Meta Ads: Should They Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy?

Meta ads should hold a place in your marketing playbook. Why? Facebook, now Meta, is synonymous with social networking but has transcended its initial identity. It has evolved into an omnichannel behemoth, capturing the attention of billions of users across the globe. More than just a place for sharing life updates and connecting with friends, Meta has become a pivotal hub for brand exploration and engagement.

With its targeting capabilities, diverse ad formats, and huge user base, Meta offers an exceptional opportunity to reach your ideal customers. Consumers turn to social media platforms for insights, recommendations, and reviews when purchasing. Meta’s integrated features, such as business pages, user-generated content, and sponsored posts, have transformed it into a virtual marketplace where consumers interact with friends while also seeking information about products and services.

Marketing within the Meta Platforms (which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is a strategic approach to promoting a business or brand. It leverages the vast user base and diverse features offered by Meta’s platforms to help businesses increase brand visibility. With billions of users across various platforms, Meta offers unparalleled exposure.

Through consistent and engaging content, businesses can reinforce their brand identity and make it more recognisable to potential customers. The advanced ad targeting capabilities of Meta’s platforms mean you are advertising to people that are interested in whatever it is you are selling.

Meta platforms boast billions of active users globally. This extensive reach gives businesses access to various demographics to niche markets, depending on their advertising goals. Advertisers can define their audience based on interests, behaviours, location, and more, ensuring that the most relevant users see their ads.

With a variety of ad formats (image and video, carousel, slideshow ads, and more), you have versatility for specific marketing objectives and creative preferences. Some of the other primary benefits include:

• Retargeting those who have previously interacted with your brand or website.
• Custom audience creation to deliver highly relevant ads to people who have already shown an interest in their products or services.
• Robust analytics tools provide insights into ad performance, audience behaviour, and conversion tracking.
• Run A/B tests to compare different ad creatives, headlines, copy, and targeting options to fine-tune campaigns for better results over time.
• Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping showcase products and facilitate direct purchases within the platform, streamlining the customer journey.

Starting a Meta ad account allows you to create and run ads, and it’s all done via the Business Manager:

1. Once logged in to Business Manager, click the “Business Settings” option in the top right corner of the screen. This will take you to the Business Settings dashboard.
2. Find the “Accounts” section in the left-hand menu in the Business Settings dashboard. Click on “Ad Accounts.”
3. Click the “Add” button to create an ad account for your business.
4. In the pop-up window, you’ll need to fill in your new ad account details.
5. Choose the currency you want to use for your ad account, and you can also set an ad account spending limit if needed.
6. In the same pop-up window, you can assign people from your Business Manager and partners (if applicable) to the ad account. These individuals or partners will have access to manage and run ads within this ad account (You can specify their roles and permissions).
7. After configuring all the necessary details and permissions, review the information and click the “Create Ad Account” button at the bottom of the window.

Depending on your location and business type, Meta may require you to verify your identity for security and compliance. After successfully creating your ad account, it will appear in your Business Settings dashboard’s “Ad Accounts” section. Click on the ad account to access and manage it.

Determining the right time to experiment with ads isn’t something with a one-size-fits-all answer or a single key performance indicator that can guide your decision. Instead, it’s essential to consider various factors and prerequisites to ensure that your ad campaigns have the best chance of success.

Before running ads, ensure that your social media page is fully optimised. This means having a complete and compelling profile, including a profile picture and cover photo. A well-structured page helps build credibility and trust with potential customers.

While there’s no strict rule on the exact number of Page Likes you should have before running ads, it’s generally a good idea to have at least a modest following. Having 100 Page Likes or more can signal that your business or brand has some existing interest or recognition among users.

Finally, implementing the Meta Pixel on your website is crucial for tracking user interactions and conversions driven by your ads. It allows you to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, optimise ad delivery, and retarget users who have engaged with your content. Be sure to diversify your ad creatives to capture the attention of different audiences with multiple ad images, videos, or ad copy variations to run A/B tests and find what resonates best with your target audience.

Making the most of Meta marketing tools

Meta offers a range of marketing tools for you to explore. For example, Creative Hub is a tool that allows you to try different ad formats and see how they would appear on Facebook and Instagram. You can create mock-ups of ads and test various creative elements before launching campaigns. Page Insights provides data on how your page is performing. It includes information about page views, likes, post engagement, and more, helping you gauge the effectiveness of your organic content.

Exploring, testing and utilising these options adds another tool to your business marketing kit. With its relatively low cost, incorporating Meta into your strategy is a very smart move.