April 12, 2011 – Merry Morud, from aimClear, dug deep into Facebook ads with us Tuesday night as we explored everything from segment identification and digital assets to campaign analysis.
Creating your segments is much like keyword research in that strong segment creation is monotonous and time consuming, but always worth it. Treat your segments like ad groups as you identify interests. Take advantage of Facebook’s suggest tool but also use alternative tools such as Visuwords or Wordstream to expand with social synonyms. Also, look beyond the users’ obviously stated likes and interests, and consider different ways they disclose their interests.
When building your ads, think about any digital assets that will immediately register in users’ minds. Use a program like IrfanView to alter images and don’t be afraid to zoom in on the image. Facebook is notorious for images and you have less than seconds to grab attention away from all of the other elements occurring on the page at the same time.
As you run your ads, remember that Facebook ad fatigue is all too common. To help prevent this, manually rotate your ads throughout a campaign. Above all, realize that Facebook is not a “set it and forget it” ad platform. Like other platforms, it requires careful monitoring throughout the campaign and making adjustments based on the results you’re seeing.
Sarah is a search marketing consultant, helping clients improve ROI through paid search, SEO and social media initiatives. She is also the Official SEMpdx Event Blogger and can be found at all of the monthly events.