By Jessica Bledsoe
(This post is part of a series on small business marketing. Miss the previous posts? View #1 here!)
Now that you’ve created your buyer persona(s) and installed the Facebook pixel on your website, you’re ready to run your first Facebook and/or Instagram ad.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use buyer personas to create effective ads:
Step 1: Understand Your Buyer Personas
We covered your Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Personas in this blog post. Using the bookstore ICP we created as an example, I plugged in the information from this exercise into the AI Buyer Persona Generator and created Sophia.
Here’s her persona: Sophia is a busy professional in her mid-30s who loves exploring new books and supporting her local community by shopping at a bookstore. She values the experience of browsing through physical books and connecting with authors.
I’ll be using Sophia as my Buyer Persona in this exercise to create a targeted ad to convert customers just like Sophia into new buyers for my bookstore.
Step 2: Set Up Your Facebook Ads Manager Account
If you don’t already have one, create a Facebook Ads Manager Account. This is where you’ll create and manage your ads.
Step 3: Define Your Ad Objectives
What is the objective of your ad? Do you want people to visit your website, come into your store, purchase a specific product, or attend an event you’re hosting?
In the bookstore example, I want to create an ad promoting the bookstore, which I would do with an Awareness campaign.
Step 4: Target Your Audience
In Facebook Ads Manager, you can target your ads based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
In the bookstore example, I would target women aged 25-45 who live within a 20 mile radius of my bookstore location and have indicated they are interested in reading, book clubs, shopping local, and any other relevant information to my buyer persona.
Step 5: Craft Compelling Ad Creative
It’s important to create ad creatives that speak to your target audience. The ad imagery I would create for Sophia is different from the creative I would use for Maria, a mom who visits our bookstore with her young kids. Both Sophia and Maria are customers of the bookstore, but I want to target them with separate ads because they have separate needs.
In this instance, for targeting Sophia, I would use ad imagery that shows women like Sophia browsing and enjoying the bookstore, or I could showcase a new best-selling book in a genre I think Sophia would enjoy.
Whereas for Maria, I might show a nice photo of our kids section with a mom and daughter reading a book together in our reading nook corner, or I could promote our weekly story time sessions.
Step 6: Choose the Right Ad Format
Choosing the right ad format is also important for resonating with your audience. I recommend using a single image in most instances, but a carousel works well if you’re promoting multiple products, and video can also perform well if you have high-quality video and a specific intent (like a virtual tour of your space).
For example, if I wanted to highlight new releases at the bookstore I could use a photo carousel of multiple books, but for my awareness campaign I simply want to show a single image that is high-quality and represents the “vibe” of the bookstore. A virtual tour of the bookstore would also work if I was confident in my video quality and production.
Step 7: Set Your Budget and Schedule
Set a budget for your ads and choose how long you want them to run. Start with a small budget and adjust based on the performance of your ads.
I recommend starting with a $5 per day ad budget and adjust accordingly based on the success of your ad. If an ad set is converting really well it will make sense to increase the budget based on your ROI.
Step 8: Monitor and Optimize Your Ads
Monitor the performance of your ads using the analytics tools in Facebook Ads Manager. Look at metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversions. Optimize your ads based on this data to improve their effectiveness.
Step 9: Test and Iterate
Continuously test different ad variations to see what resonates best with your audience. Test out multiple personas and see if there’s one persona that outperforms the rest – it may be that not all of your buyer personas are able to be converted via social media and/or ads. Then you can look at what advertising channels they’re better suited to and start testing personas there as well.
Remember that not everyone is your customer – that’s why it’s important to create unique ad sets based on the buyers you’re targeting. Like anything else, Facebook ads take time to learn and understand, and consistency is key. Make time each week to review and optimize your ads and you’ll hopefully find that you can effectively reach your ideal customers and drive more traffic to your small business.
Miss the first blog post in this series? Click the link below to read!
first post
Why “Anyone” or “Everyone” Isn’t Your Customer: A Guide for Small Business Owners
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