If you’re not using Facebook as a major tool in your digital marketing arsenal, then you’re losing out. With over one billion users, potential customers are more than likely actively engaged with the platform on a regular basis. This is good news for the experienced marketer, but most doctors don’t know how to get the most out of Facebook advertising. If this describes your situation, then fear not. Here are five simple, yet highly effective Facebook ad tips to make your campaign successful.
Know Who You’re Targeting
Facebook allows you to get pretty detailed when defining your target audience. Use this to your advantage and be as specific as possible. You want to advertise to your potential customers, not to people who have no interest in your business.
Consider questions like:
- How old are your ideal patients and what is their occupation?
- Where do they live and what are their hobbies?
- What types of health issues are they dealing with?
The more information you input to define your client, the better chance you have of actually getting their attention with Facebook ads. This system of weeding through demographics to select highly targeted clients makes for a powerful campaign with proven results.
Tip: Patient surveys are a great way to collect necessary data to build an accurate customer persona.
Keep it Simple and Straightforward
People have really short attention spans,especially when it comes to viewing ads online. Some even get annoyed when an advertisement shows up in their social media content feeds. Those who don’t mind a few interruptions aren’t looking for Nobel prize winning content, but instead, a simple, direct message.
Make your ads uncomplicated and straightforward. This doesn’t mean that you should hold back on creativity. Find a way to relay your message with as few words as possible, and use powerful imagery to fill in the gaps. According to Wordstream, 22% of the world’s population uses Facebook, which means your simple message has the potential to go a long way.
Tip: Sometimes shortening up ad content can be as simple as deleting unnecessary words like “that” and “your”.
Provide an Awesome Mobile Experience
Most people use Facebook on their mobile devices. This means that your well-designed desktop ads may not display properly to cellphone users. Always make sure any ads are optimized for mobile devices. You may need to pull out your smartphone or tablet and do a few test runs to see how others will experience the content. If it’s not satisfactory to you, go back and make some changes until it’s perfect. You may want to pull a colleague or employee in on this to double check the way it displays.
Facebook provides basic guidelines for ad content, so you should be safe as long as you follow the rules. Check for things like image size and the amount of text included in the image. Use a simple program like Canva or Pic Monkey to create some of the graphics for the ads. Also, if you’re dead set on having a desktop version and the advertisement, then go ahead and run a separate campaign. This way you’ll have the mobile users covered and can rest assured that your message is being displayed properly to the majority of viewers.
Tip: Look at your Facebook ads on different mobile devices to ensure a uniform layout.
Make Your Call to Action Crystal Clear
You won’t get any engagement if your call to action is unclear. People need to know exactly what to do, and they shouldn’t have to figure it out. Make sure the call to action is direct and points the visitor in the right direction. If the goal is to collect email addresses, then you should have a sign-up button. If you want the viewer to visit your website, then you should have a button or wording that says “Hey, visit our site”.
Most users will do what you want; you just need to tell them exactly what that is. It’s best to have a well thought out goal for the visitor when writing this part of the advertisement.
Of course, writing a good call to action is not something that everyone knows how to do well. Know what your limits are and don’t be afraid to outsource this piece of the ad campaign. Some digital marketing experts consider this the most important part of advertising, so the ability to get this right is crucial to the health of your campaign.
Tip: Your call to action shouldn’t be too aggressive, but should gently usher the reader to the choice that you want them to make.
Don’t Forget About Video
People engage more with video than any other form of content on Facebook. In fact, Hubspot tells us that 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others. This makes it the ideal form of content for your ads. Create a short, catchy production instead of the traditional image and text style advertisement.
It doesn’t need to be elaborate; just something that drives home the message in a few seconds-30 seconds or less is ideal. Anything longer runs the risk of being unsuccessful, as most people won’t watch an ad that long.
Shorter video ads are more likely to be viewed in full. 7-10 seconds is a safe length.
Tip: If you’re uncomfortable shooting live video, use custom images from your practice and create a video with these instead. Animoto is a great cloud-based platform for this type of production.
Remember
Facebook ads are only effective if you employ the right tactics. Take time to learn the ropes and get to know your audience before spending a single dollar. Deliver a simple, clear message in a mobile friendly format. Use video to increase engagement and analyze the results of each campaign.
There’s much more to learn about marketing on the world’s largest social media platform, but these tips can get you started on the right track.
