In its Q3 2017 earnings call, Facebook announced it has more than 6 million active advertisers, and had previously announced that Instagram has over 2 million advertisers with the vast majority being small- and medium-sized businesses.
Marketers who have created a Facebook ad recently know the tools to do so are pretty easy and intuitive, but the targeting by demographics, behaviors and interests that the network offers just might not go far enough to get the kind of return SMBs need.
Website Magazine recently learned about
Needls from its CEO and Co-Founder Justin Hartzman, and its offering could be one business owners and agencies may want to consider for its ability to use intent in the delivery of Facebook and Instagram ads.
When, for example, was the last time you personally "Liked" a plumber on Facebook? If never, then a Facebook ad would likely never reach you when you post about a plumbing emergency on Facebook since the ad would be served by behaviors, interests and demographics (you've Liked a plumber before, are interested in plumbing or are a plumber yourself). Rather, Needls is able to deliver a client's ad when they post about the plumbing emergency (when they are clearly showing intent to solve the current problem). Hartzman provided this example to help us better understand interests versus intent, and it makes a whole lot of sense.
This level of personalized advertising is often out of reach for small and medium-sized businesses and even the agencies they employ. Needls automates the delivery of ads and helps with the creative too. They'll take what the client provides them, but since they want the most amount of ads possible to do the most amount of testing possible they will scale the creative.
For their services, Needls'
plans start at $100 a month on top of ad budget. They have some companies spending upward of hundreds of thousands of dollars on Facebook and Instagram advertising but smaller budgets are welcomed as well. The minimum budget is about $50 a week in order for Needls to conduct "proper testing." On Facebook itself for ads set to get charged for clicks, Likes, video views or post engagement, the daily budget must be at least
$5 a day, which really does not get businesses much. While the increased exposure depends on the audience set, $5 a day could mean 500-1,000 more people see a post (see image). Again, however, if someone's tooth hurts it would be much more beneficial for them to be delivered an ad immediately after they share this update versus them getting an ad for a dentist after they have gone to a local office and Liked the dentist on Facebook. How Needls is different, said Hartzman, is it identifies people's needs based on interest targeting that is already there but, more importantly, intent when people need to access a product or service "now."