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Which Facebook Ad Campaign type should a Portrait Photographer use?

One of the first things anyone does when setting up a new campaign in Facebook Ads Manager is to select their campaign type. There are quite a few of them and they all do different things, so which campaign type should a studio or portrait photographer use?

 

In an ideal world, when you have a larger marketing budget, we’d say a couple. That isn’t always the case and you don’t want to be wasting your budget on the wrong type so in this blog we’re going to suggest where to begin.

 

First, we need to look at the Facebook campaign types.

A screenshot within Facebook Ads Manager showing the campaign types available

What are the different Facebook Ad Campaign types?

Awareness

What Facebook says about Awareness – “Show your ads to people who are most likely to remember them.

Awareness campaigns are all about getting yourself in front of as many people as possible. It isn’t necessarily about providing them with a Call-to-action. Instead you want to build a trustworthy image of yourself in people’s minds. 

 

How could a studio or portrait photographer use Awareness campaigns? 

If you’re after bookings this isn’t the option you want to go for, we run very few campaigns on Awareness simply because most photographers need bookings to keep their business going. 

Sometimes the winter months can see an increase in cost-per-lead due to the sheer number of other advertisers that jump in to get Christmas gift traffic. We’ve put together a blog about the challenge of winter, you can read more here

If you find that your cost-per-lead is consistently getting too high week-by-week, and if you’re confident that you have enough bookings over winter then you might consider Awareness campaigns. Whilst bookings might not come in so often you will at least be getting your business out there throughout each month, and usually at a cheaper cost.

 

Traffic

Facebook says – “Send people to a destination, like your website, app, Instagram profile or Facebook event.”

The Facebook algorithm is clever and it’s getting better. With this campaign type, Facebook works out who is more likely to perform an action that takes them away from the ad. This could be to a landing page, Whatsapp, Instagram and even calls.

 

How could a studio or portrait photographer use Traffic campaigns? 

Traffic campaigns are the campaign type you should be running if you’re using landing pages to capture leads. In this instance you have the choice between optimising for ‘Link clicks’ or ‘Landing page views,’ you should choose the latter. 

Link clicks will show your ads to those who, according to Facebook’s algorithm, click on ads. However, this doesn’t take into account how long someone is willing to wait for a landing page to load.

Optimising for landing page views means that Facebook will serve your ads to people who are more likely to stick around and wait for the landing page to load, as well as stay and consume the content on it.

 

Engagement

Facebook’s description of an Engagement campaign goes like this – “Get more messages, purchases through messaging, video views, post engagement, Page likes or event responses.”

It’s really important to understand what this means. Whilst people engaging with your business sounds like this could result in bookings for your studio, this isn’t going to be the best campaign type for that purpose. 

Ads within an Engagement campaign are going to be presented to people who show behaviours such as liking and sharing content. Messaging could work out for you if you feel you could make sales through messaging but we want to make sure your budget is being used in the most effective way.

 

How could a studio or portrait photographer use Engagement campaigns? 

Much like Awareness you might consider using an Engagement campaign if you have extra budget to spend or want to shift away from lead generation providing you have plenty of leads booked in the coming months.

If you’ve invested in a high-quality marketing video for your studio then this could be a good option to get views and engagement as well as build trust with your audience.

 

Leads

“Collect leads for your business or brand” – that’s all that Facebook says about this campaign type. Does any more need to be said?

This is the campaign type we recommend to most studio and portrait photographers. 

Why?

You want leads right??

By using this campaign type Facebook is going to show your ads to those that are more likely to perform an action that turns them into a lead. 

 

How could a studio or portrait photographer use Leads campaigns? 

Within Lead campaigns you’re able to use Instant forms, Messenger and Instagram, Conversions, and Calls.

Messenger and calls sounds idle if you want to begin a conversation fast but we have to remember our audience is likely to be cold, meaning they aren’t ready to buy from you. Because of this, it’s better to collect their information and begin a nurturing process through both email and phone calls.

Conversions are a measured way of sending traffic to a landing page. Rather than showing ads to people who will look at a landing page, they’ll show them to people who have, in the past, shown behaviour that suggests they’ll perform a converting action. When we refer to conversions, in this case, we mean completing a form and reaching a thank you page.

Then there’s Instant forms and we love them. These are great because Facebook can pre-fill personal information and all the user has to do is check and submit. This reduces the friction that can come with asking for personal details.

 

App Promotion

We aren’t even going to talk about this. If you have an app and you want people to install it, then pick this one.

 

Sales

Finally there’s sales and Facebook says – “Find people likely to purchase your product.”

This sounds ideal, doesn’t it? You want more sales, don’t you?

Well unfortunately this is for more immediate sales where you’d be sending traffic to make a purchase. Most photographers make their sales after the photoshoots.

 

Final verdict, what Facebook campaign type should a studio or portrait photographer use?

In our opinion, it’s a no-brainer. Running a Leads campaign is the way to go. 

By selecting a Leads campaign you’ll be serving your ads to people who have shown behaviours in the past that make them more likely to complete your forms, whether you’re using a landing page or Instant forms.

If you want to know how to make sure your Lead ad campaigns are being served to a local audience around your studio, then check out this blog – Getting local leads with Facebook Advertising (Best Practices)