This blog is part of the How to Monitor Social Media in 10 Minutes a Day eBook download.

Yesterday I worked on a Facebook ad campaign with my client and friend, Barry Seaver at The Wealth Conservatory. Even though I’ve worked on hundreds of Facebook ad campaigns, I was still getting excited and jazzed putting the pieces of the campaign together. So, why is that?

First of all, it was fun to collaborate on the elements of the campaign with someone who could offer differing perspectives and deeper insight into their value proposition. We laughed like crazy choosing eye-catching images that would grab attention and be the primary, and most important, component of the ad. Then we racked our brains to compose meaningful, concise, relevant copy in the minuscule amount of space available on the image and in the ad.

But on top of choosing fun, high resolution images that always look outstanding on the screen, the subsequent steps of defining the target audience and budget for the campaign is where Facebook advertising really shines. Advertisers now have the ability to really narrowly define their target markets in terms of advanced demographic and psychographic variables.

For example, suppose you have a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts that sells upscale cookware, you want to advertise to women between the ages of 45 and 57 that have a college education and like cooking. Facebook tells you that within 10 miles of Cambridge there are 28,000 women who fits this persona. You can then set a budget of, say, $15 per day for 10 days and advertise directly to this target market that you know exists on Facebook. What’s more, you can monitor the efficacy of the ad day by day and make subtle edits to the ad to tweak and enhance performance.

Best of all, you’ll be able to see the number of impressions the ad delivered and how many people clicked through to the website, landing page, or Facebook page. Then, using remarketing pixels to build custom audiences, you can design ads that specifically target the warm leads that have visited your site with offers that match their specific interests.

So, Facebook advertising and marketing offers excellent, cost effective opportunities to reach your target audience, and to measure the performance of your ad dollars while having fun doing it. Give it a try! Let me know if you need help!