Know your audience
Your ads are speaking to people. Knowing who you are trying to reach is the first step to a high engagement rate, because you can tailor your ads toward a specific type of person. People are much more likely to click, share, comment, like, download or buy from a message they resonate with.
If you try to talk to everybody through vague and generic messaging, you will find it very difficult to connect with anybody. Don’t be afraid to be specific, polarising even. If you want people to love you, chances are there will be some that dislike you too. That’s ok. Maybe even great (think Apple and any successful politician).
It’s important for people, and Facebook’s algorithm, to know who your ads are for, and also who they’re not for.
Curate Facebook ad audiences
A large part of your ad’s success depends on the audiences you target in Facebook’s advertising platform.
Facebook’s algorithm is extremely clever at finding the right audiences for your ads. This is why broad audience strategies within the platform perform well. While reaching as many people as possible and letting Facebook do the work is a good strategy, you can further refine your campaigns by manually breaking down audiences into specific, curated groups.
These segmented audiences will be smaller and narrower, but they often have higher engagement rates. You can overlap interests to create very unique audiences and tailor your ads to speak directly to them.
They may reach less people, but the people they do reach will be the right ones, which can boost CTRs and increase sales.
Create killer ads
Don’t make an ad, make something interesting
We have very little time to capture someone’s attention. There’s a lot of evidence showing that old-world, interruption-based advertising just doesn’t work anymore. As soon as we know it’s an ad, we scroll.
Ads that are too salesy—Cheap! $5 off! Buy this!— don’t often lead to high engagement. They don’t resonate. They scream “ad”. Sometimes it’s good to get to the point if a promotion is on offer, but when we’re trying to build trust with our audience, this isn’t always the best tactic.
Creating ads that look and feel like content your audience consumes everyday (native advertising), will increase engagement because they provide value beyond just being an ad and trying to sell something.
Look at what organic content is killing it, and incorporate that into your paid content. Try creating ads with the “sponsored” tag being the only giveaway that it’s an ad.
Leverage Facebook ad real estate
Every element of a Facebook ad is extremely valuable real estate. Ads that utilise the very limited space improve engagement because every piece of information serves a purpose, creating a fuller, more interesting message.
Think about how each of the elements work together to create a whole. Is every piece of your ad bringing something new? Or are you repeating information unnecessarily?
Facebook is giving you an opportunity to take up more of your audience’s attention. Jump on it! The most effective Facebook ads do.
Be bold
You have one shot at stopping someone from scrolling past, so make something striking. This is why the visual component of an ad is a secret weapon. Design something interesting and eye-catching. And if it’s a video, make sure it grabs attention even when the sound is off.
Ads that do well also capture attention in the first line of copy. Use emojis and capitals, but don’t rely on them. Try unorthodox or controversial statements to grab attention, like “Do you hate money?” or “I invented a time machine”. Statements like these create high engagement rates, as long as they’re relevant.
Here’s an example ad by us
Test and optimise
Part of what makes Facebook advertising so effective and interesting is that you can immediately see results. You can test different ad creative, audiences, placements and make instant changes.
Try different things and see what works. Be creative and bold. Look at ads that are crushing it right now in your industry. You can view all active Facebook ads in their Ad Library.
Look at ads in your own feed that grab your attention. Take inspiration from them and continue to refine your ads so you can dominate your industry, create a brand that lasts and create unicorn Facebook ads.
We know it’s not easy! If your engagement rates are still low we can help. Our digital strategists at Arkhi have been doing this since Facebook advertising began. Get in touch with us and let’s chat about your digital marketing.
