Resources
Ultimate Guide To Facebook And Instagram Marketing
Chapter 1
An Introduction to Facebook and Instagram Marketing
Chapter 4
Building Your Marketing Campaigns
Chapter 2
Optimizing Your Profiles and Company Pages
Chapter 5
How to Target Your Ads to Reach the Right Audience
Chapter 3
Setting Up Your Ad Account
Chapter 6
Now That You Have Successfully Set up Your Campaign(s), What Comes Next?
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TL;DR
Learn how to harness your most vital assets with our Facebook and Instagram marketing guide. You are chapters away from setting up the inner workings of an optimal Facebook and Instagram page to reach your business goals.
You are aware that your target audience is on Facebook and Instagram, but you are frustrated with your social post results, campaigns, and engagement. Trends are coming and going, and you are still deciding which to incorporate, knowing that you need to see a return sooner rather than later. Whether your content is not generating organic lift or seeing lackluster campaign results, Facebook and Instagram ads can be your greatest ally or a strange and foreign territory.
Luckily for you, former Facebook marketers at Llama Lead Gen have broken down Facebook and Instagram into easy-to-follow chapters to help reach your desired results. After spending millions on media spend and optimizing multiple pages from various verticals and markets, Llama Lead Gen has shared tips and tricks on winning with your Facebook and Instagram marketing strategy.
Once you go through the guide and review our case studies, what was once foreign and uncharted territory will feel more familiar. Whether you are a marketing executive running multi-funnel strategies or a business leader looking to take your company to the next level, this guide will help strengthen your understanding of one of the most effective channels.
Chapter 1
An Introduction To Facebook And Instagram Marketing
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What Is the benefit of using Facebook and Instagram compared to other social media platforms?
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Facebook and Instagram marketing FAQs
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What's the cost of advertising on Facebook and Instagram?
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Is advertising on Facebook and Instagram worth it?
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Why Facebook And Instagram are a better choice for your social media marketing
What Is The Benefit Of Using Facebook And Instagram Compared To Other Social Media Platforms?
Facebook and Instagram are social media platforms that appeal to a wide net of people — this might explain why there are nearly three billion active users on the former and over one billion active users on the latter. While you can certainly befriend and follow more serious users who offer the kind of professional content you're likely to find on LinkedIn, these two platforms are, by and large, a place for normal, everyday people to interact with one another. Plus, with so many celebrities, public figures, and notable people to be found on Facebook and Instagram, there's undoubtedly appeal. Not to mention, just from the sheer volume of users, you have the ability to reach the largest target audience on Facebook and Instagram — it’s estimated that the average user spends about 2 hours a day on both platforms combined.
Facebook and Instagram have an advantage over other platforms because of their incredibly visual nature. From gorgeous photos to personal videos to humorous GIFs, Facebook and Instagram thrive on their visual aids. Because of the billions of users on Facebook and Instagram worldwide, there's a very real chance for posts to garner hundreds of thousands of reactions and even more impressions.
What's The Cost Of Advertising On Facebook And Instagram?
The cost of advertising on Facebook and Instagram will vary based on a variety of factors. Typically, for ads run on Facebook, the cost per click (CPC) is $2 or less. This is significantly cheaper than almost every other social media platform except for Twitter, which usually costs $1 or less per click. Ultimately, though, it really depends on your campaign, objective, targeting, what you are promoting, your CTA, and how your ad copy and creatives are resonating with your audience. Looking at the cost of running ads on similar social media platforms — according to WebFX, YouTube's average CPC is ~ $3.21, LinkedIn's is ~ $5.26, Pinterest is ~ $1.50 — it's clear that Facebook's CPC is a clear advantage over almost every other option out there. Combined with its advanced targeting features, Facebook and Instagram advertising are a force to be reckoned with.
A variety of Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns we ran for a healthcare client. We achieved low CPCs for each campaign: like/follow, lead gen, video.
In comparison, on Instagram, the CPC is about $3.56. This is more than three times the cost of running ads on Facebook, but this has everything to do with the types of ads you run on each platform (which we'll get into more in Chapter Three) and the frequency of those ads on each platform. In our experience, we get our CPCs on both Facebook and Instagram to $2 or less.
With Facebook, your reach is 3x that of Instagram because there are simply more people on the platform. Although your ads might be shown more on Facebook, Instagram tends to have higher CTRs (around 0.88%, according to Adstage) because of its target demographic. This is where demographics come into play. Does your audience skew younger or older? You might want to run on Facebook if older and Instagram if younger.
Is Advertising On Facebook And Instagram Worth It?
Advertising on Facebook and Instagram is not only worth it, but a necessity (nowadays) for most businesses to market their products or services. Your assumption might be that Facebook would be a less successful place to run ads just because of the competition. In reality, though, this couldn't be further from the truth. Many advertisers have seen a return on investment (ROI) of anywhere from 4-8x as much as they put into their campaign. A massive ROI like that is absolutely worth it, not to mention research that backs up a higher clickthrough rate, conversion rate, and a significantly lower cost-per-conversion as well.
From significant increases in followers to improved purchasing intent to a huge reach to the simple fact that ads are more subtle and less invasive on the platform in general, Instagram ads make up for being a bit pricier with their unparalleled results. Simply put, these two platforms are without a doubt worth your ad spend if you are a business trying to market your products or services online.
Why Facebook And Instagram Are A Better Choice For Your Social Media Marketing
Setting aside the massive amount of daily active users on Facebook and Instagram, these two platforms are a better choice for your social media marketing because of the sheer amount of targeting options. Facebook has loads of data points on each of its users -- what groups you are a part of, everything in your profile, your interests, etc. So it’s no surprise that you can target by just about any of these facets.
Facebook has users of all ages but is particularly popular among older users — great news for advertisers who have struggled to appeal to this demographic. It’s not only a platform for an older demographic, however, it’s also a great platform if your business sells to consumers. Check out a successful ad campaign we ran for one of our clients who is a moving company, trying to get more people to use their moving service.
As for Instagram, the platform caters to consumers on the go — because the social media platform was built specifically for mobile devices, there's a treasure trove of different ads that can be placed directly into the potential buyer's hands with very little effort. The swipe up feature, in particular, is a great way for advertisers to showcase their products or services in an unobtrusive manner since users can skip these ads if they’d like.
Targeting within Facebook Ads Manager; you can target by Demographics, Interests, and Behaviors.
To learn how to optimize your company's Facebook and Instagram profiles and pages, continue on to Chapter Two. You know marketing on Facebook and Instagram is important but you haven’t cracked the code yet. Whether you’re new to advertising, have run campaigns but with lackluster results, or are looking for an expert team to optimize your Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns, we can help you reach your marketing goals.
Our team comprises ex-LinkedIn and ex-Facebook marketers, so we understand how to get you the most bang for your buck. Get in touch with our experts today so we can assist you as quickly and as easily as possible.
Chapter 2
Optimizing Your Profiles And Company Pages
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Tips for optimizing your profiles
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How to set up professional company pages
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Tips for optimizing your company pages
Tips For Optimizing Your Profiles
Before you set up your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns, it’s important for you to optimize your profiles and company pages. People tend to make quick judgments, especially considering the breakneck pace of social media, so you only have a few seconds to impress potential customers before it's too late.
Don’t even think about beginning an ad campaign before checking to make sure that:
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Your business and/or brand's profile and cover photos are up-to-date and that you are using the highest quality resolutions
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Your bio, slogan, address, and your contact info are all current and reflect the most recent information available
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Any and all unprofessional content or irrelevant information is nowhere to be found on the profile, in the comments, or anywhere else on the company page
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Links to your website, your products, and your other social media accounts on different platforms can be easily accessed without having to dig (To note: Instagram only allows you to have one link out in your profile. You can use services like LinkTree or ContactInBio to add multiple link out’s on your Instagram profile.)
A Facebook company page we manage, optimized using all of our tips above.
How To Set Up Professional Company Pages
If you don't already have a Facebook or an Instagram for your company or brand, fear not! If your parents can set up an account, then so can you.
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On Facebook, navigate to Pages and then click create
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Choose between a business/brand page or a community/public figure page (more than likely the former.)
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Enter your business information — things like your business name, the category that describes your business, your address, and so on
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Add a profile picture, a cover photo, and any other featured images you'd like to pin to your page
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Customize your URL to make your page more easily discoverable
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Edit your description section to give users a more detailed look at your business
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Add any other relevant or missing information, and then click publish
Instagram is even easier:
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Download the app, then tap sign up (if you already have an Instagram account, you can start at step #4)
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Instagram gives you the option to sign up with Facebook, which you can do with your business page to link the two
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Make your username the same (or as close as possible) to the name you used on your Facebook page. This will make it easier for people to find you and recognize your business.
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Go to Settings and tap switch to a business account
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Enter the information it asks you for, and then you're ready to start posting and advertising
Tips For Optimizing Your Company Pages
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Invite people to like your page or follow you. This can be done by linking the contacts on your phone or computer to your account, which will then pull up everyone with an account. This way, you can have some followers before you even make your first post.
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Always use the highest quality images and videos when crafting a post. Low-quality images and videos will reflect poorly on you more than anything else.
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Choose more than one category for your business (as long as they're still relevant to your brand). This will help spread awareness across multiple areas.
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Choose a voice and stick with it. Whether it's funny, casual, serious or factual, this will help personify your page.
An Instagram page we manage for one of our eCommerce clients. Each post is consistent and true to the brand.
Chapter 3
Setting Up Your Ad Accounts
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How to set up your ads manager account
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How to navigate your ads manager account
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What ad types do Facebook and Instagram support?
How To Set Up Your Ads Manager Account
Now that you've got your Facebook and Instagram accounts set up, it's time to start thinking about establishing an Ads Manager account so that you can begin your company's ad campaigns.
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On Facebook, it's as simple as heading to business.facebook.com and selecting Create Account.
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From there, you'll enter your business's name, select the Facebook account you'd like to link your Ad Manager account to, and then input your name and work email address.
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Once you're in, you'll open Business Manager Settings and click Ad Accounts under People and Assets.
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Then, select Add New Ad Accounts and hit Create a New Add Account.
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Enter your payment info and you're all set to begin growing your campaign.
For Instagram: you're actually going to use Facebook Ads Manager, just like with your Facebook ads account.
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To link your Instagram account to your Facebook Ad Manager account, simply go to Business Settings, click on Accounts, then hit Instagram Accounts, then click Add.
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Enter the Instagram account login, and you're good to go.
You can now start advertising from both your Facebook and Instagram pages.
How To Navigate Your Ads Manager Account
Now that you've completed the setup of your Ads Manager account for your company Facebook and Instagram accounts, you'll need to know how to navigate your Ad Manager account.
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To get to Ads Manager from your Facebook homepage, click the drop-down menu on the top right hand corner of your page and select Ad Manager.
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From there, you'll be taken to the Ad Manager dashboard. You should see several tabs labeled Account Overview, Campaigns, Ad Sets, and Ads. Each of these tabs serves a unique purpose, which we'll explore more in Chapter Four. For now, familiarize yourself with where things are positioned and make sure you're comfortable with where everything is. You'll need to know these locations when we get to creating and growing your marketing campaigns.
An eCommerce Facebook and Instagram advertising campaign we ran to promote a flavored water product.
What Ad Types Do Facebook And Instagram Support?
Part of what makes Facebook and Instagram so beneficial to you from a marketing perspective is the immense amount of versatility each social media platform provides you. Unlike more traditional forms of digital advertising (i.e. banners on popular news publications), Facebook, for instance, gives you a handful of different and unique ad types that feel less like an ad (called native advertising). With all of these options, it’s important to note that you can run a single image, a carousel, or a video ad.
For Facebook:
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Desktop or Mobile News Feed (Sponsored Content or Sponsored/Promoted Posts) - your ad is embedded within a user's news feed, showing up in between other content the user sees (appears just like a status update or a photo upload would appear to the average user). The only difference is that it has a little ‘sponsored’ language.
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Stories - appear temporarily in between users' Stories.
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Right-hand Column - specific to desktop users and akin to the traditional advertisement banner that you might see on other publications.
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Marketplace - ads that show up in Facebook’s marketplace section.
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Video Feeds - ads that show up in Facebook’s ‘watch’ section.
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In-Stream Videos - your ad will show up in between videos on Facebook.
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Search Results - your ad will show up when you search for something on Facebook.
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Facebook Audience Network - spreads your ads across a whole slew of partner apps and websites that have agreed to work with Facebook Ads Manager accounts for promotional purposes. If you don’t want this, it’s an easy uncheck of a button. Furthermore, if you want to blacklist any particular sites, you can do that as well.
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Messenger - sends out your advertisements via Facebook's instant messaging platform. You can also run your ads on WhatsApp if you’d like.
The same ad we ran in multiple variations: Sponsored Content (Desktop & Mobile), Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories, In-Article, and Audience Network. An eCommerce Facebook and Instagram advertising campaign we ran to promote a flavored water product.
For Instagram:
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Mobile News Feed (Sponsored Ads) - embedded within the user's feed (just like Facebook sponsored content) and can range from photos to videos to a swipeable carousel of images.
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Stories - appear temporarily in between users' Stories.
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Explore - your ads will show when you search in ‘explore’ mode in Instagram.
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IGTV Ads - will run before or after long-form Instagram TV content.