Use this simple guide to setup and promote your next Facebook Offer Campaign and Get More Traffic In-Store & Online!
With all the buzz around Promoted Posts, and the ever evolving Power Editor, I found it was crucial for everyone to also take advantage of a lesser known tool in the Facebook Marketing toolbox, Facebook Offers. See, you may have noticed my hesitation at the beginning about Promoted Posts, which is correct.
Today, with so many people running Promoted content on Facebook by the minute, I believe users are looking for something different and need that different option to grab their attention.
Here come Facebook Offers!
So let’s talk about what Facebook Offers are for a moment before we dive into how to use them.
Facebook Offers are a neat feature that was introduced to help business owners gain more traction online and offline, and in my opinion, does it’s best to bridge the two together.
Basically for a little bit less than a print coupon campaign (60-120$ each), you can promote an offer In-Store or Online / In-Store, and begin promoting your own discounts and offers (think Yellow Pages or local newspaper ads?) to thousands of targeted people in your area.
The two available types of ads are as followed:
1.) Online / In-Store – Self-explanatory. This promotes a URL and has the option of a Coupon Code
2.) In-Store – 90 Character Limit Description Area, 800px x 400px Offer Image, Claim / Expiration Date, Barcode, Terms, and Reminder!
Pretty cool right? I think it’s nice and flexible for people trying to promote on Facebook, because #1 is perfect to drive people to a specific product landing page, connected to an external website with a shopping cart ready to take that coupon code, and #2 provides foot traffic along with an additional opportunity to remind the customer before the offer ends!
Why Facebook Offers?
David Fischer, Facebook’s Vice President of Marketing & Business Relationships, offered a new statistic on the Facebook Offers program in 2012 that stated “three-fourths of the claims on Offers came not from the people who had been initially targeted, but instead from someone they had shared it with.”
To claim an offer, and when the user does, it’s posted to their newsfeed, which increases the visibility of the offer and business overall in the Facebook landscape.
So you’re probably wondering, “Ok Doug great, but which do I run and how?”
Both! And I’ll show you right now.
To use Facebook Offers, you’ll need to have a Facebook Fan Page with at least 100 Likes.
First we’ll setup an In-Store Offer, so head over to the Facebook Fan Page you’d like to promote an offer on, and you’ll see a 3rd option in your updates box for “Offer, Event +”, click that:
Now, you’ll want to fill in the information areas. Here are the design specifications for Facebook Offers:
Tips for a good Facebook Offer:
- Headline Text: Be descriptive, tell them exactly what they are getting and how they’re getting it.
- Terms & Conditions Text: Make sure you cover any loopholes or potential issues with the coupon, and be sure to add a paragraph or two of descriptive text above everything.
- Offer Image: Make sure it’s crisp, engaging, and if at all possible a really great showcase of the value & product.
Next, you’re going to setup the amount of available Claims, Terms, Barcode, and Reminder. All of these options are in small tabs below the Offer image shown below:
Setup how many claims you’ll want to offer, and of course when it expires. Next, fill out your terms and conditions, and place in your 12-13 digit barcode if you have a system in place to handle that, if not, it’s optional.
The best thing about In-Store Facebook Offers in my opinion is the “Reminder” option, that you can take advantage of to remind customers that their offer will expire soon, which can really drive foot traffic.
Setup your reminder at an appropriate date and time, and be sure to give them a good couple of days to get into the store or online before it expires. Just a small sense of urgency here is needed, nothing more.
Now, go ahead and click “Next” so that you can review your Offer and its details. You’ll also get an email notification with a preview of your Offer, so make sure you go and check that out to make sure it’s all up to snuff.
After you’ve reviewed your Offer, click “Next” again, to begin choosing your Audience and Payment options.
As we’re using my own Fan Page for this example, we’ll assume you’re trying to reach the same type of people I am, “Business Owners in Inverness, Florida” is what I’d say. Of course I could target multiple cities, but for this example I chose only Inverness.
This part is pretty self-explanatory after we choose Gender, Age and Location.
Pro-Tip: Be sure to try and narrow down your target user so you can increase your audience reach and not have to spend more money. I don’t know too many business owners under the age of 18 in my area looking for websites, so I know that starting point. Then, I can assume much of the people 50+ in my area are retired, so they aren’t going to be looking for websites that often.
Next we’ll setup an In-Store / Online Facebook Offer alongside it for two reasons.
1.) Some people like to shop online, let them
2.) You’re strictly an online product or service
Navigate back to your Fan Page after you’ve setup the first Facebook Offer, and click the “In-Store / Online” Option. With this option, you’ll have the choice of where you want to send the customer to (preferably a landing page!), and if you’d like them to use a coupon code or not.
Once you’ve filled in this information, go ahead and click “Next”, and as we did before, fill out the 90 character description, add your image, and Claims, Terms, and Reminder information.
You’ll then have a chance to review your Facebook Offer, obtain an Email Version of it, and check it once more for validity. After you’ve clicked “Next” you’ll land on the Audience & Payment page just like before.
Fill out the information just like we did on the last offer, and Post your Facebook In-Store / Online Offer!
So there it is! Everything you need to know about Setting up Facebook Offers for your business, website, product, service, anything! There are a ton of ways in which Facebook Offers can be used.
For example: The “Early Risers” can claim discounts on a product or service at a certain low time of the day for you, or discounts can be given to people who promise to bring in a couple friends, the list goes on and on!
If you’re more of a visual person, here’s a great graphic from SociallyStacked overlaying what I just talked about.
Also, here’s a bit more technical writeup on how you can use Facebook Offers to Grow Your Email List.
I’m excited to see how you’ll use Facebook Offers to your advantage, and if you do, please let me know by dropping me an email, or leaving a comment below!