Never have we, as advertisers, had such granular capabilities that allow us to pick and choose who receives our digital advertising impressions. We can place ads in front of our past customers, customers who have recently browsed our websites and mobile apps, as well as target additional prospects who match the closest tendencies of our most valuable customers.
We can distribute these ads across every digital device including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and connected televisions. We can even elect to expand our advertising distribution to other household family members. Our ads appear on the most popular and most widely used apps in the world and are distributed across thousands of other mobile apps and mobile websites.
The ads we create can include video, static design, landing pages, lead forms, digital coupons, and formats tailored to eCommerce. The possibilities are almost endless, and are available to us with no associated ‘hard costs’: no paper, no ink, no postage. Everything mentioned above can be accomplished through the mastery of one singular advertising platform: Facebook. Those powerful targeting capabilities are coupled with extremely low barriers to entry, almost no budget requirements, and the ability to turn ads on and off with the flick of a button.
The user data Facebook controls assures that it will continue to be an extremely valuable and viable advertising platform for years to come. Facebook’s newsfeed is reaching maximum ad load, which would equate to a serious cost conversation amongst advertisers if it were the only platform where ads could be displayed. Over the past several years, however, Facebook has made strategic acquisitions – including Instagram and WhatsApp – and has integrated these acquisitions into their advertising platform and portfolio.
Facebook’s advertising platform is self-serve, which means that in theory, anyone can execute ads – including you. However, without significant knowledge about how Facebook’s algorithm works and optimizes ad delivery, you might end up buying wasteful impressions. Proper establishment of a Facebook Advertising Account can assist you and your business for years to come.
Prior to the creation of an Ad Account, a dealership should first create a Facebook Business Manager account. Business Manager is a central hub from which to control all your company’s Facebook assets including your Facebook Business Page, Instagram Business Account, Facebook Pixel, Ad Accounts, Offline Event Sets, Facebook Apps and more. Administrative privileges are also controlled through Business Manager, including access and management permissions for employees and other business partners.
In the past, Facebook Business Pages were typically created, controlled and “owned” by an employee of a dealership or auto group, a practice that can lead to a multitude of problems. Similarly, if your business started advertising in recent years on Facebook, your Ad Account might be connected to an employee’s personal Facebook profile. Again, this brings issues; Facebook Business Manager solves these issues.
Once Business Manager is properly established, the next step is to create a Facebook Advertising Account. Your Ad Account houses the payment method, such as a business credit card, that Facebook uses to charge you for advertising. However, adding a payment method is the most basic of tasks that occur within your Ad Account. Your Ad Account stores audiences, advertising metrics and results, optimization strategies, conversion types, and your Facebook Pixel.
Once created, the Facebook Pixel – consisting of JavaScript computer code – gets installed on your website and allows your business to capture and remarket to recent website visitors. The pixel can optimize for different goals based on the specific actions or sequence of actions that visitors took on your site. If your audiences are properly created within your Facebook Ad Account, your business can create extremely relevant “lookalike audiences.” To create these lookalike audiences, Facebook identifies users that took the specific action that you signified as relevant and finds the top percentile of users outside of your marketing “reach” who are also likely to take that action. This prospecting and “conquesting” ability allows businesses to extend the reach of their ads to an even greater, and still relevant, audience.
In addition to creating relevant audiences, the pixel is also used to track and optimize advertising. To achieve maximum effectiveness, different “events” should be added to the pixel on distinct page-types throughout your website. By identifying these types of conversions, the Facebook Pixel can be “trained” to optimize your ads to other consumers who are most likely to accomplish the conversion metric. Completing these tasks is easier said than done; it often takes a trusted website vendor or business partner to assist in implementing the code.
Facebook continues to innovate and collect data on its users, which now dwarfs that of other digital marketing vendors. They’ve recently introduced their analytics platform which will continue to expand and provide unparalleled knowledge about the consumers visiting our websites.
It’s safe to say that Facebook’s advertising platform is undervalued and underutilized. As an advertiser, there has never been a better time to master a platform such as Facebook. Experiencing Facebook’s growing pains has its frustrations, however it is also beneficial to witness the evolution and innovations of such an influential platform.
Learn more about how to properly set up your Facebook Ad Account to reduce wasteful spending and provide more relevancy to your audience in Justin Simon’s session: “Step By Step: Proper Creation of Your Facebook Advertising Account” at the Digital Dealer 23 Conference & Expo this Sept. 18-20th in Las Vegas, NV.
Justin Simon is the President and Founder of DriveSocial. DriveSocial is an inherently digital, full-service advertising agency within the automotive industry. Justin founded DriveSocial in the Summer of 2016. Prior to DriveSocial, Justin spent 9 years managing the digital media and marketing efforts at the brand/tier 2 level for the Central Atlantic Toyota Dealers Advertising Association. EMAIL: [email protected]
