In this episode of Unlocking Your Nonprofit Potential, we’re going to tackle one of the most talked about pain points of Facebook – Facebook Ads! 

Because this is SUCH a lengthy and intricate topic, we’re going to start at the very beginning and talk about the easiest way to run an ad on Facebook – boosting a post. 

There will be a deeper dive into Facebook Ads for you coming up in the near future, but let’s start with the basics now. Even if you already know how to boost a post on Facebook, this episode will help you feel more confident in what you’re doing and why you do it!

This is a big exciting episode – it’s only appropriate for our 50th episode – so let’s jump right in!

Let’s start from the very beginning… 

Why would you ever want to advertise on Facebook?

You can reach hundreds of people who might be interested in how you can help them or inspire them or teach them – but they don’t know about you yet. And you can do that for as little as $5.

Advertising on Facebook is extremely effective, and extremely affordable. The more money you spend on Facebook advertising, the more people you reach. 

Can you imagine, if you’re able to reach hundreds of people with just $5, how many people you can reach with a Facebook advertising budget of $25? Yes, you’re able to get your Facebook ad in front of hundreds or thousands of people in as little as 4 or 5 days, for as little as $5. Pretty incredible, right?

What would you want to advertise about?

If you’re a nonprofit who offers services, you can run ads like any other business that offers services. You can use your Facebook ad to get the word out about what you offer, your hours of operation, any special events you have, or fundraisers. You can tell Facebook to show your ad to people who would be interested in taking advantage of those services.

Even if your nonprofit or group supports an interest, or a hobby that doesn’t have a brick and mortar building with in-person service, there are still great reasons to run ads. 

Let’s say, you want more people to follow your page and engage with you, you can run a Facebook ad that will encourage people who may be interested to follow your page. This is a great way to grow your audience. 

For example, if your organization is a historical society, and you want more people to follow your page because you want to share stories, pictures and articles, a Facebook ad can make sure that people who may be interested in history or your topic can learn about your page.

Or maybe you have a fundraiser coming up or a giveaway – a Facebook ad can help more people learn about it, even if they don’t already follow you on Facebook. Earlier this year, one of my clients put $8 into a Facebook ad about a fundraiser they were having, and they raised $8,000. That was the only advertising they did for that particular fundraiser. One Facebook ad, for one week. Definitely worth spending the $8, right?

Another example would be if you’re running a Facebook page for a daily devotional, you can run a Facebook ad to make sure that people who are thinking about starting a daily devotion can learn about your page.

Now that you see why a Facebook ad may be right for you, let’s talk about the easiest, most basic way to advertise on Facebook. It’s called “boosting” a post.

Boosting a post on Facebook is hands down the fastest, and easiest way to get an ad running on Facebook. If you have a Facebook page for your organization, you’ve probably seen the blue button at the bottom of one of your posts that says, “Boost Post.” 

If you click on that Boost Post button, that means, you will add a budget and your credit card information, and then Facebook will show that particular post to more people – people not already in your audience. What exactly does that mean? It means when someone is scrolling through Facebook, that post will appear in their “feed” – the list of new posts - whether they follow your page or not. You’re paying for a targeted group of people to see your post.

You tell Facebook which audience you want to target. 

When you click on that Boost Post button, a new window will pop up and ask you what your objective is, and who you want your audience to be. You’ll see other options too, but for now, I want you to ignore those other things. Let’s keep it simple to start off.

The main thing you need to be concerned about as a new Facebook advertiser is your audience.

Remember, as a nonprofit organization, your audience is the person you want to help, or it can be your donors, or it can even be people who you want to recruit as volunteers. 

For an audience of the person you want to help – the person who needs your nonprofit’s services – think about that person’s age, male or female, where do they live, what are their needs, their problems, their interests? What is going to make them want to click on your ad? 

Remember – your audience is always asking the question, “What’s in it for me?”  Make sure you think about that when you’re creating your post that you’re going to boost. And keep it in mind as you tell Facebook who your audience is.  Knowing the answers to these questions makes it clear who to tell Facebook to show your ad to.

For a deeper dive into who your audience is, check out Episode 7 of Unlocking Your Nonprofit Potential.

Now that you have your audience in mind – let’s go over the step-by-step process for telling Facebook. 

(Tip: It will be easier to go through this process on your computer)

First, click the “Boost Post” button.

Once you click the Boost Post button, a new window will pop up that says    OBJECTIVE and a couple other things. Scroll past those options until you get to AUDIENCE because right now, we’re going to stay focused on only this section of this new window. 

When you scroll down to the part of the window that says AUDIENCE, you can choose from one of these options

- People you choose through targeting

- People who like your page

- People who like your page and their friends

- People in your local area

People you choose through targeting – this means, you can choose specifically who you want to see your post. All you have to do to customize this option is click on the “Edit” button right next to it. This will let you edit the audience’s interests, location, ages, and gender. Once you click Edit, you can choose who you want to see your post. Men, Women, their age range, where they live, and you can even type in something to the “Detailed Targeting” box. This means, you can type in something like “airplane” – select that when it appears in the menu, and then your boosted post will be shown to people who are interested in airplanes. Save your settings once you’ve chosen your targeted audience.

People who like your page – I know what you’re thinking. “If they already like my page, why aren’t they seeing my posts automatically?” The simple answer is, there is a LOT of stuff on Facebook. It’s a competitive place. Facebook likes to show people popular posts, so if your post isn’t popular yet, this will help it get there by ensuring that the people who follow your page see your post.

People who like your page and their friends – This is a great option if you want to cast your net a little wider than just the people who follow your page. Wh