Facebook Ad Campaigns: Untangling Targeting & Objective Options for Optimal Success

April 13, 2023

by Bridget Winfrey with No Comment Digital Marketing Social Media

If you’re a lawnmower or tractor dealer looking to increase local sales, Facebook ads can be an incredibly powerful tool. With over 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook offers a vast audience for businesses to target their ads. However, with so many options and targeting settings available, setting up successful Facebook ad campaigns can be a daunting task. In this post, we’ll cover the different ad objectives and how to choose the right targeting options to set your lawnmower and tractor dealership up for success.

Ad Objectives

Facebook offers several ad objectives, each with its own unique set of goals and targeting options. The right objective for your dealership will depend on your business goals and the specific actions you want users to take when interacting with your ads.

Here are the 6 different ad objectives available on Facebook:

Sales Objective: The Sales objective is ideal for lawnmower and tractor dealerships looking to drive direct sales through their Facebook ad campaigns. With this objective, you can set up conversion tracking to measure how many sales your ads are generating and optimize your campaigns for conversions. You can also use dynamic ads to re-target users who have shown an interest in your products, which can help to increase your sales.

Leads Objective: The Leads objective is designed to help you collect user information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, directly from your Facebook ads. This objective is a great way to build your customer database and generate leads for your lawnmower and tractor dealership. With lead generation ads, users can fill out a form without leaving Facebook, which can help to improve your conversion rates.

Engagement Objective: Engagement ads are designed to increase likes, comments and shares on your Facebook posts. These ads are a great way to increase your dealership’s visibility and build brand awareness. You can use engagement ads to promote your products, share customer reviews and testimonials and showcase your dealership’s values and mission.

Traffic Objective: The Traffic objective is designed to drive traffic to your website or a specific landing page. This objective is ideal for lawnmower and tractor dealerships looking to increase their online presence and drive more traffic to their website. You can use this objective to promote specific products or services, share blog posts and articles and drive traffic to your online store.

Awareness Objective: Awareness ads are designed to increase brand awareness and reach a wider audience. These ads are ideal for lawnmower and tractor dealerships looking to increase their local presence and build brand recognition. With this objective, you can reach a larger audience and increase your dealership’s visibility in your local community.

App Promotion Objective: If you have a mobile app for your dealership, the App Promotion objective is designed to drive app installations and engagement. With this objective, you can promote your app to a specific audience and encourage users to download and engage with your app. You can also use app install ads to re-target users who have previously installed your app but have not engaged with it recently.

Choosing the Right Targeting Options

Once you’ve chosen your ad objective, it’s time to choose the right targeting options to ensure your Facebook ad campaigns are reaching the right audience.

Here are some key targeting options to consider:

Location: When it comes to location targeting, Facebook provides several options that can help you reach users in your local area. By targeting users within a specific radius of your dealership or in a specific zip code, you can ensure that your ads are being seen by potential customers who are likely to be interested in your products and services. This can be particularly effective for lawnmower and tractor dealerships, as many customers may be searching for local options when looking to purchase outdoor equipment.

Age and Gender: Depending on the products and services you offer; age and gender targeting can be an important consideration when setting up your Facebook ad campaigns. For example, if your dealership sells equipment primarily designed for male customers, you may want to target males over a certain age range. However, if you offer products and services that appeal to both genders and a wide range of age groups, it may be more effective to target a broader audience.

Interests: Facebook’s interest targeting can be a powerful tool for lawnmower and tractor dealerships looking to reach potential customers who are interested in outdoor activities, gardening and home improvement. By targeting users who have expressed an interest in these areas, you can ensure that your ads are reaching users who are likely to be interested in your products and services.

Lookalike Audiences: Lookalike audiences allow you to expand your reach beyond your existing customer base by targeting users who share similar interests and behaviors with your current customers. This can be a great way to reach new potential customers who may not have been aware of your dealership previously.

Custom Audiences: Custom audiences allow you to target users who have already interacted with your dealership in some way, such as by visiting your website or engaging with your Facebook page. By targeting these users, you can ensure that your ads are being seen by users who are already familiar with your dealership and may be more likely to make a purchase.

In addition to these targeting options, it’s important to continually test and optimize your ad campaigns to ensure that they are driving the results you need to increase local sales. This may include testing different ad creatives, ad placements, and ad formats to see what works best for your dealership. By continually refining and improving your Facebook ad campaigns, you can maximize the ROI of your advertising efforts and reach more potential customers in your local area.

Why Do the Right Ad Objective & Targeting Options Matter?

Choosing the right ad objective and targeting options is crucial for the success of your Facebook ad campaigns, especially for a local business like a lawnmower and tractor dealership.

Choosing the right ad objective ensures that your ads are optimized for the specific action you want users to take, whether it’s making a purchase, filling out a form, or increasing brand awareness. This helps you achieve your business goals and measure the success of your campaigns more effectively.

Secondly, choosing the right targeting options helps you reach the right audience, which is key for a local business. By targeting users in your area who are interested in your products and services, you can ensure that your ads are reaching the people who are most likely to become customers. This not only helps you increase local sales but also helps you maximize your advertising budget by reducing wasted ad spending.

Additionally, by using advanced targeting options like lookalike audiences and custom audiences, you can reach users who are like your existing customers or who have already shown interest in your dealership. This can be particularly effective for increasing brand awareness and driving conversions.

Choosing the right ad objective and targeting options is essential in achieving your business goals, reaching the right audience, and maximizing the effectiveness of your Facebook ad campaigns. By taking the time to research and test different options, you can optimize your campaigns for success and increase local sales for your lawnmower and tractor dealership.

Monitoring Performance & Optimizing as Needed

Once your Facebook ad campaigns are up and running, it’s important to regularly monitor your results and make optimizations as needed. Facebook’s Ads Manager provides robust reporting tools that allow you to track key metrics like impressions, clicks and conversions.

One important metric to keep an eye on is the cost per result. This metric tells you how much you’re paying for each desired action, such as a click or a conversion. If your cost per result is too high, it may be time to make some optimizations to your targeting, ad creative, or ad placement.

Another important metric to track is the relevance score. This score indicates how relevant your ad is to your target audience. The more relevant your ad, the higher your relevance score will be. A high relevance score can lead to lower costs and better performance.

It’s also important to continually test and optimize your ads to see what’s working and what’s not. For example, you may want to test different ad formats, like image vs. video ads, or different ad placements, like mobile vs. desktop. By testing and optimizing your ads, you can find the winning combinations that drive the best results for your dealership.

It’s important to set realistic goals for your Facebook ad campaigns and measure your success against those goals. If your campaigns aren’t meeting your goals, it may be time to re-evaluate your strategy and make changes as needed. By regularly monitoring your results and making optimizations, you can ensure that your Facebook ad campaigns are driving the results you need to increase local sales for your lawnmower and tractor dealership.

Summing It Up

Facebook ads can be a powerful tool for lawnmower and tractor dealerships looking to increase local sales. By choosing the right ad objective and targeting options, you can ensure that your ads are reaching the right audience and driving the results you need to grow your business. Remember to continually test and optimize your ads to ensure maximum effectiveness. With the right approach, your Facebook ad campaigns can become a key driver of success for your lawnmower and tractor dealership. By following the tips outlined in this post, you’ll be well on your way to setting up successful Facebook ad campaigns that help you achieve your business goals. Good luck!

Are you too busy running your dealership to manage your Facebook Ad Campaigns or Social Media? Dealers Digital can help. Contact Us today to start the conversation about how we can help you grow your business!

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The F Word: Maximizing Your Reach With Facebook

October 15, 2021

by Brett Morris with No Comment Digital Marketing Social Media

This article originally appeared in the October edition of OPE Business.

When I talk to dealers about implementing social media efforts into their overall marketing plans, I’m either met with excitement, disdain or indifference. In my experience, no other marketing channel is as divisive as social media, especially as it relates to Facebook. It can be both frustrating and revolutionary depending on how you use it.

The fact is, as the medium has grown and evolved, it has become infinitely more complex and powerful. So the trick for dealerships has consistently been how to utilize the medium in a way that makes sense for the dealer and for the customer. I’ll break down some myths and give you some insight into how you can harness the power of Facebook without being swallowed by it.

Facebook Advertising

In the early days of Facebook, you could reasonably expect to see almost every post that was made by a friend or a brand you followed. It provided a user-centric experience and an easy way for brands to reach their customers for free. But free isn’t exactly a great business model. So Facebook started forcing users to “boost” their posts so the content you could been by more people. Boosting essentially means you are paying to get more eyeballs on your content. But there are more effective ways to advertise your brand than by simply “boosting” your post.

Most marketing agencies, mine included, manage advertising campaigns from with the Facebook Business Manager. If you haven’t set up a Business Manager account for your dealership, we highly suggest you use this as it will become your hub for managing ads and provides more in-depth tools for your campaigns. You can create your Business Manager account here: https://business.facebook.com/

By creating this account, you can assign your assets to marketing partners without giving them admin access to your Facebook page. This is not only prudent so those outside of your organization can’t hijack your page, but also technically required by Facebook’s terms of service.

Now that you have a proper business manager account, there are two major things you need to do to properly use your enhanced ad manager.

Create and configure your Facebook Pixel. This pixel is to be placed on your website and will allow you to see what actions are taking place on your website. You’ll be able to track page views, phone calls and many other actions, but it’s most important so that Facebook can automatically optimize your ad campaigns. For example, when you set up a new ad, you can specify which goals you want to optimize your ad for. If the goal of your campaign is to create new leads, Facebook will auto-optimize your campaign to generate more leads using the data the pixel provides. Your Facebook pixel will also auto-create audiences that will allow you to target visitors to your website, among other things. Speaking of audiences…
Create audiences. In my experience, custom audiences and saved audiences are the single biggest factor in increasing the effectiveness of your Facebook ad campaigns. You can set up your ideal audience to target by choosing demographic data, occupational info and what other pages they like. For example, if you are a Cub Cadet dealer and you wanted to run an ad about a sale on your XT2 Enduro Garden Tractors, you might set up a target like this:

Gender: Male & Female
Age: 25-64+
Location: 25 mile radius around dealership (or if you want to get fancy you can target by county or DMA)
Interests: People who like Cub Cadet on Facebook or have shown an interest in Cub Cadet, mowers or lawnmowers.

You can create saved audiences for each of the lines you carry and you know that you will be speaking directly to people who have shown an interest or affinity for that particular manufacturer and are the most likely to purchase. The next step is to then create a Look-alike audience that will allow you to expand the reach of your ad to people who act like the folks in your new saved audience. Once these audiences are set up, you can use them over and over again and maximize your reach while minimizing budget waste.

Organic Posts – Engagement Matters

As I mentioned earlier, organic posts (free posts) only get seen by a fraction of the people who like your Facebook page. There is magic in creating content that gets seen by more people. Some of the factors are:

Recency of the post
How frequently you post
Post engagement – How many people are interacting with your post by liking, commenting or sharing.
Past user interaction – Has the viewer interacted with your posts before?

There are tons of ranking signals so this isn’t an exhaustive list, but they’re a few of the most important. So think about which content most users want to interact with. Are they really interacting with the generic content that every dealer gets from the manufacturer? Or are users interacting more with your post about how you donated to the local little league team?

At the end of the day all of the content matters, but I typically urge dealers to focus on content that’s personal to them and ultimately it will be personal for your customers as well. Use 4:1 as a general ratio of personal to promotional and you’ll find that is a good mix.

At the end of the day, dealers need to remember that social media is supposed to be, well, social. The more you treat it as an extension of your personal brand, the more it will flourish.

Facebook Advertising vs. Boosted Posts

August 6, 2020

by Brett Morris with No Comment Digital Marketing Social Media

Which type of Facebook ad is best for local businesses?

On the surface boosting content on Facebook for local ads seems like a pretty straight forward transaction. The more dollars you spend, the more eyes see your message. While that’s certainly true, to get the most value out of your dollar it’s worth knowing the basic nuances of how boosting on Facebook works. Truth be told, Facebook’s Advertiser Help Center rarely provides the answers you’re after on Facebook paid advertising, and true to form, it doesn’t provide a lot of guidance on the differences between boosting posts vs. ads either.

So in this article we’ll cover the differences between the types of sponsored ads on Facebook — a Facebook boost and a Facebook news feed ad—and which we recommend as the best option for your business depending on your needs. Which is the type of Facebook ad best for local businesses?

What are Facebook sponsored posts?

Facebook sponsored posts are promoted posts that receive additional paid reach. Simply put, your business has the option of boosting a post or creating an ad: boosting increases the chances your post will be seen by followers (increasing loyalty), while news feed ads target users based on select criteria, external from followers (potential new customers).

Wait, why sponsor ads on Facebook when you can post for free?

The reality is, organic posts don’t go very far in today’s Facebook world. Unless you have a huge network of fans (50K+), achieving favorable outcomes through organic content in a 1.6B user world is futile. Based on Facebook’s current algorithms, organic reach has plummeted over recent years to the point where 50 million businesses are posting 1.5 times per day, reaching an average of 2% of their audience. That is what we call “rough sledding”.

Should we be surprised though? As the world’s largest social network, it was simply clockwork until Facebook turned to a Pay-to-Play model resulting in paid advertising on the social network giant. But before you start shouting big corporate obscenities, it’s still our opinion that Facebook provides the best advertising platform on the web or anywhere else in the business world. It’s just takes a little practice to get a feel for the landscape to make Facebook ads best for your local audience.

Advertising on Facebook requires a solid strategy

Like anything, you will need a strategy when tackling Facebook paid advertising. Depending on what your goals are, our quick advice is to put money on posts that have measurable ROI, like lead capture, promotions, contests and content meant to capture new customers.

Another fundamental rule is to always promote your own content. Always link back to YOUR site and YOUR page. Even if it’s great material and related to your business, never pay to send traffic to someone else’s website.

Now, with all that said, let’s figure out which Facebook paid advertising delivery method works best…Facebook boosts or Facebook ads.

What are Facebook boosted posts?

Facebook boosted posts are promoted posts that appear higher on news feeds, giving a post a higher chance that friends and followers will see it. While boosted posts can be targeted by location, interest, age and gender, more advanced targeting options is reserved for ads on Facebook. And that’s really the rub with sponsored posts for your business. While it’s easier to create them, you are limited in refining the post to get the most out of your “boost juice” dollars.

What are Facebook news feed ads?

Facebook news feed ads are sponsored ads that appear right on the news feed of readers. Newsfeed ads denoted “sponsored” directly underneath the company’s name on the post you users know that the content could be coming from a source they haven’t “liked” yet.

News feed ads are created in Facebook Ads Manager (or Power Editor). Creating a news feed ad on Facebook is more involved than boosting posts, but, as with most things, more work often leads to more reward.

With news feed ads, you can set a specific objective for your ad that directly aligns to your business goals. You can choose from 12 objectives from three different categories: Awareness, Consideration and Conversion.
Notice how these three categories represent different areas of the sales and marketing funnel:

Awareness: for boosting posts, promoting a Facebook page, targeting people near the business’s location and increasing brand awareness
Consideration: to send people to a website, getting app installs, increase event attendance or get views on videos and collect business leads
Conversion: for increasing website conversions, engagement to an app, or to have an offer claimed

Paid advertising showdown: Which is the best Facebook ad for local advertising?

So you’ve probably come to the conclusion that Facebook news feed ads have a lot more power behind them and are geared toward ROI—especially seeing how there’s no price difference between the two formats.

Boosted posts do have a place—if your business is looking for a quick and convenient way to create awareness and drive profile traffic, then we say go for it, especially if you want to hit existing fans/customers. It takes all of five minutes to start raking in thousands of impressions for as little as $5.00.

If you are looking to achieve tangible marketing results, like capturing leads and driving revenue, my money is on news feed ads. If you want to really capture leads through Facebook paid advertising however, you want news feed ads.

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How To Increase Your Social Engagement

July 6, 2020

by Brett Morris with No Comment Social Media

Building a social media following high in engagement can be difficult, but with these tips, you can start moving in the right direction!

Facebook, Google+, & Twitter

What works: Images, videos, calls to action, industry-related content, general share-worthy content.
What doesn’t work: Lengthy content, bland content, poor business/related/share-worthy balance.

Videos and images are best used to catch the eye of social media readers, though video works a little better to hold the reader’s attention. Whether it’s redirecting consumers to your website or online store, or getting them to stop and look at an interesting piece of content titled by your business; Images and videos are your anchor when trying to increase your audience’s social media engagement.

The three best ways to get traction from your readers are to:

Get them to go straight to your website or store.
Get them to like/follow.
Get them to share your content.

Let’s say three people see your business posts about that 20% off sale. These posts are not likely to be shared, so those same three people will see all your posts, and that’s it.

Once people start liking and sharing your posts, you’ll start to see new eyes on your page.

This is where industry related/general share-worthy content comes in.

If you’re an outdoor power equipment dealership, for example, get your readers excited to see and share those maintenance tips! When people are excited to read and share it, you have a better chance that someone who needs professional repairs or a new mower will come across them. Having a good mix of these types of posts is extremely important.

Call To Action

Once you’ve gained the attention of your readers with a photo or video, a call to action is a great way to guide them to their next step.

“Do you like these equipment upgrades? Let’s get started with yours!”

As seen in this above example, calls to action can be used for almost every type of post. Tell your reader to check out your website for a business related post, or tell them to read the article or video you’re sharing. Though industry-related or share-worthy content may not lead your reader straight to your website, the posts are more likely to gain likes and shares, which expands your audience in general.

Packaged in with the importance of shared content is the name of your business. Every time your post is shared, someone new has the chance to see you. That’s brand-recognition, baby! When the time comes for that person to need a dealer or repair guy, they’ll remember the interesting blade-sharpening posts you shared and seek out the name they remember seeing or hearing about. Reaching out in comments and replying to people is also a great way to encourage people to participate.

Work/Fun Balance

On the other hand, lengthy content, bland posts, and a poor balance of business/industry/shareable don’t work well on these media channels. Lengthy content is an especially bad choice for Twitter’s 140 character count limit. As for Facebook and Google+, people just don’t have the attention spans to read posts that are more than a couple of lines long. Keep them short and concise! Don’t post bland, filler content like, “Happy Friday!” unless people have a reason to share it. “Happy Friday, here’s a hilarious meme” can improve brand recognition, but only if shared- use humor to your advantage.

Find your balance between business and shareable content. Too much boring business related posts and calls to action can lead to a stagnant viewer count, while too many meme-based share-worthy posts may lead to your readers not knowing what your business does.

What works: Images, videos, industry related content, general share-worthy content.
What doesn’t work: Lengthy content, bland content, and it may not suit your vertical.

Pinterest, like Instagram below, is all about the pictures. If you’ve ever been on Pinterest, you know that it’s a very visual sight to behold. The hook of Pinterest is that people are looking for ideas. This will work best for you if your business provides ideas or the means with which to make ideas happen.

A hardware store can benefit from Pinterest because you may share tree-house building ideas with your store’s name attached.

Don’t forget about brand recognition!

Once people get the ideas from you, they’ll come into your store to buy the tools they need for the job. The best use of Pinterest includes non-business related content. Show people ideas that may lead them to your business, but don’t try to sell them right then and there. The key social media engagement metric for pinterest is seeing your collected pins saved to their own board – or people following the boards you make.

However, Pinterest may not suit your vertical, and it definitely won’t prosper with too much emphasis on text. Many verticals such as plumbing just don’t have many corresponding ideas given the nature of the job. In this case, Pinterest can only be used for shareable content and brand recognition. The text attached to Pinterest posts is often ignored, so any applicable text should go into an infographic displayed as an image.

That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use any text. A small headline or message will suffice here.

Pinterest is not geographically-focused, so if you’re a small company who doesn’t sell online, this may not be the platform for you.

Instagram

What works: Images, projects.
What doesn’t work: Mostly everything else.

Instagram is a strange beast. The entire point of this medium is to compel readers to follow you and talk about what you offer. This works best for verticals like restaurants or artists because your customers can post images of your food or projects for their friends to see. This can also work for verticals like home improvement.

In this vertical, your business can post project and progress images of what you’ve been working on. Seeing these images and sharing them can work well to compel the reader to seek you out.

Instagram posts can’t include links, so just like Pinterest, the aim here is brand recognition. Can you consistently post interesting enough images for your readers to stay interested?

Not every business can.

Instagram is owned by Facebook, so if you want to put ads on Instagram, you’ll need to go through Facebook’s ads manager. Ads on Instagram do have a ‘Shop Now’ link to push to your website and bypass them needing to visit your Instagram profile.

Like any Instagram post, the key to getting good social engagement here is to provide an appealing image that motivates people to want to read and learn more about it.

Since you can target ads, you’ll have a bit better luck finding people already interested in the products you sell, but you have to pay for those. It’s not organic (free) marketing.

Reviews

Now that we’ve covered the main social media channels, let’s discuss other ways they can be used.

Facebook, Google+, and other media channels support reviews. Aside from the engagement from posts, reviews can make or break a business. You may be thinking “I can’t control what people rate my business”, and you’d be right. However, you can control how you respond to people.

You can turn around even the angriest rater by replying to their review in a quick and professional manner. You can also use reviews as a way to look at your own behavior in-store, because people are very quick to respond with a bad review if they think they received poor customer service.

Social Listening

Forbes discusses social listening as finding where your audience is discussing topics related to your brand.

People are talking about lawns somewhere, and these are great topics for your dealership. The short and sweet of this is that you need to be researching your competitors and your peers.

What are people talking about, liking, and sharing, and how can you get in on it? You’ll want to shape your social media strategies around what’s getting the best traction everywhere else.

If you know what people are already talking about, you’ll be able to hop into the conversation with comments relevant to the discussion, and keep that social media engagement train rolling!

Get researching!

SEO

This likely isn’t the first time you’ve read about the importance of SEO, and it definitely won’t be your last. When you search your business’s name or keywords related to your work, how high on the results page does it appear?

The more you and your readers are mentioning your name and other keywords in relation to your business, the better your SEO results will be.

Measure Success

Finally, take a step back and look at what you’re doing. Naturally, you’ll want to look for what’s working and what isn’t. Whether you’re counting likes and shares by hand or using Google Analytics to track the information for you, understanding your trends may just be the most important part of the process of engaging on social media channels, so what are you waiting for?

Social Media Engagement can be hard to get right, but it's also the key metric in growing any audience.

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