Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a way to advertize online in a measured and focused fashion. PPC works by search engines charging you only for the clicks you get from potential customers, not from the number of times they see your ad on a web page. Google Adwords and Microsoft Adcenter are the two largest PPC companies. Facebook also offers PPC advertizing services, allowing you to market your business through the massive reach of Facebook on a pay-per-click basis.
Facebook is a unique online advertizing platform because it allows you to target based on age, education levels, personal interests, gender and location. Facebook’s highly refined targeting is better than any of its competitors because its users have inputted far more information about themselves and their consumer preferences into the system.
Measure all your marketing data that comes in to make sure your PPC efforts are effective. Facebook lets you see click-through-rate (CTR), which shows you how often prospects click on your ads when they are seen. This number is especially important if your goal is to increase brand awareness or page views. But if your goal is to make money from your Facebook advertizing, then the more important number is actually conversion rates (CR). The CR shows you how many people are actually converting on your offer, whether that means buying a product or signing up for your newsletter. The conversion rate is more important than the click-through-rate because you are not charged for the people who see your ad but do not click on it.
Write ads that get people to take action and convert on your offers. Do this by targeting the exact audience of good prospects for what you are offering. Give them a strong call to action by telling them in concise wording what is unique about your offering compared to similar offers they might have seen. This could be price, features, or bonuses. Also be sure to include any current special offers you have for customers.
Create multiple ads to split test in your Facebook campaign to find the one that converts your traffic the best. In each ad you track, it is important to only make one change so you can be sure what exactly is determining your conversion rates. Some of the variables you can split test are the headline of the ad, the landing page you bring them to, the image, or even the product offering. These are all changes you can make on the ad itself. Furthermore, you can make endless changes on your targeting of Facebook users on demographics and preferences and all the other dynamics the platform gives to advertisers. It is simple to split test on Facebook because it has a “Create a Similar Ad†feature that allows you to simply copy an existing ad and then change one variable to the ad. Do this several times for several different ads and you are on your way to finding out what truly works to make conversions on Facebook.