On 4th February 2004, Facebook, Inc. was found by the CEO Mark Zukerberg. Facebook has been introduced in 81 languages and become one of the leading social networks that have been used all around the world.
According to Statista (2014), in 2014, there were about 1.35 billion active users, who have logged on Facebook during 30 days period of time. Meaning that for every 5 people, there would be a person who is Facebook user. In business angle of using Facebook, the social network could be seen an effective marketing tool.
Facebook advertising has become one of the most discussible debates between marketing consultants. However, in the case of small businesses with a limited marketing budget, the question of which factors would make the social media marketing strategy
The basic knowledge that firms should have if they want to run a Facebook marketing strategy is how Facebook ads run. From this point, the firms could go straight to the key points to achieve the marketing objectives. Facebook adverts run base on the interest of Facebook users.
There are 5 factors in this interest-based system, which are:
- Location
- Demographics
- Interests
- Behaviors
- Connections
Meaning that Facebook based on what users shared on their personal profile to add them into groups of audience. Business could choose their target advertising audiences based on the location of stores, the Facebook users’ education, interests, and behaviors of shopping or even through their friends’ activities on Facebook.
It could be said that the interest based choosing audience system of Facebook gives the clients various detailed choices of target customers. In case of small businesses with limited marketing budget, there are some facts that could help them build a successful Facebook ad.
1.Targeting advert audiences correctly
This is one of the most common problems that failed Facebook adverts have. Since Facebook has a wide targeting system, small firms should know about their business well, such as their market segment and their potential customers.
The tip here is targeting as specifically as possible. For example, if an online Korean cosmetic shop in Hanoi wanted to promote its products, the targeted audiences should be women from 16 to 30 years old who live in Hanoi, interest in cosmetic, Korean products and also “like” Korean cosmetic brands.
The more narrowed target is, the more money and time that the shop could save to attract its potential customers.
2. Controlling Facebook advertising cost
In the case of small business, the firms would have a limited advertising budget. The business should be aware of the controlling cost tips that may be useful. In brief, there are 4 definitions should be mentioned in this research, which are CPC (Pay for Click), CPM (Pay for Impressions), daily budget and lifetime budget.
These are the main advertising cost that cosmetic retailers have to pay for Facebook if they want to run a Facebook ad. The firms could choose their first step of setting an advertising budget for Facebook ad between if the budget will be the daily budget or lifetime budget. The daily budget is the amount that they have indicated that they are willing to spend on a specific ad set per day (Facebook for Business, 2015).
On the other hand, a lifetime budget lets you set an amount to spend over the lifetime of an ad set. Facebook has no minimum budget for an advert, so advertisers are able to choose very low budget for advertising, such as $1 (21,000 VND per day).
This is a good point of Facebook ad since any business could afford this low cost of advertising. For a small firm, the lifetime budget may be the better option.
For example, if they only had 2 million VND for advertising budget for 2 months, they would have to spend only 33,000 VND for a day. Moreover, in case they didn’t spend enough 33,000 VND for a day, the system of Facebook would automatically raise the budget for the following days, in order to get the same outcome.
3. Be creative in the adverts’ content
Facebook has creative ways to advertise, so the firm only has to put a creative content in a creative box. The advertisers could use sponsored stories, the box on the side or even or status, which makes an advert doesn’t look like an advert.
However, in order to avoid the mistakes, a research should be done before an advert is created. The firms should understand their Facebook advert audience. For example, if the target audience is the middle age women, the advert should not be too cute or using young generation’s talk. The advert should use elegant colors; the content may lead to the benefit for the whole family, etc.
In conclusion
These tips may not suitable for entire of small firms, whom want to use Facebook advert as a marketing tool. However, they could be good suggestions for firms that still don’t know where to start a Facebook advertising campaign. In the end, marketing is about how to attract your potential customers, choose wisely and be creative!
