If you’re already using Facebook for showcasing your business and taking advantage of it as a social media platform, then way to go! But the truth of the matter is, there is more to Facebook than likes, comments and shares; in fact, did you know that according to the research site, Emarketer, Facebook and Twitter alone, will combine this year to account for nearly 34% of the digital display ad expenditure of $37.36 billion?

That’s a ton of money and a huge opportunity, so with all this advertising potential on one social media platform, it makes sense why businesses of all sizes continue to use Facebook ads to reach their target audiences and promote their products. In this article we will not discuss the ins and outs of how to create a Facebook ad, but instead we will focus on what happens when someone click on that ad of yours, what’s next? That’s where landing pages come in.

What is a landing page?

In the simplest sense, a landing page is a specific or dedicated page in an online marketing campaign that someone lands on after clicking on a call to action. A landing page should exist separately from your main website’s home page, as the role of the landing page is to act as a conversion point on a specific campaign offer.  So for the purposes of this discussion, when a Facebook user clicks on an advertisement in their feed, the page that they will be redirected to upon clicking that ad is what is known as the landing page.

Not all landing pages are created equal however, and there are a number of ways that a landing page can actually turn off a user when it’s not put together thoughtfully and logically. Now to help you avoid landing pages that aren’t successful and instead create landing pages with lead-converting potential, let’s take a look at a few best practices that will show you how to create a great Facebook landing page!

A great Facebook Landing page will include the following best practices:

• Ideal user experience-With every marketing campaign that you do it’s imperative to always think from the perspective of your audience, or in this case the likely user viewing your ad on Facebook. Think about the intent of the Facebook user when they click on the ad sending them to your landing page; what appealed to them about the ad in the first place to want to click on it?

*Remember that when coming to a landing page from a Facebook ad, the user is not necessarily in the commitment stage yet, so don’t make the mistake of assuming they are when creating a landing page.

• Visual consistency– Keeping in mind that Facebook ad’s themselves are mostly visual, it’s important to create a landing page that is consistent with both the appearance and the content of what the Facebook ad discussed. If for example, a user clicks on an ad that had a picture of product they were interested in and wanted to learn more about, a landing page with anything other than more information about that product (with consistent visual messaging) would be misleading to the user. So use those great product or company images to create a visually appealing and relevant landing pages.

• Must be mobile-friendly– If you’ve ever clicked on a Facebook ad using your phone only to be redirected to a page with terrible text sizes and too much to scroll through before you actually find what you are looking for, you know how frustrating it is for users of a poorly constructed landing page! Just as with every page and piece of content you create, you have to make sure the content is optimized for mobile devices.

• Consistent messaging- Just as with the visual presentation of the Facebook ad and the landing page, the messaging itself must also be consistent between the two stages of the online marketing campaign if you wish to have maximum impact on your audience. Don’t try to trick or fool the users with content or information that they never end up seeing; follow through with the expectations set in your Facebook ads to gain the trust of your audience.

• Create a conversion point (Form field) – Now that you have a mobile friendly, visually and messaging consistent landing page all you need now is a strong call action that leads a visitor towards the next step. If you just leave things on the note of “Hey here we are, isn’t this…. great,” you are missing the most important point of a landing page. As we mentioned before a landing page is meant to convert a visitor into a lead. The most common way to do this is by having a relevant form to capture the visitors information. The form will most likely be the method by which a visitor identifies who they are in order to receive the offer in which the advertising campaign was based on. Once you receive the visitors information it is time to fulfill on the offer they signed up for.

Above all, don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with new ideas if something isn’t working, because as your customers and users change and grow, so should your online marketing campaigns.

If you would like more tips on who to increases your leads and conversions throughout your online presence please check out this free Whitepaper on 30 greatest lead generating tips.

Written by Cassie Sohn