The key to successful advertising is reaching your audience, and not many platforms provide a larger audience than Facebook. Every day 1.09 billion users log into Facebook, making it the 3rd most viewed website in the world, and the perfect advertising platform. Last year the company took notice and launched Facebook lead ads. If you haven’t started already, utilizing lead ads can significantly improve your business.
A Little History
Lead ads are all about capturing the contact information of your potential customers; it’s similar to the subscriber “pop-ups” that you see when you first open a webpage. This concept was first introduced around the time email gained traction, and have since become an extremely popular way to convert leads into paying customers.
Facebook lead ads started as the company’s way to improve advertising on mobile platforms, eliminating the need to fill out forms on small mobile keyboards. After seeing success in controlled tests, Facebook launched the platform in 2015. Since then, the social network has expanded its lead ad program to include desktop feeds, as well. They have even integrated with various customer relation management systems (CRM) so that the information that’s captured gets fed directly into your customer database.
How it Works
Facebook’s lead ads platform is quite simple. Once a business creates its own Facebook page, it is able to take advantage of the advertising platform. Ads can then be placed across various mediums, and in various locations; both desktop and mobile ads are available options. Placement can involve the timeline, appearing naturally while a person views their friend’s posts, or on the sidebar, presented in a more traditional way.
Beyond placement, businesses can also customize the design of the ad, adding survey information and asking Facebook users for their opinions. On the user’s end, all requested information will be automatically filled in, making the process as simple as a button click. Companies can precisely target a specific demographic, using Facebook’s collected user information to infiltrate niche markets, which is a clear advantage over almost every other type of advertisement.
Why Use Lead Ads
With the number of eyes on Facebook per day, the question becomes why not use lead ads. By combining a pay-per-click method of charging businesses with the ability to target specific demographics, Facebook makes sure you only pay for useful advertising. You decide how much you spend on ads, setting a budget ceiling per day that Facebook won’t exceed, and you decide who sees them.
A number of reputable businesses have joined the Facebook lead ads movement and have had profound success. BMW UK saw a 56 percent reduction in cost-per-lead, and 2.8X increase in leads when utilizing Facebook’s platform. Teach For America saw a 2X increase in leads, and a 61 percent decrease in cost-per-lead for mobile ads. After adopting the platform, the organization also saw 50 percent of their online leads come from Facebook lead ads.
While these large companies have a very large advertising budget, they’re also busy enough that increasing their number of leads isn’t easy. A small business will likely see a much more dramatic uptick in growth if they’re willing to invest the money; and because they’ll only pay to target their hyper local demographic, no capital is wasted.
The success stories are there, and the pricing model is favorable. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security, utilize your available options to increase your web traffic. If you’re interested in learning how a professional social media team can use Facebook lead ads to increase your company’s advertising presence, drop us a line. We would love to help.