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Beyond the Basics: Facebook Advertising

Basic Facebook Tactics social media blog header

For less than 20 minutes and $20, you can attract new customers

Are you on Facebook but haven’t figured out the right way to advertise? Never fear, this article will help expand your reach to new levels. With the right merchandise, messaging and marketing guidance, you can have customers telling the world (literally) how great your store is. If you are in need of an intro to Facebook, check out this post for some helpful tips!

Before we dive into Facebook, let’s chat holiday marketing. Why? Because 47% of consumers started thinking about gift ideas before November even started! Wish lists are being built and shared via social media platforms as we speak. It’s time to join the conversation. So, for this session, we will be marketing hot trends and reliable favorites for the holidays. Make sure you follow Stuller on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter right away to download content to use on your platforms. If you’d like to diversify your assortment, check out how Stuller is wrapping up 2016 in style.

Facebook Advertising: The most powerful word of mouth tool

Facebook Advertising is a powerful tool with more than 10 different types of campaigns to choose from. To keep things simple, we’re focusing on Boosting posts today. Are you ready? Let’s get social.

Step 1. With your Facebook store page open, click in your status bar to create a post. Here you will upload one of the holiday images we’ve provided and write a short, compelling caption to attract customers. Click Publish when your copy and image are both displayed in the status bar.

Facebook Advertising Stuller Inc. Screenshot

Step 2. Check out your brand new post. Does it look exactly the way you want? Great. Next, click Boost Post.

Facebook Advertising Stuller Inc. Screenshot

Step 3. Now, define your audience, budget, and schedule. Don’t worry, further explanation to follow.

Facebook Advertising Stuller Inc. Screenshot

 

Defining and Refining: Making Facebook Work for You

1. Let’s define your audience

This is essentially who you want to see your post. Facebook gives you three targeting options to hone in on exactly the kinds of customers you would like to target. Those three options are—

•  People who like your Page

    Use this option to target many of your current customers

•  People who like your Page and their friends

    Use this option to target current customers and their Facebook friends

•  People you choose through targeting

    Use this option to pinpoint location and demographic specifics

 

Our recommendation: Opt to target either People who like your Page and their friends OR People you choose through targeting.

Why? Because the first option allows you to engage previous customers and new potential customers with similar tastes, while the second option allows you to engage those within a certain location that meet any demographic criteria you may set.

If you choose People who like your Page and their friends, you are done defining your audience and can move down to Number 2. If you choose People you choose through targeting continue reading…

The Edit Audience screen will pop up. Here you can choose the gender, age, locations, and interests you would like to target.

Our recommendation: Set the Location to your city and choose an appropriate mileage radius. For smaller towns, a 25-mile radius might be good, whereas a smaller radius of 10 miles might be best for denser, metro areas. That’s all you have to do. If you want to get a little fancy, you can play with gender and age options or add in some interests such as jewelry or fashion when prompted, but filling out each of these boxes is not required.

Facebook Advertising Stuller Inc. Screenshot

All this time while we were keeping our friends and family informed of our interests and hobbies, Facebook has been gathering this information from your profile to deliver the most relevant content to the right people. Facebook now acts as your personal market researcher, advertising team, and analytics tracker. It’s brilliant, right?

 

2. Choose Your Budget and Duration

Under Budget and Duration, you will choose how much you would like to spend and how long you would like your Boosted Post to run. Don’t know where to start? Try entering a Total Budget of $5 and running the ad for two days. In this case, you would spend $2.50 per day. After the two days, check out the results and determine if you would like to change your spending or duration. Determine what works best for your audience. *Important Note: Stuller has never spent more than $20 on a Boosted Post!

So try it! Get comfortable with the process without breaking the bank. You’ll be amazed at how so little will get you so much. As you adjust your budget and duration options, notice the changes in your Estimated People Reached right below. This is a good tool to use to project the possible outcome of your campaign.

Facebook Advertising Stuller Inc. Screenshot

3. Review Your Ad

Preview your ad on the right-hand side on both the desktop and mobile news feeds. If everything looks good, it’s time to click the Boost button.

Facebook Advertising Stuller Inc. Screenshot

If this is your first time using Facebook advertising, you’ll be prompted to fill out your payment method and other details. Once your account information has been processed and your ad has been approved, it will begin delivering to your unique target audience. Feel free to check in on your ad occasionally to see how many people it’s reaching and if they are liking and commenting on it.

While you wait for customers to engage, check out more products that Stuller has to offer and stock up on all the things you’ll need to close the holiday sales coming through your door.


I’d love to hear how successful your Facebook advertising campaigns are, so comment below with questions and stats. Also, check back for a follow-up post on how to maximize your Facebook advertising campaigns now that you have gotten your feet wet.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristyn Shay

Enthusiast of all forms of social media, but Instagram is my go-to • Avid reader of science fiction • Know more Harry Potter spells than I care to admit • Possibly the single largest contributor to Community Coffee’s annual revenue • Lover of camping, hiking and sleeping under the stars