Do you want to know the secret to reaching owner-operators? You know, the one secret that will empower your business to grow sales revenue by double digits?
There isn’t one. Well . . . at least not that we know.
Owner-operators can be a difficult audience to reach. They’re constantly on the road, and they are consuming media in new, high-tech ways.
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This means you can’t rely on one-off print ads to meet your advertising needs anymore. Digital marketing is becoming more and more critical for reaching owner-operators and getting them to buy your product. Facebook, for instance, can be a game-changer, but that leads to more questions.
Isn’t Facebook really just for photos and families? Are owner-operators even on Facebook? How can I actually find them there? Will they buy my product if they see an ad?
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Are owner-operators on Facebook?
When you think of an owner-operator, terms like tech savvy or mobile probably don’t come to mind. However, that’s an outdated way of thinking. Owner-operators have adapted to new technologies over the past few years, developing complex media usage habits.
Facebook, in particular, is a must-have channel for reaching owner-operators. According to our research, about 47% of owner-operators self-report using Facebook, which is the highest usage of any social media network.
OOIDA estimates that there are approximately 350,000 owner-operators registered in the United States. If 47% of those drivers are on Facebook, that puts around 164,500 owner-operators within easy reach of your ads.
Now you’re probably thinking, “Facebook has over 1 billion users, how can I find such a small number of owner-operators among the masses?”
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Reaching Owner-Operators
You can reach owner-operators on Facebook. And it’s easier than you think. Facebook allows you to sift through the massive crowd of users to actually find and reach owner-operators.
The best place to start is with a custom audience.
Custom audiences are how you find very specific people on Facebook with precision. Otherwise, you would be stuck trying to find a very specific niche with very general information.
Social Media 101: 10 Tips to Build Better Facebook Ads
There are a few different ways you can build a custom audience on Facebook:
Customer lists –
You can use emails, phone numbers, and user IDs to target specific profiles on Facebook. As they add additional information to their profile, the better your targeting gets.
Website traffic –
You can create a list of people who have visited your website or viewed specific web pages. When they hit these pages, their browsers are tagged by a retargeting pixel which allows them to be targeted online.
App activity –
You can create a list of people who have taken a specific action in your app and target them based on their in-app actions.
You don’t have to build a custom audience alone. Randall-Reilly has a large audience of owner-operators that we can use to build ads for you, and an entire team dedicated to Facebook advertising. We can make sure your ad is driving the results you were expecting.
For some businesses, a custom audience isn’t enough and there may be too many eyes on your ad. You can layer on additional information like demographics and geographic location to make sure you are only displaying your ad to very specific owner-operators.
Narrowing down your audience can help you make sure the people seeing your ad are most likely to buy.
So now that we’ve established that you can reach owner-operators on Facebook, can you actually generate leads or sell a product?
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Ad Formats
Once again, the answer is yes.
Blog: The Quick Guide to Content Distribution
There are a number of different ways to get an owner-operator to buy a product or submit a lead form from an ad on Facebook. Below we’ve listed a number of formats and how they work:
Website click –
Ad format designed to send people directly to specific sections of your website.
Promote page –
Ad format designed to increase the number of likes to your Facebook page.
Boost posts –
Ad format designed to increase engagement on a post in the form of likes, comments, shares, and clicks.
App installs –
If you have an app, you can create an ad with a link to the app store where people can install your app.
App engagement –
You can create an ad that directs users to specific areas in your app you want them to go to. For example, you can send them to an in-app store.
Event attendance –
This ad format will allow you to create and promote an event that people can add to their calendar on Facebook. It also sends periodic reminders leading up to the event.
Claim offer –
You can create an ad with a coupon, discount, or special deal. This allows you to target your audience and limit the number of people who can claim your offer.
Choosing the right format can get a little tricky. Not only is there overlap between formats, but there may be opportunities that you’re missing solely because you aren’t a Facebook expert. Taking a little time to familiarize yourself with Facebook advertising and relying on media partners can help you manage your ad sets.
Facebook ad formats provide flexibility for advertisers to accomplish a wide range of goals.
Reaching owner-operators can be difficult at the best of times. They have complex media habits, despite long-outdated and persistent stereotypes, and you have the challenge of finding a way to reach them. But you have to do more than that. You have to get them to take action and buy a product.
Facebook is a great opportunity. You have the means to actually reach owner-operators and drive profitable actions that make your business money.
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