How to Create an Effective Facebook Ad

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How to Create an Effective Facebook Ad

According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 69 percent of adults in the United States use Facebook on a regular basis. It is no surprise that small and large businesses have found a great Facebook ad to be one of the best ways to reach customers, drive sales, and increase brand awareness.

Of course, if you would like to promote your company on Facebook, you will first need to spend some time putting together an effective ad. The following tips should help you do just that:

Write a Clear Call to Action

When crafting your Facebook ad, you must decide what action you want the viewer to take when they see it on their screen. Do you want them to call you? Send you an email? Purchase one of your products? Or visit your website to learn more about your services?

Once you have an answer, you can write a call to action that clearly and concisely conveys your message to your audience. Here is a few examples of what that could look like:

  • “Click here to buy this hilarious tee for just $20!”
  • “Call (555) 555-5555 today to schedule an appointment with a member of our experienced team.”
  • “Ready to learn more about how our services can improve your business? Click here to visit our website.”

These simple statements can be the difference between a viewer forgetting about your ads or taking the next step and being one of your customers.

Target the Right Audience

When you take out a TV or radio ad, you have little to no control over the audience that receives your message. It will be seen or heard by whoever is tuned in when your commercial airs. Not everyone will have use for your services or is close enough to your store to drop by and make a purchase.

With Facebook, you have total control over who sees your ads. You can target people based on their age, their location, their interests, their relationship status, and a host of other categories.

If you run a bridal boutique, you can target women in your city who are currently engaged. Similarly, if you want to increase sales for your educational supply store, you can build an audience full of teachers. No need for guesswork; often this information is listed directly on their profile. .

Taking the time to target the right audience can increase your odds of converting viewers to customers and reduce time spent reaching out to the uninterested.

Choose an Eye-Catching Image

When scrolling through Facebook on their phone, tablet, or laptop, users don’t typically spend a lot of time viewing any one post. So, how can you get them to take a longer look at your ad?

Quite often, the best way to get a user’s attention is with an eye-catching image.

The exact image you should choose will depend on your company and your audience. Generally speaking, you would be wise to stay away from drab, text-heavy images. You will have much more success with vibrant, colorful images featuring a short slogan or tagline.

Be Ready to Make Changes

When running ads on Facebook, it is not uncommon for people to believe that their work is complete after they hit publish. After all, once you get everything set up perfectly, you just sit back and wait for the sales to roll in, right?

Unfortunately, social media marketing is rarely quite that simple. It is essential that you check your analytics for as long as your ad is live. Doing so will allow you to tweak your post on the fly and get every ounce out of your ad dollars.

A small sampling of the alterations you may have to make after your ad goes live would include:

  • Condensing your target audience
  • Tweaking your call to action
  • Linking the ad to a different page on your website

By making these changes, you may be able to improve your conversion rate and increase your ad’s return on investment.

Need Help With Your Facebook Ad?

Advertising on Facebook can be a superb way to introduce your company to new customers and increase your year-over-year sales figures. However, if you feel like you are struggling to achieve the results you had hoped for, it is important to remember that help is available.

The team here at FZA Digital has been helping businesses promote themselves online for years. We understand what it takes to create a Facebook ad that attracts eyeballs and converts to valuable leads and sales. If you would like to learn more about our services, just pick up the phone and give us a call at (424) 229-2923 or contact us online.

 

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Working from Home During COVID – Part 2

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Welcome back!

If you missed part 1 of work from home during COVID-19, you can check that out here. 

Post-industrial revolution, we’ve spent decades training people to work in offices and neglected working from home. For those who have the opportunity to work from home, there are useful  skills that need to be sharpened. 

Managers play a pivotal role in training teams to leverage video conferencing and other digital workflows as customers demand face-to-face interaction. As they say, the show must go on, and the internet is equipped to help you stay open. 

Follow these tips to help your team transition, albeit temporarily at home:  

Transition In and Out of Work Mode

So you’ve lost the morning commute, congrats! What you might not realize is somewhere in the traffic, you lost alone time. Reclaim this time in your own home.

Transitions mean having defined working hours and setting a boundary for when you are and are not working. Create a new routine that kicks off your work day, such as making coffee, or reading the news first, before you start working. Don’t start working from your bed when you wake up! Give yourself even those crucial steps to get to your workstation. 

Something that may seem small but is a massive help is getting dressed for work everyday. While it’s tempting to wear sweatpants and a hoodie, putting on or taking off clothes will help put you in the right mindset for the moment. 

Designate a Home Office

Creating a dedicated office area doesn’t mean turning your house inside out it means having a defined space for where you can be productive. Work within your means; you don’t need a whole room for an office. Your workspace should only be used for work. If you need to take a break, leave your workstation. Have separate areas dedicated to each part of your day. 

Offer Video Conferencing Tips 

When setting up a video conference, you’ll want to create a quiet space with good lighting. You should still dress appropriately for your position. Remember to smile and engage with the camera. Otherwise, you will look distracted to your customer as your eyes will be looking away from them while they talk to you. 

If you’re performing a walkaround or using a handheld device, consider purchasing a stabilizer for your phone. This will give live videos a smoother, less nauseating experience for the viewer  A small investment can help land the sale. 

Support Online Security Measures 

We transmit and receive huge amounts of confidential data each day. As your own IT manager, ensure that you are using secure web browsers across all devices. Mobile wallets and financial information can be hijacked, so be careful what you leave on your phone.

  • Set strong passwords (consider a dedicated password manager like Dashlane) 
  • Keep software up to date, as these contain security patches 
  • Set up fingerprint or face recognition
  • Use a VPN, like ExpressVPN to heighten your security 
  • Set up remote wipe capabilities

Back-Up Your Data

Now that your data is secure, it’s also wise to consider how to back-up data. As you may be relying on your laptop and not your office computer, storing files in an online storage cloud means when you return to the office, you can easily retrieve that data.  

Apps like iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox make storing files online a cinch. You can select the corporate plans to gain editing and access the right to stored data. This is ideal for file-sharing so that you can avoid the high-risk of emailing sensitive documents. 

Creating a Healthy Work/Life Balance 

Gabriel Weinberg, the founder of DuckDuckGo, said the following: 

“Working remotely, people are never forced to get a drink after work. You’re not substituting work socialness for community socialness. They are in their own communities. So you’re really getting real diversity of thought.” 

Be cognizant of how your team morale is each week or day. Everyone deals with stress in different ways and keeping a finger on the pulse allows you to smooth over small concerns before they become big waves. 

Create team incentives or add an element of fun to meetings to boost the mood. Your team will return the favor with improved productivity.  

We at FZA Digital hope you are staying safe! If you’re ready to generate more leads and digitize your business, we’re ready to take your call at 424-229-2923. 

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Working from Home During COVID-19

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Working from home may sound like a dream come true, but for many, this new lifestyle may come with a few challenges. Newly remote workers in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic may find it disorienting to be taking calls from their dining room or have kids present for a meeting.

Rather than focusing on what you don’t have, which may be foot traffic and a retail location, we’re encouraging you to work with what you do: the internet. There are more potential buyers online than ever before, and if you’ve never made a sale online, now’s your chance.

Keep reading to learn our digital tips for remote workers that can help you work efficiently with team members, collaborate on projects, and boost your revenue.

Do What You Would Do at Work

Treat your home office like you are traveling to work. Creating a schedule (and sticking to it) will help you set clear expectations of when you should be in the zone – and when to log off. Get dressed every day. Sure, wearing sweatpants may be fine the first day, but putting on work clothes will help distinguish weekdays from weekends.

A great tip that many moguls tout is to do the thing which you are putting off first. That could be the most complicated tasks, that one phone call you’re dreading, or the most tedious job. This will give you a productivity boost and set a positive outlook for the day.   

Stay connected to employees, co-workers, and customers by leveraging video chats, phone calls, text, email, and messaging apps. You should also aim to move often and take your lunch break: eating and moving are important to keeping you sharp. 

Audit Your Online Presence 

If you feel restless, we recommend performing an audit of your online presence. Web traffic is soaring, with noticeable increases in mobile traffic. Make sure that your website can be viewed easily on mobile and tablets. Click around and pretend that you’re a customer. If something feels off then it most likely is to your customers.

You should also review your directory information. Customers during the COVID-19 pandemic are reaching out more to businesses to confirm hours of operation and ask questions. Be sure to check if your information is current on all the major platforms.

You can also use this time to leverage your SEO strategy and gain the digital advantage. If you do not have an agency or have been doing it on your own and need a bit of help, FZA Digital offers SEO services. We can perform the audits for you and identify where your website needs the most help.

 

Teams, Collaborate Digitally 

During this time, it’s a good idea to communicate more than usual. Schedule brief video chats for your team to connect. Keep them short (around 15 minutes) and to the point. Check-in one-on-one with staff to see how they’re adjusting to the change of routine.

You’d be surprised how many tasks can now be completed effectively online using free or nominally priced service software. Yes, everyone and their mom is on Zoom, but do you know about other tools for project management and storage?

Some options we recommend are:

As every business has different needs, we recommend signing up for a few options and asking your team what you can offer to make their day easier.

 

A Positive Attitude is Key

Finally, it’s important to keep a positive attitude. This doesn’t mean walking around with blind to the situation. But it’s important to recognize and accept some things that are out of your control and focus on what you can change.

Taking time off may seem counter intuitive. However, In the grand scheme of your well-being, how much more productive you can be once you return will outweigh your short break.

Here are some other simple but fun ways you can break up your day:

  • Goat 2 Meeting – For a modest donation, Sweet Farm will video conference a goat from their farm to your next Zoom meeting.
  • Audible (temporarily free) – One of the world’s largest suppliers of audiobooks is offering a huge selection of free audiobooks as long as the world is at home.
  • Netflix Party – A Chrome extension that allows you to watch Netflix while also video chatting with your friends and family.

We at FZA Digital hope you are staying safe and keeping busy! If you’re ready to dominate online, we’re ready to take your call at 424-229-2923.

 

 

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