In 2014, 61% of high school students used Facebook every day and 87% of total high school students used Facebook based on a Niche.com survey of 7,000 2014 grads. If you are trying to make sure that your community college’s message gets out to students, there is no better way. No other platform that can target this demographic as well. Here are some tips to get your Facebook Advertising Campaign off the ground successfully!
- Setting up Location Targeting
The first step when you open up Facebook’s “Ads Manager” is determining the location you are targeting. A simple way would be to enter your school’s address and figure out an acceptable radius around it based on the area. Type in the custom radius of the areas you are trying to target.
- Demographics by College Program
Facebook has incredible demographic data on their network, so combining multiple metrics allows advertisers to target incredibly specific campaigns. In the example picture, I am setting up specific school campaigns for people interested in Paramedic Associate’s Degrees. However, it is possible to target as specific as people looking for EMT-IV Programs. As advertising evolves in the digital
- Utilize Facebook’s Interests System
The Facebook interest system is extensive. The system works on users that like certain pages that have relevance to the product advertised. To use the “specific interests” feature on Facebook, use the search bar built into the general interests section. The interest list below shows just how specific targeting can become on Facebook.
- Clicks to Program Landing Pages
Setting up the campaign to optimize for Clicks to Website is the goal. This allows Facebook to optimize where your ad is shown via their different channels, like desktop, mobile and apps. As potential students click on these Facebook ads for each program, they will be redirected to specific landing pages designed for each of these programs with clear call to actions on these pages. As students read about the school program, they fill in information to get in contact with an administrator.
- A/B Testing
Once you have your Facebook Ads set up, it’s time to start the optimization! Test out different text, images and video to see how you can improve the response rate. Remember to try to make your ads appear like something you would normally see in a Facebook news feed!
If you need assistance, Davis Advertising is here to help. We have great knowledge and experience running Facebook Advertising campaigns for community colleges.
We also have fantastic landing page designers to take your Facebook campaign to the next level. Please feel free to contact us or check out our other higher education work for more information.
