Social media marketing has quickly become a necessary element of any digital marketing strategy. More than half (3 out of 5) small and medium sized businesses claim they have gained new customers through social media.

Facebook advertising, specifically, is one of the most underutilized forms of advertising for local businesses. 80% of social network users prefer to connect to brands through Facebook. As the largest social media network in the world, Facebook caters to a wide range of demographics, meaning that any business can find an audience.

If you aren’t using this social media giant in your digital marketing strategy, you’re missing out! Here are a few reasons to consider adding Facebook advertising to your digital marketing strategy!

1. Facebook has Billions of Users
1.49 billion users to be exact; and that’s only the active users, who log into the site on a monthly basis. That’s the largest audience of any social media platform. Although not everyone on Facebook will meet your target audience, you’ll have a larger pool of people to choose from.

2. Multiple Targeting Options
Facebook advertising has a robust targeting system thanks to the nature of the platform. Facebook users freely provide detailed information about themselves, their lives, jobs, and even their relationship status. This allows marketers to target people based on all of these things. Whether you want to narrow your target to a specific age, gender, education level, interest, or income, you can build an audience that fits your specific criteria.

3. Increase Customer Loyalty
When building your Facebook advertising campaign, you have multiple options to determine the purpose of your campaign. Do you want people visit your website? Do you want people to like your Facebook page? Or attend an event you’re hosting? You can create ads specifically geared to these goals. One of the most under utilized is increasing page likes. When you opt to create a campaign to get likes for your page, you’re not only increasing brand awareness, but you’re improving your customer retention. Customers are more likely to continue to do business with you when your business is actively engaged with them, such as on Facebook.

4. Lots of Ad Views
How many times a day do you check your Facebook? According to Mashable the average person looks at Facebook 14 times a day! With the average person logging in 14 times a day, you have a better chance of your ad being seen by your target audience, and receiving positive engagement with your brand.

5. Budgeting and Spending Options
Facebook provides several budgeting and spending options. Depending on the goal of your Facebook campaign, you can optimize for clicks to your website, clicks to your Facebook page, daily unique reach, or impressions.

Pricing options include cost per impressions (CPM) where you will be charged for impressions, or cost per click (CPC) where you can decide the amount a click to your website is worth. CPM is great for getting out news about special promotions, or increasing your branding, whereas CPC is great for racking up conversions.

6. More Bang for Your Buck!
On average, Facebook advertising is cheaper than other forms of comparable online advertising, such a Twitter advertising, LinkedIn Advertising and Adwords. You can reach around 1,000 people (have your ad viewed 1,000 times, not necessarily clicked) on Facebook for about $0.25 – the exact amount you will pay will vary depending on your industry, target market and campaign settings. Keep in mind, Facebook campaigns tend to have lower click through rates than other forms of online marketing. This is not always true as each campaign is different, with different budgets, targeting methods, and products or services being sold.

7. Smartphone Access
Facebook provides one of the best options for advertising to mobile devices. The average time people spend on Facebook via their smartphone is half an hour per day, with 50% of the world’s smartphones connected to Facebook every hour of the day. Not only are you able to reach a wide audience of people on Facebook mobile, but these users are highly engaged.

8. Creative Control
When creating an advertising campaign on Facebook, you have the opportunity to test creative directions freely. If you want to A/B test different pictures, copy, or calls to action, you have the ability to do this. You can see what is working each week and then optimize your campaign based on your findings.

If you want to add a Facebook advertising campaign to your digital marketing strategy, contact Eden Advertising to get started! We have experience running successful Facebook campaigns for a variety of clients in different industries. Call us at (800) 844-0106 to consult with us and learn how we can build Facebook advertising to help you meet your goals.