You can run a great Facebook ad campaign.
Some of you probably rolled your eyes or cringed when you read that phrase. Perhaps you became a bit intrigued, and are unfamiliar with how to run a successful campaign.
Well, Facebook ad campaigns can be the lifeblood of your Facebook marketing strategy. Let me show you how.
What You’ll Learn
- What Facebook ad campaigns are
- Strategies for a successful campaign
- How to set your campaigns apart from the rest
- Examples of successful campaigns, and why they worked
The Campaign Basics
A Facebook campaign is a series of ads or applications that promote your business. Pretty simple sounding, right?
Well it is simple, given you know what you are doing. We’ve been there. We’ve invested time and money trying to figure out the right way to structure these campaigns. All of that information is included in our winning campaign formula.
A great resource for researching campaign strategies is the Facebook Studio.
If you haven’t checked it out, it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite sites to get new ideas for ad campaigns.
9 Campaign Essentials
After browsing a number of campaigns, I began to see a pattern: every campaign that had become successful had some similarities.
I’ve gone ahead and complied a list of campaign essentials for you to use.
#1 Set The Goals For The Campaign
Honestly, setting a goal should be the first step for just about any activity you do. It keeps you focused. It enhances your success while limiting your failures. It gives us the drive to accomplish a task.
Setting up goals for Facebook campaigns are no exception.
What is the aim of your campaign? Why are you creating it? Questions like these will help you decide what exactly your goals are.
Campaigns are created for different reasons, but here are some of the more common goals that I have seen:
- Increase the number of Facebook fans
- Boost sales of a product
- Generate more unique visitors
- Provide a means for fan engagement
- Drive traffic to an outside source
- Raise money for a charity or cause
Now that you have mapped out what you would like to do with your campaign, put some exact numbers down.
If your goal is to get more fans on your Fan Page, how many would you like to get? 100? 1,000? 10,000?
While getting a large number of fans is certainly possible, be sure to keep it in the scope of your business. If you’re in a smaller niche by all means aim high, but don’t set your sights at 1 million fans from a single campaign.
These goals not only set a precedence for your campaign, but also will allow you to estimate how much money you should expect to budget into getting it created.
#2 Choose The Type Of Campaign
Facebook campaigns come in two primary flavors: ads and apps.
First let’s talk about ads. These are the blurbs you see on the right-hand side of your Facebook feed. Sponsored stories and posts also go in this category.
If you are looking for a quick promotion that sends visitors to an external site, then this is the way to go.
Apps are much more powerful than their ad counterpart. With apps, you can run sweepstakes, contests, get emails, and even sell directly from your Facebook Fan Page in a custom tab.
Apps like these often take more time to set up than a little ad blurb, but their return is well worth the extra effort.
You can even use an ad campaign to direct traffic to an app campaign!
After assessing your goals successful campaigns, choose what type of campaign best fits their needs.
Short and sweet? Go with the ads.
Want to take your Fan Page to a new level? Try using an app.
#3 Social Campaigns On A Social Network
Facebook is a social network. Of course, you already knew that.
The best way to make use of this is build your campaign around being social!
If you plan to run a contest or sweepstake, don’t stop at “1 like = 1 submission”. Take it to the next step. They can earn submissions for sharing the contest with their friends.
If you have a contest where the number of likes a submission gets dictates the winner, then this gets friends of fans directly involved with the campaign.
Methods like these are how campaigns grow virally.
#4 Encourage Engagement
The more you incorporate interaction with your campaign, the more engagement you will get. It’s as simple as that.
Jell-O recently challenged the world to submit a video of you eating a Jell-O pudding cup as fast as possible. We’ll take a closer look at this campaign a little later, but this is a great example of the point I’m trying to convey.
Interaction will not only generate engagement, but will leave a personal impression on the visitor.
Even if you didn’t win the pudding contest, you still have an interesting story to share at the next family get together!
#5 You Have To Give To Get The Engagement
Ah, the reward. This is the incentive behind the whole ordeal. This is the motivation before any form of engagement takes place.
People love free things. Sure, a sale is great, but it generally won’t have the same results as a campaign that offers something for free.
You don’t have to give away a brand new car, although as we’ll see later that it works pretty well! You can offer them free advise, a free report, or a free trial.
Depending on the size and structure of your campaign, this can be the largest expense for your business.
The free trial method can help reduce the cost though, as people that have accepted the free trial turn into paying customers after a set amount of time. Something to think about!
#6 You’re A Marketer, Not Pablo Picasso
Ah, the other area that will cost some money up front. Professional photos or videos.
Unless you’re an MS Paint master, odds are you will have to employ the skills of a professional graphic designer or videographer.
You see, even the most structurally sound campaign can fall flat on its face if it looks terrible or has a confusing layout.
Please take the time to set this up right, because any time you cut corners with presentation you will be cutting into your ad revenue.
Does this mean that you have to build the Eiffel Tower for every campaign? No!
A simple design with a functional and intuitive layout can get great results. Just don’t make it look like a 4 year-old did it, and let the pros take care of the graphics.
#7 Set Limitations
Every campaign needs limitations.
These should be clear. One entry per visitor. Submissions must be in by May 3rd, 2013 at 12:00 PM EST, and judging will be finalized on May 10th.
If you are unclear or uncomfortable with writing rules and regulations or terms of service for your campaign, please reference other campaign’s.
Every campaign needs an end. The important thing to decide is when to end it!
#8 Stay On Target. Stay On Target!
Before you even start to begin the campaign, you should have a fair idea for what audience you are targeting.
If you own a company in the US, speak English (US) and create products catered to people that live in the US, chances are you don’t want to waste ad money on people that live in India or China.
Age and gender are also good modifiers. Girls are probably less interested in a NERF gun than boys. Similarly, an 18 year-old is probably not too concerned with saving for retirement or home mortgages.
Be sure to know what audience you plan to target with the campaign, and only focus on that audience.
If you have multiple audiences you would like to target, create more than one campaign!
#9 Stand Out And Be Different
Be unique. Be creative. Be genuine.
Hopefully these campaigns below will spark some creativity.
See this as an opportunity to express not only your business, but yourself. What would you like to have the opportunity to participate in? What does your business bring out in people?
Make this personal for you, because this campaign will contribute to your brand’s identity.
Have fun with it!
Now On To The Example Campaigns
Jell-O – “Jell-O Pudding Prix”
Contestants entered to see who could eat a cup of Jell-O pudding the fastest, and potentially beat 5 of the world’s top competitive eaters.
This campaign was constructed by the CP+B agency, and its app included the ability to select a competitor from the 5 to win, as well as submit your own video.
While I was unable to dig up specific numbers regarding this campaign, it received a large amount of attention!
A Google search of “Jell-O pudding prix” yields not only numerous blog posts about the campaign, but almost 3,000 YouTube videos. That is a mind-numbing number.
L’Oréal Luxe – “Devoted To Fans #1”
This campaign gave fans access to a limited edition eye color palette with Facebook colors after submitting a photo of their makeup.
1,650 palettes were made, and the world-wide campaign effectively doubled the Fan Page’s engagement rate. Revenue increased by €80,275, and the story was featured on blogs like Mashable, as well as on television shows and women’s magazines.
Intel and Toshiba – “The Beauty Inside”
This was certainly a unique idea. The Beauty Inside is an interactive social film, directed by Sundance winner Drake Doremus.
The main character Alex’s identity changed every day, so fans auditioned to play the character. What an innovative way to encourage fan interaction and engagement.
The social film racked up over 55 million views, 94,000 Facebook fans, and a 97% approval rating on YouTube, all while promoting the Toshiba Portégé Ultrabook.
Latam Airlines Group S.A. – “My South America Dream List”
In this campaign, fans submitted their list of a perfect itinerary for a trip to South America. Fans could then vote on submissions and encourage friends to vote for them.
This campaign was targeted to people who had already expressed an interest in the airline, and netted over 60 million impressions.
Upwards of 17,000 new fans were attracted to the Fan Page. Their goal was 5,000!
Kia Motors – “Rio Road Trip”
In this campaign, two people took a trip in a Kia Rio on one tank of gas. Fans then guessed on a map how far they thought they would get. The winner got a new Kia Rio.
Over 37,000 new fans were added to the Fan Page, and 10,000 people entered the contest.
People did attempt to cheat, however. Majestic Media’s Anti-Cheat tool helped Kia Motors thwart potential cheaters. Something to think about for your campaigns.
I hope this guide gets you off on the right foot, and excited about starting campaigns. I’m excited to see what you all come up with!
Just remember to set your goals, create a good looking campaign, and then watch the engagement and fans flood in.
Let us know in the comments how you have done with your campaigns, or if you have seen any great examples!
