Facebook ads offer significant opportunities for brands to reach highly specific, targeted audiences. But the key to success is in the detail - while there are a wide range of options to utilize, this means there's also a huge array of variations to consider, which can make the process confusing for those unfamiliar. In some cases, this can lead to less than optimal targeting, while some people simply choose the basic options and hope Facebook will automatically generate results.

This is not the best approach.

To truly maximize your Facebook ads, you need to understand the purpose behind each campaign, the intent, and the measures you'll use to calculate their success (or failure).

Here are five questions to consider before launching your Facebook ad campaign.

As with any content or marketing strategy, this should always be at the top of your campaign planning session. Who are you marketing to? What are the demographics?

The more specific, and focused, you can get with your target audience, the higher the conversion rates you'll see.

One of the first steps when creating a Facebook ad, is establishing the actual goals you want it to achieve. Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Increase email sign-ups? Convert on a product or service or acquire direct messages?

This should be decided upon prior to creating any ad copy so you can include that focus throughout the copy and accompanying visuals.

This will also help you establish which metrics to focus on, enabling you to plan out how you're going to track them.

This is the big one - the “hit it home” selling point. What benefits will a consumer receive from your service/product? What makes your product/service unique?

This information should clearly be outlined in the ad copy - this is what'll make someone want to click through on the ad, because it solves his/her pain or problem.

You want to create a sense of urgency. Research shows that people look at an ad for 15 seconds or less before moving on. 15 seconds and that's it. You need to provide motivation for the consumer to click immediately.

Perhaps you have a timely offer, a sale or special contest you can highlight.

Understanding the breakdown of costs until you have a number for each lead is recommended so that you aren’t spending more on ads than you're likely to gain in subsequent revenue. Have this number in mind while setting your ad budget and time frame for running it.

If you see that after 24-48 hours you're spending more than you should per click, it’s time to re-assess the campaign and ensure you're on the right track.

As noted, there's a lot to take in when utilizing Facebook ads, but these key, establishing questions will help ensure your campaign starts off on the right foot, helping you move closer towards maximizing the potential of the platform.

Source: SocialMediaToday

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