6 Facebook Ad Tips for E-Commerce
The world of Facebook Ads is a confusing one. Though there’s a large learning curve, there are actually some simple strategies for growing your account, both through strategizing and learning about the analytics.
To give you a head start, here are 6 Facebook Ad tips for E-Commerce. Between knowing the verbiage (i.e. what’s the difference between ad frequency and ad relevance), and knowing what to include in your ads (like CTAs!), here are some quick pointers that you can implement as soon as today.
#1 Use Automatic Placements
First up is one of the easiest features to implement: Automatic Placements. The Facebook algorithm knows what works. More importantly, they know where your audience is.
Why play a guessing game with Manual Placements when you can just let Facebook do the work?
Now if you’re unfamiliar, choosing Manual Placements means that you’re selecting the settings and determining where your ad will be shown. This could mean the Facebook Mobile News Feed, Facebook Side Banners, or even Instagram Stories.
Automatic, on the other hand, is a setting that lets Facebook determine where the ad will be shown. This is incredibly helpful because not all placements are equally effective.
Automatic Placements are particularly great for conversion ads because Facebook’s algorithm already knows the type of users most likely to convert, as well as where they’ll be most likely to do it.
More accurate placements = more for your money’s worth.
Even Facebook themselves recommend it.
#2 Optimize for mobile
Advertisements need to be as easy to read or watch as possible. People are lazy. They don’t want to have to work to read an ad. So if your ad isn’t optimized properly, people are going to skip or scroll right past it.
For example, story ads used on either Instagram or Facebook are always going to be vertical. You wouldn’t want to put a News Feed ad in a Story placement because the aspect ratio wouldn’t be correct, and it would force people to have to turn their phones in order to see the ad. That’s not going to work.
So, a good rule of thumb is to design specifically with mobile aspect ratios. In most instances, content created for mobile will still look correct when placed elsewhere (like a News Feed). Desktop ads do not translate to mobile as well, so it’s recommended to design for mobile if you’re using Automatic Placements.
That way, no matter where your ad is placed, it will look right.
If you don’t want to design mobile-friendly content, stick with Manual Placements to be safe.
#3 Try out Carousel Ads
Carousel ads are like the secret weapon for e-commerce advertising. They’re a fabulous way to showcase more than one product at a time, which is beneficial no matter who you’re targeting.
Carousel ads are perfect for targeting multiple groups of people with different product preferences. Plus, it helps your engagement when people scroll through the carousel.
A cool thing about carousel ads is that Facebook pays attention to which image gets the most attention. Then, it begins to place that image first to make the ad as effective as possible.
With carousel ads, each individual image can be linked to that specific product on your website. This makes it easier for people to shop and helps your conversion.
#4 Pay attention to Ad Frequency & Ad Relevance
One of the most important Facebook Advertising tips that I can provide is helping you differentiate between ad frequency and ad relevance.
Ad Frequency
This refers to the number of times your ad is shown to people. You want this number to be as small as possible, because showing it too frequently can lead to ad fatigue (when users see your ad too much and it loses effectiveness).
You want your Ad Frequency number to stay anywhere below 2. If, however, you find that it’s higher, there are a couple of things that you can do to get back on track.
- First, you can switch up your audience. If your audience pool is extremely small, that can mean that people are seeing your ad again and again because Facebook doesn’t have anyone else to show it to. Either widen your audience, or target a new audience altogether.
- Second, your budget may be way too large for the audience you’re working with. Facebook wants to use up your budget, so it’s going to keep showing your ad even after you’ve cycled through the entire audience. Decrease your budget to prevent this.
- Finally, if you’re working with a great audience and are comfortable with your budget, rework your ad by switching up the copy, imagery, etc. At least now when your audience sees it, it will be something different!
Ad Relevance
Ad Relevance refers to how significant the ad is to your audience.
This analytic is measured on a scale of 1 to 10. You want the number to be as high as possible, as a higher number indicates that the ad is well suited for your audience.
Things that raise the score include engagement like views, clicks, likes, and comments. Actions like “hiding” the ad from one’s feed will take away from the score.
#5 Use the Dynamic Creative feature
Facebook recently rolled out a feature called Dynamic Creative that allows the algorithm to find the most effective combinations of your ads.
You are able to upload multiple ad elements (meaning multiple images, multiple headlines, and multiple CTAs), and then Facebook puts them together in different combinations to test which works the best.
From there, they begin to show the most successful combination to the most people, which in turn helps your ad become more effective.
Facebook will let you upload up to five different versions of each element.
This feature saves so much time, as it’s almost like doing split testing without having to do any work on your end. You don’t have to analyze any analytics; you just create the content, upload it, and go. Facebook does all of the work for you.
A couple of things worth noting:
- This feature is accessible in the Quick Creation workflow
- You cannot use this feature with an existing Ad Set, so you’ll have to make a new one (same Campaign is fine)
- Dynamic Creative will work best when using Automatic Placements
- After you receive enough results, you can use the best performing ad and choose your own placements
Not sure which options to give Facebook for the Dynamic Creative ads? Look at ads you have run previously. Check what did well, and then recycle that successful content.
Dynamic Creative ads can take longer to get rolling because Facebook is spending some time at the beginning testing out different combinations to see what works best. Once it gets going, however, these are often more effective than running static ads.
It is definitely worth giving Dynamic Creative ads a try!
#6 Always include a CTA
Finally, no matter what your business is, and no matter what type of ad you’re running, you always need a CTA.
Subconsciously, people like being told what to do. It makes things easier and gives them a clear path for next actions. With your ads, that comes in the form of a CTA.
Choose your CTA according to exactly what you want your audience to do. If you’re running a carousel ad with different products, your CTA will probably be something like “Shop Now.” If you’re running an Engagement ad to try and increase brand recognition, your CTA may be something like “Sign Up” (for emails).
Either way, tell your audience what you want them to do next. It will make all the difference.
There are a lot of ways to up your Facebook Advertising game. Here’s a quick summary the Facebook Ad tips that we covered.
Facebook advertising looks different for every business, so these tips are general guidelines for making yours successful. Test the waters. Keep what works, and discard what doesn’t. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy; everything is dependent upon your business, your audience, and your goals.
- Use Automatic Placements: Let Facebook use the algorithm to help you with placement.
- Optimize for mobile: Mobile ads translate better to non-mobile placements.
- Use Carousel ads: Great for showcasing multiple products.
- Pay attention to Ad Frequency and Ad Relevance: A low ad frequency number and a high ad relevance number is key.
- Utilize the Dynamic Creative feature: Use different ad element combinations to create the most effective ad possible.
- Always include a CTA: Tell your audience exactly what you want them to do.
Happy advertising!
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Yours in success,
Sarah x