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Facebook ads are an excellent strategy to market your business online. Whether you’re an emerging entrepreneur or an established business owner, it offers a multitude of ways to grow and scale. Determining how and where to start the process and how much to spend can be a challenge.
Let’s take a look at some of the factors to consider when budgeting your marketing dollars for Facebook ads.
MARKETING GOALS
Facebook advertising is an effective scaling tool. It’s a way to amplify your results for something you already know works (an offer, program, or service). Using Facebook ads to drive massive numbers of people to the offer or the components of your sales funnel can lead to exponential growth.
Before you know what works so that you can scale, Facebook ads can be used to test offers, generate leads, and to drive specific traffic (to a blog post, a website page, a live stream, etc.). They increase your traffic and visibility and boost brand awareness. These types of campaigns are an investment in future sales.
So, whether you’re testing, generating leads, or scaling – your ad campaigns and strategy require a budget.
WHAT ABOUT COSTS?
No matter what you decide to use Facebook ads for, your Facebook advertising costs should be manageable. It’s important to consider all aspects of your costs when designing your budget. In addition to the actual ad spend that you pay Facebook to run the campaigns, be sure to include all related expenses.
Depending on what you already have, need, or will do yourself be sure to consider: copywriting, images and graphic design, and possibly fees for someone to set up and manage your ads.
Now let’s apply the budgeting considerations to the two main ways to use Facebook ads – testing a concept vs scaling an already-proven offer.
COSTS TO TEST AN IDEA
To test an idea for a product, program, or service, you can designate a more modest ad budget. Since direct results will not necessarily generate income just yet, feel free to start with a smaller Facebook ad budget. To do this, you can begin by running campaigns or boosting a post for as little as $10/day. Given the iOS update regarding privacy restrictions (and therefore adjustments to the algorithm), you want to balance giving FB enough budget to optimize while keeping in mind you’re a long-term investment.
- Analyze the results and data to learn:
- Is your audience even interested in your offer subject
- What images and copy do they respond to best
- And what targeting criteria is most effective
Then, use this information to loop back into future marketing, thereby making your marketing and advertising efforts more and more successful (think: lower costs, better results). By spending small amounts to test different components (copy, images, targeting), your cumulative results can help you save on future ads in the long run. Now you’ll apply those learnings (which images work best, what copy converts, etc.) to new ads.
BUDGETING FOR SCALING
The most common way to use Facebook ads is to promote an already viable offer. This includes a course, service, or program. When you apply ads to a revenue-generating offer, you amplify results because Facebook will help you find a wider audience and reach people who you may not otherwise reach. Through the strategy of retargeting, there’s great potential to exponentially improve prior results.
And now when you apply the knowledge you gained through your testing, you shortcut the process to profit because you already know what images, copy, and positioning your audience will likely respond to best. Targeting the right people and giving your audience what you already know they want is how you achieve a lower Cost-Per-Result.
SOME GENERAL RULES OF THUMB
As a very general rule, it’s a good idea to budget so that FB can get 50 results in 7 days. This isn’t always feasible, especially as you get started but that is their recommendation. Your first few campaigns might yield fewer results until you hit a sweet spot through your ad refinement.
Test, test, and test some more. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there is no such thing as failure when it comes to ads. It’s all a learning experience. Gather the data and use it to run smarter campaigns.
Don’t rely on ad campaigns alone! This is where getting really strategic with your sales funnel comes into play. An effective sales funnel is a critical foundation to keep your Facebook ads budget manageable.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Facebook ads are part of an overall marketing strategy. Results improve over time, not only within an individual campaign but over the long haul of ongoing Facebook ad marketing. Start where you can in terms of budget and resources, test, incorporate results, and continue. The more you map out your strategy over time, the better your results and ability to adjust your budget for maximum Return On Investment (ROI).
What are your considerations for budgeting your Facebook ads? Are there places you need more support? How else can I help? Let me know in the comments and I’ll answer in a future post
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