Facebook & Instagram Ads
Why you need to advertise using Facebook & Instagram
1. Sell products to consumers
No platform connects sellers with buyers of consumer products better than Facebook & Instagram. You can even place your own store on the platform and build collections.
2. Sell services to consumers
With over 40 minutes per day spent on Facebook & Instagram by Australians each day, the platform is also present when real people are at work, on breaks, at home or commuting,
3. Sell services to businesses
It’s also where professionals and decision makers are for 40 minutes of their day. By targeting business owners, managers and decision makers, you can boost enquiries.
4. You have a plan
Success in marketing is created over time, not overnight. Give yourself 12 months to try, test and measure your campaigns so that you can be sure that what you’re doing is working.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are Facebook Ads different to Google Ads?
Facebook Ads work a little differently to Google Ads. Google is unbeatable when someone is already looking for you, or at least for what you do because it acts a little like what the Yellow Pages or the Local Directories books used to act. You need a plumber, you look for sa plumber; either by name, or by their category.
Facebook Ads work by subtly letting people know you exist. But that’s not all. They also work to create a desire for what you do. So when someone is looking for a plumber, they remember the name of the plumber they see on Facebook and search directly for them on Facebook (where they can message you directly) or on Google where they look for you by name. That’s powerful!
But Facebook Ads have a second major feature: they work like TV ads used to. Say, in June, you see an for an amazing bathroom featured by a plumber. Then you see more examples of beautiful bathrooms over the next few months because you really liked that initial bathroom you saw. It makes sense that you’ll have affinity with beautiful bathrooms and may even want one sometime. A well created Facebook ad campaign will follow someone for 12 months, casually dropping in reminders of the beautiful bathrooms, occasionally informing about special deals on them, and when you actually click through to that website, that’s a positive signal that you’re not just interested, you’re taking steps towards buying.
Facebook works at every level of the funnel.
How much should I spend on Facebook Ads?
Facebook ads are, on a per-click basis, less expensive than LinkedIn ads and Google ads.
The reason for this is that the number of users of LinkedIn is much, much lower than either Facebook or Google, but the cost-per-unit of what is being sold on LinkedIn is usually much higher. You won’t see a lot of cheap jewellery and gadget ads on LinkedIn because the LinkedIn audience tends to value quality and service more than the Facebook audience (who tend to value the lowest prices, convenience and lots of options at that low price point.)
Where many Facebook advertisers aim to keep their per-click rate under $1, LinkedIn advertisers will often be trying to keep their per-click rate under $30 as what they are selling is a lot more expensive than what’s being sold on Facebook. And of course there are exceptions. If you’re selling a $20,000 pool on Facebook, even a $100 per click rate doesn’t seem so bad.
Our suggestion is that you start at no lower than $400 per month on LinkedIn to reach a big enough audience to nurture over time. Our own starting rate is $550 per month.
Compare this with advertising, say, on TikTok, where the minimum spend is $100 per day, or $3000 per month! You can buy time on regional television in Australia for as little as 25% of this!
Is anyone actually on Facebook anymore?
Good question. It comes up a lot. Despite the media attention indicating that Facebook is in fast decline, it isn’t. We’re using Facebook as much, or more than we ever have! It’s just the attention has moved from oversharing to private groups, messenger, Instagram and interacting more privately. This also means that your feed will be getting less busy with cat videos and extremist sensationalism from talk show radio hosts and containing more updates from the people you actually want to hear from. And a less messy and shouty feed means that your message is given a better airing.
Numbers-wise, some 20 million Aussies are on Facebook. 12 million are on Instagram. That’s a lot of people!
How do I stand out on Facebook?
Like anywhere in life, you can blend in, or stand out. Early in the client’s towards you, you can be that individual or business that just subtly appears in their feed with something amusing, inspirational or informative. Nothing too heavy. But, that might not be you. You might be the person who like to put their face in front of the camera, talk to people directly, and become an influencer. That’s great too! There is plenty of room online for the introvert and the extrovert.
Just take the time to decide:
1. Do I want my business to stand out… or me to stand out?
2. Do I want to build a following to sell to? Or would I rather take a slower journey towards selloing based on merit and not charisma?
3. Am I willing to monitor comments, answer inbox messages and build rapport online? Or would I rather just send people to a website or an automated process to handle my enquiries?
Standing out on Facebook, LinkedIn or any social media means taking a look through your Facebook feed at business and pages you follow and avoiding the stuff that just blends in to the background, like…
1. Photos of conference rooms
2. Photos of groups of smiling businesspeople
3. Inspirational quotes written on Canva graphic backgrounds
4. Photos of expo and trade show stands (no one is impressed by them!)
5. And any photo taken of people in front of pull-up banners.
6. And logos, shopfronts, signs, etc. They are not of interest to anyone but you.