Since you need to spend a certain budget on your Facebook ads for them to be seen by your target audience, some retailers are asking themselves: Is Facebook taking advantage of this to steal my money?

At J7 Media, if there's one thing we know for sure, it's that Facebook doesn't line its pockets with our advertising dollars.

On the other hand, it’s easy to misspend money or spend it on ineffective posts, which could lead to questions regarding Facebook's trustworthiness. 

Let us explain in 4 simple steps how to make your money work for you and bring you tangible results. You'll see, Facebook is a safe place to invest in advertising.

It’s very difficult to convince someone to buy a product or join a service without them first having heard about it. 

That’s why we recommend promoting an irresistible offer, i.e. a discount or a freebie. The offer must be designed so that people on Facebook cannot afford to miss out on such a bargain. 

After having identified an irresistible offer, it’s advisable to add a few incentives, for example, a limited time period or a limited number of products offered. Rarity and a sense of urgency are two strong incentives to buy. The people targeted by your ads will not be able to resist.

With an effective offer, Facebook, far from stealing money from us, becomes our distribution channel. 

If you’re in the habit of simply "boosting" your posts, you’ve probably noticed that your ads have not yielded the anticipated results. 

It's important to be a bit more strategic when attributing budget to a post that’s intended to sell a product or service. That’s why we recommend using the "Ads Manager" tool.

When creating an ad with this tool, the first step is to choose the advertising objective. The most effective, in our experience, is the "Traffic" objective, which generates and drives clicks to a website. 

Indeed, people will generally not make the decision to buy your product or service right after seeing your ad. They need to have more information about your offer before making a purchase, which is why we want to direct them to a website where they can learn more. 

Therefore, the most important step to avoid feeling let down by Facebook is to choose the "Traffic" objective for your ads.

As mentioned above, a well-informed person is much more likely to buy than someone who knows nothing about your offer.

On the other hand, it’s pretty uncommon to have a page on your website that explains the specific offer that you want to promote. We therefore recommend that you create a "landing page". 

This is a temporary web page that will be used exclusively to present information related to your irresistible offer. To do this, J7 Media uses a platform called Instapage (instapage.com). The monthly fee is definitely worth paying because, ultimately, this is what will make your ad convert.

Targeting people near your business is another important step to follow. They will be more likely to pay you a visit than those who live tens of kilometres away. 

When setting up targeting, inputting several keywords is tempting but, if you own a local business, you should avoid over-targeting. Indeed, being that specific is counterproductive because you want as many people as possible to see your ad.

With a budget of $10 a day to start, you'll get results that will no longer make you doubt Facebook's good intentions.

All in all, Facebook can be a dangerous platform for those who don't know how to use it. By following our advice, you’ll start to see a return on investment that will convince you that Facebook is the perfect tool for advertising. It won't steal your money... it will make you money!