Social media has transformed the ways in which businesses of all types and sizes network with their customers and clients. Although we might not typically think of interacting with construction companies in the same place we post cute pictures of our dogs or share statuses about a fabulous weekend at the beach, Facebook is a valuable marketing tool even for the construction industry.

In order for commercial construction companies to take full advantage of the growing importance social media plays in our society, they need to understand how to use it to promote their business. Facebook in particular is an ideal social network for construction companies to jump on given its versatility for content publication, the large number of users, and the connections it offers to other businesses.

Boost a post if you're looking for an easy way to create an ad from your Page. Click the Boost Post button under one of your posts to start creating an ad. You can also click the Promote button on your Facebook Business Page to start creating an ad. The simplest way to put together a Facebook ad for your blog post is to simply “boost” one of the posts on your page. The steps for doing this with the Power Editor are actually the same as the ones I outline in my free guide to list building with Facebook ads.

5 Steps to Marketing your Business on Facebook

Discover what Facebook can do for your online marketing.

INTRO TO FACEBOOK E-BOOK

1. Create a Company Page

First things first, establish a branded presence on Facebook. If your construction company does not already have its own company page, you can easily create one by clicking on the “Create Page” button here. It’s free to create an account and to post to it, so why not?

Start by choosing which category your business falls into and work from there. As a company in the construction industry, your business is likely to be categorized as either a “Local Business” or as a “Company.”

Quick Tip

If you choose the “Company, Organization, or Institution” option, you’ll find the category appropriate for your business by scrolling down the alphabetical list to “Engineering/Construction.”

2. Build a Following

Once you’ve set up your company page with an eye-catching cover photo and a profile picture that reflects your company (your logo is usually a solid choice), you’re ready for step 2: establishing an audience base.

In order to build your following, start by inviting your current customers to like your page. You could send them an email with a link to your page or even connect with them directly through Facebook by:

• clicking on the “Share” button in the navigation under the cover image for your company page. You can share the page on your own Timeline or on a friend’s Timeline.
• clicking on the ellipsis (…) button near the top right of the page in the cover photo are and selecting to “Invite Friends” the page.

Additionally, encourage your employees to share the company page through their personal Facebook account to gain more Likes. Consider Following and Liking other businesses in your industry on Facebook as well to get a feel for your competition and see what sort of content they post and share. As a commercial construction company, following other businesses on Facebook that may need your services one day could be useful as well. If you reach out to them, they may reach out to you whether they’re in need of a remodeling job or an expansion of their current business.

Quick Tip

Don’t spend too much time worrying about the number of Likes or Follows your page is receiving. Focus your energy on connecting with key customers and supporters of your business to help grow it in a genuine way.

3. Create and Share Stimulating Content

While your expertise may lie in creating quality buildings, creating valuable and quality content for your Facebook account is a very important step in the promotion process. But don’t let this intimidate you! You’re already doing great things as a business that people are interested in; you just need to capture those things in shareable ways and post!

Content Examples for Construction Companies to Post on Facebook

• Share photos of your projects as they transform (before and after project pics).
• Post pictures of satisfied customers in their newly constructed environment.
• Brag about awards and recognitions your company has received.
• Post visuals exemplifying the services you offer.
• Upload videos of a finished project showcasing your skills as a construction firm.
• Link to press releases or project updates on your website or company blog.
• Feature a construction worker of the week to add a personal touch to your business.
• Countdown to the grand opening of a client’s business.
• Introduce new (or old) members of your team.
• Pose questions to encourage potential customers to learn more about your company.

4. Advertise on Facebook

In addition to beefing up your company page with visually engaging content, consider setting a Facebook advertising budget for your company that would allow you to:

• boost your posts to a larger audience, or
• create and share ads with target audience members to gain likes.

Advertising on Facebook is a fairly easy process. You choose a budget for however much you want to spend on the ad and set how long you want the ad to run. Your ad will stop running after the entire budget has been used or at the end of the campaign date, whichever comes first. If you notice your advertisement is doing well, you can increase the budget and extend the campaign period. If you see that it’s not doing so well, you can change the budget, update the Facebook ad with a better headline or image, or stop the ad from running at any time.

Although Facebook only requires you to spend a minimum of $1 per day on Facebook advertising, bidding this low will make it hard to attain visibility for your campaign since you’ll use up your budget while only reaching a handful of people.

Facebook wants their users to have an enjoyable experience while on the site, so they limit how many ads people are exposed to. Because of this, you must go through a bidding process for your ad. This process is either done by cost per click (CPC) or cost per 1,000 ad views (CPM). According to an article on FitSmallBusiness.com, “the average click costs advertisers $0.24 and the average CPM cost $0.66.” In other words, spending $24 dollars would get you 100 clicks on the advertisement or get the advertisement shown 36,364 times. Keep in mind that these costs can change drastically depending on:

• they type of business you have (industry).
• the size of your business (small local business vs. national corporation).

Side Note

While targeting your audience on Facebook as a small local business may seem easy to do based on city location or zip code, remember you are competing for the same audience members as other local businesses on top of the national advertisers. That being said, even if you spend a decent amount on your Facebook advertising, there’s a good chance other businesses are trying to reach the same audience members as you are with their advertisements.

Also remember that larger businesses likely have bigger budgets to test the performance of their ads and optimize them for better reception, so they may get more clicks and likes than your small business ad that hasn’t been tested for optimal engagement.

5. Evaluate Your Impact

Some people think of measuring the success of your Facebook presence as the last step in the social media marketing process. While this can be true, the process is very cyclical, meaning evaluating the success of a past campaign can be the start of creating a new campaign.

The purpose of evaluating your impact is so you can do better at promoting your construction company in the future. Figure out what strategies worked well, what type of content your followers responded to best, and then apply that knowledge to the approach you take for your next Facebook endeavor.

For more help getting started with promoting your business through social media, download our free Intro to Facebook E-Book.

Keep the ball rollin’.

Check out these other great Facebook posts on our blog:

I’m constantly on Facebook, scrolling through my feed reading the news and looking at pics of cute Pomeranians. I’m not alone—the social media platform averages 1.09 billion daily active users.

Facebook and Instagram Daily Users (via Pew Research Center)

Despite talk that Facebook’s reach is waning, it’s pretty clear people love the site more than ever—70% of Facebook users in the U.S. log into Facebook on a daily basis, compared with 59% on Instagram, 38% on Twitter, 27% on Pinterest, and 22% on LinkedIn, according to stats from Pew Research Center.

All these users spell out huge potential for marketers, and Facebook has emerged as one of the best advertising platforms for both B2B and B2C businesses. In the past few years, as organic reach on Facebook has declined, savvy marketers have been advertising on Facebook to get results.

There’s a lot that has to come together to make a Facebook ad successful—you need the right targeting, a great image or video, and compelling copy. Today, I’m focusing on why writing matters in Facebook ads, as well as some strategies on how you can write great Facebook ads that actually convert.

Why Facebook Advertising Works So Well

There are tons of users on Facebook, but sending an ad out into the void doesn’t result in tons of conversions. The key to Facebook’s advertising is targeting. Facebook has the best ad targeting of any site.

This targeting allows you to get super specific about what audience your ad reaches. If you sell garden hoses, you can reach people who are interested in vegetable gardens and home improvement. If you sell a software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool, you can target those who’ve visited a landing page on your website.

Here are some of the ways you can target your ads on Facebook:

• Custom audiences – allows you to target existing customers or leads
• Location – allows you to target by location (city, state, country)
• Gender – allows you to target by gender (male or female)
• Interests – allows you to target by interest (such as fitness, entrepreneurship, fashion, literature)

• Behaviors – allows you to target by past behavior, such as someone visiting your website
• Connections – allows you to target by people who already like your page, or who have connections that do

Check out this epic infographic to see all of Facebook’s ad targeting options in detail.

All of Facebook's Ad Targeting Options [Infographic via WordStream]

Need Facebook Advertising inspiration? Download our free guide! 10 Smart + Easy Facebook Marketing Ideas

The Two Types of Facebook Ads

There are two types of Facebook ads that marketers can use:

1. Sponsored Posts

Facebook Sponsored posts appear directly in the Facebook Newsfeed. Users see the ads as they are scrolling, and the feature as prominently as posts from close friends. Here’s an example of a Sponsored post from Farm Hill:

Facebook Sponsored Post from Farm Hill

2. The Right-Hand Column Ad

The right-hand column ad appears—you guessed it!—in the right column of the Facebook feed. These ads are smaller, but they can’t be scrolled past like sponsored posts in the News Feed. Marketers often use right-hand column ads for retargeting purposes. Here’s an example of a right-hand column ad from West Elm:

West Elm right-hand column ad

Note: Sponsored posts include a fair amount of copy, so I’ll be focusing on copywriting tips for these posts, although the tips can be applied to right-hand column ads as well.

But Does Copywriting for Facebook Ads Really Matter?

Yes! When you envision a Facebook ad, you might think of a large image. Images are important in Facebook Ads, but copywriting is also essential.

If you’re spending money on a Facebook ad, you want to make sure it does its job. Good ad copywriting can persuade your audience to click through to your website. Good copywriting functions as a guide—it shows people where they need to go.

Great advertising copy can persuade, excite, and entertain. It makes connections, cuts out excess information, and makes the choice to proceed seem obvious. It’s an essential part of a successful ad.

So here's how to do it: Use these principles to write the best ads you can.

9 Strategies for Writing Your Best Facebook Ads

1. Use Facebook Targeting to Narrow Your Audience, then Write to It

When it comes to selling online, it’s tempting to write like you’re on stage at a conference. But if you want to be effective, you must write as though you’re writing to one person—and one person alone.

This person, your target, is the one you need to woo and persuade. Just as though you were an in-person salesperson, you need to focus all your attention on this person and their needs.

On your website, you have to write copy that speaks to all potential customers, and you probably have a few different personas. On Facebook, however, you can narrowly target your audience. What does it look like to implement this Facebook Ad tip? Here's an example. You can target your ads to women who are over 30 that live in the U.S. and are interested in fitness and wellness. Then you can write targeted ads that speak to that very specific audience.

Facebook Audience Definition

2. Write Different Facebook Ads for Different People

This goes along with the idea of targeting. Your customers turn to you for a variety of reasons, so why would you use one blanket ad? Facebook’s strength is its ability to target, so don’t treat your ad like a billboard.

For example, imagine you’re a clothing retailer. You sell men’s and women’s apparel, as well as shoes, accessories, activewear, underwear, and even bath and body products. Many customers will be interested in some of what you have to offer, but many will be most interested in one area. Simply put, women will be interested in what you have for women.

I love this video ad from Old Navy promoting its activewear. The ad is targeted to those who’ve listed fitness as an interest. In this way, Old Navy reaches the right audience with its ad.

Old Navy's 'Get moving in style' Facebook video ad

3. Ensure Your Facebook Ad Copy Goes with Your Visual

Many smaller businesses—and even larger ones, especially in the B2B space—don’t have a ton of visuals on hand. When it comes time to run an ad, there’s a scramble to make sure an image gets attached.

This can result in an image that doesn’t go together with the copy, which presents a jarring experience for a Facebook user. If the copy and the image don’t line up, they’ll wonder what the ad is actually advertising. They’ll be unlikely to click, and your ad will be wasted.

Starbucks stitched together three images to create a great visual for its “World’s Largest #StarbucksDate” campaign. The copy mentions “french press caffe Verona & a chocolate brownie,” which are then visualized in the photos. In this way, Starbucks reminds its audience what they’ll get by coming into the coffee shop, resulting in an effective Facebook ad.

Starbucks' '#StarbucksDate' Facebook ad campaign

If you’re struggling to create images for Facebook ads, you can use image tools like Bannersnack, Canva, PicMonkey, and Pablo by Buffer to create your own.

4. Stay Focused with One Call-to-Action

The best Facebook ads have a clear goal. Are you trying to increase brand awareness, get a lead, or sell a product? No matter what, your ad should have a clear call-to-action. Without it, Facebook users will see your ad, but they’ll have no idea where to click, or what to do.

Society6 sells iPhone cases, and they show off their products in their Facebook ads. But the ad is a lot more than an image of a lovely iPhone case—it has a call-to-action button (“Shop Now”) encouraging users to come to the Society6 website to browse, shop, and ultimately buy.

Society6 Facebook ad, with one call to action

Speaking of calls to action, did you know that 'Call now' is also an option? Learn more about click-to-call ads on Facebook here.

5. Keep it Short and Lead with Value

You’re paying for an ad, so it can be tempting to cram in as much as possible. You have to explain your product to people, after all. However, when it comes to Facebook ads, you need to keep it short, and lead with value.

What does someone get out of using your product? How will it help them? These are the areas you should focus on in your copy, and you should get these points across in a clear, concise manner.

For example, TaskRabbit helps people hire others to complete personal tasks, but the value is that users can get everything done when they’re busy and overwhelmed. In the following ad, TaskRabbit shares its value with the copy: “Getting everything done is easier than you think,” “Hire a tasker instead,” and “We’ve got chores covered.” Just three sentences completely explain the value of the service.

TaskRabbit's 'Hire a Tasker' Facebook ad, with lead value

6. Use Simple Language that’s Easy to Understand

Copywriting is not high literature. Maybe you were a poet in college, but flowery language will muddle your message. It’s time to cut the verbosity.

Your number one priority should be writing a Facebook ad that’s easy to understand—for anyone, even a 5th grader. When someone sees your ad, they should immediately know:

• What you’re offering
• What to do next

That’s why I love this sponsored post from SoFi, which helps people refinance their student loans. The copy in this Facebook ad is refreshingly simple: Pay off loans faster. SoFi explains what it offers (refinancing of loans), the benefits (paying off loans faster), and what to do next (apply now).

SoFi's 'Pay off loans faster' Facebook ad, with simple language

7. Be Upfront About the Numbers

If you’re selling a physical product, people want to know how much it costs. If you’re running a sale, people want to know what percentage they’re going to get off. A copywriting strategy that works? Lead with the numbers.

For example, Ball Honda, a car dealership in San Diego, sponsors Facebook ads that drive home the nuts and bolts of how much it costs to get a car. They share the deal people can get if they lease a CRV, and give a date for when the promotion ends. They don’t show the ad to everyone in San Diego—they target those who have come to their website already.

The ad isn’t particularly sexy, but it’s helpful, and it effectively reminds people to come to their dealership when they’re ready to buy a car.

Ball Honda Facebook ad, with upfront numbers

8. Get Some Perspective

You’re working to market your brand every day, so it can be tough to step back and make sure the copy for your Facebook ad resonates. Scroll through your own Facebook feed and take a look at the ads. Which ones make you want to click? Which ones do you simply scroll past?

It’s a good idea to get some perspective from someone besides yourself. You can hire a freelance writer or editor to write the ad for you, or help you brainstorm. You can also bounce the ad off a few coworkers, especially ones outside the marketing department, to see if they think it’s effective. Friends and family—people outside the business—can help as well.

9. Test your Ad Copy

The only way you can improve your Facebook ad copy is if you run tests. Facebook makes it easy to spend a small amount of money to try things out. In the end, the only way you can ensure your copywriting works is through experience.

Try running two different ads—each with the same image, but different copy—to see which resonates most with your audience. Which version gets the most likes, comments, and conversions?

For example, Post Planner posted the same ad, but changed up the copy. In one ad, they asked a question. In the second ad, they made a statement. It’s a subtle copy change, but it can spell out big changes in results.

How To Use Facebook Ads To Promote Your Page And Business Cards

Post Planner Facebook ad, with experimental ad copy

Write Copy That Drives Results on Facebook

How To Use Facebook Ads To Promote Your Page And Business Analytics

The best ads on Facebook ultimately lead to sales. As a marketer, you need to make sure you’re putting the ingredients together to create an ad that gets the job done, and strong copywriting is an essential part of a good Facebook ad.

How To Use Facebook Ads To Promote Your Page And Business Email

Need more tips on Facebook advertising? Check out these resources from WordStream: