There has been a real social media boom in the past decade, with lots of new names popping up especially in the mobile world. You surely heard of Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, or LinkedIn. However, Facebook managed to propel itself to the top of the social media race and stays there to this day. This means that everyone who wants to get noticed and build following is interested to learn how to gain Facebook competitive advantage.

Facebook was born in a Harvard dorm in 2004 as a platform for students to interact with each other over the internet. Since then, it has steadily grown to become much more than that. Above all, it is now a very important advertising platform for brands and businesses of all sizes and niches.

Facebook’s competitive advantage stems mainly from the huge number of monthly active users. There are more than 2 billion – when compared to other social networks like LinkedIn (70 million) or Twitter (335 million).

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Facebook as an advertising platform

Considering the high number of users on the platform, it would be a mistake for any business, big or small, to ignore online marketing. At the moment there are well over 65 million businesses on Facebook, and the network accounts for 20% of the global online advertising market. So if you are just embarking into the online advertising world, you need to know that you are bound to have a fair amount of competition for likes, shares, and conversions.

It’s important to note, though, that of all the online businesses registered on Facebook, only around 6 million actually invest in advertising on the social network. This still means you will have a lot of competition. However, it gives you hope that it’s a bit easier to gain Facebook competitive advantage over other businesses in your niche.

What makes Facebook such an attractive advertising platform, you might wonder? Besides the extraordinary number of users and potential customers for any business, the social network holds a valuable amount of user information and is very efficient at target marketing. This gives companies the opportunity to create effective ad campaigns with a customized approach.

Another important aspect that makes Facebook a great advertising platform is the engagement rate. This concept is defined as the number of people who view a post or ad and react to it in a way or another, through likes, shares, or comments. For business advertising on Facebook, the engagement rate allows it to measure the pulse of potential customers.

How To Gain Facebook Competitive Advantage?

Everyone wants to get the most from Facebook advertising, but this requires some time and a lot of work. There is no right recipe for success in this case, but any business can learn some techniques that will allow them to gain Facebook competitive advantage. Here are some strategies to help you out:

Understand And Follow Facebook Ad Best Practices

Businesses that are new to Facebook advertising should first do some research and understand how it works. There are countless guides for beginner advertisers to learn how to create effective ads. If we look at the big picture, Facebook advertising isn’t very different from other types of online marketing, but it’s important to understand the specifics in order to be successful. That’s why it’s good to know and follow the best practices in order to create ads that your target audience will find appealing.

Use Lookalike Audiences

One of the best ways to gain Facebook competitive advantage is to always try to find new customers. You can do this by using Facebook’s lookalike audience feature.

When you want to reach more people and go beyond your custom audiences, you can create a lookalike audience. It’s very easy to do so, as Facebook does all the hard work for you. All you need to do is choose a custom audience to use as your source group and the platform will identify your audience’s demographic and behavioral information. Based on this, it will find other Facebook users who resemble your source group.

Spy on your competition

Another great way to gain a competitive edge on Facebook is to spy on your competition. It’s always good to know what happens around you, especially in such a competitive field as online marketing. Do a little research and learn about the advertising strategies other companies are using. A great tool that can lend you a helping hand in this regard is PowerAdSpy.

With its rich features, PowerAdSpy will allow you to search through millions of Facebook ads created by businesses all over the world. You will thus discover what works for them and find some inspiration for your own ads.

This Facebook ad spy tool comes with advanced filtering options, great tracking features, and in-depth analytics, which will assist you in understanding your competition’s advertising strategies.

 

Use Messenger ads

Facebook Messenger can be very effective as an advertising channel. How so? It can be used to send personalized sponsored messages to potential clients’ inboxes. It has been proven that receiving a direct message significantly increases the likelihood of further interaction and sales.

Messenger ads are great because they give advertisers the opportunity to generate real, organic conversations with their potential customers. They can also personalize customer service and tailor the experience for each user.

Create A Marketing Funnel

A very important step when creating Facebook ads is to take into account the buyer’s journey. Many see the ad, but don’t take any action. Or visit the landing page of a business, but don’t finalize a purchase. That’s why retargeting practices and creating a marketing funnel for the customers are very important.

Businesses can gain Facebook competitive advantage by showing potential customers content, offers and messages that are actually relevant to their needs and problems. Observe where the customer currently is in the marketing funnel and create meaningful content which is relevant to their current status.

The Bottom Line

Facebook’s dominance in the social media realm, particularly as an advertising platform, is indisputable. With over 2 billion monthly active users and a substantial portion of the global online advertising market, businesses are compelled to harness its potential to gain a competitive edge.

While the competition is fierce, strategies like understanding Facebook ad best practices, leveraging lookalike audiences, spying on competitors, utilizing Messenger ads, and creating effective marketing funnels can pave the way for success.

By embracing these techniques and adapting to the dynamic landscape of Facebook advertising, businesses can effectively navigate the platform and secure their position in the digital marketplace.