Why should you run Facebook and Instagram ads for your e-commerce business?

Are you an established e-commerce business with consistent organic reach? Are you considering whether you should start running ads on Facebook and Instagram to bring your product in front of more of your ideal customers? If you're on the fence and wondering whether it's time to go ahead, here are a few reasons why you should definitely consider running Facebook and Instagram ads for your e-commerce business.
1. Your audience is on those platforms 
According to statista.com, "with roughly 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social network worldwide. In its local market in the United States, Facebook accounts for over 60.5 percent of monthly social media visits." In the UK alone, as of February 2021, Facebook had over 50 million users, and Instagram (owned by Facebook) accounted for approximately 30.57 million users.
With these kinds of numbers, it's obvious that wherever you are in the world, and no matter what product you sell, you'll find plenty of your ideal customers on these platforms. And missing out on the chance to be there and promote your product could cost you!
Running ads on Facebook and Instagram allows you to reach an audience that you wouldn't otherwise be able to influence. So whether you are an established business or a start-up in whatever industry or niche, paid social on Facebook and Instagram could prove to be a great growth strategy for your business.
2. Paid social is great for market research
As I always say to my clients, in order to find out how your audience reacts to your product, you first need to start driving traffic to your website. It's only when you achieve regular and consistent traffic to your website that you can really start to observe and make sense of your ideal customers' behaviours.
For example, through the data you obtain via the Facebook Ads Manager, you can see where drop-offs are happening. Are people getting to certain pages on your website and then moving away? Are they adding your products to their baskets but not checking out? Google Analytics may give you some useful information. But through paid advertising, you'll definitely gain access to better insight.
You'll also be able to easily spot any issues in your sales funnel or customer journey. And once you have it, you can use this information to make changes that could have a significant impact on your bottom line.
In a nutshell, by collecting and analysing data at the back of your ad campaigns you can see how your website is performing, how well the user journey flows (or doesn't), and really understand whether your product and positioning are enticing to your ideal customers. Put simply, without running ads, you just wouldn't be able to access this know-how.
3. Facebook and Instagram have fantastic analytics tools
When you run ads on Facebook and Instagram, you can benefit from all the data collected and used by the platform. As I say to my clients, you have full control and visibility of your spending, your ROI, and the performance of your ad campaigns.
By regularly checking the reports and data provided by the Facebook Ads Manager, you are able to see exactly how your campaigns are performing. This allows you to either turn off and stop any ads that aren't working or scale those campaigns that are definitely converting well for your business.
In addition to this, the tool is highly effective and intelligent. It continuously learns from and adapts to user behaviour. In other words, Facebook knows your audience better than you do! If you aren't running ads on these platforms, you're not just missing out on the chance to get in front of the biggest audience available on any social media platform, but you're also leaving data on the table that could make all the difference to your business. Facebook has access to your audience's browsing and purchasing habits. And you won't be able to benefit from that unless and until you start running ads.
4. Facebook and Instagram have great targeting capabilities 
When running ads via the Facebook Ads Manager you can segment your audience and decide who you want to target. You can aim your campaigns at demographics in specific geographic locations or age groups. Facebook allows you to target your social media followers, your email list subscribers, and people who have purchased from you in the past. You can also target users by behaviours, interests, life-events, hobbies, and more. And Facebook does this for you with great precision and accuracy.
It's also why I recommend all my clients to always opt for 'automatic placement' when running ads. This means that instead of making the decision to run your ads only on Facebook or Instagram, for example, you leave the decision to the tool. This can be extremely beneficial for your business. And that's because, as I mentioned earlier, Facebook is privy to data you have no access to.
Also, the Facebook Ads Manager allows you to re-target users who have visited your website or abandoned their purchase. You can encourage these prospective customers to buy from you by presenting them with incentives, offers, or discounts. Once again, this is something you wouldn't otherwise be able to do.
5. Paid ads on Facebook and Instagram are great value for money 
While I recommend you have good organic reach before you start running paid social media ads, organic reach alone will not deliver the results and figures you want. Not anymore. Paid advertising, on the other hand, can. And you can hit your targets without breaking the bank.
When I say this, I'm not suggesting you should only spend £50 here and there. Or that you boost a post for £5 a day once in a while. But if you are serious about Facebook and Instagram advertising, you could get some fantastic results fairly quickly. If that's your goal, I would recommend you set aside a budget of at least £750-£1,000 per month.
Comparatively speaking, paid social is a lot cheaper (and more targeted and effective) than any other type of advertising. Think TV, magazines, or radio, for example. Running ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram is also cheaper than using Google Ad Words or LinkedIn Ads. And it will get you in front of a huge audience that you wouldn't otherwise be able to reach. Considering you're always in full control of your spending and the performance of your campaigns, what have you got to lose?
Would you like my help with Facebook and Instagram ads for your e-commerce business? If you are an established e-commerce business and have experienced success in selling organically so far but are ready to take your business to the next level and start running ads on Facebook and Instagram, get in touch. I have recently become a Facebook Marketing Partner, and I'm confident I can help your business level up with paid social. If you are looking to outsource your ad campaigns, you can find more about the way I work here. I also offer a FREE 30-minute strategy call to help you decide if I could be a good fit for your business.

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