isn’t always possible and many potential customers will find you through various marketing campaigns and channels. Having testimonial videos on your website and that you showcase on social media is a great way to convince people to buy from you.

A testimonial video involves having one or more customers on camera explaining what you did for them, the benefits and how it made them feel. Videos can be as short as 20 seconds with one customer or as long as 1-2 minutes with several customers giving very brief feedback.

The main challenge with testimonial videos is having customers who are willing to go on camera and finding the time and resources to record and edit the video. Having written testimonials is much easier and still powerful, but nothing is better than seeing a customer saying how delighted they are!

Live (and recorded) social videos 

These types of videos can vary in style and length. They can be the ‘on-the-fly’ style videos - you’ve probably seen the guy walking down a busy street using the camera on his phone, telling you what he is up to and sharing his top tip or thought of the day. They can also be a carefully planned out Facebook Live video recorded from your office that lasts anything up to an hour! (personally, I think that anything over 20 minutes is too long but there are circumstances where longer videos are needed).

Live videos are great for engaging your audience on social media and allow your fans to build familiarity with you and your brand on a personal level. Done properly, they can even be recorded and used in an Ads campaign to promote a service or special offer.

One speaker personal videos

This type of video is very similar to Live social videos. The only difference is that they aren’t live. These videos typically involve one person, talking on camera about a topic that interests your audience. This might be a special promotion you are running or it could be providing some great advice. A business coach, for example, might do a quick video to discuss the importance of delegating or how to motivate and lead a team for effective results.

Presentation style pictures and sound

There are a number of apps available that allow you to upload images and select a background soundtrack. The app then creates a video which involves playing the images in a sequence with the background soundtrack. You can also add overlay wording and special effects such as having an image fade out or zoom in. Using these apps are generally low cost and relatively easy to make compared to hiring a professional. They are also very effective but lack the personal touch that live social or testimonial videos provide.

Presentation style videos are great for presenting products such as tasty food dishes for a restaurant. They are also great for providing a summary of a blog post that you have written.

At Think Twice Marketing, we convert many of our blog posts into a video you can watch. See the video at the bottom of this blog post! We also offer this as a service to customers. Get in touch to find out more.

Desktop/Webinar style videos

Webinars involve sharing your screen, PowerPoint slides and possibly your face on the screen. They are a great way to interact and explain how something works and are often used with an educational focus. These videos can be used as part of the sales process by capturing leads (the people who attend your webinar, for example). Webinars can be delivered live or pre-recorded and hosted online, for example on your website.

GIF animation

GIF images are very short videos with no sound. You can source ready-made GIFs from websites such as Giphy and you can also make your own GIF image by using a third-party app to combine images together. GIFs are great for social media and email marketing as they are quick and easy to source and can grab the readers attention. You might point out that they aren’t really a video as there is no sound, they just bring images to life and they are very short but we have included them as they can provide a sequence of images like a video and they provide animation.

Summary

Above are the main types of videos you can use in your marketing. It’s important to use the right type of video for your objectives and to plan in advance what the video will include. You don’t, for example, want to start a live video and then realise that you aren’t sure what you want to cover in it!

If you would like help understanding how to use videos in your marketing, get in touch. We are happy to help.

In the past 8 years, I have certainly had many challenges creating and writing content for customers but it has given me the opportunity to refine the process so that better content can be done more efficiently. Here are 7 great tools you should consider:

Grammarly - Avoid bad spellings and grammar with this great app. You can integrate Grammarly into your processes, whether that's gmail for emails. your app you use for scheduling content or Google Docs. Although it annoys me from time to time when it isn't right, it's the best I've used and I couldn't live without it.

Stencil - This online app helps you quickly create images for social media as well as images for your website or email marketing. As well as Stencil, Canva is another tool that's more popular as well as Pablo (from Buffer) and Relay.that.

Ezgif - This online tools has the strap line 'animated GIFs made easy' but it's more than that. If you have ever tried to upload a video to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram you are most likely to have come across issues such as it being too long for Twitter, not square enough for Facebook or too short for Instagram. Sigh! The ezgif app allow you to resize, crop, shorten and even convert videos from GIF to MP4 and much more!
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WhatFont - This Chrome extension allows you to hover over wording on any website and see what font is being used. If you are creating images with wording then you can make sure your brand is consistent by using the same font throughout.

Eye Dropper - This Chrome extension is similar to WhatFont but is for colours. Add the extension, visit a site and hover over a part of the site and it will show you the colour as well as provide you with the exact colour code which you can then use in your image design or web coding.

Rawshorts - There are various solutions for creating fun, educational and promotional videos and Rawshorts is worth considering. The free version has limitations (no surprise there!) but it's good enough to create some great looking videos. Some of our animated videos on YouTube were created with Rawshorts.

Lumen5 - Quickly and easily turn your blog posts into a video - or add a video version to your blog posts! All you have to do with Lumen5 is add the URL of your blog post (or copy and paste the blog wording) and this handy app will break the blog post into multiple frames and add images based on the wording. If your wording says 'how to cook a great dish' then it will return images related to cooking or a kitchen. Make some changes and add some background music and you are ready to go! 

These are just a selection of useful tools and based on our experience but if you would like to share your experience of other apps why not get in touch or share it with us on social media? Don't forget to tag us when you do.

Get in touch if you need help with your content marketing.

When I graduated in International Business, a course that was very marketing focused, I went on to work for larger corporations in what could now be labelled traditional marketing. I accept that a lot has changed since then but what I learned and performed in terms of marketing included:

- Developing products and solutions that met the benefits of the customer
- Understanding customer needs and how the customers' mind works
- Integrating sales and marketing activities as a single unit
- Pricing a product inline with it's perceived value and in a way that maximises profit
- and much more!

The average social media marketer might not, for example, understand how the whole lead generation process should look, how power words such as 'now' or 'limited' make a difference, what the best colour is for a call to action button (orange is usually best) or that black conveys professionalism in artwork while blue conveys trust.

That's not to say that the marketer isn't smart, it's that focus is on how social media works and how content should be formatted and scheduled.

Marketing has required skills in many areas, so a video agency or an SEO expert isn't expected to understand how to develop a marketing strategy for a customer or why customers behave the way they do.

My book Psychology in Marketing and Sales discusses many other elements that marketing involves including the customer buyer journey, why we decide to buy a specific product or service and how we are influenced by different ways in which a product or service is positioned.

As a business grows, think twice about who you hire and how they can help. If you are serious about business growth then an expert in video, social media or email marketing (or SEO) should be considered, but having a marketing manager who looks at the bigger picture and brings the many marketing elements together should be a top priority!