Why Facebook Advertising Is Important for Your Club and How You Can Master This Process.
Any kid's activity club needs to have a defined marketing strategy to help grow their club and refine processes. Making use of Facebook advertising is an effective way of achieving long term growth as existing data from ClassForKids shows that more than 45% of bookings come through Facebook. In this blog post, we will discuss what to consider when creating your ad, the different Facebook ad types, how to build custom audiences and the ways to analyse results.
Take Aim and Hit the Right Target
Activity clubs that see a steady flow of new students coming into their clubs are the ones designing highly targeted adverts. So what is 'targeted advertising' and how can it make a difference to your club? Simply put, target advertising is about engaging with specific groups (parents) with clear information and useful details.
As an example, you might create an advert to connect with the parents of preschool-aged children which would be very different from an advert that you’d create for your teenage classes.
- To create an engaging ad, begin by looking at what’s happening in your business to inspire you. For example, if you have availability in certain classes, then that should be a priority;
- You should clearly define what age groups and styles you want to target as this will help you be more focused in your approach;
- To ensure you are not wasting money targeting areas and people too far from your club, Facebook allows you to determine which locations and specific postcodes you will target. Focus on areas where parents will be willing to travel for their children to participate in your activity type.
Top Tip: Who, Why, What, Where is a good strategy to apply to your ad. If you can confidently answer these questions, you have it covered.
Synchronicity
Once you have decided who your advert is targeting, ensure that your image and copy (text) are aligned. For example, if you are a dance school wanting to fill a ballet class, use relevant images to engage with parents. You could include the appropriate age group to provide an example, but make sure that you have the right permissions from parents before posting any images online.
You should also consider the copy you’re placing in the advert. Think about the posts and ads that you engage with and consider why. With your ads, you want to inject the right tone of voice that suits your brand to help you stand out from the crowd.
Top Tip: Introduce emojis to liven up your copy and also add social proof - this will add credibility to your message.
Which Ad Type is Best For you?
There are a variety of options when it comes to setting up Facebook ads. Decide at the outset what is most important to you. Do you want to gather leads via Facebook forms or drive traffic to your website? If it’s the latter, take time to ensure that your website is easy to navigate and there are clear calls to action.
Sending potential customers to your website only for them to be distracted by a poorly designed journey can be a costly mistake. Alternatively, you may rely solely on your Facebook page for advertising. If this is the case, you should select lead generation which will gather potential customers details directly on the ad.
Top Tip: Use a Facebook lead generation objective if you are not confident about the design of your website.
Test and Measure
After 24 hours, check the advert to see what your conversions are costing. You should examine the number of impressions and reach of the ad as well as the relevance score which is a measure of quality. Adverts can be edited easily on the Facebook ads manager area, so don't be afraid to take action. Consider swapping out images or making changes to the copy and then measure again.
Top Tip: Add the Facebook pixel to your website. This can be done in your CMS and will allow Facebook to determine what users are doing on your site and the journeys they are taking.
Test Yourself
Select one of your ideal student profiles and create a Facebook Advert for them. As an example, you might want to target an 8-10-year-old for a class. Start by writing relevant copy (the text), source an image and create your advert in the Facebook business manager with a strong call to action.
We hope this guide has provided insights into the best ways to use Facebook ads. If you need more help, take a look at these helpful Facebook resources:
- Ads Guide for design specifications for ad format;
- Advertiser Help Centre for step-by-step instructions;
- Facebook's Blueprint eLearning for free online training courses.