In this guide, we review the Facebook Marketing For Fitness Pros, Facebook Marketing For Free, Facebook Marketing For Gyms, Facebook Marketing For Healthcare, and Facebook Marketing For Higher Education.
So, you’re a health professional. You’ve got your business up and running and now you want to use social media to grow an audience and connect with them. Great! It’s important that you understand the importance of Facebook marketing for fitness pros and how to do it right. If done correctly, Facebook can be one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal as a fitness professional.
Facebook Marketing For Fitness Pros
Create an Engaging Profile
You’re probably familiar with the standard profile picture: a headshot of yourself, smiling and looking your best. While this is fine if you’re an actor or model, it doesn’t really make sense for fitness pros. Fitness is all about being real and honest—you want to show your audience that you live the life you preach!
Instead, use a professional photo that represents what you do (i.e., working out) in some way. For example:
- A photo of yourself lifting weights at the gym or doing cardio on an elliptical machine at home (or whatever it is that you do during your workouts)
- A shot of one or two people training together at a group class session
- An image of someone wearing their favorite workout clothes while running outside or dancing in their living room (or any other activity they love).
Build a Strong Foundation of Fans
In order to be successful on Facebook and grow your business, you need to build a strong foundation of fans.
The secret to growing your fan base is creating content that keeps people coming back for more. Remember, it’s all about the quality of content you offer—not how often or when you post it.
To build a strong foundation of fans:
- Share photos and videos that show off what you’re doing in the gym (or outside) as well as behind-the-scenes snippets from your workouts, life at home and travels around the world. This type of personal engagement will help establish an emotional connection with followers by showing them who they’re rooting for!
- Post once or twice per day at least three times per week—except during holidays when engagement tends to drop off due to lower levels of activity outside normal hours (for example, Christmas).
Use Cover Photos to Stand Out
- Use Cover Photos to Stand Out
If you want your Instagram account to stand out, then you’re going to need a cover photo that is visually appealing and consistent with your brand. There are several things that go into making this happen:
- Make sure your cover photo is visually appealing. You want people scrolling through their feed who see it first thing in the morning or late at night—that way they know who they’re looking at when they see that familiar profile picture. A great way to make sure this happens is by having an eye-catching cover photo that draws viewers in.
- Make sure your cover photo is relevant to your business (and if it isn’t, change it!). Your primary goal is to build trust with potential clients or customers by showing them what type of service/product you offer and how much value those services/products will bring them personally as well as professionally—and one way doing this is by using a relevant image of yourself or even better yet some testimonials from happy clients! So be sure when designing yours not only does it look good but also conveys these ideas clearly!
Provide Great Content & Educational Material
- Provide Great Content & Educational Material
To gain traction on social media, you need to provide value. This means providing helpful information and educational materials that are relevant to your target audience. An easy way to do this is by using your blog posts as social media content.
- Be Consistent With Your Content
The best way to get people engaged with your business is by being consistent with your content posting schedule. If you find that there is no correlation between the amount of time you spend posting and the number of followers or leads you receive, consider making it a top priority in order to increase visibility on social media platforms (which will ultimately result in conversions).
Post, and Post Often!
You’re going to be a busy person, so don’t expect yourself to post on your business page every day. It doesn’t have to be that way at all. You could easily post once per week, or even once per month.
But remember: the more engaging content you share with your followers, the more likely they are to want more from you and follow along on social media.
So if possible—and it depends on how much time you have available in your schedule—it would be beneficial for fitness pros to try and post as often as possible!
Create Targeted Facebook Ads
Facebook is a powerful tool for fitness pros because it allows you to target the right people at the right time. You can choose specific attributes like location, age, interests and behaviors of your ideal clients so that your ads are only seen by relevant users.
This is crucial for reaching out to a large number of prospective customers without wasting money on irrelevant clicks or impressions – which can be especially costly on mobile devices where rates are higher than desktop campaigns.
The best way to advertise on Facebook is by using Facebook Pixel (a piece of code installed on your website) and create Custom Audiences based on custom events that occur when someone visits your site or interacts with one of your ads.
Once you have created your Custom Audience, you will be able to create ad sets in Facebook Ads Manager that are targeted towards these users specifically:
Create a Facebook Group to Connect with Followers
A Facebook group is a great opportunity to connect with your followers and provide value to them. You can share your knowledge and expertise, ask for feedback on products or services, and most importantly, provide a space for followers to interact with each other.
If you’re wondering how this will benefit your business? Here are some of the benefits:
- It helps you build relationships: Your Facebook group members will become loyal customers because they feel like they know, trust and respect you as an expert in the fitness industry. You can also share exclusive offers through the group!
- It gives them an outlet to talk about their problems: People often look for support from others who have gone through similar situations before – so having a place where people know they can connect with other people who understand their struggles makes sense from both sides (you as an owner comes across as someone who cares).
Facebook Marketing For Free
It’s just a simple fact: Facebook is a pay-to-play marketing platform today. But in spite of all the griping and groaning marketers did when it first became clear that free Facebook marketing was a thing of the past, they’re all still using Facebook to market. Why is that? Because even as a paid advertising platform, Facebook produces an extremely high marketing ROI. In other words – it’s totally worth it.
We here at Zen Media have managed hundreds of paid Facebook campaigns for our clients, so we have firsthand experience of the ROI that’s possible using this particular marketing method.
That being said, there are still some powerful ways for businesses to leverage Facebook for free.
Don’t believe us? Here are 10 ways you can still use Facebook to promote your business for FREE!
1. Create a personal business presence using a fan page. One of the major strengths of social media marketing is its ability to create relationships between businesses and their audiences. The person-to-person interaction that can happen on social media makes consumers feel that they have encountered a brand in a meaningful way and that they now have a special connection with that company. So imagine how much this feeling is intensified when that consumer is interacting not just with “the brand,” but with the person behind that brand!
Depending on your personal social media habits, you may or may not already have a personal Facebook account. If you do, and you prefer to keep your personal profile private, Facebook will allow you to create a page for your public, professional persona, as well. Otherwise, you can use your personal profile to interact with consumers. Gain a following by engaging with the people who frequent your brand’s page.
Here’s what our CEO, Shama Hyder’s, personal page looks like:
2. Maintain a robust brand presence. While it’s true that your company’s Facebook posts most likely won’t show up in your audience’s news feeds without paying to promote them, that doesn’t mean that you should stop posting them on your brand’s page. People today often use Facebook as a search engine to find out more about a company, whether that means basic info like contact information and hours of operation, or what customers have to say about them. A robust, active page that’s full of regular posts and lots of audience engagement is a great way to showcase the fact that your customers aren’t just satisfied – they’re enthusiastic!
Here’s our own company page:
3. Join Facebook groups. While most people think of LinkedIn first when they think online networking, Facebook groups actually offer a similar opportunity for professionals. There are any number of Facebook groups dedicated to various industries, professions, and interests. You can use your personal account to join groups of colleagues, as well as groups where your target audience is likely to be found.
The more you contribute to the conversations taking place in these groups, the more your name will become recognized – and synonymous with industry leadership and expertise. The only thing to watch out for here is never to come across as salesy in your discussions – the quickest way to turn off this potential stream of leads and connections is to start promoting your business instead of offering genuine advice and thoughts.
You can customize your search for groups based on various keywords – and Facebook also makes suggestions, based on your profile. Here are some groups Facebook has to offer in the field of “Leadership:”
4. Create your own group. Can’t find a Facebook group that really fits what you’re looking for? Create your own! You can add members, publish articles, carry on discussions, and probably meet quite a few prospects. The fact that you own the group and control the conversations automatically grants you industry leadership status in the eyes of your members, which can only help when they realize they need the product or service you provide.
5. List your events. Hosting a webinar or speaking somewhere? Create an event page and invite friends and people in the groups you’re in. You can even see how many RSVP and get feedback from attendees.
Here’s an event where Shama will be speaking:
6. Syndicate your blog. If you know that you won’t remember or be able to find the time to share your company’s blog posts on your Facebook page or profile each week, you can automate the task. There are many different online tools you can use to do this, from simple plugins for WordPress to suites of digital marketing software, that will automatically post each new blog post to your Facebook page for you. More Exposure = More Traffic = More Leads.
7. Ask your network to share blog posts. Speaking of posting your company’s blog posts on your personal page or profile, you should also ask your team of employees and partners, your current customers, and even your personal friends and family to share your company’s posts on their personal Facebook profiles, as well. This is called cross-pollination, and it’s one of the Five Principles of Momentum discussed at length in Shama’s new book, Momentum: How To Propel Your Marketing and Transform Your Brand in the Digital Age. According to Shama:
“Cross-pollination means incorporating every single resource your company has into your marketing strategy, allowing each to inform your use of the others. With each one of these typically untapped resources contributing to the mix, you create something new and powerful from the synergy, and your marketing momentum grows dramatically as a result.”
By tapping into the reach that personal profiles can still achieve with their posts, you can get your content out to new audiences – for free!
8. Reach out! Are you a fan or admirer of someone’s work? Reach out to them on Facebook! Many people check their Facebook messages more regularly than their email. They are also more likely to respond to Facebook messages. Don’t feel comfortable sending out a message to someone you don’t know? No worries! Leave them an “I enjoy your work!” blurb on their wall. When posting on different pages make sure you post as your business and not your personal account.
9. Stream live video with Facebook Live. The intimacy and immediacy of live video create the sense for your viewers that they are getting a behind-the-scenes peek at the real you – as well as enticing them to stick around to watch much longer than they would a regular video, because of the unpredictability of live video. Check out our blog post on Why Facebook Live Will Be Hotter Than YouTube for Your Business for all the details!
10. Create a community. Perhaps Facebook’s greatest benefit is that it allows you to create a community. It provides you a group of people who are constantly connected to you, and are open to hearing your message. Engage with people authentically, whether that means writing on their walls, responding to their comments on your own, conversing in groups, or introducing people to each other. Before you know it, you’ll have created a community of friends who look favorably on you and your business – and all for free.
Facebook Marketing For Gyms
Whether you’re a new fitness studio owner or a seasoned one, connecting with your ideal client can be a difficult task. You’ve put a lot of effort into fine-tuning your marketing efforts to help build your client base and you’ve managed to free up some of your time to connect with clients in-person by implementing fitness software at your studio. Face-to-face interaction is great, but it’s also important for you to know how to connect with clients and reach your target audience outside the studio as well. That’s where social media comes in.
Facebook advertising, specifically, is a hyper-targeted way to get the word out about your gym or fitness studio and reach your ideal customer on social. The best part: Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive—especially when compared to more traditional advertising outlets—which is probably one of the many reasons 68% of those in the fitness industry use Facebook advertising to market their businesses.
Ready to join in? We asked several of our Mindbody Certified Consultants for their best tips and insights from their own high-performing fitness ads—and they delivered. So whether you’ve just started experimenting with Facebook ads or have been running ongoing campaigns, keep these five expert tips in mind when ramping up your Facebook ad strategy:
1. Micro-target your audience
It can be tempting to target your Facebook marketing efforts to anyone and everyone. However, Mindbody Certified Consultant and fitness marketing expert Paul Hickey suggests doing just the opposite: “A good place to start is by creating a profile of what your ‘ideal’ client looks like and de-constructing from there, to eventually build a profile with numerous attributes, i.e., healthy living interest, nutrition, running, fitness, purchases online regularly, eco-friendly, etc. Aligning these attributes with the goals and beliefs of your business is a form of micro-targeting your desired, relevant audience.” According to Paul, the more specific, the better. Otherwise, you’ll simply waste marketing spend on prospects that aren’t likely to convert into gym members.
Paul created the ad below for a fitness business using his micro-targeting technique with great success. This ongoing ad promotes the business and drives website traffic with a “rolling” daily budget of €3. It targets individuals living in Dublin with interests in Pilates, health and wellness, physical fitness, and yoga. To date, it’s reached over 18,000 people with over 2,000 link clicks (of which 1,770 were “unique clicks”) to the Pilates Performance website.
2. Focus your ad content, too
Like micro-targeting your target demographic, your ad itself should be relevant to the audience you’re marketing to. Mindbody Certified Consultant and fitness marketing expert Connie Holen advises, “Get specific with your offers and promotions. When you create packages that help people reach specific goals it becomes a lot easier to focus your advertising budget to the people most likely to respond.”
For example, Connie created the ad below targeting newly engaged, 18-35-year-old women living within ten miles of the Pilatesmith studio. With a clear value proposition, eye-catching visual, and focused messaging sent to a narrow target market, her strategy is working—with over 90 landing page visits in just a few days!
Bonus Tip: Use the “Audiences” feature within Facebook Ads Manager to create “Saved Audiences” based on demographic and interest data ahead of time. Once they’re built, you’ll save time creating ads in the future.
Bonus Tip: Use Facebook’s Dynamic Creative feature, which automatically split tests and delivers the highest performing combinations of your ad creative, including images, videos, titles, descriptions, and call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Pay attention to your top performing combos and repeat for future ads.
3. Use the Facebook pixel to your ad-vantage
The Facebook pixel is a powerful piece of code that can be easily added to your website to take Facebook marketing efforts to the next level. It tracks visitor behavior, like when someone views your website, visits a certain page, or takes a particular action–like buying a class package, for example. Once added to your website (here’s how to do it), you can create “Custom Audiences” to retarget visitors based on set criteria.
Connie implemented the below ad for another studio with the goal of sending retargeted traffic to the yoga studio’s intro offer page to increase new member sign-ups. She created a custom audience of people who had visited the studio’s website within the last 10 days but excluded current Mindbody clients. Why did it work, according to Connie? “Focus! The ad follows up with potential clients who have some level of awareness of the studio already and shares a relevant testimonial and promotes the intro offer.” With over fourteen intro offer sales and $500 in additional revenue earned from just one Facebook ad, this is a technique worth trying for your studio or gym.
Bonus Tip: Diversify your ad strategy and use both “Saved” (interest and demographic-based) and “Custom” audiences (using your website pixel) to make sure you’re targeting prospective customers at each stage of their journey. Connie suggests, “Retargeting ads like this one can be an effective way to close the loop on warm leads to increase sales. However, this tactic is best used with other promotions that will drive initial traffic to the studio’s website.”
4. Prioritize video-centered ads
Videos are an attention-grabbing way customers can learn about your brand. According to Paul Hickey, “More and more I am tending to video-based Facebook advertising as Facebook videos are now watched more than YouTube videos by consumers.”
Paul shared the video-based ad, below, to drive sales for a spring offer using defined target audience criteria. The ad performed well, with a reach of over 12,000 over four days with a defined budget of €75, a cost of €0.02 cents per view, and 42 unique link clicks.
Bonus Tip: Keep videos short and to the point (fifteen seconds or less), and don’t require volume for those scrolling without sound. Because users are often scrolling quickly, and on mobile devices, it’s important to customize your video advertising efforts accordingly.
5. Bring in the experts
Leveraging Facebook ads can be essential to standing out in a competitive market, however, it can take a lot of time and effort to D.I.Y. Mindbody Consultant KK Hart says, “Consistently, I find that when clients run their own digital ads they run into persistent issues such as overspending, lacking clarity on goals, no measurements to define success, and overall not being able to be strategic to reach their target market.”
The lesson here: If you’ve implemented the tips above, and aren’t finding the success you’re looking for, it may be worth bringing in additional expertise. If you do, look for someone who is both an expert in the fitness industry and has vast experience in strategic digital and social media marketing.
Facebook Marketing For Healthcare
There are roughly 200 “social networking websites,” and most people would not recognize the name of 195 of them. Fortunately, it’s the short list of recognizable social media sites that is important to healthcare marketing.
Facebook is the undisputed leader of the pack with close to 700-million registered users, including nearly half of the American population. But more important than size alone, Facebook is fast becoming a primary resource for users looking for health information.
Over 40 percent of respondents in a survey by National Research Corp. rely on social networking for health info, and nearly all of those people (94 percent) turn to Facebook. They are looking for healthy living ideas, such as diet and exercise, to find health events, and to view health education videos from hospitals, medical practices and other healthcare providers.
But social media in general, and Facebook in particular, provides a two-way communications channel for healthcare marketing. Individuals can connect with others interested in the same medical topic, illness or injury, and in some instances give and get feedback from health facilities.
Although Facebook may not be appropriate in every situation, hospitals, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, individual and group providers, and others in healthcare marketing are increasingly aware of the business benefits that social media holds for them.
7 business and marketing benefits of Facebook.
Here are some of the benefits of using Facebook as part of your healthcare marketing plan:
Remember that the best approach, however, is in using Facebook as one of several, interrelated tools in a coordinated (synergistic) marketing, advertising and public relations plan.
Personal, Group and Business Pages on Facebook
The three types of Facebook pages can look similar, but each has a different role and basic terminology.
So…which is best? Individual circumstances or needs might lead you to use any or all of these types.
A personal profile is, well, personal, and social…and probably not appropriate for business objectives. Some business figures have a second, and purely personal account for close friends and family. Professional guidelines point providers away from having Facebook “friends” to avoid potential legal and ethical issues. (We’ll discuss legal and professional reputation issues in a future installment.)
Facebook Groups are typically for topic-focused discussions. Accordingly, Groups are often short term, non-commercial, and may be of limited use in a sustained marketing effort. They could, however, serve briefly as support for a primary (business) account.
For anything beyond the most incidental reference or casual mention, commercial or business activity can only be via a business page, according to the Facebook rules. Comparisons indicate that a Facebook business page is the better platform for continuing relationships with customers, patients, fans or readers.
Where do you fit as a Facebook Business Page?
A personal profile requires only a simple sign-up at Facebook.com. But for a business marketing fan page, you’ll want to read the various terms and conditions, privacy information and other instructions. You’ll need to create one personal profile to login to Facebook, and then you can create and administer one or more business pages.
But as simple as it seems on the surface, Facebook can get a bit complicated. Fortunately, there’s a Facebook Help Center. And you’re welcome to talk with us about your marketing and advertising message. (Facebook also has a Facebook page…several, actually.)
You may also need some guidance in deciding where you fit among the following six primary categories. You’ll need to select one main heading and one sub-heading, so review the full options first, using the dropdown menus at Create a Page.
Look at a few Facebook Business Page examples.
The design and layout of a Facebook business page is similar to a personal page. The Mayo Clinic page is a good example.
The logo and branding appearance carries over to the Facebook page. The Wall tab (where most people will begin) presents Mayo’s News Feed, along with visitor comments. The Info tab begins with “request an appointment” phone numbers, with space for topics such as “about” and “mission.” There are other tabs for pictures or videos, events, questions and links, plus user-defined tabs for even more customization. Facebook for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (in the Non-Profit Organization category) has a custom tab about the opening of their Yawkey Center, as well as tabs for contests and a poll. Should you have a Facebook page? We like Facebook. And in the social media world there are a lot of benefits in playing the biggest game in town. But—and this is an important BUT—we can’t recommend any healthcare marketing strategy, tactic or media in a vacuum. Facebook isn’t going to do an effective job without other basics in place, and if it fits in a well-considered overall marketing plan. Facebook can build loyalty, enhance your brand (reputation), drive traffic to your website, help with search engine optimization, give you a forum to interact with patients and the public, and more. Let’s talk…it might (or might not) be right for you. More in this series: Social Media in Healthcare Marketing Facebook and other social media platforms are constantly evolving. Watch for more about Facebook in this continuing series of articles from Healthcare Success. Our in-depth article titled How to Profit from LinkedIn is online here. We also cover social media and other timely topics on our blog. And, we update the Healthcare Success Facebook page regularly. Please click through…we’re certain you’ll LIKE us.
The logo and branding appearance carries over to the Facebook page. The Wall tab (where most people will begin) presents Mayo’s News Feed, along with visitor comments. The Info tab begins with “request an appointment” phone numbers, with space for topics such as “about” and “mission.” There are other tabs for pictures or videos, events, questions and links, plus user-defined tabs for even more customization.
Facebook for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (in the Non-Profit Organization category) has a custom tab about the opening of their Yawkey Center, as well as tabs for contests and a poll.
Should you have a Facebook page? We like Facebook. And in the social media world there are a lot of benefits in playing the biggest game in town. But—and this is an important BUT—we can’t recommend any healthcare marketing strategy, tactic or media in a vacuum. Facebook isn’t going to do an effective job without other basics in place, and if it fits in a well-considered overall marketing plan. Facebook can build loyalty, enhance your brand (reputation), drive traffic to your website, help with search engine optimization, give you a forum to interact with patients and the public, and more. Let’s talk…it might (or might not) be right for you. More in this series: Social Media in Healthcare Marketing Facebook and other social media platforms are constantly evolving. Watch for more about Facebook in this continuing series of articles from Healthcare Success. Our in-depth article titled How to Profit from LinkedIn is online here. We also cover social media and other timely topics on our blog. And, we update the Healthcare Success Facebook page regularly. Please click through…we’re certain you’ll LIKE us.
Should you have a Facebook page?
We like Facebook. And in the social media world there are a lot of benefits in playing the biggest game in town. But—and this is an important BUT—we can’t recommend any healthcare marketing strategy, tactic or media in a vacuum. Facebook isn’t going to do an effective job without other basics in place, and if it fits in a well-considered overall marketing plan. Facebook can build loyalty, enhance your brand (reputation), drive traffic to your website, help with search engine optimization, give you a forum to interact with patients and the public, and more. Let’s talk…it might (or might not) be right for you.
More in this series: Social Media in Healthcare Marketing
Facebook and other social media platforms are constantly evolving. Watch for more about Facebook in this continuing series of articles from Healthcare Success. Our in-depth article titled How to Profit from LinkedIn is online here. We also cover social media and other timely topics on our blog. And, we update the Healthcare Success Facebook page regularly. Please click through…we’re certain you’ll LIKE us.
Facebook Marketing For Higher Education
Social media has become increasingly important to marketing, branding, and lead generation. This is just as true In the higher education industry where your audience may be spread across multiple social media channels, from master’s and doctoral candidates on LinkedIn to bachelor’s degree hopefuls on Instagram.
Despite the current social media attention centered on TikTok (and Clubhouse, more recently), one cannot deny the massive presence of Facebook in nearly everyone’s lives. According to Statista, there are 2.6 billion monthly active users on Facebook, and, as of January 2020, it was found that 98% of active users accessed their Facebook account from their mobile devices. (Keep this information handy!)
Facebook Ads for Higher Education
By now you know that it’s important to reach prospective students on social media, but each unique platform should be handled a little differently. This is where an expert can help you make the most of your social media strategies.
Sextant has helped many higher-ed clients create Facebook ads for their university and target their prospective students and/or parents to generate interest and student leads. Like most social media platforms, Facebook offers an Ads Manager platform via which you can create ads, set targeting, and launch your campaigns to reach prospective students.
Must-use Facebook Marketing Strategies
Following are a few of the best Facebook marketing strategies for higher education that Sextant Marketing uses to drive results.
Choose the right campaign objective.
When starting a new Facebook campaign, be clear about your main objective. Do you want to increase awareness of your university? Is your aim to improve engagement with potential student leads? Or do you want to generate student leads via a lead generation form or a landing page?
Regardless of your goals, Facebook Ads Manager offers campaign objectives that will fit your strategy like Brand Awareness, Reach, Engagement, Video Views, Lead Generation, Conversions, etc. This objective might change depending on the stages of the student journey you are trying to target. Adjust your Facebook campaign strategy as needed.
Define and refine the target audience.
Once you choose the campaign objective based on your business goals, you can then define your target by creating custom audiences and lookalike audiences and refining them based on detailed interest targeting.
The Custom Audiences campaign objective allows advertisers to find existing audiences among people who are already on Facebook. The most frequently used custom audience sources are websites, customer lists, and engagement on Facebook pages.
If you want to grow the target audience size, combine custom audiences with Lookalike Audiences. To further refine your audience, focus on location, age, gender, detailed targeting (demographics, interest, and behaviors), and languages. Utilize the exclusions feature to exclude certain users that you absolutely don’t want to target.
We recommend starting broad with your target audience and going narrower as you optimize your campaign learnings.
The Apple ios14 update has impacted audience sizes and how Facebook reports on conversions, so make sure you’re keeping an eye on your audience sizes and conversion volume.
While Facebook’s targeting might not have the robust professional data that helps target your enrollment leads on LinkedIn very easily, it is still the primary social network for higher ed and something your college or university should not miss out on.
Select the best ad format for you.
There are multiple ad formats to choose from when launching a campaign on Facebook. You can select a single image, carousel, collection, or video ad. If you’re utilizing a video ad, don’t forget the close captioning. We all watch Facebook videos on our phones without sound sometimes, so close captioning will ensure the video is accessible and the message is effectively communicated.
Remember to follow Facebook’s Ad guidelines for design specification and technical requirements across each platform and placement.
Regardless of which ad format you choose for your campaign, it is important to use relevant call-to-action (CTA) buttons (learn more, apply now, etc.)
Look at your ad placements.
Facebook offers multiple ad placements such as Facebook news feed, Facebook and Instagram stories, Instagram explore, Instant Articles, Marketplace, etc. Sextant recommends starting a campaign with automatic placements to maximize your budget and visibility. Reviewing your placement performance and manually selecting the placement that works best for your university based on that information will yield the best results.
Don’t forget about pixels!
Facebook pixel is a code that is implemented on the back end of your website that will help you track and collect data. Tracking becomes particularly important when you have invested your media dollars into a platform. The tracking data will tell you how the users you reach react to your ads and what kind of action they take when they click on your landing page or open a lead-gen form.
Facebook pixels help you measure results, optimize campaigns, and retarget visitors. Setting up the Facebook pixel will help you track the actions students are taking on your website after viewing your ad and help you optimize your campaigns effectively.
Test your messaging and ad creative.
Videos are popular and are great for engagement, but you can still get results from a single image ad or a carousel ad. The trick is to test your ad creative and messaging to discover what resonates with your audience. Once you determine your best creative and messaging, you can implement those across other campaigns. There are several ways to A/B test within Facebook Ads Manager depending on what variables (ad creative, audience, or placements) you are trying to test.
Review Performance, optimize, and repeat!
As with all digital advertising, Facebook advertising is not a one-time launch-and-done scenario. We recommended regularly reviewing performance, optimizing according to data, and refreshing ad creative and messaging. With each campaign, your university will not only have a chance to land in front of prospective students but also educate those students on why they should choose your university. It’s an important opportunity to learn more about your target audience and how they react to or resonate with your brand messaging.
How can Sextant help you with Facebook ads for your higher-ed institution?
Sextant marketing creates digital media strategies for higher ed across multiple platforms.
While Facebook is the most used platform of all, others like LinkedIn offer advantages too like detailed targeting and high-quality leads that play an important role in delivering those results.
Contact Sextant Marketing and learn how we use a personalized approach to create and implement effective Facebook marketing strategies for our clients and how Sextant can help you do the same.