Building a strong Facebook page is one thing, but if you’d really like your personal brand and business to take off, it’s time to start considering Facebook advertising. While everyone has probably seen a Facebook ad in their time, very few folks know what makes a
good advertisement and what drives traffic to their page.
While the advertisement isn’t directly tied to your personal brand, it will help direct traffic to your blog or Facebook page where you can introduce people not only to the service you’re selling, but also to you as a person (which is important when you’re trying to humanize the brand you’re selling).
Below, I have provided a step by step guide you can follow to create an effective Facebook ad. Nothing vague like other Facebook ad tutorials, but rather practical information you can put to use.
Where Should They Go
First off, you’re going to want to decide where you want to direct visitors to go. In my personal experience, directing the people who click on the ad to your Facebook brand page is the best option. With people on your Facebook page after clicking on the ad, you have a better chance of them coming back frequently or staying up to date because they can “Like” your page to keep updates you post on their News Feed.
Getting people to Like your page is tough in and of itself, so we won’t cover it here, but when designing your ad, be sure to specify that you want the ad to direct to your Facebook page (preferably a custom landing page, which you can Google to see how to make one).
The Question Tactic
The best incentive people have to click on an ad is when the first line of the ad is a question. “Looking for more information about XYZ?”
is a popular question that can help entice people who answer “yes” internally to click on the ad. Questions also help eliminate unwanted clicks on your ad. If your advertisement is vague, people may click on it just to see what you’re all about. If they don’t like what they see, they’re going to disappear.
This not only costs you money for every click that results in a customer that’s not interested, it also reflects negatively on your personal brand. The more people that see your page who aren’t interested, the more “negative” feelings people have towards your personal brand.
Questions in the first line of the ad help establish what you’re about and sift out the people who aren’t interested in finding out more.
Quotes/General Information
Following the question in the first line, next you’re going to want to include positive praise you’ve received or general information about what you and your brand can do for someone. “Your Name is an industry leader in XYZ and his blog features daily tips/tutorials to help you get started with XYZ.” While that sentence may be a little vague (everyone’s personal brand is different), you should hopefully be able to get an idea of what to include.
It’s important that after you’ve gotten people to answer “yes, I want to learn more about XYZ” that you establish yourself as the person who can aid them in learning more by showing them that not only do you have a blog that’s dedicated to tutorials on the XYZ subject, but you’ve also received praise for your services already (if you’ve gotten reviews or mentions on other blogs on the subject).
Call to Action
Finally, and this is often where people creating Facebook ads fall short, make sure to include a call to action in your ad. Phrases such as,
“Like us to get a free eBook about XYZ” or something similar work perfectly to entice people to not only like you, but to also receive a free gift or more information about the topic at hand.
As soon as you get that “Like” of your page, your personal brand has spread and now each time you post a status update, your fans are going to see it.
Building brand equity in yourself through Facebook ads doesn’t have to be difficult, it just has to be effective. With a limited number of characters, you have to establish a need for your brand, as well as a solution, which is you.