Recent forays by Instagram and Pinterest notwithstanding, Facebook remains the most powerful social media platform available. Its targeting options and Power Editor make it a power tool that can be just as effective for small business marketers as it is for marketing experts in large corporations. But are you really getting the most out of your social media marketing efforts? Here are 3 types of Facebook ads you should use today.
1) Video Ads
Two years ago, video was Facebook's forgotten feature. Rather than going through the process of uploading their moving images on the social network, marketers simply uploaded it on YouTube and linked to it in a Facebook ad. But two years are an eternity in digital marketing, and video is quickly becoming more powerful - and successful - on the platform.
It began in March 2014, when the network announced that videos would begin to play automatically in newsfeed without clicks needed. This announcement started a snowball effect, which - along with other updates that increased the visibility of videos on pages' timelines and better analytics - turned Facebook video from a forgotten feature into a crucial marketing tool. In late 2014, Facebook video views surpassed those of YouTube for the first time. Today, Facebook video counts for over 4 billion daily views.
Don't misunderstand us: YouTube video remains a powerhouse in its own right. With 1 billion active users, the network still offers significant potential for marketers looking to get their video in front of their audience. But thanks to the continued rise of the medium's popularity, Facebook video ads are quickly turning from a nice option to a social media marketing must.
2) Carousel Ads
Of course, not every one of your advertisements can be video. Links still constitute the majority of Facebook ads, as they offer the clearest call to action - and perfect integration with inbound marketing. But instead of simply linking to one piece of content, why not expand that to a series of related links?
Facebook wondered the same thing, which is why it introduced multi-product or "carousel" ads in 2014. At the risk of explaining the obvious, this type of ad allows marketers to promote 3-5 links with individual pictures for each in a single ad, and for a single price.
Like video, carousel ads have slowly gained in popularity since their introduction. And undoubtedly, a large part of that is due to their effectiveness: some studies report a 50% higher engagement rate along with a 46% lower cost per click on carousel ads compared to link ads.
3) Lead Ads
Facebook's most recent coup integrates with your lead generation efforts even more closely than the above-mentioned link ads: this summer, the network began to roll out so-called 'lead ads.'
Designed specifically as a lead-generating tools, the ads are comparable to Twitter's Lead Generation Cards in that they remove the step of linking to a sign-up form on your website. Instead, they offer a sign up form directly on the network, which should significantly improve conversion rates - especially considering that Facebook fills out known fields like the name and contact information of each lead automatically based on their profile information.
While it's too early to put a number to their success, it isn't difficult to imagine the potential effectiveness of lead ads. You may still want to have sign-up forms directly connected to 'gated content,' but these ads should allow for much easier registrations for webinars, news letter subscriptions, and other lead-generating efforts.
Video ads, carousel ads, and lead ads are all intriguing features that, done right, could propel your Facebook marketing strategy to success. For more information on these and other types of Facebook ads, contact us!
