Okay, let’s all admit it – we love Facebook. In addition to the ability to find your high school crush, scrolling through pictures of all of those adorable babies & puppies, and advancing to level 2,222 of Farmville there’s some really great features that are attractive to business owners and marketers.

With over a billion people signed up for Facebook, there is a high probability any business can locate its target market on the #1 social networking site. It’s no surprise that 42% of marketers report that Facebook is important or critical to their business (according to Hubspot). The challenge for today’s marketing professionals is how to create a campaign that focuses on the right Facebook users so that they can maximize their ROI.

User Demographics

When Facebook first launched, it was available only to college students. It didn’t take long for Facebook to grow and now its users span from ages 13 – 65+. Before turning on your ads we recommend taking a step back and determining important characteristics of your target audience. Think about the following attributes when you consider which type of people you want to advertise to on Facebook:

• Age: how old are most of the people that buy what you offer? Are you looking to test certain age segments?
• Location: where do most of your current and future customers live? Are you attending any events in certain cities where you might want to generate a buzz?
• Education: what level of education has your target audience completed? Are you targeting high schoolers, college students, or recent grads?
• Interests: what do your targets do for fun or to relax? Do they “like” your competitors?

Creating a targeted profile of the type of person that you are advertising towards will help you when you are trying to think about whether or not your ads are effective. (Note: if you have multiple target audiences, create separate campaigns. The more testing the better!)

Type Of Advertisement

Will you focus on traditional desktop advertisements only or include a mobile aspect as well? Chances are that you will launch some mobile ads with more than half of all Facebook users are also visiting the site via their mobile devices.

Facebook is also now offering sponsored stories, created when one of a user’s friends likes or comments on your page. These ads are great for giving your business “social proof,” one of the keys of digital marketing today.

Engaging And Adding Value

Once you have an idea of whom you will be targeting and what kind of advertisements you will be placing online, your next step is to add value to their online experience. Instead of just selling a product, try to offer helpful information or discounts that people can use and share. Be sure that you update your advertising copy regularly to keep it relevant and interesting to users.

We suggest running your ads with at 3 different images which allows you to test different variables. Testing creative will help you determine what elements generate the best response and engagement. Do images with your logo or product perform better? Do images with people or words generate more clicks?

Make sure you are also conscious of how long your ads are running. Facebook recommends changing ads every 3-7 days. As a rule of thumb; once your ad is served an average of 3 times/user you should update ad creative & messaging.

Now that we have covered the basics, you’re ready to get out there and start your Facebook campaign.