Facebook ads – are you missing out?
With Facebook’s new transparent ad functionality, you can now easily identify which competitors are using Facebook Adverts and Boosted Posts.
We have tracked 100 visitor attractions this Summer including Zoo’s, Theme Parks and Farm Attractions to identify who is using Facebook Ads.
We discovered 50% of visitor attractions are not using any form of Facebook ads. And of those that are, only 30% have a strategic ad strategy, with 20% just boosting posts.
In this latest blog post, we cover:
- Which sectors are more Facebook ad smart
- How you can view your competitors Facebook ads
- Why you need a Facebook advertising strategy
- What results you can expect
- And how you can measure success
Which sectors are Facebook Ads smart?
Of the 100 attractions we reviewed, we found the theme park and farm park sector are leading the way in maximising Facebook ads, followed by zoo’s and family entertainment centres.
| Theme Park | Zoos | Farm Parks | Indoor Play | |
| No advertising or boosted posts | 24% | 50% | 37% | 79% |
| Just boosted posts | 33% | 18% | 20% | 5% |
| Facebook ads and boosted posts | 43% | 32% | 43% | 16% |
How can you view your competitor’s adverts
On Facebook, simply go the company profile page of your competitor, click ‘Info and Ads’ (appearing in right hand column on a desktop or as a button on a mobile). All the active ads that appear on either Facebook or Instagram will be shown, alongside any active boosted posts.
Desktop view – Look for the ‘Info and Ads’ in right hand column
Mobile view – Click on the ‘Info and Ads’ button above the like icon.
Why you need a Facebook advertising strategy?
Facebook advertising delivers but as more advertisers use the network, prices are increasing. It is crucial to spend time ensuring you are reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time.
An effective Facebook ads strategy should include:
Ads Manager: With Facebook you can set up ads via your company Facebook page but for the full scope of opportunities, your Agency should be using Ads Manager.
Geo targeting: On Facebook you can micro target down to the postcode sector level (eg. SW7 1 or HP4 3). You should consider changing the postcode strategy for differing messaging or offers.
Audience targeting: With Facebook, there are so many ways to target audiences including lookalike and custom to specific interests or demographics. Facebook are launching new audiences all the time, and often better results are obtained by using these new ways to target before the masses arrive.
Capped frequencies: Show the ad too many times and people will turn off. You want to set a frequency cap to ensure an effective spread of your adverts.
Campaign objectives: Before you set up a campaign you need to consider your objectives. Do you want to obtain reach, engagement, website traffic or conversions.
Refresh your adverts: We rotate ads at least weekly. Facebook uses many different ad formats from video ads, single image ads to carousels. Mixing up the ad style will allow you to promote a similar message and keep it fresh.
Daily checks: Facebook is generally good at ensuring the budget gets spent but sometimes it can glitch. At Agility we check campaign performance daily.
What results you can expect?
This Summer, we have set live over 1,400 adverts, of which 600 are on Facebook. Our average cost per click on Facebook has been around 28p, but they do vary depending where in the UK you are based.
For a £1,000 ad budget over three weeks, we’d expect to deliver c.3,500 website visits, set up 6-8 different audiences, create 6 different adverts and achieve 333,000 ad impressions.
For visitor attraction businesses between 20-50% of tickets will be purchased online (assuming there is some kind of discount). As between 50-80% of people will buy at the gate, online conversions will give you an idea of campaign success but unfortunately cannot be the sole measure of success.
How can you measure results?
Facebook uses a pixel that you can measure conversions through. You just simply need to add it to all your website pages, as well as the thank you page for conversions.
In addition to conversions, we’d also usually evaluate the ‘Cost per Click’, the ‘Cost per Conversion’, the ad ‘Click through Rate’ as well as the total % of all online sales that were touched by our ad campaign. We’d also monitor the ‘Cost per 1,000 Impressions’.
If you liked this article, then we’d recommend you read our Visitor Attraction Review Benchmarks and Top Tips for Success with Facebook Live.
WRITTEN BY LIZ DIMES, ONLINE MANAGER, AGILITY MARKETING
