In part one, I discussed the nature of Facebook Ads and how they must be approached differently to traditional interruptive advertising. Here I’ll provide an overview on the available options with Facebook Advertising, to help you utilise the most appropriate features for your business.
First – Select a Sales Channel
Before you decide which type of ad to use, you need to select the right sales channel for your particular business. Although most businesses go for the online sales option, you should take some time to understand all of the sales platforms Facebook offers, so you can decide which is best for your company as it continues to grow. Facebook provides three basic types, depending on the size of the company and their specific advertising needs and budget.
- Direct Sales – Only for the biggest companies, this type of managed advertising account uses a dedicated team that directs campaigns with the advertiser, as well as their marketing and advertising agencies. There are specific Facebook products only available to this type of sales channel, such as Facebook Premium, which allows advertisers to place page post ads and sponsored stories right into news feeds.
- Inside Sales – The inside sales channel is for clients who pay Facebook large amounts of advertising money each year. Although inside sales clients don’t get the same level of support as direct sales clients, they still get a sales representative to help them purchase the best options for their purposes.
- Online Sales – The majority of people on Facebook will interact via online sales, which is a self-service channel. For those who prefer more automation there are platforms like AdParlor, Facebook Adder, Hootsuite and TBG Digital to assist them, however, Facebook makes it relatively simple to create ads for oneself.
Facebook Marketplace Ads
There are a number of different Facebook ad types available to those who use any of the three sales channels, however, there are two main advertising programs, premium and marketplace – both programs include Facebook’s advanced viewer demographic targeting features that make them stand out from other pay-per-click programs. Both types of ads appear across Facebook, however, premium ads, which are significantly more expensive, have more advantages, such as a guarantee, no link restrictions and better placement on Facebook pages. Premium ads were not available via the self-service online sales channel until recently.
- External Website Ads – This is the traditional Facebook advertisement option, which is found across the right hand section of the site. These ads drive traffic to blogs, web shops and other sites and you are allowed to use static images only. You are allowed to enter a title of 25 maximum characters and the body of the ad, which can be up to 90 characters.
- Facebook Object Ads – This option works a lot like external website ads, but the difference is that it drives traffic inside the Facebook platform, to an application, page or event. Furthermore, the ad’s title is set automatically to the name of the particular event, page or application. The rest of the specifications are exactly the same as the specs from the external website ads.
- Page Post Ads – The purpose of page post ads is to promote engagement using a specific item on your Facebook page, such as video, text, links or photos as an ad. The title is added as the name of your Facebook page. The number of likes will appear below the ad and visitors can click the thumbs up like symbol there, as well. You have different options for the characters in the body of the advertisement. Only 90 characters are allowed with a video, image or event and 120 characters when you only use text.
- Sponsored Stories – These are the most interactive marketplace ads available. Sponsored stories are not a traditional ad, but they highlight the actions of your fans on your page. For example, if someone comments on your page or likes it, this action turns into its own ad that is shown to that person’s Facebook friends. The downside is that you can’t use these in the beginning, because you need to have a fan base in place first to get the best outcome.
- Sponsored Results – The newest kid on the block, sponsored results are Facebook’s way of competing directly with Google’s sponsored ads. Whenever someone does a search on Facebook for a brand page, other related companies display in the search results. Sponsored results allow brands to buy ad space that displays whenever someone conducts a brand page search.
