Facebook Ads Manager has updated its design and navigation and introduced new features for advertisers. Here’s how to take advantage of the updates.
With over 2.38 million monthly active users, Facebook advertising has become an essential part of any successful marketing strategy. When it comes to healthcare, the platform offers the chance for healthcare organizations and providers to reach new audiences, boost website traffic, and increase patient appointments.
Since Facebook is a user-focused platform, it continues to adapt its offerings to remain in line with consumer preferences. Most recently, the company announced that Ads Manager will be undergoing a transformation. The new updates are designed to make the Ads Manager interface more streamlined, aesthetically appealing, and easy to navigate.
While the essential functions of Ads Manager remain the same, some important features have changed or improved. Here’s what medical marketers need to know about Facebook’s latest capabilities.
Facebook’s changes are focused on delivering simpler navigation and a cleaner interface. While many of these updates are cosmetic — e.g. more room to manage campaigns and examine reporting tools — others directly affect the ad-building process. For instance, Ads Manager now includes a copy and paste feature, as well as an auto-naming feature. These tools allow users to quickly duplicate and customize campaigns and ad sets.
In addition to these features, Facebook has also launched a new bidding option. Alongside bid cap, which focuses on controlling bids in an auction, and target cost, which prioritizes predictable and consistent costs, there is now an option called “cost cap bidding.” This tool allows advertisers to balance both cost-efficiency and campaign results by setting a maximum cost per action (CPA).
This third bidding option is not yet available to all users, but is expected to roll out to additional accounts over the course of 2019. As medical marketers become familiar with this function, they’ll be able to maximize their return on ad spend and drive volume at the same time.
Facebook is no longer a discretionary tool for HCPs, but an important avenue through which to reach potential patients. According to one study, 41% of patients report that social media influences their choice of doctor, hospital, or medical practice. Further, Facebook ads typically generate a high ROI for healthcare organizations.
According to Wordstream, the average cost per click (CPC) for the medical industry is $1.32, $0.40 below the national average for all industries ($1.72). What’s more, while the average Facebook ad conversion rate for all industries is 9.21%, healthcare’s conversion rate is nearly two points higher (11.00%). Finally, the average CPA for medical ads ($12.31) is significantly lower than the overall average ($18.68). These figures suggest Facebook advertising is an especially welcoming and lucrative place for medical marketers.
For HCPs who haven’t started using Facebook Ads, the time is now. The platform allows advertisers to create highly targeted, cost-efficient ads based on users’ age, gender, language, income, and more. It also offers location-specific targeting to ensure marketers are reaching the right audiences.
Facebook’s extensive ad capabilities — and new, user-friendly features — make the platform a particularly appealing investment for healthcare organizations. By incorporating Facebook ads into their digital marketing strategy, hospitals and HCPs can start expanding their digital presence and increasing patient volume.