Facebook Tips: Get holiday business and keep new customers

Now that the holidays are here, and you’ve selected the right ad for your business, here are some suggestions for targeting and creative best practices to get new customers and attention during the holidays. And everything described below can be done right from your page.

1. Target the right audience

No matter what kind of ad type matches your business goals—whether you’re trying to get sales or awareness—increase the reach and effectiveness of your ads by targeting audiences.

When you boost a post and want to target audiences beyond people who like your Page and their friends, select People you Choose through targeting. This allows you to target based on location, age, gender and interests.

When you promote your website or the call to action on your page, specify the interests of the people you want to reach. The Interests field will initially be filled, but add or remove any interests that don’t apply to your business.

When you’re creating a local awareness ad, go beyond thinking about the radius of the area you want to reach. Layer on additional demographics, such as age and gender, so that you reach the right people for your business.

2. Build your creative

Stand out this season by creating warm, holiday-themed ads right from your Page.

• Feature high-quality images. Use bright, cheerful holiday-themed images of your business to reach more people.
• Create incentives. Create promotions, such as discounts, free shipping, limited-time offers or holiday giveaways.
• Keep the story going. Create a seamless look from your ads to your site, so people stay connected to your message.
• Add a call to action. Include a single, clear call to action that tells people what to do, such as "shop now" or "sign up today."
• Keep image text short. Ensure there's no more than 20% text within your ad image for it to be approved. Try our grid tool.

3. Keep the momentum going

No matter what kind of business you are—a store with a physical location or a website that sells things online—if your holiday goal is to get people to know about you and what you offer, here are two easy things you can do:

• Identify what about your ads resonated with people. Was it the imagery? The tone? Future ads should be similar to your best performing ads.
• If your ads received attention from a particular demographic, make sure you target your next set of ads to that particular demographic.