At this moment in time, Facebook is the number one platform to advertise on. It has the smartest algorithm ever seen on any social media platform. You can target your ideal customer very easily and it’s also easy to track the data because the tracked data is always updated in live real-time. Therefore, there is no need to wait days or weeks to get the results, etc. You can change and adjust most things at any point in time making things so much more flexible. You can customize your budgets, when your ad starts or ends, how many ads you have placed, etc. It is all very smart and it keeps on getting better and better every year. Unfortunately, the prices of Facebook ads keep going up every year and with obstacles like Apple’s IOS 14 privacy control settings coming in the way, things are getting harder.
Despite the difficulty, there is no chance that people will stop advertising on Facebook any time soon. After all, advertising on Instagram is the same as advertising on Facebook since Facebook owns Instagram. This makes things a lot easier and a lot broader since Facebook is majority used by elder people in the elder generations. Instagram is used primarily by many younger people. You can advertise on Instagram stories, Facebook feed, Facebook Videos, Instagram Feed, Messenger, etc. The list of advertising placements is huge.
Also on Facebook, you can target set locations such as only the USA for example. You can even target or ignore certain countries, states, interests, etc. Facebook even allows you to target specific genders, marital status’, age, job, income, etc. It may sound creepy that Facebook tracks all this information but it’s all there for you to use so you may as well use it. However, due to recent IOS updates for Apple devices, Facebook will have to track a lot less information about its users.
So why did Facebook change marketing forever? Well, today we are going to have a look.
Facebook and Instagram Have More Than Three Billion Users Combined!
Facebook has 2.7 billion users and Instagram has over one billion. That accounts for 3.7 billion upwards users which is more than the population of India, the USA, and China combined. Each day Facebook has 2.7 billion active users each day all across the globe. That’s crazy and that is more people than the population of China and India combined. Therefore, your ideal customer base is out there online and they are waiting for your products to be shown to them.
For most eCommerce stores, Facebook is the main way to go for marketing. It’s easy, it’s convenient, and it’s online. They can target a wider more precise audience and they can also include their link within the ads. However, Facebook is also the most volatile online ad platform and its policies change pretty much every month. It is hard to stay on top of things and their Artificial Intelligence system (AI) is the one that scans and approves/disapproves the ads. They do have a human review system but that does take a bit of time to do so. Facebook is notorious for banning ad accounts for no reason and is known to ban ads for no reason.
There is also the new Facebook feedback score which is whereby someone orders a product from your Facebook ad and after the set delivery time (Facebook knows this from your site) they will send your customer a survey on how they. felt their customer experience was. This is so they can share their views and report any incidents like late delivery, etc. Having a healthy feedback score is key because if you don’t not only can you get banned but your ads can be penalized by higher CPM (cost per 1000), higher cost per link click prices, less engagement, etc. On the other side if you do have a healthy score you can be awarded by the algorithm as it will show your ads to more people.
It’s the same with engagement. If people are engaging heavily with your post then the algorithm will show that post to more people as it’s popular and it helps Facebook become more popular. Videos are a big one to use as advertisements as Facebook are always trying to compete with YouTube so if your video is getting a lot of views, the algorithm will show it to more people.
The Facebook algorithm is just so advanced, it’s insane. It has taken over a decade though for the algorithm to get this precise though and the rate it’s going, things can only get better.
Facebook ads are a skill though. It’s just so broad that it’s so easy to waste money. It takes time to learn and also a lot of money, effort, and patience. If you do not have those things then hire a reputable agency. Facebook ads also involve mastering your creative which essentially is your actual ad. Do not hire some random person off Fiverr. Instead, hire a reputable marketing agency. There are plenty of marketing agencies in your area, if you look hard you will find them.
Facebook has made finding your customer easier than ever before. You can easily make millions of Facebook ads alone. It’s just so powerful which is crazy.
Despite this though Facebook gets constant backlash over their tracking. Is it a bit weird that they track so much about their users? In a world of ever seeking privacy, people are getting more and more concerned over what Facebook is tracking about them. Things could change in the next few years but we doubt Facebook’s reign of advertising champion will go anytime soon unless something really radical comes along. Even new laws cannot stop Facebook. Consumers may hate Facebook but they are addicted to it and that’s evident by the number of daily users.
If you’re not advertising on Facebook, what are you doing? Get yourself on there now.