You’ve heard of Facebook Ads and understand the concept, in general.  What are the different approaches and reasons that you should consider paying to promote content?

As we publish this article, the current Facebook algorithm  that drives what people see in their personal stream only allows 3-5% of your fans to actually see your post in their stream. For most businesses, this won’t get you the results you’d like.

Paid Facebook advertising is affordable and can be tightly targeted. So if you really understand who your ideal customer is, you can achieve some fairly exciting results, for as low as $15 – $25 per ad. It pays off for a small business to learn how to utilize Facebook Ads.

There are three different approaches to consider when paying to promote, using Facebook. Before we outline those, let’s review some helpful terms.

Social Media Vernacular Review

Here is a little of the social media “lingo” for your understanding, before we dive into specifics about paying to promote, to avoid getting lost in the language.

• Post (noun): A post is a comment, picture, or some type of media placed on your business Facebook wall for fans to read.
• Post (verb): “To post” is the action of placing these items on your wall.
• Share (verb): Posting information on your page for your followers. This does not cost you anything. Typically, 3-5% of your followers will see the share.
• Promote (verb): Paying for a post to reach exponentially more people, including fans, but not limited to those. Most reached will not be followers.
• Ad: An ad is any type of paid promotion.

Paying to Promote #1: Promote Your Page

Promote is code word for “pay for broader exposure.” The goal of paying to promote your page is simply to get more likes, thus broadening your audience, and raising the potential to engage with these people.

One Facebook ad type is called a “Page Like Ad” whose call to action is simply “Like Page.”  This is a great way to reach people who don’t know you yet, as you can exclude current followers from seeing the ad. Here is what a sample Page Like Ad looks like.

Paying to Promote #2: Promote Hot Content

We live in a “help” economy.  To build a highly-engaged fan base, you should think, “What type of information would be helpful to my audience?” And it should, in no way, be information that somehow is an attempt to sell.  It’s an attempt to help. That’s it. You should get useful content only for the purpose of being helpful, interesting and informative to your readers. There are two ways you can share industry content.

1. Share the content. The app makes this easy and it keeps your stream full of useful information.
2. Promote the content.  The next level includes paying to promote that content, as only 3-5% of your fans will see the share. This conquers that issue for as low as $15 to reach over 1,000 people.

This helpful content could be any of the following:

• Interesting industry topics and news
• Interviews with experts
• Tips and tricks for your persona
• Behind the scenes info from your business

One easy way to get content, relevant for your industry, is via our HOT!Content™ free social media services. Subscribe here.

Here is what a promoted piece of hot content looks like. Notice the number of likes!  This is a very effective way to build audience engagement.

Paying to Promote #3: Promote Your Content or Business

At the end of the day, you’re in business to sell something, right?

Facebook ads are also very handy for promoting a special, events, or memberships for your business. The goal of promoting your content is to generate leads or actual revenue, so your calls to action should align with that goal.

Summary

When you purchase a Facebook ad, be clear on your goals. Growing community is the first step and is as important as promoting sales. Create a strategy that utilizes a good combination of Page Like Ads, HOT!Content promotion, your business promotion and you will see some solid results.