During the first half of 2018, most of the news headlines about Facebook and Facebook advertisers have been quite negative.
As is often the case when mainstream media outlets pick on an aspect of digital marketing; this has been grossly unfair and way over the top.
Facebook is an advertising platform. Yes, it has more functionality than just about any other advertising platform, but it still serves the same purpose. Facebook ads are no less trustworthy than TV ads, magazine ads or banner ads.
In fact, you could argue that because Facebook closely regulates its advertising platform, their ads are more reliable than some others.
Fortunately, most social media users are aware of this and freely interact with Facebook ads.
Because just about everyone is on Facebook, it’s a perfect place to reach your customers. And if you approach it the right way, it’s a remarkable platform to grow your brand and develop trust with your target market.
Video Content is Key
Developing brand loyalty on Facebook is dependent upon delivering lots of value and connecting with your target audience on a personal level.
Nothing does that better on Facebook (perhaps even online) than video content.
Video content is critical for developing brand awareness and brand loyalty on Facebook.
I’ve used it to develop an 80,000+ Facebook following:
Grab People’s Attention
Most people’s attention spans on Facebook aren’t great, and it’s not their fault.
The Facebook newsfeed is full of notifications and interesting distractions, so you need to communicate with your prospects in a way that grabs their attention and then holds it.
As you’re probably already aware, video silently auto-plays on Facebook. That movement automatically grabs people’s attention better than a static image.
Deliver Value
Facebook video ads are a fantastic way to deliver value quickly.
On Facebook, value is provided primarily in two forms. It’s provided by educating your target market, and by entertaining them.
Some businesses can get away with entertaining their target market. These are usually fun, consumer product based businesses like Dollar Shave Club. Check out their YouTube channel for awesome examples of entertaining video content that generates sales.
But the majority of businesses, whether B2C or B2B should be educating their target market with their video content.
When educating prospects, I think it’s best to help them achieve something they want to achieve or avoid something they want to avoid.
Helping your prospects will build brand trust and loyalty better than anything else. And this will, of course, translate into leads and sales.
As an industry expert, you know things and have had experiences that will really resonate with your audience.
Think about the questions you hear most often from your target market, answering just one of those questions in a video can be a great tactic.
Face to Camera Really Helps
People connect with and relate to other people, far easier than nameless brands.
Your educational video content will be a lot more effective if the business owner or someone involved with the business is delivering the message face-to-camera.
It can be daunting at first, but after you’ve recorded a couple of videos it becomes a lot easier, and the rewards are well worth it.
Multiple Videos
One video is not enough. Think of the people that you trust the most; you will have met and interacted with them many times.
Building trust with Facebook video ads works in a very similar way.
Here’s a screenshot of the videos I have published on Facebook in the past couple of months:
Advertising multiple videos will obviously increase your Facebook advertising cost, but that is unavoidable.
To help keep costs under control you can be super specific with who you advertise your videos to. This will reduce your audience size, and as a result, your overall ad spend.
Keep it Short
Remember, attention spans on Facebook are not what us marketers would like them to be.
For me, the best educational Facebook video content is 2-4 minutes long.
That gives you enough time to introduce yourself and provide real value, without being so long that people get bored and stop watching.
That time parameter means you have to get straight to the point and make sure there’s no extra fluff.
Focus on One Big Thing
Your audience will only retain so much of the information you provide in your videos, so it’s best to focus on one big thing per video.
Once people have watched your video you want them to react to the advice you have given.
They are far more likely to do that and remember how to do it if they have one big takeaway instead of four or five tips.
Use the Brand Awareness Campaign Objective
You may already be aware that there are a number of Facebook ad campaign objectives to choose from.
I would recommend that you use the Brand Awareness campaign objective for this type of campaign.
Brand Awareness campaigns are designed to put your ad in front of people that are most likely to recall and interact.
That’s exactly what we want with this strategy. The first step to building trust and loyalty is for people to remember your videos.
Don’t Forget to Interact
A large part of building trust from your customer’s perspective is realising there are real people that represent your brand; it’s not just a faceless organisation.
Make sure that you regularly check the comments on your Facebook video ads and respond where appropriate.
I often see conversations between companies and customers start in the comments section and lead to a sale.
It’s also important to remove the inevitable inappropriate comments that just about every video ad generates. Don’t take this personally – it happens to everyone.
Conclusion
To develop trust and loyalty for your brand amongst your target market on Facebook you should regularly create video ads.
These ads should either educate or entertain your target market and be face-to-camera where possible.
2-4 minute long videos are ideal, and each video should focus on one big thing.
For the best results, use the Brand Awareness Facebook ad campaign objective and don’t forget to interact with people that engage with your ad.
Author Bio
Ben Heath is the Founder & CEO of Lead Guru which produces high-quality Facebook advertising resources for business owners, marketers and entrepreneurs.
