It’s baffling to think that Facebook was once just a social networking site for Harvard University students. As of 2021, it boasted 2.85 billion monthly users. That’s a staggering number.

And as the owner of a small business, it’s hard not to get excited by the prospect of all those people seeing your advertisement. There are still plenty of ways that plumbing and drain cleaning company owners like you can optimize Facebook advertising to help grow your business and attract a fraction of that massive user base.

Facebook paid advertisements are available to anyone willing to create them. If you’re on Facebook, you’ve definitely seen them in one form or another, either right in your face as newsfeed ads or just off to the right as a margin ad. Businesses have also begun utilizing the Facebook Stories function for advertising.

When Facebook first introduced advertising, margin ads were the pioneers. As the site grew and technology improved, “the algorithm” became a hot-button topic, and ads began to eerily seek us out, offering things we didn’t know we wanted until we saw them.

Facebook ads are user-friendly and offer flexible models for campaigning and cost. Margin ads are more affordable, but they don’t grab attention the way newsfeed ads do. You also have various goals to select from that Facebook uses to dictate how your ad is built and who sees it.

To that end, you’ll want to get specific about what your service offers the audience you seek. You can decide if you’re creating an ad to raise brand awareness, convert browsers to sales, or simply engage with your audience through Messenger. Furthermore, you’ll want to figure that out because — depending on your goals — you may want to choose different pricing models, selecting between one that charges you based on an ad’s impression (amount of reach and relevance) or per-click. Both models have their merits, but you need to mind that marketing budget and use it effectively to get in front of the right faces.

CONSTRUCTING ADS

To make the biggest impact with your Facebook ad, you need to build the content carefully. So let’s break down each element to help your ad stand out:

Headlines

If you don’t nail that headline, your ad will fall flat. You need to get specific about what you’re selling. With Facebook ads, your value proposition has to be something consumers need, that solves their pain points, and they can’t not click on. That’s what will boost your click-through rate and drive customers. Mention what makes you unique and do it concisely (40 characters max) with catchy phrasing. I like to use a subject line tester like CoSchedule (coschedule.com) to evaluate my message for posts and emails.

Imagery

While a catchy headline is excellent, using the right visuals is the most important part of your ad. Facebook’s algorithm favors images, meaning your message is more likely to be seen when it has a compelling, relevant image. It also takes up the most space in your ad. When considering the type of image to use, think welcoming, bright, high contrast and incorporate your brand coloring. Regardless of the image, make sure it’s as high quality as possible. The recommended resolution is 1080x1080, so make sure you have a crisp, clear picture to present your audience. Nothing makes me question a business’ quality and commitment to their work than a low-resolution image in their advertising.

Messaging

You have room above your image, even on your graphic, and in the link description to write out details that can drive your Facebook ad home. With your link description, you want to get to the point (30 characters) and use active, urgent phrasing. That is where it pays to advertise a specific product or offer, for instance, 25% off on a customer’s next drain cleaning service.

Make that call to action as clear and appealing as possible. With your post text on newsfeed ads, you have a lot of room to expand your copy, but again, people don’t want to read a wall of text to find out what you have to offer. Stick to 125 characters and use things like testimonials or statistics to reinforce your quality service.

AFTER THE POST

One part of many Facebook ad campaigns that most businesses fail to consider is including a post-click landing page. These create a focused space for you to inform, attract and convert your target audience. Here is where you can offer freebies or incentives. It requires targeted copy and content, but it makes anyone who lands there more likely to buy as it expands on the offer you made in your ad.

Too many people think once their ad is made and circulating, they’re done. Don’t fall into that trap. Facebook offers tools and analytics for users to review. After you’ve let your ad run for a few weeks or months, have a look at how it’s doing. How big of an impression is it making on your target audience? What does Facebook’s relevance rating think of it? Are you getting a high or low click-through rate?

An A/B testing tool lets you create variations of your ad. You make two with different sets of copy and imagery, then compare to see which performs better. It’s worth the effort and investment to broaden your research and find out what works.

Review the data and make changes to improve your advertising impact. But be judicious! Just because you can change doesn’t mean you need to. Don’t go tweaking every day. Otherwise, you’ll skew the analytics, and you’ll never know what did or didn’t work in a given period. Even if the numbers seem low, don’t panic. Be patient, then change things up based on the trends you’re seeing.

The last advice I have is to pay attention to post frequency. When you set up your advertising on Facebook, you can adjust how often individual users see your ad. It can be tempting to want everyone on Facebook to constantly see your ad. But when they see the same image and copy over and over, viewers tune it out or even get annoyed by it. To avoid this, ensure you set post frequency to no more than five views per user. That helps keep it fresh and relevant, leading to a higher click-through rate. As far as costs go, if you’re budgeting for cost-per-click, the higher the frequency, the more you pay.

SET A STRATEGY

While those posts may seem like small 1080x1080 squares, there is a lot that you need to consider and collect to optimize their impact. With a specific offer, excellent copy and imagery and a clear strategy that you’re ready to review and tweak as needed, you can start to build some meaningful, eye-catching ads that will get your services noticed.

About the Author

Jennie Lyon is the owner/operator of Jennie Lyon Digital Marketing & Virtual Services. Learn more at www.jennielyon.com.