3 reasons why your business should advertise on Facebook (Social Buzz column)

RENO, Nev. — By now, most business owners have at least dabbled in Facebook advertising. Facebook still is the No. 1 social media platform by sheer audience size, after all.

And whether the results weren’t what you hoped for (and you stopped) or you’re still hesitant to jump in, here are three reasons why Facebook advertising should be part of your monthly advertising budget.

(And no, I do not work for Facebook, but I have written about ways to troubleshoot your Facebook ads before.)

1. The algorithm change has dropped organic reach

In January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the platform’s news feed would prioritize posts from friends over page posts in an attempt to provide users with a better experience.

And marketers around the world all had a collective heart attack, as this also meant that posts from Facebook pages would continue to decline in reach (i.e. effectiveness).

Eight months later, page posts aren’t reaching the same number of people they used to even if you are sticking with all the best practices.

In fact, Facebook referral traffic has dropped about 40 percent across the board since January 2017, according to Chartbeat, and another 20 percent since May 2018.

That leads to the fact that if organic traffic is no longer what it used to be, then we have to pay for it.

2. You can reach beyond the existing followers of your Facebook page

Despite the drop in organic reach, Facebook advertising gives you a way to specifically target beyond the users who already follow your page and know who you are.

When creating a Facebook ad, you get the option to exclude followers of your page from being served the ad, and you also can narrow down specific behaviors and interests of the people you want to reach.

3. The advertising tool itself is free to use

Let me be clear, it’s the tool that’s free, not the advertising itself.

This creates a low barrier to entry for Facebook advertising. Anyone can log into his or her account and create an ad. Typically, you would view Facebook ad creation as a time investment during the creation process.

So, what could go wrong?

That being said, whether your ad actually works or drives the results you’re looking for is another matter.

What image should be used? How should the text be written? Should this be a traffic, video view or lead-generation ad?

All are questions you’ll have to ask yourself along the way.

Here’s what could go wrong with your Facebook ad: You’re not reaching the right audience or don’t have the research on who your target audience should be; you’re not optimizing your ad creative for attention and clicks; and you’re not taking advantage of the available insights that Facebook offers (again, for free).

Of course, while you should be advertising on the biggest social media platform, you also don’t want to burn money.

I get it.

And I have great news on that front.

My colleague, Brook Bentley (Sierra Nevada Media Group’s social media and content manager), and I will be speaking at the NCET Biz Bite luncheon on Oct. 24 at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa.

We’ll be giving a Facebook ads overview and then drilling into common mistakes, how to troubleshoot, and some best practices you can immediately put into practice on your own Facebook ads. Plus, we’ll open up the session with a Q-and-A at the end. Ask us anything you like!

You can reserve your seat on the NCET website.

Can’t make it? Contact Brook at bbentley@sierranevadamedia.com for a free social media consultation for your business.

Caren Roblin is Director of Content at Sierra Nevada Media Group, which publishes the Northern Nevada Business View. You can contact her at croblin@sierranevadamedia.com.