It occurred to me that I’ve never written up a detailed breakdown of how to do sponsored posts on Facebook. Being that this is a social media marketing company, that pretty much encompasses everything we do!!

Facebook sponsored posts aren’t right for everybody, but they are definitely worth a shot considering how targeted you can make them. Plus, since people scroll down their feeds obsessively, ad placement isn’t such a big deal. So, if you’re ready for that, follow these basic best practices for newbies!

Whittle Down the Demographic

Your brand may or may not appeal to the biggest Facebook demographic, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hone in on the demographic you’re looking for.

Facebook’s sponsored ads allow a ton of customization for ad saturation, so make use of it! If you’re pretty sure 16-year-olds and 73-year-olds don’t want anything to do with your brand, weed ’em out! Empty impressions don’t help you, so make sure your ads are only going up in front of people who are actually likely to engage.

Multiple Variations

Don’t think you have to “define” your market so harshly, though. It’s a good idea to create multiple ads for multiple demographics to test the waters. So “whittle” one ad down to a very specific group, then do the same for a few more ads and assess from there after a week.

Picture Perfect

The most important aspect of a sponsored FB ad is the image. It isn’t huge, so you can’t get too detailed with it, but if it doesn’t arrest the eye it will fall flat.

Since it’s so small, limit the text to a couple words, if any. It might be better to leave the slogan and gripping phrase to the headline to let the image speak for itself.

Speaking of Headlines…

Since you are paying for each click, you don’t want to mislead people and waste that expense. Headlines should be gripping, but still descriptive. If you’re offering something free, it can be really effective to lead off with that word, or at least include it. If it’s a low price or a sale, include that figure in at least one ad variation.

Nice Bod

Facebook ads have an interesting body structure – 90 characters, period. No excessive/weird characters or anything like that, so you have to let the excitement generate itself from the copy. This is where you have to get really descriptive so as to not mislead anyone into an empty click, and always end on a call to action like “Click here to learn more” or “Get your $1 domain here.” This should tie in directly to what you want the ad to do: get people to visit your website or splash page, promote a sale, increase likes on a Fan page, etc.

That’s about everything you need to get started. Testing and assessing should go a long way from here.

Got some more Facebook ad tips? Lay ’em on me in the comments!