Four Tips for Nonprofit Facebook Ads
Choose the Right Image for Your Ad
Your nonprofit facebook ad will need an image to display on users newsfeeds or right-hand rails. In a platform like Facebook, where viewers are accustomed to scrolling continuously, you’re going to need an image that is arresting enough to stop the scroll. Make sure the photo or illustration you use has a clear focal point that is either intriguing or easily recognizable and relevant to a viewer’s interests. If you sell shoes, pick your snazziest pair, put them on a clean background that shows them off. If you’re running for office, you could use an image of a local landmark or a picture of a well-known person who is endorsing you. Whatever image you choose, make sure it is arresting, and communicates something important about you, your cause, or your business.
Use the Facebook Text Overlay Tool
Make sure your nonprofit Facebook ad is compliant with Facebook’s strict 20% maximum on text for images. The way it judges the amount of text you have in your image can also be frustrating, because it uses a very basic grid system that often doesn’t account for the true amount of text. To save yourself a headache, make sure you, or whoever is designing your creative, takes a look at this tool. You can also create a grid for yourself to use in your design program so you can compose your text within the limits of nonprofit Facebook ads.
Watch Your Demographic Targeting
When you’re setting up your demographic targeting you can search for a city, state or country or put in zip codes. However, pay close attention when you select the location from the list Facebook provides, because it will bring up locations from around the world. I once had a client who wanted to serve ads to people in Alexandria, VA, but he chose the wrong Alexandria when he was setting up his campaign. He did get a great response from people in Egypt, but his Virginia-based business couldn’t benefit from that. Typing in zip codes can also pose a problem I’ve also noticed that typing in a zip code for a place in the U.S. might bring up a city in Spain, or elsewhere in Europe as an option. So, make sure you are setting up your nonprofit Facebook ads to be served to the people you think you’re targeting.
Use Pixels
You have the option to use tracking and audience pixels with your nonprofit Facebook ads. These pixels allow you to track conversions, or build an audience of Facebook users who have visited your website. For example, to track conversions on email sign-ups, go under “Tools” and select “Pixels”, then select “Conversion Tracking Pixel”. Click the button to “Create Pixel” and choose the type of action you want to track. Then, paste the pixel code in between the header and footer of code on the webpage you want to track. For example, if you’re tracking email sign ups, you should create a Thank You page that only appears after a user has entered their information. Then you can place the pixel on that Thank You page to track how many people made it to that page after clicking on your ad. This will help you measure the effectiveness of your Facebook ads.
To create an audience, go to “Tools” and click on “Audiences”. Then choose “Custom Audience” from the “Create Audience” dropdown. From this menu you can decide if you only want to target people who have visited specific pages, or anyone who has been to your site. Copy and paste the code into your site so that it will pick up the audience you want, either specifically in one page or in an element that shows up on every page of your site like a header. By creating a website audience, you can target your nonprofit Facebook ads to people who are already interested enough in you, your cause, or your product to visit your website. You can also use this audience to create a lookalike audience, so you can serve your nonprofit Facebook ads to people who share characteristics with the people who have visited your site.