Oh, that’s how Facebook marketing works

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Oh, that’s how Facebook marketing works

I went to a two-day seminar the other day that was all about social media marketing. The seminar was given by Sourav Jain. Recommended. #SouravJain #SocialMediaRoadshow

So it’s Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

This is how Facebook marketing works, aha!

I once had a post on Facebook (FB for short). The goal was to get likes. And indeed, there were some likes for it. The problem was two-sided, however; first, many of the Likes were apparently from fake profiles. On the other hand, there was no perceived business impact, which is what you want when you spend money on advertising.

How to filter?

One functionality I didn’t understand at all is filtering user groups.

You can really only find out about this through training. Or you would have to watch very closely on Youtube tutorials and repeat the steps in a timely manner.

Custom Audiences

Custom Audiences? Is this a train station in the U.S.? After the seminar I realized. Wow, you can do a lot with Facebook’s Custom Audiences feature.

You could take your email data and upload it to Facebook via CSV files (can be created from Excel files).

After that, you can select this so-called “Custom Audience” in the dashboard of the Facebook Ad Manager (ad management) and address them on Facebook via ads. Facebook compares the email addresses with the Facebook profiles to find out who is behind them.

The idea behind it: Your own email database/people from it, already know you very well. If advertising is then added, there is a higher likelihood of Likes/ Shares/ Leads (for example, forms filled out) or Conversions (for example, purchases).

Look-Alike Audiences

Basically, this allows you to do A/B testing. Through the Look-Alike feature, you can have FB determine a target audience that is similar to the one already targeted.

For example, one has created a Custom Audience. If you use Look-Alike Audiences, then FB matches the audience with similar users on Facebook and creates a similar audience.

For example, FB’s algorithm would recognize that the email address/ FB profiles from the Custom Audiences are all project managers in large companies, then it would create a corresponding Look-Alike Audience for which you can then serve ads.

The great thing is that this Look-Alike Audience has a higher probability of Likes/ Shares/ Leads/ Conversions and you can run different campaigns for the Custom Audience and the Look-Alike Audience. The results can then be compared in a kind of A/B test.

Example of an A/B test: You place two identical ads and only change the image in the ad and see which of the two campaigns performs better.

Filtering the target group

Audience filtering is a very powerful tool. At first glance, it only looks like a “search box”.

It is probably one of the most powerful tools for grouping target groups, and it’s free!

FB has the ability to divide users into a wide variety of groups. For example, you can filter “parents who have just had a baby” and then place “diaper ads” or similar for them accordingly. The possibilities are almost unlimited.

The FB Boost!

It used to be 🙂 that if you wrote a post on your FB Page (for example FB company page), all the fans were reached. For example, one has 10,000 fans on the FB company page, then all fans were informed about the post, each in their timeline.

However, now there is an algorithm and only a few percent of these users are reached.

So to achieve a greater range today you have to boost the whole thing. I.e. you have to pay to reach all users.

What many do not know: Often, just a few euros per post are enough to make this happen.

A/B tests within the advertisements

You can’t believe it, there are a lot of algorithms in FB, which the social media network uses to filter the best results.

For example, when you place an ad, you can upload multiple images (up to 6 images). Different users will then see different images. Over time, only the images that have the best conversion will be displayed. (For example: Image A is clicked 5 times at 1000 impressions and image B is clicked 10 times at 1000 impressions, then the algorithm selects image B and this is displayed preferentially. Aha, now I slowly understand what the thousands of Facebook employees are doing all the time 🙂 )

Facebook Pixel – the madness 🙂

The madness does not stop.

FB provides a so-called FB Pixel. Basically, this is a small piece of software code. You can install it on your website. (Should not be that hard. There are many tutorials online for this and also tools, in the case of WordPress for example, to install it).

What does a pixel like this do?

For example, you have visited a website and find out that wherever you go, the advertisement for that website’s product or service is displayed? This is made possible by this pixel.

When one visits the website, the FB Pixel remembers this visitor.

The website operator can now run an advertising campaign (also called retargeting) on FB.

Now, a website visitor who has visited the online presence is shown the corresponding advertisement. Here, too, the conversion rate is higher because the person who receives the advertisement has already been in contact with the service/product provider by visiting the website.

Advertise with posts and pages liked by friends – Powerful!

Very strong is the following advertising method: You place ads and show them to the – friends of the fans – of your own FB page.

The great thing about it: Above the post, the friend/acquaintance of the fan is shown that the acquaintance has already given a “Like”.

Example: Thomas has liked the page“YUHIRO” (the company page of my company). Now the company YUHIRO/ the page operator is running a campaign via Facebook, in which the “friends of Thomas on Facebook” are targeted via a post.

The great thing about this is that we have a tendency to buy things or buy from the companies that friends and acquaintances recommend, also called “social proof” in English.

I myself have already purchased things through such posts. Only now I understand that this is an advertising method on FB 🙂

Conclusion

I have often heard/read the question “Does Facebook advertising make sense?”. Many argue that it makes little sense, is too expensive in part, that it does little good, etc.

Used correctly, however, FB advertising is a huge opportunity. Because if you understand how FB advertising works you can win a lot of customers (of course only if you can serve them in good quality) and bring your brand to the next level.

Next Level Marketing Shit – NLMS

As I sat in the seminar I thought to myself. Wow, this is really a way to take a business to the next level.

The special thing is also: After the seminar I am able to understand the Youtube videos on FB advertising.

Words like “Custom Audiences”, “Look-alike Audiences”, FB Boost, and others are quickly bandied about. Only if you have received training on this somewhere can you understand it.

Anyways: FB advertising is something you should try out. The first campaigns will certainly not be a success. However, with just a few euros you can run your first campaigns and see what happens.

Leave your comments. Shared and Liked this article 🙂

Here are a few interesting articles about it:
33 interesting tips from Felix Beilharz on FB Marketing
Tips from Björn Tantau
Facebook Marketing for Beginners by SEO United
The basics about CPC and CPM

Images: Flickr.com/ mkhmarketing/ Lisa @ Sierra Tierra

About the author: Sascha Thattil is an entrepreneur, blogger and India expert. He is currently the managing director and shareholder at YUHIRO, a company that provides software developers for companies in Germany.

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