Why Solar Dealers Should Set Up Facebook Ads Manager (& NOT Just Boost Posts)

These days, most solar dealers have a business Facebook page set up already with the basics sorted. That is:

• A relevant profile picture and cover image
• A Call To Action button (Book Service, Call Now, Contact Us)
• A short description outlining what your business offers
• A unique URL identifier
• Privacy and security settings according to your needs
• Fine tuning page details (links to other social platforms, opening hours, phone number, accreditation and awards etc).

From here, regular posts keep your business relevant and in front of customers and potential leads.

You may have even tried boosting specific posts to try to improve reach and engagement.

Boosting a post directly from your business Facebook page is very easy to do, just by clicking the big blue button directly from the post itself. You add a budget to it and choose to either push the post to “People who like your page and their friends” or to “People you choose through targeting."

By boosting a post to “People who like your page and their friends” you are simply promoting your business to people who may or may not be interested in solar - simply because their friend is. It's a hit and miss strategy and likely to be a waste of money.

In comparison, by boosting a post to “People you choose through targeting" you can select which people you want to reach, as well as their location, age, gender and up to 10 interests. These posts typically drive traffic to your website, via your Call To Action. So you're taking people out of the Facebook environment and pushing them to your website. This would be a better option at this level of advertising.

However, there is a more effective way to advertise via Promoted Posts. You can access these via the Facebook Ads Manager platform.

Here's Why You Should Set up Facebook Ads Manager

Now if you want to get serious about finding potential solar leads via Facebook, this is where Facebook Ads manager comes in. This level of advertising allows more targeting options and provides a better return on investment i.e. you can target your perfect customer in areas that you service.

Using Facebook Ads Manager is awesome in many ways, here's two key points:

1. You can promote an existing post using better targeting to reach more leads looking to purchase solar. You get access to reporting and insights that allow you to make better marketing decisions.

2. You can create dark posts, which simply means that you create Ads that run on the Facebook platform, but are not shown on your Facebook business page. You don't want to annoy your current customers with ads about installing solar. Rather, you set up specific ads that target people interested in solar in areas that you service, so that your ads appears on their timeline only.

Here's a quick summary of comparing features at a glance:

It's genius, and it's easy to get started.

How to Promote an Existing Post Using Facebook Ads Manager

Setting up an existing promoted post campaign in Facebook's Ads Manager is simple. Follow these six quick and easy steps:

1. In Ads Manager, click the green "create" button
2. Select either "Brand Awareness" or "Engagement" as an objective
3. Choose targeting parameters to ensure your content reaches your target audience
4. Click the drop-down menu to choose a pre-existing post
5. Launch the campaign.

How to Promote a Dark Post Using Facebook Ads Manager

Setting up a dark post (i.e. Facebook Ad) campaign in Facebook's Ads Manager is simple. Follow these six quick and easy steps:

1. In Ads Manager, click the green "create" button
2. Select the type of post you want to create, then fill in the details for the post.
3. Choose to Only use this post for an ad or to Use this post for an ad. It will also be published to the Page later. If you only choose to run your post as an ad, the post won't appear on your Page.
4. Select Create post. Although the post will appear in the lists of posts for your Page in Ads Manager, it does not publish the post to your Page.
5. Click the tick box next to the post that you've just created, and then select the Actions drop-down.
6. Select Publish. If you want to select a date and time in the future for when you want your post to be published, select Schedule instead.