Facebook Ads: 8 Reasons to Use Them For Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is a great addition to your inbound marketing strategy. According to Smart Insights, over 4 billion people worldwide use social media¹. There's nowhere else you can reach that many people. But, how do you choose which social media platform to advertise on? There are quite a few choices out there, and the options seem to be growing with the addition of new platforms. When deciding which network(s) to advertise on, Facebook should most definitely be considered. It's the platform with the second largest market share (20%)², only behind Google, and generally one of the best platforms for lead acquisition. Let's dive into some of the advantages of using Facebook Ads for your digital advertising.

Before we really dive into why we like Facebook ads and why they should be considered for your campaigns, it's important to identify the differences between a PPC campaign through a platform like Google Ads and social ads through platforms like Facebook.

Google Ads (as well as Bing Ads) are search based advertising platforms where you are able to target searchers through keywords that will be used in their search queries as well as retargeting through Google Display Network. The main purpose, typically, with Google Ads is to get in front of users when they are searching for your solution.

Social media ads, in contrast, are audience and demographic based in nature. With social ads, you are able to target by demographic information that you have on users of that network and show your ads (with creative) to people that may be interested in your product or service or that may be a good fit for your company. Rather than getting in front of people that are actively searching for your solution, you're showing your ads to people that have the right demographic information to be a good customer.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about reasons Facebook should be at or near the top of your social media advertising strategy.

1. Robust Audience Targeting

The main advantage of using this platform is the ability for micro-targeting. Micro-targeting uses consumer data and demographics to create audience subsets/segments and enables you to focus on your ideal buyer. It's a highly effective advertising campaign tactic. The fact that it's data-driven allows you to break down your target audience into different segments:

Gender
Age
Location
Spoken languages
Interests
Education level or history
Job title
Income
Political affiliation
Interests
Behaviors and recent purchases
Major life events

Businesses can define their audiences based on the above options and set up a core audience. You can also target individuals who have previously interacted with your brand. Facebook Ads ultimately provide more insight into demographics that even large PPC platforms like Google Ads can't really provide.

2. Variety of Ad Types

Facebook offers different ad types that are just not available on other platforms:

Photo – Static images with a line of text
Video – Can vary in length and be set to appear in stream, user feeds, or Stories.
Stories – Customized ads that take up an entire screen and can be a video or static image.
Messenger – Appear between your conversations in the Facebook Messenger App.
Carousel – Up to ten static images the user can scroll through.
Slideshow – Short video-like clips made with motion, sound, and text.
Collection – Showcase multiple products in a single ad, all of which can be individually interacted with by the user.
Playables – Interactive demo games users can preview before they download the app or game.

These ad types ultimately offer the ability for more enhanced branding since it's just not simple text.

3. Affordable

The low cost of Facebook ads is one of the most appealing things to advertisers and small businesses. According to Wordstream data³, the total average cost-per-click across all industries is $1.72. Facebook ads are much more economical than most platforms allowing for more exposure for a lower budget. The beauty of this platform is that with effective ads, you can notice impact very quickly and can receive a return on your investment in a short period.

4. The largest audience in the world

There are almost 3 billion users on Facebook⁴ as of January 2022! Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world to advertise on⁵. The idea of "our audience isn't on Facebook" is probably incorrect for almost any business. With such a large audience, it's impossible to ignore the potential of Facebook advertising.

5. A/B testing

Facebook offers tools that allow you to test ads side by side. You won't know what resonates with your audience unless you test it. A/B testing helps increase user engagement, reduce bounce rates, increase conversion rates, minimize risk, and effectively create content your ideal customer will engage with.

6. Block audiences

Block lists can be set up in an ads campaign to prevent ads from being shown to audiences that aren't your ideal customers. It includes ads in the Audience Network, Facebook in-stream videos, Facebook Instant Articles, and Facebook overlay ads in Reels. This can be important to help save time and money because you are not delivering ads to ineffective audiences.

7. Retargeting

Facebook offers the ability to add a small piece of data called a cookie to the back end of your web pages. The cookie is stored by the user's web browser to remember users who visited your website. This data can then be then utilized to serve ads to the user again to remind them of what they want to buy.

8. Boosts your content marketing strategy

Content marketing is a digital strategy involving on-site content, blogging, social media, and search engine optimization. The ability to incorporate your content with your paid-marketing efforts means more success. When all tactics are rowing in the same direction, you reach your goals faster!

Now you have eight reasons to consider Facebook ads for your digital advertising initiatives. For more on digital advertising and how it can strengthen your inbound marketing strategy, check out our digital advertising page.