The effectiveness of Facebook as an advertising channel has been proven in many ways. Nevertheless, there is uncertainty about Facebook advertising in many companies. We met Facebook expert Florian Litterst for an interview and asked him about his tips and tricks for a first Facebook ad.
Facebook has two billion monthly active users worldwide. In Germany, there are 30 million people who are on the platform at least once a month.
This means that not only is the social network of Mark Zuckerberg by far the largest social platform, but also that it offers more advertising possibilities than any other German third-party. Nevertheless, many companies are still afraid to put money into Facebook ads.
In order to give you more security when creating your first Facebook ad, we had a chat with Florian Litterst. He is a proven Facebook marketing expert and founder of the social media advertising blog Adserve.de.
BASIC thinking: Florian, what do you think is the biggest beginner’s mistake in Facebook marketing?
Florian Litterst: The biggest mistake in my opinion is not to use Facebook as an advertising channel. For as I said, Facebook is currently probably one of the most effective and exciting channels in online marketing.
Whether you are on the road to B2C or B2B, whether you want to apply for your mobile app or work in a fashionable start-up, Facebook offers interesting marketing opportunities for almost every application.
If you advertise on Facebook’s advertising cosmos as an advertiser, therefore, makes a good start. The resulting errors are as diverse as the network itself. Starting with the choice of the wrong campaign goal in the advertising ad manager or power editor, the addressing of an unsuitable target group, uninteresting design, ads that don’t have relevance, even missing conversion tracking – so many things can go wrong.
Advertising on Facebook isn’t rocket science, but you should be concerned with it and not just click on it.
How can I avoid these mistakes in my Facebook ad?
As an aspiring advertiser, you should definitely deal with the possibilities and tools of Facebook. You should first ask the following question: what do I want to achieve with my ads? Depending on this, the appropriate, best-suited campaign goal – for example, traffic or conversions – should be chosen.
When choosing the target group, you should consider yourself as an advertiser especially with the possibilities of Custom and Lookalike Audiences. And the technical basics of a successful campaign setup always include setting up the Facebook pixel or conversion tracking.
When designing ads, it helps to ask yourself the following question: would I stop scrolling through the news feed on this display?
The right goal for your Facebook ad
For successful articles, Facebook automatically offers the option to advertise them directly from the network. Does this make sense?
Clear and short answer: no! A campaign should always be created via the advertising ad manager or Power Editor, because all the setting options are available there.
Good. So I use the advertising ad manager and see myself confronted with a variety of advertising options. How do I know which one is right for me?
Before you start a campaign, you should think carefully about where to go. And that happens before you open the advertising ad manager. I like to do this with pen and paper. Do you want more clicks on your website, more conversions – for example, purchases from your online store – or more views of a video?
Once you are clear about your goals, choose the appropriate Campaign types in the Advertiser Manager. The objective chosen here is perhaps the most important success factor of a campaign because it affects many factors such as the display format and delivery of your ads.
So your Facebook ad brings you new, valuable fans
Especially small pages just want to grow at the beginning. Which advertising goal should I use? Likes? Interactions?
In my opinion, Facebook campaigns in 2017 should primarily be tied to overriding corporate goals. I would therefore not rely on likes nor on interactions, and instead generate more traffic, newsletter registration or sales with the help of a Facebook ad.
In Facebook forums you often read about like campaigns that brought only Arab fans. How do I avoid this happening?
One of the most common reasons for these so-called “fake likes” is that the advertiser does not work with the advertising ad manager or the power editor, but uses the already mentioned “Apply post” button below a posting.
In order to avoid this problem, the advertising ad manager or Power Editor should always be used. And there the target group settings should be made as follows to avoid or reduce these “fake likes”: as location, “people living in this place,” + as language “German,” + exclusion of “expats” from your target groups + targeting specific Interests or Custom or Lookalike audiences.
The budget plan for your Facebook ad
Now we know what settings I need to make to win the right fans. Now, the budget question must be raised. Is it better to spread my money over a longer period of time or should I rather put on a short financial campaign?
Unfortunately, this can not be answered on a general basis and depends on your objective. Basically, it is so that the algorithm behind your Facebook ads gets some time and signals until it is properly warmed up and the best results achieved – so it is recommended in most cases for longer periods of time.
Often it is difficult to assess the prices of Facebook. What is a good price for a tech fan?
I also have to answer this question as a lawyer: it depends. More important than generating likes or clicks is to reach the right people, right? Because what good is a Facebook fan if he does not interact with your content or is not really interested in your topics?
But to give a very rough ballpark number, about 50 cents per fan should be reasonable.
Florian, thank you for the interview.
