Are Facebook Ads Worth it?

Social Media

Are Facebook Ads Worth It?

by Michelle Hummel

As a franchisee trying to grow your customer base, you know there are two keys to success: positive word of mouth and advertising. Making your customers completely happy once they’re in your care is tough enough but knowing where and how to advertise effectively can be overwhelming.

You undoubtedly have been approached by local ad reps for radio, TV, magazines and newspapers. These advertising costs can be astronomical, and they don’t always result in a cost-effective return on investment.

Consider this: say your target is women age 25-34 within a 5-mile radius of your business. Each of these traditional forms of advertising bases its rates on the number of people it reaches, regardless of gender, age or location. Why pay for demos that won’t result in customer acquisition?

Facebook Statistics

According to Statistica, Facebook has billions of users across the globe, including 71 percent of American adults. Consider these numbers: • Of those 71 percent of Americans, 74 percent of Facebook users log in daily for an average of 33 minutes.

• In 2019, Facebook’s ad revenue was $69.6 billion.

• During the first quarter of 2020, Facebook said eight million active advertisers were using the social networking platform to promote products and services, up from seven million advertisers in the first quarter of the previous year.

• An average Facebook user clicks on 11 ads per month.

The numbers are rising because Facebook advertising acquires customers with a great return on investment.

Targeting Powers

Facebook is a type of modern-day Big Brother. It knows the age, location and gender of each user, as well as their interests, hobbies, political affiliation and relationship status.

Do you have a Facebook, Instagram or Messenger app on your phone?

Then it also knows the types of businesses you visit, as well as how long you spend in each area of town. While this may be a little unsettling as a user, it’s gold when it comes to marketing your business.

When placing ads, you can be as general or as specific as needed to reach your customers. Want to reach men aged 34-52 who have kids in Manhattan? What about women aged 42 who like dogs and live within 2 miles of your business? With Facebook advertising, you can easily reach your target market, and pay for just that market.

Types of Ads

With Facebook, you have plenty of options for the types of ads you’d like to run, including website traffic, brand awareness, event, page likes, post engagement, product collection and more.

Website traffic is the most popular type of ad for marketers. By choosing the pay-per-click setting, you pay only for each click to people in your target market. Think of the examples above. If your ad was targeted to men aged 34-52 who have kids in Manhattan, some of those men might not be inter

ested in your product or service. With the pay-per-click setting, you will pay for your Facebook ad only when those men click on your ad and visit your website. people respond they are attending, Facebook will send these users follow-up messages reminding them of the date and time. Depending on that users’ settings, Facebook “ Facebook is a type of modern-day Big Brother.

Costs per click vary widely depending on the time of year and the type of business, from $0.15 which events they’re attending so your message will be seen by their connections as well. to $30+ per click. Whether you’re looking to drive customers to purPage likes and post engagement chase something online or to learn ads are great for those businesses more about your business (includlooking to grow the reach of their ing location and hours), website free Facebook Business page, as traffic ads are incredibly effective. well as to increase the frequency

The brand awareness objective followers’ feeds. gives the estimated ad recall lift metric, which shows the estimatProduct collection ads are perfect ed number of people likely to for franchisees looking to adverremember your ad if asked within tise four or more products. These two days. This type of ad likely typically work best for eCommerce won’t draw as many customers as businesses so customers can click other types of ads, but it can be a and purchase within minutes of handy tool for franchisees looking seeing the ad. to determine potential draw in a new market. Placement and Reporting

Hosting an event? Event ads are great to draw attendees, and when will also let their connections know of your posts appearing in your Depending on your ad creative, you are in control of where your ads are placed, including the option of appearing on Instagram, as well as inside popular Facebook games.

During your ad’s run, you can monitor ad performance, as well as tweak the settings or stop the ad at any time. When the ad’s run is complete, the dashboard’s reporting will show a full suite of demographics and statistics that will help you determine the style, type and placement of future ads.

Your experience in placing Facebook ads is a huge determinant of price. Although Facebook has an extensive section of guides for posting ads, it’s easy to rack up huge bills when you’re not experienced with advertising on the platform — especially pay-per-click ads. If you’re new to advertising on Facebook or Instagram, it’s best to hire a professional to create and place the ads so you get the best return on your investment.

Michelle is the CEO and Founder of Web Strategy Plus, a full-service digital marketing agency, where her team of experts specializes in helping franchise owners develop websites, SEO and Social Media Strategies. A published author of three books in her series, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media.” She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree and provides training to help individuals acquire Social Media Management Certification through Web Media University. Contact Michelle at michelle@webstrategyplus.com.