How to Update Your Local Facebook Ad Targeting Practices

1Apr

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already given Facebook ads a shot. How did they go? What I generally hear is that the first ads were okay but a little lackluster, and definitely not as impactful as you’d been hoping.

I hate to be the one to tell you, but the issue probably isn’t with Facebook advertising. There’s a lot that goes into making a successful Facebook ad for your local business, and if you’re not satisfied with your results, then that probably means it’s time to work on targeting.

Finding the right audience is harder than you think.
If your target audience is only X gender of Y age and Z income, you’re going too vague. What are their interests? Hobbies? Even political affiliation can make a big difference, and these are all factors that you can work into your Facebook ad targeting.

When you set up the audience for your Facebook ad, take these factors into account. If you’re still not sure what areas to include when targeting your Facebook ad, let me give you a list of the most common things your business should be considering:

Education
Zip code
Recent life events (engagement, birth of a child, graduation, etc.)
Household composition (children in-home, new teen drivers, etc.)
Net worth
Behaviors (the other ads they have/haven’t clicked on)
Pages they’ve liked
Websites they’ve visited

The list goes on and on. You don’t need (or generally even want) to target all of these areas, but consider who your buyer is and which of these factors are going to be relevant in getting them to visit your local business.

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Test out custom audiences!
You can go even more specific than regular Facebook targeting, though!

If you’re not using Facebook custom audiences, you’re potentially costing your local business a lot of money. Custom audiences allow you to put ads in front of existing customers (found by traffic to your website, your mailing list, etc.) to encourage them to buy more often, spend more, or otherwise increase their lifetime customer value.

I know that many small business owners don’t have email lists (even though they should), but you can always install the custom Facebook pixel on your website so that you can track visitors and deliver your Facebook ads directly to them!

Unlike other ads where you’re paying in the hopes that viewers will like your brand, your odds of success are much higher with custom audiences. These are people who have already shown an interest in your brand, so why not encourage them to finalize that sale?

Try using lookalike audiences…with a few changes.
Once you’ve got your custom audience established and it seems to be working for you, don’t stop there! Lookalike audiences are pretty much what they sound like—audiences that are demographically similar to your custom audience.

Even if you couldn’t use an email list to create your original custom audience, you can always use your Facebook followers as a base for your lookalike.

Why do it? Your custom audience might be great, but eventually you’ll need to expand your reach, and lookalike audiences are perfect for that. They deliver your ads to people who have similar demographic data to your target audience, meaning they’re more likely to generate clicks, conversions, or any of your other tracked metrics.

The one caveat with lookalike ads that local businesses need to be mindful of its location. Facebook ads tend to go a little broad sometimes, so make sure that your new lookalike audience is still within a suitable distance from your brick and mortar location.

Keep your Facebook ad targeting evolving.
Are you noticing a theme? There’s never a time when you can stop improving on your Facebook ad targeting! Your audience’s behaviors and interests may well change over time, so it’s important that you’re constantly renewing your targeting strategies if you want your local business’ Facebook ads to be successful!

Don’t be embarrassed if you feel a little lost—Facebook ads are complicated! Let’s discuss them during your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

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How to Advertise Your Local Business on Facebook

By Christopher Tompkins

6Mar

Advertising

You know more about Facebook ads than the average social media marketing bear, but how do you bring all of that together? After all, just knowing what an engagement ad does isn’t enough to get major attention on your posts!

Don’t worry, I’m here to explain what you need to do to have a successful Facebook ad campaign for your local business. Ready? Let’s work out how you’re going to grow your business with Facebook ads!

Set Goals
The mantra you’ll always hear in marketing is that your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. What does that mean in real people speak?

You need to have a firm goal (e.g. a cost-per-click of $0.75), it needs to be something you can track, related to your business and its needs (if you’re trying to get people to visit your website, don’t waste money trying to get comments on your posts), something you can reasonably achieve, and it needs a set deadline. Of course you’ll get 100 clicks on your posts eventually, but it’s only a SMART goal if there’s a reasonable deadline attached to it.

Take a look at what you want to achieve with your ads. Do you want to talk to customers, drive traffic to your website, or something else? Whatever it is, identify exactly what results you’re after before you even think about creating an ad.

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Look Nearby
I’m sure your business is great, but very, very few people are going to drive 30 miles to go to a business they’ve never heard of before. You’re a local business, so market locally!

When you’re establishing the audience for your Facebook ad, try putting in specific zip codes or only sending the ad out to people within 15 miles of your store’s location. Yes, you’re reducing the number of people who are going to see your ad, but why would you want your money to go to putting an ad in front of someone who’s too far away to ever purchase from your visit? The beauty of social media advertising is that you can get specific and make the most of your investment, so put that to work with your Facebook ads!

Optimize Timing
Thanks to Facebook’s “Insights” tab, you can track when your followers are online. Those are the times you should be posting! If your target audience works in an office, then posting your ad while they’re working is probably a bad move. But running your ad right after they get off or when they’re on their lunch breaks has a much higher chance of being effective.

Because you’re a local business, this is especially important. There might not be that many people in your immediate area who fit your target audience, so it’s vital that you reach as many of them as possible!

Don’t limit it to specific times, either. What about days? Have you noticed a drop in social media engagement on Tuesdays? Then don’t have your ad run on those days! When I say you can (and should) customize these ads, I mean it. Don’t be so obsessed with appealing to every single person on Facebook that people who might actually like your store never see your ads.

Start Testing
You won’t get your first ad 100% right. That just isn’t a realistic expectation for somebody who’s new to Facebook advertising. But you can use this advice to skip a lot of pitfalls and make your first ad a worthy investment in your business’ future. So put a lot of thought into it, follow my advice here, and be prepared to record your results so you can make your following Facebook ad even better!

Could you use a hand with your Facebook advertising? Get started with a free consultation from The Go! Agency!

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A Guide to Facebook Ads for Your Local Business

By Christopher Tompkins

4Mar

Advertising, Facebook, Social Media

You don’t know enough about Facebook ads.

It doesn’t mean that you’re not a great business owner, but I’ve spoken to enough local businesses to know that there’s a lot of confusion out there about what exactly Facebook ads are good for. No, you don’t just put “Buy from my business!” over a stock image of your logo and no, Facebook ads are not one-size-fits-all.

That’s why I’m stepping in to clear things up for you. I’m going to talk about the different types of Facebook ads and why they’re really a must-have if you want to grow your business online!

1. Engagement Ads
Have things gone a little silent on Facebook? For better or worse, Facebook’s algorithm highly prioritizes paid content from businesses, and the landscape is very much “pay to play.” For you, that means that if you want to spark the conversation with your customers, you need to run an engagement ad and encourage people to like, comment, or share your ad!

2. Page Likes Ads
If you’re newer to Facebook, it probably won’t be long until your page likes run into a wall. You start off and they’re climbing up, up, up…and then they stagnate.

It’s normal, and investing in some page likes ads is your best bet if you’re hoping to grow your Facebook following. These ads will go to people who aren’t following your page but may be interested, based on the demographics you target (I’ll get into this in my next blog).

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3. Check-In Ads
While not its own explicit ad category, check-in ads are perfect if you’re trying to get some more people into your brick and mortar store. How do you do it?

When creating your ad, you’ll go under the “conversion” category and choose the “store visits” option. From there, your copy should incentivize viewers to check-in at your store, maybe by offering a promotional code to anyone who checks in. This way you’re increasing your sales and getting more check-ins/reviews on your page, which will in turn drive customers to your business.

4. Event Responses
Do you have an event coming up? Run an event response ad to make sure you’ve got a full house! These ads make it easier for people in your area to learn about your event, and they show responses from the people you’ve already invited. This way people see your event, see that people are looking forward to it, and are much more likely to make the effort to go!

5. Traffic Ads
If most of your business happens online or you just want to get more people on your website, a traffic ad is right up your alley. You can encourage people to visit a specific page on your website, usually to a contact or reservations page. From there, you’re more likely to see an uptick in your site traffic. If you make the ad using industry standards and target it toward your audience, this is a great way to create conversions!

Join the 21st Century
As you can see, there’s not exactly a shortage of Facebook ad options. You don’t need to run all of these at once, but take a look and see which ad is going to work for your goals. Don’t run ads optimized for page likes if what you want is engagement, be sure to create visuals and copy according to digital marketing best practices, and you’ll see why Facebook ads are a staple in social media marketing!

Are you still a little fuzzy on the nitty gritty of Facebook ads? Schedule your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

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Social Media Marketing Evaluation: Yoga Studios

By Christopher Tompkins

6Aug

Social Media

For the rest of the summer, the Go! Agency blog will focus on the social media habits of some of our favorite industries. Every week, our first blog will explain common mistakes made by an industry; followed by a second blog that will explain how to fix them. Think of this series as What Not to Wear for social media marketing!

This week we’re taking a break from perfecting our asanas to meditate on yoga studios. Although social media (Instagram in particular) seems ideal for this industry, several yogis and studios are guilty of social media blunders. We’ll present the major faux pas today, and fix them in our next blog!

Inferior Images

You need to have quality images, no matter the subject. Social media is a visual space: in 2017, Facebook posts accompanied by images received over twice the engagement as image-free posts. According to Buffer, tweets with images receive more favorites and more retweets. Many yoga poses are visually striking, so there is no excuse for poor photography. That carries over to pictures of your studio space. For whatever reason, a lot of accounts seem to post pictures of studio corners–literally, the corners of the room. It’s an odd trope that should be avoided. (P.s., a good Instagram filter will not salvage a bad photograph!)

Not Posting Frequently Enough

On social media, yoga communities are very active and engaged. A studio should understand that posting once a week will not attract followers. Facebook and Twitter profiles should be updated a few times every week; Instagram, however, should be updated once a day at minimum. Successful yoga Instagram accounts have massive amounts of content that they share with their followers.

All Inspiration, All the Time

Quotes are lovely. Quotes are inspiring. Quotes are great filler for when you need content in a pinch. Unfortunately, a few quotes go a long way. Yoga studios post inspirational quotes like some people post memes: far too often. Seriously, when your content is

[pose] [quote] [pose]

[studio] [quote] [quote]

[flyer] [quote] [pose]

you have a problem. Too many of these inspirational images make a page look monotonous. Once a week is plenty, believe us.

Neglecting the Human Element

While the yoga community is still somewhat divided about taking pictures in a class, this is no excuse to eschew posting about willing subjects. Posts about your studio’s yoga instructors are especially good for social media purposes. So many studios neglect to show off their staff. Followers (and potential clients) want to know more about the person teaching the classes. As long as you have their full informed consent, you should incorporate staff into your social media.

Not Connecting to the Yoga Community

Yoga is huge on Instagram. There are hundreds of micro-and macro-influencers on that platform alone, some of whom have over one million followers. Yoga hashtags are consistently popular, like #yogaeverydamnday (14,255,917 posts) and #yogaeverywhere (5,094,717 posts). There are yoga challenges on a daily basis–providing ample opportunities for exposure and shares! You are hurting your brand by avoiding the opportunity to connect with the yoga community in a different way.

Too Little Information

Some studios that choose to post photographs of poses do not include instructions with pose posts. These studios are missing out on the chance to educate their followers. Posting photos of specific poses is an opportunity to guide people on proper form and body alignment, as well as some of the deeper aspects of yoga. Posts of poses that don’t include instructions are lovely, but otherwise lack purpose.

In our next blog, we’ll profile a hypothetical studio making these real mistakes. We’ll show you how easy it is to get your studio’s social media strategy back on track!

Does your yoga studio’s social media marketing strategy align with your goals? We want to help! Contact The Go! Agency today for a free consultation!

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The Worst Facebook Page In The World: Cover and Profile Pictures

By Christopher Tompkins

4Apr

Facebook, Local Marketing, Marketing, Social Media

Today I’m going to introduce you to The Worst Facebook Page In The World. If you’re sitting there right now thinking, “Uh oh, I hope it’s not my page” then don’t worry. I made this page myself just to illustrate some social media failings.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to go through The Worst Facebook Page In The World, section by section, to show you common social media mistakes and how to overcome them by using the correct practices.

This week, I’m going to focus on the profile photo and cover image.

Let’s take a look:

Now you know what they say; you only get one chance to make a first impression and straight away my first impression of the page is, “BLEURGH”.

Facebook Profile Pictures

When any new person comes to a Facebook page, the first thing that they’ll see is your cover image and profile picture. So if they stink, your whole page stinks! Immediately we can see the issue with the page.

For starters, their profile photo has nothing to do with the business. (We can’t even tell if they are a business!) It’s a blurry, out of focus shot of somebody’s face. Maybe it’s the owner? Who knows.

The quality of the photo is an issue, but even more of an issue is the content. A business can live or die based on its branding, and it seems this business has no logo. Or an owner that didn’t think to place their logo on their website.

What about some good examples, though? Well, what do you know! The Go! Agency has a perfect profile picture.

We’ve chosen to use our logo as it pops out on the page and is well connected to our brand. The great thing about using your logo as a profile picture is that it will get peppered around your page, but also on other pages when you leave a comment, or somebody shares one of your posts. A good logo will pop out from the page and be instantly recognizable.

Facebook Cover Images

Next up we have the cover image.

Having a branded, clear cover image is important just for the simple fact that it takes up 1/3rd of a visitor’s screen. Think of it as a virtual store front.

In this case, the owner has decided to put up a random photo of feet and hands, which tells us nothing. It doesn’t inform visitors of what the business is, it doesn’t stir any emotions and worst of all, the photo is blurry and bad quality. Going back to that idea of the store front – how would a customer react in real life if this was plastered over the store window? Probably with bewilderment.

By this point, I’d imagine a good amount of visitors would have left the Facebook page. Two terrible photos are all it takes sometimes. We’re often told to “Never judge a book by its cover, ” but we all do it.

In this case, most people would judge that this business doesn’t care too much about their Facebook page, which kind of leads us to assume they don’t care about their business either. It doesn’t make you believe in them as a legitimate business.

The most annoying thing about this is that this first impression relayed no information about the business at all. None. Can you tell me what the business even does? It’s impossible to tell at first glance, which is how new visitors would feel.

Now here’s a cover image used by one of our clients:

It hits the mark well because it instantly tells the visitor what this business does, where it’s located and also features a relevant photo that puts forward positive emotions. Most important of all though, it looks good. (Probably because we had our graphic designer make it…)

You’re probably thinking, “Well duh! We’re not that stupid.” But we’ve seen these basic rules broken time and again. Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know!

In my next post about the World’s Worst Facebook Page, I’ll be showing you why it’s important to keep your page up-to-date and some good practices for dealing with negative reviews.

Until then, you can sign up for our newsletter below!

Loyal Customers: Your Social Media Secret Weapon

By Christopher Tompkins

18Aug

Advertising, Business, Facebook, Instagram, Marketing, Pinterest, Snapchat, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

Remember when the only marketing was word of mouth? Neither do we. But testimonials from those who utilize your products or services and trust your brand are one of the most powerful tools you can use. This is still true in the world of social media marketing!

People trust their peers more than they do a business’s promotion. After all, it’s a marketer’s job to put their brand in the best possible light. But people who actually use your company for years have huge credibility because they have nothing else to gain but to spread the truth about a great company.

One of the most powerful ways testimonials work in the cyber world is user-generated content. Whether it’s a review, a post about their experience, or even a simple “Like” on an update, it’s all real people talking about your brand. You can never have too much user-generated content with social media. It’s one of the primary goals!

As you begin your social media marketing, be sure to alert your “regulars” and even new customers about your page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other platforms. Promote the cyber world in real life asking them to like your page, offer social media exclusive sales, contests, and more content. The people you already have solid relationships are your first fans on the internet and be sure to utilize their brand loyalty.

How do you use testimonials? Comment below!

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