Having a Facebook page for your martial arts business is something that is very important these days. With an average of 1.04 billion users logging into the website daily, it’s easy to see why it’s a good platform for marketing your martial arts business. With so many people using Facebook, it’s a great site for you to advertise your business on… but how do you make sure your message gets to the right people? In this week’s blog we give you some tips on how to better define the audience for your Facebook adverts.
Location
The location option is a great way for you to narrow down your advertising range to a particular area. Using this, you can focus on promoting your classes to people who are based locally which may increase the chances of people contacting you. If you opt not to define the area for your advert to be delivered to, it will default to the country you are located in. This may get you a bigger reach in terms of audience but may also cost you more; it would also be safe to say not many people would drive from London to a lesson in Newcastle.
Age
The age of the audience is a rather simple one but can often be overlooked. It’s useful to really think about the age of your target audience, as older people may be less inclined to take up more grappling based martial arts. when it comes to your children’s classes, you should advertise to their parents as they are more likely to engage. You should also take into consideration the wording and imagery used with these types of adverts, as you are speaking to the parent and not the child.
Gender
If you are promoting a women’s only class, you won’t want to target ‘all’ for gender selection. Being specific with things like this helps to ensure it gets in front of the people you want to see it. So if you are wanting to advertise to women, make sure you select ‘women’ only for the gender of your audience.
Interests
The interests option is a great way of further defining the type of audience you want your advert to reach. As a martial arts business owner, you may want to consider categories such as martial arts, fitness and your particular martial arts style (Karate, Judo etc). Also think about people who may not currently have a desire to do martial arts and how you could gain their interest, with categories such as sports, health or active lifestyle. You can also target sections of people such as parents with children of a certain age, which can further help the relevancy of your advert. It’s good to have a few options entered into this section, but don’t go overboard! 4-10 is considered a good amount.
Like it or not
Deciding whether or not to include people who like your page can be a little tricky sometimes. If you are looking to promote an achievement or celebration for your students, consider only promoting it to ‘people who like your page and their friends’. If you are promoting a new class, it would be great to promote this to ‘people who like your page’ along with a ‘custom audience’. If you are promoting a special offer or the business in general, this is probably best aimed at a custom audience. This will allow you to really focus your advert more towards the people it is made for, helping you to get better results for your money; as custom audiences are your idea of the person you would like the advert delivered to.
Budget
The budget helps you to manage the expectations and finances of the advert and its performance. The more you spend, the more people you will usually reach. You can even opt to spend a daily amount or a lifetime amount, this simply means how much a day the advert will cost you, or how much in total. It is certainly worth having a play around with the cost, as it can heavily influence your estimated reach, using our campaign measurement tool can help keep track for future campaigns. Pro tip: I would recommend using a lifetime budget for your adverts as this helps you stay within your cost and ensures you never go over budget, but you can be under!
Duration
This is probably the most simple option to understand as you just have to select when and for how long you want the advert to run. Be aware that this can change the overall cost of the advert sometimes; Facebook should warn you if it does change, so don’t worry.
Estimated reach
The estimated reach is a rough outline of how many people your advert will be delivered to. Unfortunately it is only an estimate, so don’t be disheartened when Facebook say 280,000 but your advert only reaches 2,800. I would highly recommend keeping an eye on this number though, as any adjustments you make to the advert can change it. Don’t be lured into aiming for the big numbers if it means sacrificing a useful ‘interest’ for your target audience. It’s always better to have 8,000 estimated reach with 20 people who will take your offer, than 800,000 estimated reach with only 2 people taking your offer.
These are just a few tips and things to consider when setting up your Facebook advertising audience. In next week’s blog we will be giving some tips on how to ensure your content is engaging for your audience.
As always, if you want any additional advice, tips or guidance with your Facebook advertising or marketing, make sure to contact the Marketing Team here at NEST. We are always happy to help!
