Your ad has to grab the attention of your fans (or fans-to-be) in their News Feed or Stories. Don’t underestimate the design – even though we’ve saved the creative part for last, it's arguably the most important. If your ad doesn’t stand out, people won’t click.
To tackle this stage right, do the prep and read the first two parts:
1/3: Set Your Goals
2/3: Target the Right Audiences
Your ads have to grab the attention of people who’ve never heard of you and have opened the app to read the news, see what their friends are doing, and probably watch some cat videos. So, when it comes to Facebook or Instagram ads, creative design is king.
Both Facebook and Instagram are focused on visual content. Creating ads that don’t get lost in the sea of other posts will be your main goal when it comes to designing your ads. Often it's not the best-looking posts but the ones that stand out from the others that perform the best. Don’t be afraid to test silly ideas, even if they seem a little bit out there.
It’s ok if you aren't a master of the whole Adobe suite or don’t have a designer friend on call. For DIY design, Canva is a lifesaver, as you can choose the right templates (and use it for free). Free mobile apps, such as Adobe Photoshop Express and Google's Snapseed, can help you with the design as well.
Different placements (Stories vs. News Feed) require different ad formats. Find Facebook’s official recommendations here and adjust your visual elements to match the format.
Your ad shouldn’t look just like any other post:
This is an example of UMEK promoting his new Techno collaboration with Mark Reeve with a sample of the track and a link to Beatport, where listeners can listen to the track and buy it.
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how your image/video, headline and primary text will work together in someone’s feed. Check it out with an ad mockup generator, such as this one, and make some final tweaks if needed.
If you want to learn from other artists, check Facebook’s Ad Library. You can search through the campaigns of every advertiser in the world. Look for an artist similar to you who’s doing well on socials, and see how they've composed their ads.
Put yourself in the shoes of a fan: Would this ad catch your eye? If not, go back to the drawing board and make adjustments. When you’re happy with it, test it with your friends or peers who would match the target audience. And don't go to people who tend to agree with everything you say. If Steve’s the one who will tell you your hair looks like sh*t when it does, Steve is probably the one for the job.
You won’t know right away what kind of messages and content your target audience responds to the best. You can change one element of an ad (color, call-to-action, copy, etc.), run different versions, and see which one performs better. This is called A/B testing. You’ll have to try different formats, designs, headlines, etc., but with time, you’ll find the winning combination. This is where data is crucial.
When launching your ads, send links to your friends who’d be happy to give you a hand. Tell them about your project and ask them to like and comment. This will kickstart Facebook’s algorithm. When the ads reach your fans, they will be more likely to engage, as nobody likes to be the first to like or comment. This is how you build social proof, which we covered in the previous article.
On the Ad Set level, we get an overview of how certain sets of Ads performed compared to others.
➡️ This comes in handy when you have many Ad Sets, divided based on interests or countries. You can instantly compare the relative costs and decide to either increase the budget for great performers, or kill off the stragglers with high costs.
➡️ You can break down your results by Placements, Countries, Device types and more. It’s smart to check how an Ad Set is performing across those breakdowns. It isn't unusual for certain content to perform great as a Story, but not as a Feed post. Or maybe some Countries will be much more likely to meet your goals than others. If you have several ads in one Ad Set, make sure to compare their performance.
➡️ Focus on the following metrics, from best to worst.
One metric to always keep In mind, especially on the Ad Set level, is Frequency. This metric tells you how many times a specific ad was shown to the same user. It's best to have this stay under 4. Above 4, “ad fatigue” can occur, making your ad less and less effective.
If you manage to increase the engagement on your music channels by investing in Facebook advertising, you’re doing a good job.
➡️ You can evaluate your performance on each platform or check the tools that combine different metrics. One such are Viberate's music analytics, which helps you look into your social media and streaming stats in one place. A visual breakdown in different timelines provides a good overview of your campaign performance. Start your free trial here.