You might have read that Facebook Ads for lead generation are not effective anymore. Or that the returns are too meagre to justify the cost. These kinds of baseless statements have been thrown around for a while by a few self-proclaimed marketing gurus.
Expensive? Sure. Any PPC campaign that you run on any social media platform or search engine, will be expensive. The amount of money that you spend depends entirely on the competition and your bids. The returns on that spending will be determined by how effective your campaign is. At Rockstar Marketing, we have run very efficient, low-budget campaigns for our clients with extremely good returns.
Don’t let hearsay cloud your judgement. The fact is that Facebook is now the world’s biggest social media platform that has 2.70 billion active users. Any marketer worth their salt would tell you that it’s an unmatched opportunity for businesses to market their products and services. In fact, Facebook’s reach is only second to Google.
In case you are looking for more motivation to add Facebook Ads for lead generation to your marketing mix, then here are a few reasons.
The audience pool is diverse
Facebook gives you access to a massive and diverse audience pool across a variety of demographics. Irrespective of whether you cater to younger users or older ones, you can find a matching audience profile with ease.
According to Statista, 62% of Facebook users are aged between 18-34. That’s an enormous demographic for businesses looking to target young users. But here’s something more interesting. 38% of the users are aged from 35-65, which makes this demographic quite significant as well in terms of numbers.
In fact, the older demographic has witnessed massive growth in the past few years. Pew Research Centre revealed that the number of Baby Boomers on Facebook, have grown in double digits since 2015.
Facebook Ads for lead generation work for B2B businesses too
It never ceases to amaze us when businesses brand Facebook as a B2C marketing tool and LinkedIn as a B2B platform. In reality, both these platforms offer ample opportunities for both B2B and B2C businesses. LinkedIn has traditionally been the B2B platform of choice. But recent reports suggest that this trend might be changing.
According to Facebook Insights, business decision-makers spend 74% more time on the platform than regular users. That’s a great statistic that shows the potential that B2B businesses have. Also, Facebook has traditionally been used by B2C businesses. This might give you an early bird advantage.
This, in turn, might translate into reduced competition or lower advertising costs. It wouldn’t be right to make claims. But there’s definitely an advantage for a B2B business here. A lot of new B2B businesses are also re-marketing to decision-makers, with targeted advertisements.
Target users at any stage of the engagement funnel
One distinct advantage that comes with Facebook Ads for lead generation is that you can target your audience at any stage of the engagement funnel. There are multiple Ad formats, precise targeting tools, and measurement capabilities that can be leveraged to meet your business goals.
- For upper funnel users – We typically use video ads, sponsored stories or image Ads. These can be customised to create intrigue without making it seem like a direct sales pitch. The idea behind these Ads is not to generate leads, or to bombard the audience with benefits about your product or service. It is to pique their interest with a highly memorable visual or image, that motivates them to research more.
- For mid-funnel users – You have options galore for these users. You can engage them on Facebook itself, or drive highly targeted traffic to your website. If your business model relies on App installations or transactions, then you can create campaigns tailored around these goals.
Segment your Ads based on behaviours or interests
Just like LinkedIn ads for lead generation, Facebook also allows you to target your audience based on a variety of parameters. In addition to demographics and geolocation-based targeting, here are some other available options.
- Your Facebook followers
- Friends of these followers
- Users with specific interests (groups and pages)
- Remarketing to users who have visited your site (Facebook Pixel)
- Psychographic targeting – This is one of the most advanced targeting tools that we’ve ever used. It allows you to target audiences based on hobbies, behaviours and lifestyle interests. Here’s a hypothetical example. Joe, aged 33 lives in Manchester and is obsessed with fitness. You are a brand that offers smart fitness gear. The groups that he follows and engages with gives you a pretty good idea of what message to show him. You create an Ad campaign with a very catchy image and copy and target not just Joe, but others in the same demographic in his groups.
Facebook Ads for lead generation can be used to target your competition
No advertising platform allows you to tap into your competitor’s audience. That said, there’s a tiny little hack on Facebook that allows you to do just that. You can filter audiences based on their interests. In this case, it can be a user who’s interested in your competitor’s brand. You can even create a list of users interested in multiple competitor brands. Then, you create a custom campaign segment to target these users and test conversions.
There’s a caveat though. User interests on Facebook are self-reported. This may change from time to time. Just because a user was interested in a particular brand in 2019, does not mean that they might be interested in it now. However, you can create different audience clusters to test your campaigns and refine your strategies based on results.
Different Ad formats
Facebook’s advertising platform offers the most variety when it comes to Ad types and formats. You have the option to use one of four distinct Ad-types. There are multiple formats in each ad type making it a total of 10-different ad formats. All formats include a visual component, such as an image or a video, with some text.
For a long time, Facebook limited the amount of text that could be used in a display Ad. But that limit has been removed. You can now freely use text to create compelling copy with the highest conversion rates.
Here are the four broad categories of Ads that we use:
Image Ads
Image Ads are typically used to drive traffic or generate leads. You can use your own images or can use stock images to create Ads.
Video Ads
Video Ads currently lead the pack. They offer up to 30% higher conversions as compared to other types of Ads. We attribute this to multiple reasons. Facebook has been repositioning itself as a video-first platform for a while. 95% of its traffic originates from mobile devices. So, it makes better business sense to use Ads with a vertical video. The most recent update to the UX gives users a complete video creation kit as well. Another interesting statistic reveals that 22% of users are using videos to just gather information on brands. That’s all the more reason for a brand to try video Ads.
Carousel Ads
Carousel Facebook Ads for lead generation allows a business to show up to 10-attractive photos in a sequence. Each image can have its own link. We use these Ads for businesses looking to generate interest in their services and products. What’s amazing, is that now it’s possible to use one large panorama image (long photo) that can be swiped.
Collection Ads
Collection Ads are a great way to display a product catalogue. Dropshipping businesses frequently use these Ads to encourage shopping.
You can create lookalike Ad campaigns with pre-existing data
You can use pre-existing customer data to create lookalike audience campaigns on Facebook. These campaigns are fairly easy to run. Moreover, depending on how recent and relevant the data is, you can target new customers with identical demographics and behaviour.
By default, Facebook will target the lowest hanging fruit first, which are users most likely to convert. But you can customize these campaigns to the T, by segmenting them. For instance, if the average order value on your store is £500, you can create two separate lists. One for users who spend more than £500 and the second one for those who spend less.
This is just a very broad example of how campaign segmentation works.
How we can help
Despite all the advantages that Facebook Ads offer, it all boils down to the effectiveness of your campaigns. We have been planning and creating successful Facebook Ads for lead generation for businesses of all sizes and niches.
We can help you run precise campaigns that can help increase brand awareness, convert window shoppers to leads, and generate the most ROI for your budget. Click here now to speak to us.
0 Comments