Are Facebook Ads Effective for Retailers?

by John and Jake Fell Jul 21, 2014

Q: Are paid Facebook ads an effective way to market my online and brick and mortar retail businesses?

Jake Fell
Jake Fell

Jake Fell: Facebook enables you to target paid advertisements, posts and even likes for your actual page. You can target ads, posts and your entire Facebook page based on geographic location, age and interests. When executed effectively, paid Facebook ads can be a great way to acquire new customers.

However, without regularly paying to boost your posts, Facebook only shows your posts to about 6 percent of your fans organically. Due to low organic reach, Facebook is not the most cost-effective lead-nurturing or retention marketing tool.

Yet, Facebook ads can still be a great way to acquire new customers. Here are some tips on how to leverage paid Facebook advertisements to acquire new customers:

  • Don’t pay to get people to like your Facebook page. Remember, Facebook only shows your posts to 6 percent of your fans. Therefore, paying for page likes is not a good investment.
  • Instead, Pay to “boost” strategic posts that may be of interest to prospective customers. Target posts to people in line with your current customer base in age, location and interests.
  • You can also import your e-mail list into Facebook and have Facebook target posts to people similar to your customers who have opted into your e-mail list.
  • Create a call to action for your boosted posts. Offer a coupon code for web and an actual coupon for brick and mortar.
  • You may also consider making the call to action of your boosted post to get prospective customers to opt in to your e-mail list to receive an offer, enter a contest or attend an event.
  • While Facebook only shows your posts to 6 percent of your fans organically, it’s possible to get almost 100 percent of your e-mails delivered to people who opt in to your list. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to make the call to action of your boosted post for a prospect to go to a landing page, enter their e-mail address and be opted into your e-mail program.