This document provides an overview of how to craft a successful Facebook ad campaign. It discusses setting goals rather than focusing on tools, the benefits of Facebook ads like hypertargeting and measurability, and tips from case studies. Lightning round case studies on campaigns for St. Ambrose University, Bowdoin College, and Tulane University show how targeting specific audiences drove website traffic, engagement, and conversions. The presentation emphasizes starting small, continual testing and optimization, and integrating ads with other marketing tools.

1. Karen Buck, Marketing Communications Consultant, Zehno
Rob Kerr, Associate Vice President of Interactive Marketing, Bowdoin College
How to Craft a Successful
Facebook Ad Campaign
eduWeb Conference 2012

6. This is probably all outdated already.

7. Agenda
Check in with the audience
Benefits of FB ads
First things first
Lightening round case studies
Looking at your options
Random tips from the trenches
Resources

8. Disclaimer!
Facebook ads are just one slice of what we do
– A very effective slice
Today’s presentation is based on specific project
experiences, some using ad formats that are
no longer available
Hoping the room can add as much to the convo

9. Noel-Levitz E-Expectations Survey

10. Noel-Levitz E-Expectations Survey

11. Varsity Outreach: Facebook and Admissions

12. Why are you here?

13. Benefits of Facebook ads
Not search-based!
Hyper targeted
Relatively inexpensive
Measurable
Reported to be effective
Help to overcome the trickiness of being seen
with Timeline and updates to feed behavior

14. Goals not tools
Setting objectives
Refine and segment
– Not “more students” or “more money”
Marcomm 101
– Who is your audience?
– What is your message?
– What does success look like?
– How will you measure?
– What’s your budget?

15. Lightening-
round
case studies!

16. St. Ambrose Pilot (2010)
The point: You have to test and benchmark
Objectives
– Increase brand awareness
– Build affiliation with existing institutional Facebook pages
– Drive quality traffic to admissions websites
– Benchmark the effectiveness of Facebook as a search
channel/lead generation tool

17. St. Ambrose Pilot (2010)
28 segments
– Alumni
– Current students
– Prospective first-year students, targeting local and select
city high-school students, overlaid with specific interests
– Prospective transfer students enrolled in regional
institutions
– Prospective graduate students for MBA, social work,
education and criminal justice programs

21. St. Ambrose Pilot (2010)
Ad Budget: $30,000 over 2 months
Results
– 175 million impressions
– 30,000 clicks, at about just over $1/click
– “Like” growth: 0 to 1,979 for main page,
Class of 2015 from 0 to 113
– 18,000 visits to website

23. St. Ambrose Pilot (2010)
Standouts
– Friends of alums
– Friends of the class of 2014
– MBA women over 23
– Transfers overall
– Specific geographic targets for undergraduate admissions

24. www.sau.edu Oct 1, 2010 - Nov 28, 2010
Dashboard Comparing to: Oct 1, 2009 - Nov 28, 2009
Previous: Visits Visits
20,000 20,000
10,000 10,000
0 0
Oct 4 Oct 11 Oct 18 Oct 25 Nov 1 Nov 8 Nov 15 Nov 22
Site Usage
603,032 Visits 45.97% Bounce Rate
Previous: 514,485 (17.21%) Previous: 61.11% (-24.77%)
1,366,119 Pageviews 00:02:08 Avg. Time on Site
Previous: 969,920 (40.85%) Previous: 00:02:09 (-0.84%)
2.27 Pages/Visit 22.86% % New Visits
Previous: 1.89 (20.17%) Previous: 18.10% (26.28%)
Visitors Overview Map Overlay
Previous: Visitors Visitors
10,000 10,000
5,000 5,000
0 0
Oct 4 Oct 11 Oct 18 Oct 25 Nov 1 Nov 8 Nov 15 Nov 22
Visitors

25. St. Ambrose MBA (2011)
The point: Track down “missing” constituents to
build alumni network value
Objectives
– Build and strengthen connections with MBA students and
alums so that career outcomes/ROI of degree can be
tracked
– Attract alums and likely prospects to a social-media platform
– Create a social-media platform with content contributions
from administrators, faculty, students and alums to
demonstrate to prospective students the “extras” and family
atmosphere of an Ambrose MBA

26. St. Ambrose MBA (2011)
Audiences
– MBA alums
– Current students in MBA programs
– Current students enrolled in St. Ambrose
undergraduate programs

27. Ambrose grads
at Deere
Reconnect with
your MBA
classmates. See
who’s doing what
in the Quad Cities
and beyond

29. St. Ambrose MBA (2011)
Ad Budget: $10,000 over 2 months
Measured
– Impressions: 49 million
– Clicks: 8,678 — avg. $1.15/click
– Growth in affiliation: 0 to 1,001 “likes”
– 600-800 impressions of each wall post
– 13 career updates shared
– 7 inquiries

30. Bowdoin College Annual Giving (2012)
Challenge
– Drive annual fund donations with focus
on converting young alumni
Facebook
– Ad plan as part of marketing strategy
– Strong reach tool
– Strong targeting tool
– Poor messaging tool

31. Bowdoin College Annual Giving (2012)
Creative
– Tested multiple ads
– Original goal was “microtargeting”
– “innate nosiness” wins out

32. Bowdoin College Annual Giving (2012)
Results
– Low clickthrough, high yield
– $1.12 avg CPC — .03% CTR
– 10% conversion rate (made a gift)
Takeaways
– Microtargeting dropped us below thresholds
– Very successful as an added campaign layer
– Value depends on conversion rate, works for us

33. Tulane Energy (2011-2012)
The point: Get creative with how you use ads
Objectives
– Launch new master’s level program via social media
– Reach out to likely prospects at specific schools, and with
affiliations with energy organizations or energy companies
– All on a shoestring, but with some flagship video content
available

34. Tulane Energy (2012)

36. Tulane Energy (2012)
Page now at 2,220+ “likes”

37. Tulane in Colombia (2012)
The point: Slice out minute segments
Objectives
– Boost attendance at in-country information sessions
– Extend reach through network of those who already affiliated
with the MBA program
Targeting is different for different cultures
– Europeans need 1 month before event; South Americans,
just 1 week

38. Tulane in Colombia (2012)

39. Tulane in Colombia (2012)
Ad Budget: $1,200 over 1 week
Measured
– Impressions: 27 million impressions
– Clicks: 11,731 — 10 cents/click!
– 1,373 “Connections”

40. How to do it

41. What you’ll need
Patience! You’re going to learn a lot, and things will
constantly, unexpectedly change
A page—or not
Maybe a custom tab—check out PageModo
Segmented audiences
Ad creative customized for your audience segments

42. It’s easy… and complicated!

44. Choose the right ad
Traditional

45. Choose the right ad
Sponsored stories
Page Like
Page Post
(Also available: Checkins and app use)

46. Wisdom from
the trenches

47. Game the system: Tell FB you’re rich!
Point back to FB when
Visuals—and color—matter possible
Be at peace with low click throughs
Sponsored stories only work
with a lot of likes
Don’t target via Zip code
Start small! Ask for a like,
not an application
Create pages based on
Integrate with your CRM! audience POV
Monitor and tweak, monitor and tweak

48. What have you found?

49. To summarize
Set specific objectives
Segment your audiences to target effectively
For admissions: Serve up hyper-targeted creative
Measure
Monitor and tweak
Keep on tending your page

50. Questions
and comments

51. Resources
Zehno white papers and free enewsletter:
www.zehno.com/papers
Hubspot: www.hubspot.com
Facebook Marketing Solutions:
www.facebook.com/marketing
Liz Gross: lizgross.wordpress.com