What Facebook Ads Work Best?

Finding the best Facebook ad depends on two major components: your business and your target audience. So how do you find the right blend?

Facebook ads are run by powerful targeting engines that sift through a global audience to locate your target market, defined by their interests, location, demographic and other indicators. You can optimize your ad campaign to meet your business goals by getting crystal clear on your ad objectives as well as Facebook’s ad strategically testing each component of your campaign.

Find the best Facebook ad for your business by following the thoughtful and strategic process of ad optimization.  The key is to test every component of your advertising campaign, including your ad copy, creative and campaign strategy so you can connect with your target audience.

We have assessed a variety of marketing case studies and have gathered the most effective steps you can take today to discover which Facebook ads work best for you.  In this article, we will learn from Facebook’s best practices and explore the lessons of Facebook advertising experts to show you how to implement that advice and optimize your Facebook ads to get the results you need.

How to determine what Facebook ads work best for your brand

The first thing you need to know is that there is no “one size fits all” formula for Facebook ads. Every business value proposition is unique, so every Facebook ad strategy will also be unique and custom tailored to your marketing strategy and business goals.

The key is to think through every step of building your marketing funnel out, including your Facebook ad strategy. If you are getting tons of click throughs on your Facebook ad, it doesn’t help if you haven’t thought through your email sequences or your landing page copy.

Take some time to architect a masterful strategy that captivates your audience at every turn.

Assess your goals

One of the key components of a Facebook ad is that magical Call to Action button. You must determine where you want to send your audience and why. Facebook ads are a great way to reach new people, so you may choose to target a cold audience. If so, you should consider the best way to persuade your audience to continue down your marketing funnel. Instead of sending them directly to your product page, you have the option of sending them to a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a high value offer you can provide to your customers in exchange for their email address. You may choose to send them to a landing page that invites them to download a checklist. You could send them to a registration page with a video that persuades your customers to attend some type of webinar or virtual event.

You also have the option of sending them directly to make a purchase. Sending customers directly to the product page should be reserved for low-ticket product offers that may qualify as “impulse buys”. Impulse purchases can cover needs that the customer has already identified or an item that has been discounted over 50%. A 2020 survey conducted by SlickDeals said, “According to our latest research, the average American will spend more than $2,100 a year impulsively — an 18% jump from before COVID-19.” Facebook ads can drive impulse purchases when the products have been priced strategically and positioned correctly.

The link you use to capture your customers will depend on your product or service’s price point. It can also vary based on whether your audience is familiar with your brand and a number of other factors. Think about your overall marketing funnel and where your Facebook ad falls into place. It may even make sense to run a series of Facebook ads. The first round of Facebook ads could build brand awareness, while a second and third round could build interest and cause customers to consider a purchase. You could then set up a third round of Facebook ads to the same customers to compel them to take action. For every objective, there is a different campaign type you should choose.

Choose the best campaign objective to achieve your marketing goals

There are 11 different campaign objectives for Facebook ads. All 11 objectives fall under these three categories: Awareness, Consideration and Conversion.

Awareness

If you want to increase your brand awareness or showcase your brand to as many people as possible, you may choose an awareness campaign. Choose a brand awareness campaign if you want to build interest in your brand. On the other hand, a reach campaign will help you blast your ad to as many people as possible. Use this type of objective to maximize your visibility. You can adjust the number of times a person sees your advertisement with both campaign types.

Consideration

Under the Consideration category, you have six types of ads that are designed to engage your target audience. A Consideration objective is designed to drive audiences to engage with your brand in some way, shape or form. Use this type of ad if you are looking for potential customers to visit your website, download your mobile app, sign up for emails or direct messages, or to like your Facebook page.

Conversion

And finally, we get to the Conversion category. The conversion category is for those who are looking to convert potential customers into paying customers. Use this type of ad if you want to show your ad to people who are likely to come to your store or buy something from your website or catalog.

Research Competitor’s Facebook Ads

Facebook has an entire ad library dedicated to ad transparency, where any one can research the ads that are currently active on Facebook. Not only can you get ideas across verticals, but you can get a sneak preview of your top competitor’s ad strategy including ad copy, sales discounts, landing page and more. For certain types of ads, you can even view inactive ads along with their ad spend, target demographic and ad performance.

Take a look at the Facebook ad library and view your competitors’ Facebook ad copy, creative including video, images and/or graphics and their target demographics.  Researching competitors’ Facebook ads can be helpful because you can stay on top of industry trends as well as understand what is working for your competitors.

Choose a lookalike audience using a Facebook pixel or email list

One way to increase response from your Facebook ad is to target a warm audience. Rather than randomly selecting an audience using Facebook’s audience targeting, allow Facebook to find people in your target audience that match your Facebook page following, your email list or your website visitors.

If you have a following or a  list of at least 100 people on your Facebook page, mobile app or email list,  you can choose a lookalike audience that resembles your email list or your Facebook page followers. Facebook will find audience members who match the target demographic and interests of your lookalike audience. You can choose an audience that resembles your best customers.

A Facebook pixel is a line of code that you can install on your website to track people who click through your Facebook ad and visit your website. The next time that you run an ad, you will be able to target those specific people.

Split Test your Copy and your Creative

Split testing allows you to test out your ad copy, creative, audience and campaign settings to see which combination works best for your specific product and your specific audience. To get the best combination, you should split test every component of your campaign from the Call to Action Button to the length of your copy. You can test out your ad creative first to see which type of creative resonates with your audience. Split test video with a single image or an image with a carousel. Split test your copy to see which length resonates the most with your audience, be it long, creative copy or short, direct copy.

You should also split test difference types of audiences to determine which audience resonates with your offering the most. You can split test your campaign objectives also. Continue split testing until you optimize your campaign for the best results.

Use Dynamic Creative for Facebook Ad Optimization

Once you determine your top contenders using Split Testing, try out Facebook Dynamic Creative. Facebook Dynamic Creative sifts through all of the variations of images, videos and ad copy you provide and sends an optimized combination to each individual in your target audience. Only use Dynamic Creative when you have found your best ad components to make sure that you are getting the best results with every impression.

Each ad impression will be optimized based on Facebook’s knowledge of each person's unique ad preferences. You can create up to 6,250 combinations with up to 10 images or video, 5 versions of text, 5 headlines, 5 Call-to-Actions and one URL.

With this number of possibilities combined with Facebook’s powerful ad optimization engine on your side, you can have greater confidence knowing that each Facebook ad will be optimized to be the best ad for each individual person.