Commentary

Intro To Facebook Advertising

Has your organization tried Facebook advertising yet? Facebook advertising is incredibly versatile, with the ability to target very niche audiences and engage users on a website they're already familiar with and spend a lot of time on. Have you tried Facebook ads in the past with no luck? Scroll down to the Extra Features section and learn about the new targeting options that could really make a difference!

*Note: In recent months, Mark Zuckerberg has been criticized for his connection to ads supporting the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. Since that came to light, many nonprofits with environmental missions have stopped advertising with Facebook. Facebook advertising is a great avenue to reach your potential targets, but please do so according to your own or your organization's conscience. 

Types of Ads

advertisement

advertisement

Below you'll find the different types of ads currently available. Facebook recently announced that they will be streamlining all of their ads in the next six months, with changes to Sponsored Stories in particular.

Sponsored Stories

Sponsored stories advertise when a fan interacts with your page. Many interactions can be promoted, including when someone:

  • Likes your page
  • Likes or comments on a post
  • RSVP's to an event
  • Likes or shares a website

Sponsored stories are a little different than the other types of Facebook ads, because they can only be seen by friends of people who have liked your page. You also can't change any of the text in the promotion or the image. Facebook automatically uses the main image (profile picture, not your cover image) from your page and your page name.

Promoted Posts

Promoted posts are just what they sound like – they allow you to promote a post you put on your Facebook page. You can choose to promote a specific post, or have it update to promote whatever the most recent post was.

Traditional Ads

Traditional ads with Facebook are a lot like display ads on the rest of the internet – you control the ad copy and the image, with the following restrictions:

  • 25 characters for the headline
  • 90 characters for the copy
  • 100X72 image

Targeting Options

Where Facebook ads really differentiate themselves is in the multitude of targeting options for promoted posts and traditional ads. Facebook knows a lot about its users (however creepy you find that), so it's possible to target a very niche audience. If you want your ads to only show to 35-year-old males who live in Washington, D.C., have kids, and shop at Target, that's possible.

Here are some of the targeting options you have within Facebook:

  • Location: by country, state, city, or zip code
  • Age range: 13 – no max
  • Gender: male, female, or both
  • Precise Interests: These are based on what they've listed in their interests, activities, education, job title, pages they've liked or groups they belong to. Examples include gardening, basketball, cupcakes, and environmentalism.
  • Broad Categories (basically the same as above, but broader categories). Examples include:
    • Family status such as parents or parents with children ages 4-12
    • Interests such as home & garden or the environment
    • Activities such as photography
  • Connection:
    • People connected to your page
    • Friends of people connected to your page
  • Relationship status and whether they're interested in men or women
  • Education level
  • Languages
  • Workplaces

Extra Features

Custom Audiences

Facebook's custom audience feature allows you to create an audience using information you have collected somewhere off of Facebook. You can upload a file with emails, phone numbers, or Facebook User IDs and Facebook will target your ads to all of those people who have an account with Facebook. You do have to follow all of the privacy guidelines, and this feature is only available through Facebook's Power Editor (which in turn is only available if you're using Chrome).

Lookalike Audiences

With lookalike audiences, Facebook looks at one of your custom audiences and puts together a list of people who are similar to them. While relatively new, this could be a great feature to find people who would be more likely to like your page or make an off-Facebook conversion. In order to create a lookalike audience, go into your Power Editor, select the custom audience you want to create a lookalike of and click "create similar audience" at the bottom. 

Partner Categories

Okay, brace yourselves for things to get a bit creepier. Partner categories are a lot like Facebook broad categories; they just use information that was collected elsewhere online from Facebook's partners. The Lifestyles & Interests category (under Epsilon) is particularly useful for nonprofits, as it includes categories such as people who "donate to charitable causes," "donate to liberal political causes," and "donate to veteran causes." Partner categories can get as specific as people who have bought pet supplies, people who are in to luxury sports, or green moms. To access partner categories, go into your Power Editor and select an audience (or create a new one). At the bottom you'll see Facebook Broad Categories, and just above it is Partner Categories, which you'll need to click to expand. The categories are separated by the partner providing the information, so dig around and you'll find more specific categories available.

There's a lot more to talk about with Facebook Ads, like Facebook Exchange or FBX, iFrames, and new potential for conversion tracking, but that will all have to wait for another post. Have questions? Leave a comment below.

Next story loading loading..