13 Ways To Increase Sales With Facebook Ads

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world with well over one billion users, and Facebook Ads is one of the best means to getting your product in front of a huge audience. Yet using the platform is not enough. Here are 13 practical tips to ensure your Facebook Ads campaign is hitting the mark:

Use videos

Video ad campaigns are becoming increasingly important to marketers, as videos can capture imaginations in a way that static images cannot. Look to utilize videos through Facebook Ads for a hard-hitting campaign.

Boost popular posts

If an ad has worked in the past, then use it again through the boosting tool, which may help to generate even more click-throughs.

Focus on brand strength

The object should always be the building of a trusted brand, rather than cold, hard selling, which turns off potential customers in their droves.

Use calls to action

Don't make the mistake of not letting potential customers know what they need to do. Give directions to access discounts, sign up for special offers, or whatever it may be.

Target

Reaching a large audience is not enough: you need the right audience. "Marketers and businesses often fail to recognize exactly who they should be targeting. That is a job that you need to do first, then you can use Facebook Ads in a way which targets the niche you have identified. Do not embark on a campaign without having performed this vital task," warns Tommy Travis, a marketer at Writemyx and Nextcoursework.

And Facebook Ads has the capacity to present to exactly the niche you have identified, providing an array of useful analytics which can help you identify the results of this.

Optimize images

Images are powerful, but optimize them using tricks such as white backgrounds, and the well-known rule of thirds which places two-thirds emphasis on the product and one third on the brand. Above all, make sure your image is eye-catching, and is cropped to the right size.

"You must stand out from the crowd immediately if you want to succeed, and optimizing images should be your absolute priority," argues Sandra DeBois, a project manager at Britstudent and Australia2write.

Use exact numbers for pricing

We scroll over information quickly, and whole numbers are much more memorable that those with decimalizations. $20 or $19.95, anyone?

Use mobile news feed ads

People are increasingly accessing the web online as opposed to the more traditional desktop method, and mobile optimization is becoming increasingly relevant to page rankings. Optimize your campaign by utilizing mobile news feed ads which appear on a user's mobile news feed to maximize click-through potential. M-Commerce is not just the future, it's the present too.

Use offer ads

Offer ads are campaigns which promote special offers which can only be redeemed on Facebook. This has the dual benefit of sending the user straight to the offer, and it being targeted, as previously mentioned. This is a great way of removing friction problems, as a step has automatically been eliminated from the process.

Use retargeting ads

Retarget ads are aimed at those who you know are already interested in your products How do you know? Because they have bought something before or have visited your site previously. Facebook can customize your audience so you are reaching out to those people who you know are already keen on your brand.

Use multi-product ads

There is now the capability of posting ads which don't just promote one product, but many. Viewers can scroll though the image to click on the exact product they are interested in. And it's all easily done in the Facebook Power Editor.

Include a value proposition

What entices the user to click on your ad? Make it clear exactly what is in it for the user by clicking through. For example, is there a special offer they can avail of, can you give an example of a statistic which will impact upon them (95% of people said this product made their life easier). Users need to immediately see the value of clicking, or they simply won't.

Make it unique

What sets your ad apart from the others? In a world that is saturated with ads, you need to do something a little bit different. Let your imagination run wild.

This guest post was written by Katrina Hatchett, a lifestyle blogger at Academic Brits with a particular interest in the art of communication: a field in which she has cooperated on many projects. She is a regular contributor at Origin Writings, as well as a blogger at PhDKingdom.