Having worked on Facebook advertising for several years for businesses of different sizes and industries, I’ve accumulated a fair amount of experience and insights into the intricacies of Facebook advertising. In my opinion, the best way to learn Facebook advertising is undoubtedly through practical hands-on experience and experimentation. The internet has also served as an excellent source of information whenever I’ve encountered challenges that required novel solutions or when I wanted to try out new strategies. In this text, I aim to briefly share some of the key lessons I’ve learned from my experience with Facebook.

Targeting and Facebook Advertising

When discussing Facebook advertising, targeting inevitably comes up at some point, and the discussion revolves around the convenience of showing ads to specific target audiences through precise targeting. Over time, I’ve developed a somewhat opposite perspective on the benefits of targeting, especially when advertising in a relatively small country like Finland. Often, the challenge arises when assumptions about potential customers are made too confidently, such as guessing their age and interests. Depending on the campaign’s objective and the industry of the business, for instance, specifying a ten-year age range and a few interests in demographic data can significantly weaken campaign results. Personally, I mostly recommend geographical targeting for businesses that offer local services or want to advertise brick-and-mortar stores.

Trust in the Algorithm

So, it’s advisable to leave the targeting options in Facebook’s campaign settings mostly untouched when marketing domestically. However, there are other ways to utilize Facebook’s algorithm for targeting. One way to get the algorithm to target your ads is by defining the campaign objective. Do you want to attract buyers to your website, generate traffic, or gain more followers on your channels? One of the remarkable features of Facebook’s algorithm is that you can set it to work on your behalf, targeting your ads at those who are most likely to achieve your campaign objectives. It sounds a bit too easy, doesn’t it?

When considering Facebook advertising, it’s not always about making a sale with the first click. Often, in constructing sales funnels, customized audiences are required, which you can create based on the data collected from your page and Facebook pixel. Custom audiences are also appealing in that they’re not based on guesswork; they operate on solid data to support your sales efforts. The same targeting principle applies to custom audiences, using the algorithm to achieve a specific goal. In summary, you can trust the algorithm, and it’s not advisable to try to outsmart it with targeting tools.

The Power of Text

It’s probably clear to many that text and copywriting are among the most critical elements in Facebook advertising. It took me a while to realize how important it is to genuinely communicate with customers and your intended target audience in their “language.” It’s not always easy to write what the customer wants to read. Compelling ad copy often requires a deep understanding of the audience’s needs and the problems you aim to solve. Often, I’ve noticed advertisers focusing too much on the product in their Facebook advertising, which usually yields lackluster results.

What Does the Customer Want to Hear?

I’ve made the mistake myself of going through product features in ads but forgetting to convey how the product actually benefits the customer. Take, for example, dietary supplements and natural products, and consider a product like vitamin D. You can list the packaging size, price, brand, and all sorts of information in the ad that doesn’t hold real value for the consumer. An ad that features such product details in its copy often goes unnoticed by viewers on social media, and they might not connect your product with its bone-strengthening effects, even if they know that vitamin D is good for the bones. While it might be easy for a seller to assume that customers know even the simplest product benefits, I’ve found it better to spell it out plainly. Your products and services are exactly what you describe them to be.

So, we’ve covered what to say, but now let’s consider when to say it. Equally crucial in advertising is structuring your text well, as if your ads in the Facebook feed catch the attention of potential customers, you want to keep them engaged. Below is a list that you can use as a basis for constructing ad text to maintain interest until the end.

Structuring Ad Copy Point by Point:

Capturing the Audience’s Attention

• Attention-grabbing statistics/facts
• “Hey, you, representative of target group X”
• A question for the viewer of the ad

Highlighting the Audience’s Problems

• “Problem X is common, and many people suffer from it”
• “Getting in shape for summer isn’t easy” Offering a Concrete Solution
• “An easy and quick way to achieve your desired results!”
• “The world’s simplest way to succeed”

Creating Pressure

• “Why should you buy right now?”
• Limited/unique offer
• “Don’t wait any longer!”

A Satisfied Customer’s Experience

• “I was satisfied with the service”
• “I would buy again!”

Providing Instructions to Obtain the Solution / Call to Action

• “Order now from our website!”
• “Request a quote through the link!”

Websites Make Up Half of the Success

While Facebook advertising serves as an entry point to your website, your website should strongly support the goal you want to achieve on it, whether that’s receiving quote requests or making sales through an online store. I’ve brainstormed with my clients about issues with their websites, where we’ve managed to drive thousands of monthly visitors through advertising, but the actual sales from the website have remained quite modest. The issue isn’t always with the advertising; the website also plays a significant role in generating sales.

When it comes to websites, they should be designed to support the goals you intend to achieve on them, whether that’s generating sales inquiries or sales through an online store. Online store pages should be structured like an imaginary funnel so that the more a customer clicks on your website, the closer they get to making a purchase. If the primary goal of your site is to boost your sales, it also has a flip side, meaning that the site should be from the customer’s perspective, designed to help customers find what they’re looking for quickly. These two elements often reinforce each other, and if you can seamlessly combine them, the outcome can’t be bad.

Optimizing websites for sales and customer experience might seem challenging at first, but there are tools for that too. If you want to identify potential bottlenecks on your site that could negatively affect customer experience or sales, the best tools for that are undoubtedly Hotjar and Google Analytics.

Facebook advertising is an ongoing testing process

There’s no single correct solution to all issues related to Facebook advertising. The key is to create a field and foundation for your marketing that allows you to measure all relevant metrics and understand their origins and impact on sales. Facebook advertising doesn’t yield outstanding results overnight, as getting a grasp on your potential customer base’s digital buying behavior might take a couple of months and a fair amount of investment. Of course, there are good practices that can be universally applied to almost any business’s Facebook advertising, regardless of the industry. Patience, thoroughness, and diligence are always rewarded, even in Facebook advertising.