How to create successful Facebook adverts

With more than 2.2billion people* actively using Facebook on a monthly basis, it is fair to assume that many of your patients – and potential patients – will be using the platform.

But did you know that you could potentially reach all of these people via Facebook – regardless of whether or not they currently follow your practice?

This can be done by using targeted Facebook ads to ensure you reach the right people at the right time, with the right message. Furthermore, the advertising platform is available to every Facebook page owner at no cost, you just pay for each advert once it goes live.

Most adverts feature an image or a video, some useful copy, a call to action and a link to your website/webpage.

With this in mind, we’re sharing our 10 top tips on how to do Facebook ads well:

1. Be personable – When creating the copy for your advert, try to keep it personable. Potential patients are much more likely to respond to friendly, ‘human’ updates – try using words such as ‘We’ ‘You’ and ‘Our’ to bring potential patients onboard. For example, ‘At Wesleyan Dental Practice, our focus is on you! Come and speak to our friendly team at any time between 9am and 4pm today’, etc.
2. People like people – Following on from the above point…consider using images of your staff for any images and videos. A potential patient is much more likely to notice your advert if it features a person rather than an inanimate object or building, etc.
3. Keep your copy concise – To stand out from the crowd, it’s important to keep your updates concise. Your advert may only be seen once or twice by a potential patient, so get your key points across in one or two short paragraphs.
4. Minimise text on any imagery – A strong image can really make a difference on Facebook. Make sure it is 1200 x 628 in pixel size, and that any text on the image itself takes up less than 20% of the overall space. Your ads may be restricted if this rule is not followed.
5. Keep video ads short – As with text in an advert, conciseness is key if you are using videos in your ads – it’s unlikely that anyone scrolling through Facebook will sit through a 48-minute video of a dental procedure! Consider limiting any videos to a minute at most… aim for 15 seconds or less if possible. Have a go… you’d be surprised by how much information can be shared visually in just 15 seconds!
6. Have a clear call to action – Ultimately you want someone viewing your advert to take some kind of action, whether that’s calling to make an appointment or clicking through to a page on your website. Make sure your call to action sits underneath your image in the advert, is clear and short, e.g. Children’s appointments available now – call us today!
7. Target people by location – It is no good targeting everybody in the UK if your practice only covers a small area of Birmingham. You can use Facebook’s advanced targeting methods to aim your adverts at people in specific locations, right down to village level, and toggle the distance around your practice accordingly, e.g. ‘X Village plus 10 miles’.
8. Take advantage of other target parameters – You can customise your audience to be as relevant as possible to the type of people you are trying to attract. Facebook enables you to target people by age, profession and interest. Keep an eye on the advert as you are building it, as the number of people that you can reach will be shown in real-time.
9. Set a sensible spend limit, and don’t be afraid to turn it off – The great thing about Facebook ads is that you can set a budget at the start but they can be turned on and off at any time. Set your overall budget and the length of time you want the advert to run first, before tweaking, or even turning off the ad, once it is live.
10. Monitor your advert’s success – Once you have set your advert live, track it by regularly looking at the statistics on Facebook. You will be able to see the reach of your post (the amount of times it has been seen) as well as the number of people who have clicked through to your website. Once you’re comfortable with the system and your live ads, you can consider experimenting with different versions and types to see which work best for you.

It can seem quite daunting to set up your first Facebook ad, but it really isn’t as difficult as many people think, and the outcomes could really benefit your practice. Hopefully our 10 top tips have inspired you to give it a try.

And remember, your organic (non-paid) Facebook content remains equally as important, as this can help showcase your practice and staff in a positive light to existing followers.

*Source: Facebook 07/25/18