Unlike with Facebook P.P.C., the clicks/interactions resulting from a Google AdWords campaign originate exclusively from keywords, the corresponding phrases of which are chosen by you, the campaign manager. This offers you the ability to cast an incredibly wide net of search terms relating to how you think your customers are looking for you, then cull the ones that turn out to be ineffective. Google’s Keyword Planner tool (a free service that’s part of the AdWords network) can even help you discover keywords pertaining to your business that you might never even have thought of otherwise.

You Only Pay For Results

One of the biggest selling points of P.P.C. advertising is that your credit card is only billed it people actually click on your ad. What this means is that Google affords you an essentially unlimited trial and error period to fool around with different keywords and demographic targeting options until you get it right. It’s a very compelling case on Google’s part: Despite having a more expensive average cost-per-click ratio than Facebook, the AdWords network offers exposure to a much wider range of users (ie. everyone in the world who uses Google) and allows you to direct them to specific pages within your site. The same performance-based billing applies to the Google Display Network, which is the section of AdWords that allows you to showcase full image ads on an extensive range of popular websites that your potential customers could be browsing.

Campaign Segmentation

Let’s say, for example, that you work for a creative firm which offers an array of different web design and online marketing services, and that you want to market them separately under one campaign in the AdWords network. Not only does Google allow and encourage this, they make managing multiple ads quite easy. You could create one about web design, one for social media management, one for back end development (etc.), then track their respective performances both individually and in the context of the whole campaign. You can also assign different budget for different ads within a campaign, focusing the bulk of your spend on products and services that you’re trying to push more than others.

While some would tell you that mixing business with personal isn’t recommended, social management is a different beast: Since your SMM is hired to speak under your company’s voice, its important for him/her to understand exactly what your business is about from an ethos/pathos perspective. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask your liaison for a casual meeting over coffee, or to add him/her personally on Facebook for the sake of building a relationship. You’ll find that as you get to know the person better, he/she will begin to understand your business through your eyes and post things that are more likely to be in tune with your own corporate ethics and beliefs.

Send Collateral On A Regular Basis

Though a competent SMM can discover and post information about your business on their own, its very important that you regularly update them with the latest information about your company that they might not be privy to without having an inside track. If you have access to internal collateral (product lists, new promotions, competition statistics etc.) that hasn’t been made public yet, forward it to them on a consistent basis either via email or through a cloud sharing service such as Dropbox. Even if you’re not sure how the content should be scheduled, send it anyway: its an SMM’s job to disseminate information about your business and disperse it to the public in a way that will drive engagement. Your SMM is essentially your internet public relations coordinator, and should be treated as such.

Specify Your Advertising Budget

Since most social media platforms have paid advertising options, many agency-proposed management plans will include an allocated ad budget within your monthly rate. If your SMM doesn’t offer this convenience, however, its recommended that you decide on a maximum monthly ad budget beforehand and take it into consideration alongside the proposed management fee. Most social ads run on what’s known as a “maximum cost-per-click” basis, meaning that you’ll only pay if and when someone actually clicks through to your website or respective social environment. SMMs are experts and maximizing the strength and reach of your budget, even if its a modest one, so don’t be afraid to play with different amounts on a month-to-month basis to see what works and what doesn’t.

Often, non web-savvy business owners will hear about how popular Facebook is, assume they need to be represented there at any cost, then whip up a quick and dirty profile with no ongoing management plan just to be able to say: “My business is on Facebook”. Needless to say, this can risk you projecting a confusing image, or worse, appearing lazy/lackluster for not committing to a regular posting schedule.

The reason I’m focusing on this topic is because it’s in every business owner’s best interest to really think hard about their business before making the jump to Facebook. Some questions you should ask yourself:

1. Do I have the ability to make my field of business come across as “interesting” to my target audience?

2. Do I have enough time and shareable content to be able commit to a regular posting schedule?

3. Is my business’s image engaging enough that I can jump right into Facebook without a significant rebranding?

If you can honestly answer “yes” to these three questions, then chances are you’re ready to start a Facebook business page. Social media users are notoriously short attention-spanned with the content they consume, so the more “interesting” your field comes across as, the more likely you’ll be able to craft a brand message that appeals to this audience. This isn’t to say that any business can’t have an engaging Facebook presence, but it really comes down to what product/service you have to offer and how dedicated your social media manager is.

So how do you decide when your business is ready to make the jump Facebook? First, consider your audience’s relation to your product. Are they excited about it or is it just something that they need, but don’t necessarily have an emotional connection to? Is it something they begrudge (a clamping/tow truck company)? Something “mundane” (a laundromat)? Or perhaps something that’s controversial (a political cause)? It’s up to you to decide on whether the public perception of your message makes it worth the time commitment and overall effort.

To conclude, one of the most engaging part about a business’s Facebook page is it’s voice. Even having just cautioned businesses in fields where upkeeping a Facebook presence might prove challenging, it still stands that a competent social media manager can write a compelling brand message regardless of business type if they’ve done their research and understand their target audience. So, to answer the question posed in the title of this post: “yes”, as long as you are fully committed to establishing a compelling voice and have the time/resources to follow through on it. Otherwise, it might be time to seek outside help.

As we’ve explored in previous posts, business owners around the world are increasingly leveraging the tremendous marketing power of Facebook en masse. In terms of advertising value, it’s built in Adverts Manager and pay per click management system offer serious bang for your buck, coming in cheaper than Google Adwords and with far more targeting options than Twitter.

To take advantage of Facebook advertising, you must understand the basics of the pay per click (PPC) model. In a nutshell, it allows you to create custom text and image ads for your business (to Facebook’s specifications), then display them in the sidebar or newsfeed of a targeted demographic of users that you select based on your own market research. The beauty of the model is that you get to set your own budget (minimum of $2.50 per day), and you’re only charged if and when someone clicks on your ad. Now that we’ve covered that, lets go over a couple of useful tips that’ll help you get the most out of your PPC budget:

Understand The Difference Between Sidebar Ads & Promoted Posts

The two main types of ads on Facebook are sidebar ads and what are known as “promoted posts”. Though they share similar budgeting options, their visual differences are distinct and they serve different purposes depending on your business’s goals.

Sidebar ads are exactly what the name implies: Static ads that appear on the right-hand side of a user’s newsfeed. Comprised of a 100w x 72h-pixel image, a headline with a maximum of 25 characters and a text blurb with a maximum of 90 characters. Though these specs might sound constraining, they actually encourage you to distil your message into something punchy and succinct, which ultimately convinces more people to click through. Ultimately, sidebar ads are most suited for increasing brand awareness and generating fans (page “Likes”); not necessarily for promoting a specific offer.

Promoted posts are business ads that appear directly in users’ news feed, allowing for longer, more detailed messaging. They show up just as a normal post from an individual user would, only that they’ll be flanked with the word “sponsored”, indicating to everyone that it’s a paid ad. These are typically more effective than sidebar ads at generating interest in a specific offer, but not always as good for driving more page “Likes”. There is no text limit, and the image can be any size.

Ideally, your Facebook PPC campaign should feature a strategic mix of both sidebar ada and promoted posts for maximum effectiveness.

Tinker With Your Ads Frequently To Get It Right

One of the cool things about the Facebook Adverts Manager is the ability to change the content of your sidebar ads as many times as you want within the timeframe of a campaign. What this means is that if a particular ad isn’t performing well, you don’t have to wait til the end of the campaign cycle to test out another one: you can just edit it and apply the changes immediately.

With this freedom, you can essentially use a live ad as not only an advertisement, but a testing ground to see what works for future ads. With a minimum daily budget of $2.50 ($75 per month), altering unsuccessful ads will hardly break the bank and you’ll know what not to do next time.

Managing pay per click on Facebook is user-friendly, but also time consuming, and the demographic targeting system can be complicated to those unversed in social media. If you’re unsure about the benefits of outsourcing your business’s Facebook marketing, check out our previous post on finding the right social media management services.

Image Credit: Found U B4