Facebook Ads for Health Care Professionals

New Zealand · CPD points & talks · Psychologists

Continuing on from my previous article on Google Ads for healthcare professionals. If you want to get started on my series of articles, you should read my first on marketing for healthcare professionals here.

Background to Facebook Ads

You've most likely used one or more of Facebook's products (who hasn't?) recently, and if so, you should be familiar with the ads that you see. With 2.45 billion users on Facebook, 1 billion on Instagram, 1.3 billion Facebook Messenger users, and 1.5 billion on Whatsapp, Facebook's suite of products is massive to say the least. All of these products include some form of advertising (except Whatsapp, which is rumoured to be coming soon), and just like Google Ads, anyone can create ads on them.

Although Facebook Ads bear many similarities to Google Ads, there are some key differences;

Google Ads offers both text and visual ads, while Facebook's ads are almost entirely visual.
Google Ads focuses on intent (that is, someone intends to do something, searches for it, and a related ad is shown), while Facebook Ads focuses on demographics (you're a person aged 35 living in Cape Town, who is interested in cars).

These differences are critical when thinking about and planning ads on either ecosystem. For Facebook Ads, you can create ad campaigns that target people based on their interests and online behaviour, whether or not they are currently looking for your product or service. This allows you to reach new audiences, inform people about your product, and keep you top of mind in the future.

Important Terms

Just like Google Ads, Facebook Ads is very data-centric. It revolves around raw numbers and optimization of those numbers over the long term. This is the power of digital advertising in general - you get extensive data, which can be used to great effectiveness in improving ROI. Here are a few important terms to be aware of;

ROI - return on investment. How much your spend vs how much you make.
Conversion - a person or user who takes an action. In some cases that may be a sign up, a contact form submission, or a purchase.
CPC - cost per click. The average charge you incur when someone clicks on an ad.
Impression - when an ad is displayed, regardless of whether they click on it or not.
CTR - click through rate. The ratio of clicks vs impressions.
Conversion rate - the ratio of clicks to conversions.

The Fundamentals

To create an account, you must first have a Facebook page (note that this is not the same as your personal Facebook profile). You can then create a Facebook Business Account at business.facebook.com and follow the steps from there.

Once you've set up an account, the hierarchy is somewhat similar to Google Ads;

Campaigns are the broadest grouping, which have very little information (a name and some basic goal settings).
Under each campaign, you can have any number of ad sets. Depending on your business, you might have a single ad set, or one for each targeting approach and/or service. Ad sets have the most important settings, including audience targeting and budget.
Under each ad set, you can create any number of ads. There are a range of different types of ads, detailed below.

When creating an ad campaign, you will typically create one or more of each of the above items, and then your ads will appear.

Types of Ads

Facebook offers a number of different ad options. I'll just list some of the most common;

Single image ad. This is the simplest ad option. It includes just one banner image, some minimal text, a link, and some optional settings.
Multiple image ad. This is exactly like the single image ad, except that it allows you to upload many images at once, creating duplicates of the single ad but each with its own image.
Carousel ad. This allows to upload multiple images, and minimal text for each, which are displayed as a horizontally scrolling carousel.
Video ad. Just like the single image ad, except with a video.

Placement Options

Given that Facebook includes a number of different products, you have the option to show your ad in one or more of them, in different places. Again, there are many options and I'll just include a few;

Facebook/Instagram timelines. These show up in a user's Facebook or Instagram feed.
Facebook/Instagram stories. Same, but with stories.
Messenger inbox. As a mini ad in the user's Messenger chat list.
Audience network. This will show your ad in non-Facebook websites that are part of its partner program.

Audiences

When creating your ad set, you'll be asked to specify the target audience. This is a critical step, as it's how Facebook knows who should see your ad. If you don't plan it carefully, you'll end up wasting your money. Here are some of the more basic options available (note that you can and should include multiple options to limit your audience);

Geographic location. Where the person is, physically. Can be anything from a country (or countries) down to a city/town.
Age range.
Gender.
Interests. This is the one that makes Facebook ads so powerful. You can target people who are interested in particular topics, or have certain education, or follow certain types of pages. There are many, many options, and you should think carefully about how your audience can be defined accurately.

Best Practice

Just like with Google Ads, it's very easy to set up a campaign and have it running in under an hour. Getting an effective campaign with a good ROI, though, is a different story. Here's a few tips;

Read carefully. Facebook has many, many options. Each with pros and cons. Read the descriptions, do your research, and don't just select every option.
Get professional images designed. While it is certainly possible to make your own images, or use stock photos, the best ads are uniquely made for you. A graphic designer will put design ads that are significantly more effective.
Think carefully about how to target your audience. Are they likely to live only in a certain area? Do they have a certain type of education? Or family structure? For example, if you're a GP, you might want to focus on people aged 28 to 40, with children in a 10km radius from your practice. You'll also want to match your ads to the target audience (for example, Get your kids vaccinated!).
Start small. Facebook has a massive reach. It's better to start with very targeted ads, and expand your audience slowly and carefully over time. Do not just target hundreds of thousands of people.
Optimize. Just like Google Ads, you want to try new ideas, pause ads that aren't working, and keep your eye on the data.

Pros and Cons

Facebook Ads can be hugely effective. It's half the reason Donald Trump became president, after all (and also why Brexit came to exist). The cost of running Facebook Ads can be much lower than Google Ads, or most other types of advertising. And you can get a huge reach from your campaign, particularly with people who would never otherwise find you.

Unlike Google Ads, however, Facebook Ads are not likely to convert well. This comes back to the issue of intent. Where Google Ads revolve around someone's intent to do something or buy something, Facebook Ads are shown to people regardless of whether they're currently in the market for your product/service. This issue can be addressed by effective targeting, and working with some audience options such as purchase behaviour, but it's fundamentally a part of the type of advertising.

I'd strongly recommend that you get an agency to create and manage your Facebook Ads for you. Although the cost can be much higher, you'll get better results and ROI than if you run it yourself. If you're determined to try, though, start by watching videos and reading more articles.