Are Facebook Ads cost-per-click (CPC) costs getting out of hand? You are not alone. As more advertisers with bigger budgets use social media sites like Facebook and Instagram to reach their audiences, acquisition costs are increasing. Fortunately, you can decrease your costs by rethinking your strategies and better ways to reach your audience.
The best way to gain the edge over your competitors is by understanding your customers, distinguishing your business from others and being smart about who you target. Below are some tips on how to address rising Facebook Ads CPC costs.
Broaden Your Audience Size
There is a lot of advice online about narrowing down your audience and targeting select groups of people. This is good advice, but balance is key. You don’t want to waste money targeting the wrong people, but you also don’t want to limit your audience pool.
If your CPC is too high, check your audience sizes to see how big they are. If your audience is getting too narrow and small, see if there are ways to expand your audience such as by adding interests, behaviors and demographics. This will expand your pool and give Facebook algorithms more people to show your ads to.
Now, if you feel that your audience size is where it needs to be, you may need to switch to broad targeting. Broad targeting is not for everyone, especially if you are still testing things out, but it can be an effective way to expand your reach and lower CPC costs.
Decrease Segmentation
Segmentation can be a valuable tool, especially when you’re focusing on specific stages in the customer journey. That said, when you add segmentations like geographics, demographics, placements or devices, your audience pool becomes smaller and more restricted. This means you might miss out on valuable leads.
Thankfully, the robots are becoming smarter, so you can trust them to make the best decisions for things like placements and devices. And, if you decide that you want to segment your audiences based on these factors later on, you can easily do so.
Use Animation and Video
Facebook has been encouraging businesses to use more animation and video to engage audiences, and there is still plenty of room for growth in this department. Consider some of the ways that you can create compelling content that won’t disrupt the user experience.
Below are some tips for putting together engaging animations and videos that your audience will feel comfortable clicking on. Video is already taking over the social media experience, so don’t get left behind.
- Tell a story to capture emotion
- Add subtitles so people can watch in silence
- Use an external mic for improved sound quality
- Choose a brightly lit setting
- Clean up the video using an editing app
- Keep it short
- Capture attention in the first 30-seconds
Share Your Value Proposition
Remember, there is a lot of content on social media, and people are hesitant to trust any standard advertisement. Therefore, your ad should clearly display the value proposition of your promotion. This also ensures you get the right people clicking on your ads.
When crafting your message, remember that people shouldn’t have to guess what’s going to happen next. Your ad should explain to users what steps they need to take. Will they fill out a contact form? Submit their email for a free consultation? Join your newsletter list? By delivering on what you say, you can build trust with your audience.
Look for Audience Overlap
One of the problems with running Facebook ads is that you can promote your different ad sets to the same audience. The larger the overlap, the worse your campaigns will perform. Plus, your CPC will be higher because you’re competing with yourself.
The good news is that you have control over this and you don’t need to waste money fighting for attention from the same audience. Use the Facebook Audience Overlap tool to see if your audiences are overlapping significantly. If they are, you’ll need to exclude these audiences to avoid bidding against yourself.
Understand Your Relevance Score
Your Relevance Score has a direct impact on your CPC. This score ranges from 1-10 to let you know how relevant your ads are to your target audience. A Relevance Score of 1 is bad, whereas an 8 or higher means your ad matches your audience.
You can check your Relevance Score by opening your Ads Manager, selecting a campaign and selecting an ad set. You can then view the ads you’ve launched and their respective Relevance Scores.
Here are some ways to improve your Relevance Score:
- Always refresh your ads
- Show different ads to the same audience
- Split test your ads
- Avoid using misleading content
- Consider your text and images and how they match your audience’s needs
Focus on Increasing CTR
Another way to lower your CPC is by focusing on your click-through-rate (CTR). Increasing CTR boosts your Relevance Score because Facebook sees that your audience is responding to your offer. Some of the ways you can increase CTR are by using fascinating headlines, making your products stand out in the news feeds and using the right call to action buttons.
Additionally, pay attention to the type of Facebook ad you use. Facebook offers a variety of ad placements such as news feed ads and small ads placed on the right sidebar. News feed ads are best when you’re looking to increase CTR because they allow for a large image and long description. This helps the ad stand out more.
Summary
Facebook Ads are cost-effective because you can set your budget and target a specific audience. That said, there are ways to increase the effectiveness of your campaigns so that more of your budget goes to the right people. By following the tips above, you can reduce your ad costs without negatively impacting your ad performance. To discuss your social media advertising needs, contact WSI Net Advantage today.
