Facebook Marketing Tips for 2016 Part 3

Facebook Marketing Tips Part 3, from expert John Haydon on The BIGG Success Show! We’ve provided show notes below, but throughout this 3-part series, John share’s helpful instruction that you’ll want to hear. Click Play to hear the podcast episode and read along below. – George & Mary-Lynn

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We’re wrapping up our Facebook Marketing Tips for 2016 series with John Haydon., Founder of Inbound Zombie, a social media strategy firm, and one of the most sought-after digital marketing experts for nonprofits. He is also the author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies* and Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies*.

In Facebook Marketing Tips for 2016 Part 2, John shared tips on how to create more engaging content. In this episode, John will give us some Facebook Ad buying tips that are sure to save you time and money. But first, John tells us how to get the best results for your content marketing efforts in 2016…

Have a Marketing Plan

John says this in order to be successful with online marketing, you must have a plan. And to be able to plan ahead, you need to have a content calendar. This allows you to produce relevant content and to get your community engaged. In addition, your content calendar allows you to see all of your communication channels together (social media, email, etc) and how you will integrate them all.
This is especially helpful for an upcoming event. John explains the process thoroughly in this podcast episode.

Experiment with Your Marketing

John encourages you to experiment this year. Go slightly off-topic on social media, test different angles or related topics to see what kind of engagement you might get. For example: An ALS organization will be able to connect more with people by talking about issues that people with disabilities face…like wheelchair ramps, and offer tips on how to overcome accessibility challenges. Think of how to broaden your topics and subject matter to connect with people at all levels.

Though Facebook has changed a lot since his book was released, John says the fundamental principles are still the same when it comes to marketing:

Understand your people and what they care about
Set your brand apart by creating content that is creative and useful

Do competitive research
Give people the opportunity to join your email list
Get your core customers to tell their friends about you
Use Facebook advertising to grow your list and get permission marketing

Facebook Marketing Tips: Ad Buying

As for buying ads on Facebook, John says you should never do an ad buy for more than 3 days. He says that at 3 days, spending $25-$50 per day, the risk is low and you’ll get an immediate result, which allows you to determine if you need to make adjustments. John explains why and how to set the date perimeter in this podcast episode. He also gives us the same advice he gives to his clients regarding scheduling the days and times to run your ads.

The Importance of Your Call to Action

John advises you to be careful about what you are asking people to do with your ad. He says your Facebook call to action is critical. Is it realistic to ask them to “buy now,” or would it be better to ask them to “learn more” or to get a “free download” or to “sign this petition.”

John also recommends using Facebook’s free Shutterstock photography with your ads – you can use different images with the same ad text to do A/B testing. Once the ad runs, check your analytics and pause the images that aren’t performing as well as the others. John goes into detail in this podcast episode about how to accomplish this using Ad Sets in Facebook Ads.

When it comes to Facebook Ads, John says think “salt and pepper”. You can’t survive on salt and pepper alone…you need a meal. Facebook ads are simply an enhancement to your content marketing strategy.

Listen to the other podcast episodes in this series: