Should diving centers and diving tour companies advertise on Facebook? I have been asked this question several times over the past few years. Hi, my name is Francisco. I am the owner of Planet Marketing, a digital marketing company that specializes in Facebook Ads, Google Ads and remarketing. You are reading this post because you wish to find out how to properly advertise your diving business on Facebook. That’s what I am going to show you here. This article is divided into the following sections;
- Should diving centers and diving tour companies advertise on Facebook?
- A few tips to get you started.
- Creating your first Facebook Ad.
Should Diving Centers and Diving Tours Bother with Facebook Ads?
Before I jump into the deep end, it’s important for me to point out that Facebook has a problem and it is called search intent. Simply put, people do not go to Facebook to buy stuff or to sign up with one company or the other (yours included).
They go there to unwind while chatting with friends and family. They go there to read the latest bout of fake news, and to watch the funniest video on the web. Now, with such important things occupying their minds, it’s difficult for you as a business to make the breakthrough that you are looking for.
It’s difficult, but not impossible! That’s where people like me come into play. At any point in time, I have several Facebook ads marketing campaigns going for various clients. Thing is, Facebook Ads for Diving Centers and diving tour companies can be difficult.
However, once you have mastered what I am going to teach you here, you should be good to go. But before we get there, we need to outline some of the reasons why Facebook Ads are the logical choice for diving centers and diving tour companies;
There are millions of diving enthusiasts on Facebook
Find more statistics at Statista
Size is the major reason why Facebook has been trending in Digital Marketing circles over the past few years. Today, the platform has over 2.8 billion monthly active users.
Those figures are constantly changing. By the time you read this article, chances are high that the figure will be higher. You can check out the current statistics in the table above from Statista.
But why does it matter? Well, it matters because Facebook already plays host to millions of diving enthusiasts across the world. Your challenge as a business is to know how to effectively reach out to them.
Audience targeting can be precise with Facebook Ads
Another great thing about Facebook ads is that you can be very precise in your audience targeting. The world may be full of scuba enthusiasts, but not many of them will be relevant to your case.
As an example, you may be looking to only target people in your State or in your country. In that case, your ad will have to be within the relevant parameters.
The great thing is that Facebook gives you all the tools that you need to be very precise with your audience definition. The following are some of the tools, all of which can be found in the Ad Set;
Location
Where are the people who you are targeting located? That question will be easy if you understand the nature of your usual clientele. Maybe you get your customers from across your State. Or maybe you get them from across the country.
That’s possible for diving centers. The same cannot be said of other types of business. As an example, a restaurant will only attract people from about 5 miles around its physical location.
Very few people are going to drive across the country just to get to a restaurant, no matter how good it may be. Check out my article on Facebook Ads for restaurants to find out more.
For this example, we are going to assume that we own a diving company operating in Orange City, Florida. We will target people in and around the city with our ads.
We could even go Statewide, or Countrywide. So we are not as restricted as restaurants and bars in this regard.
Age
You can also target delivery of your ads based on age. In what age ranges does your usual clientele fall? Please note that you are not restricted here. Your choice depends on your situation.
Some diving centers are located in areas where visitors are usually young, while others are located in areas where they are older. For this example, we will target 18 to 30 year olds in and around Orange City, Florida.
Gender
You can also define your audience based on gender. Perhaps you are running a promo for one gender or the other.
This setting is of particular use if you are into gender specific products and services. A venue for kitchen parties, as an example, would be best placed targeting only women. For this example, we will target both men and women.
Language
Language can also be used for targeting a specific audience. Perhaps you wish to target people who speak Spanish. For this example, we will leave our settings on the defaults.
Facebook Ads are affordable
That’s another reason for doing Facebook Ads Marketing for diving centers and diving tour companies. If you were worried that you were going to have to rob somebody to be able to afford Facebook Ads, then you need to think again.
Facebook Ads are pretty affordable. In fact, you can get started for as little as $1. For that amount, you can boost a post.
Facebook Ads also tend to be cost effective. You get a great ROI, in spite of the problem of intent that we outlined at the beginning.
You can learn how to run your own campaigns
Worried about having to hire someone (like me) to do Facebook Ads marketing on your behalf? Well, the good news is that you can hire me without going over budget. And you can also learn how to run your own Facebook Ads.
That’s what many of the people who have signed up for my DIY Facebook Ads Marketing course are doing. The course contains lot’s useful videos that can help supplement the knowledge that you are going to get from this article.
Important steps to get you started
There are a few points that I need to cover before we get into the business of creating Facebook Ads for diving centers and diving tour companies. This section is important, so you need to spend some time on it. Think of the tips given here as important “getting set up steps;”
Do Remarketing via the Facebook Pixel
Diagram of Retargeting
If you have done digital marketing before, you will fully appreciate the difficulties that come from trying to get customers via various online platforms. As a diving business, chances are high that you already have a vibrant website.
You probably have been doing content and social media marketing to get people to your site. Content marketing is how you get free traffic from Google and other search engines.
Unfortunately, there are a number of challenges lying along the way to success. For one thing, you need to do Search Engine Optimization to gain visibility on Google. However, SEO takes lots of time.
Even when you are getting people from Google to your site, it turns out that only about 2% of them will ever convert. That’s the average eCommerce conversion rate. So, what can you do to remedy this situation?
Retargeting is one solution to this issue
One answer lies in remarketing. It’s sometimes referred to as retargeting. Remarketing is essentially a way of reaching out to people who have been to your site, and trying to convince them to buy as they move to other sites.
In this case, we are talking about Facebook. So, you want to track what people are doing on your site. If you do Facebook Ads for your diving company, you can track that interest using what’s referred to as the Facebook Pixel.
It’s a piece of code that you install on your site. Don’t worry; it’s not that difficult to install, and I can do it for you.
This code tracks what people are doing on your site. Say you have a page promoting a Summer diving deal for 18 to 20 year olds. You can track who goes to this page on your site.
The next time that they visit Facebook, they are shown ads that are relevant to their query on your site. It’s essentially a second chance to make a conversion. Using retargeting, you can boost your conversion rate to about 9%. So, this is definitely worth your while.
Create a Facebook Page
The majority of this article is dedicated to showing you how to do paid Facebook Ads. But that’s not the only way that you can use to market diving centers and diving tour companies on the world’s biggest social networking platform.
In fact, you can start by marketing your business free of charge on the platform. Before you do any Facebook ads, you need to first create a Facebook Page. Facebook Pages act as hubs for meeting former, current and prospective clients.
It’s essentially a good way of keeping the conversation going around your business. People will be able to find you on Facebook through your Page. You can also target an audience that’s composed of people who have previously liked your Page.
Let’s assume that these people who like your Facebook Page are previous customers for your diving tour company. You can target them with new promos, encouraging them to come back to do business with you. So, Facebook Pages are a great way of promoting your brand.
Think through your objectives for each ad beforehand
This tip applies to all Digital Marketing. What do you wish to achieve with your ad (or with a group of ads)? Do you wish to create brand awareness or to get traffic to a landing page? Do you wish to sale products directly on Facebook? Maybe you are looking to generate leads?
Facebook Ads campaign objectives
But why is this important? Well, it’s important because you don’t just advertise for the sake of advertising. You advertise because you have specific goals. On Facebook, these goals are translated into what are referred to as Campaign Objectives. Each Campaign on the platform needs to have one. Facebook provides you with the following 11 Campaign Objectives;
- Lead generation
- Catalog sales
- Conversions
- Store traffic
- Traffic
- Brand awareness
- Reach
- Video views
- App installs
- Messages
- Engagement
Which one works best when creating Facebook Ads for Diving Centers?
As just noted, you can only have one objective for each of your Campaigns. The good news is that there are no prescriptions here. A number of the available Campaign Objectives will do, depending on your particular goal. Check out below for the Campaign Objective that we picked for this example.
Creating your Facebook Ad
Now that we have done much of the groundwork, it’s time to start creating our ad. Facebook ads are created in Ads Manager. That’s where you need to herd to get started.
But you need to have a business manager account. It’s not a difficult process and you can sign up using your personal Facebook details. Creating an ad on Facebook has the following steps;
- Choosing a Campaign Objective
- Setting up your audience, budget and schedule in the Ad Set
- Creating and launching the ad
Picking a Campaign Objective
Choose a Campaign Objective
I have already talked about Campaign Objectives in the preceding section. For this example, we are going to going to pick Brand awareness as our Campaign Objective.
We will assume that the summer holidays are around the corner, and we wish to reach as many people as is possible at the lowest possible price. That way, we can promote awareness of our brand.
For that, we will need to target a new audience. But if you wish to target people who have been to your site as tracked by Pixel, you can go with Messages, Conversions or Lead generation as your Campaign Objective.
The Ad Set
There are a number of things that you need to work on in the Ad Set. It’s where you set up your budget. You also define and refine your target audience in the Ad Set.
Budget and Schedule
Specify your budget and schedule
We have already noted that Facebook Ads can really be cheap. You don’t have to worry too much about the exact optimal amount for Facebook ads for diving centers and diving tour companies. Start small and take it from there.
You can start with something like $5 per day. Remember we are running a brand awareness campaign. Those tend to be some of the cheapest. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible who are likely to remember us. As we go forward, we can adjust our spending accordingly.
Control your spending
One thing that I like to do, whether I am working on Facebook Ads or Google Ads, is to retain control of my spending. What happens is that when you sign up, Facebook gets your credit card information. To retain control, you need to have either date or budget limits on your spending.
As an example, in the above screenshot, I have set my ads to run for 7 days. At $5 per day, it means I will have spent $35 days after that period. I know, therefore, what I am going to spend beforehand.
You can also choose to have a Lifetime Budget. Again, that’s a good way of retaining control. You won’t have surprises with Google continuing to spend your money even when you no longer wish to have your ads show.
The Audience
The Audience section is where you define and refine your target audience. This is something that I have already covered, so I won’t get much into it here. I mentioned earlier that you can target people based on location, age, gender and language. There are several types on audiences when doing Facebook Ads;
- Custom Audiences
- New Audiences
- Lookalike Audiences
- Saved Audiences
Custom Audiences
You can target custom audiences
Custom Audiences are great in that you will be targeting people who have already had something to do with your business in one way or the other. They are, therefore, much more likely to be willing to engage your ads in a positive light.
We have already noted that you can target people who have been to your website. That’s a custom audience. The following are some of the other types of Custom Audiences when doing Facebook ads marketing for diving centers and diving tour companies;
- Website
- App activity
- Customer list
- Offline activity
- Video
- Lead form
- Instant Experience
- Shopping
- Instagram account
- Events
- Facebook Page
- On-Facebook Listings
New Audiences
New Audiences are useful if you are trying to generate new customers for your business. You use Location, Age, Gender, and Language(s) to define your new audience. We have already covered that part.
Detailed Targeting
Detailed Targeting
The Detailed Targeting section is where you narrow down on the people that you are targeting. For example, we can target people who are interested in the following;
- Diving
- Diving equipment
- Recreational diving
- Scuba diving
- Scuba Diving Magazine
- Underwater diving
Lookalike Audiences
These are based on other audiences that you have already defined. Let’s say you have created a new Audience. You can then choose to target a Lookalike audience, ie, those that are similar to the one that you have already defined. Perhaps they have already shown an interest in other diving related issues, such as liking Facebook Pages that are similar to yours.
Saved Audiences
Previously saved audiences
After defining your audience, you will want to save it. That way, you can use it on future campaigns. You can see examples of audiences that I have previously saved in the above screenshot.
The Ad
I won’t talk much about the Ad here. Each Ad will be different, depending on the nature of your business. When doing Facebook Ads marketing for diving centers and diving tour companies, you have the option to create video, single image and carousel ads.
Feel free to do a lot of testing to find the one that works best for you. That’s the beauty of Facebook Ads. You can play around with your ad till you get there. Should you decide on a video ad, you will want to make sure that it’s no more than 15 seconds long. Also make sure that the video is engaging.
Remember what we said about Facebook having a problem with intent? That’s working against you here. So, your ad needs to be really catchy for your to overcome ad blindness.
Summary
In this article, I showed you how to create Facebook Ads for diving centers and diving tour companies. I noted that the main challenge when it comes to Facebook ads is that of intent.
People go to Facebook to socialize. So, your job is to break into this state of mind, which can be difficult.
Facebook ads do work, however. Thousands of businesses around the world are using them to reach new and existing customers. This article covered only a small part of the process of creating Facebook ads.
You can learn more by signing up for my DIY Facebook Ads marketing course using the section below. I give out lots of videos and other materials that should help you master the process of creating your own ads on Facebook.
