Social media has created ways to bypass the gatekeepers that prevent engagement with the top influencers in any industry—if you know the right ways to use it.
“The Social Media Side Door” author Ian Greenleigh showed attendees of his Vocus webinar several “hacks,” none more compelling than one involving targeted Facebook ads.
For less than $10 you can target Facebook ads to reporters, influencers and anyone you want to engage. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to use Facebook to get press coverage.
Want more social media PR ‘hacks?’ Register for Ian’s on-demand webinar now!
How to create a targeted Facebook ad
- Read the terms of service to make sure you don’t accidentally violate them. “It’s all about how you get the data to target,” Ian says.
- Find the Facebook profile of the person you hope to engage. Edit the URL from https://www.facebook.com/iangreenleigh to graph.facebook.com/iangreenleigh, for example.
- Copy the ID number at top and paste it into cell 1 of a spreadsheet.
- Save the spreadsheet as a CSV file.
- Go to Facebook Ads Manager, open Power Editor on the banner at the left of the screen.
- Click Create Audience.
- Upload the CSV you saved. You can fill whatever names you’d like in the “Audience Name” and “Description” fields. In the Type section, choose UIDs and click “Create.”
- Find an image that stands out and relates to your pitch with a Google image search and save it to your computer.
- Click “Create an Ad” at the top right of the page.
- Enter the URL of your LinkedIn or Twitter profile. To have the ad appear in your target’s news feed (not just on the sidebar), connect the ad to your Facebook page.
- Add a headline and body text.
- Scroll down and check the selection under “Custom Audiences” that matches the name of the audience you created. Ignore any warnings about low impressions because it doesn’t apply here.
- Scroll down further and name your campaign, choose to run it continuously and optimize for Impressions.
- Bid at least $20 for a daily budget and make the lifetime budget at least three times whatever amount you choose. (The ad will not cost you $20. That’s the price for 1,000 impressions. Most often the target will see it only once or twice.)
- Click “Review Order” at the bottom of the page and wait to hear from your target. (Don’t forget to A/B test to create the best possible ads.)
Ready for marketing’s future? Brian Solis can help. Register for his webinar now!
