By Trudi Charest, RO

Facebook is still the largest and busiest social network with over two billion people using it on an ongoing basis.

According to Hootsuite, businesses spent more than $9 billion on Facebook ads in the second quarter of 2017 alone, an increase of 47 per cent (nearly $3 billion) from the same period the previous year. So is Facebook the right media space for an eyecare business to advertise? The answer is YES, if it is done properly.

With all those people to target, you can burn through a lot of money if you don’t target well.

Knowing exactly how to focus on the right audience for your business and geography is crucial in ensuring the best return on investment. The branding and exposure you can obtain from a simple ad for a small budget will show you marketing on Facebook should be a part of your yearly marketing plan.

Here are five steps to launch a simple photo ad on Facebook:

  1. Know the guidelines: Facebook doesn’t allow all sorts of ads, sizes or text. They are very particular about what you can post so they don’t annoy their coveted followers. Here are some basics to get started:
  • Facebook ad specs: One image plus text;
  • Facebook ad size: 1200 x 628 pixels;
  • Text limit: 90 characters;
  • Headline text limit: 25 characters.
  1. Create a professional ad. If you’re going to spend money on this type of marketing then do it well. Hire a professional graphic designer to create the ad and put thought into the images and messaging. You only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention so make it worth their while. Maybe it is a new brand line you are carrying. Maybe it is a huge sale you are about to put on. Either way make it stand out with great graphics.
  2. Call to Action. Make sure your ad has a call to action. Here are a few actions:
  • Visit our website;
  • Call us today;
  • Book an appointment;
  • Visit our optical.
  1. Target Audience. To get the best results, you need to highly target the right audience. That is gender, age, occupation, location, postal code, etc. Keywords will be important. You want to target people who wear eyeglasses or need an eye exam.
  2. Set, Monitor & Adjust Budget. You need to decide how much money you are going to invest in this campaign. You can set a daily or lifetime budget then select the dates you want the ad to run. Understand that if you set a low daily budget and it spends out quickly then your ad will stop showing. Set a healthy daily budget of around $10 a day to start then go in and watch the analytics of the ad so you can see what it is doing. You may want to increase or change some of the targeting.

Last note: The whole idea of advertising is to make something happen whether that is more sales or increased appointments so ensure you are tracking the results both digitally and manually in the office to see the results. Good luck!

Trudi Charest is the co-Founder of 4ECPs, a business resource company for eye care professionals. 4ECPs has six divisions, marketing, training, social media, eyecare jobsites, payments, & events.