Facebook continues to dominate the social media landscape in the country with an estimated 80.3 million users as of 2023 data.
Dominating with almost 92.7 percent social media market share, it comes as no surprise that Facebook has also become a de facto marketplace and online billboard for enterprising Filipinos long before the platform rolled out its own marketplace.
There is no brick-and-mortar establishment in this country that can give you access to the eyeballs of over 70 percent of the population, not even the largest local mall chain.
Is Facebook perfect for your business?
“I don’t have any other platform that can work with two main objectives that are really good for a startup. The first one is providing that awareness or reach. Usually, a lot of platforms can provide that. But what Facebook adds as a layer on top of that is the accuracy of the reach,” says Ash Mandhyan, CEO of MetaverseGo and former head for client solutions of Facebook Philippines.
Simply put, Facebook Ads can reach the very people you want to reach. Yes, even that ex you just can’t get over with.
But here’s the catch, as much work Facebook can do for you, you have a bit of work to do: figure out who you want to sell your products to. You would want to know who you’re talking to during a Facebook Live selling, right?
“Once you’ve defined who your audience is, Facebook will give you that combination of reach plus precision for your product. What makes it unique is how it identifies the person and it identifies the type of profile you’re trying to target. That’s why it’s a very strong tool,” adds Mandhyan.
But Facebook isn’t just for those who have all the answers. It can even help you streamline the products you plan to put out there. Mandhyan suggests that you can use Facebook Ads to test how certain communities will receive them.
How to create facebook ads: 6 easy steps
As complex and sophisticated the capabilities of Facebook Ads are, it would only take six easy steps to get an ad account started. And you can even do it on your mobile during the morning commute.
1. Download the Ads Manager app
You don’t have to have the skills of a programmer to run and create, your own Facebook Ads. The Ads Manager app was developed and designed to make it extremely easy for business owners to put up their ads on the platform.
2. Connect it to your business page
Now, link the Ads Manager app to your business page on the Facebook ecosystem.
3. Communicate your business objectives
By now you should have been able to clearly set and identify your business objectives for putting out this ad. Is it to increase awareness about your product? Perhaps to drive more traffic to your page?
4. Identify your audience
This is probably one of the hardest parts of the whole process. You can go as broad or as specific as you would like in identifying your target audience. The good thing about the Ads Manager app is that it was designed so that you can recalibrate it in the middle of the campaign when you think things aren’t going as you intended them to.
Here are Facebook marketing resources on How to Maximise Your Reach
5. Identify which platform you want to use
While you are familiar with Facebook Feed, there are actually several platforms that you can use within the Facebook ecosystem. There’s Facebook Messenger, Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories, and Whatsapp.
6. Put in your creatives
And before you hit that post button, give your creatives the best shot that will stop your target audience from scrolling and will send your message across in five seconds.
“It’s good to test out and evaluate all these different platforms. It will depend on your brand and your brand audience, sometimes one platform would perform better than the other. My general approach is we target the audience, not the platform. And when you target a specific audience, you get to reach that audience regardless of platform that they’re using,” says Mandhyan.
But at the end of the day, no matter how wide or precise your reach is, if your product is subpar or you have terrible customer service, no amount of expertise from Facebook can save your business.
Here are more tips to boost your Facebook marketing:
Make Better Facebook Ads With These Free Time-saving Tools
Facebook Content Ideas to Boost Engagement and Sales
Facebook Retargeting: How to Convert Your Almost-Customers
