What if I told you that Facebook advertising doesn’t need to be hard or expensive?
Imagine you could create a steady flow of new customers begging you to provide your service.
By the end of it, they’re singing your praises and happy to be repeat customers. How amazing would that be?
It feels so far away, almost impossible doesn’t it?
This is the reality for most small businesses.
You know you should be doing it. You know you’re missing the boat by not getting on board now. But you can’t afford to throw your marketing budget down the drain.
Maybe you tried Facebook ads before and they didn’t really work. Or possibly you’re still putting money in now, but it’s hard to tell if it’s really worth it.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
The truth is, if you know the right steps to take, profitable and predictable results are possible right now.
In the next few paragraphs I’m going to share the top strategy used by the best Facebook Ad agencies.
All you have to do to learn the system for effectively getting results from Facebook is read on.
What You Will Learn
- Why now is the right time to get serious about Facebook ads
- How mastering the process can be more trouble than it’s worth
- The two steps that are the trick to maximizing your Facebook Ad campaigns
For most new Overflow clients, Facebook is my go to starter network.
That’s significant, because I’m much more experienced with other platforms. I’m knee deep in SEO & Adwords, but Facebook is my point guard right now.
So, Why Facebook & Why Now?
Just about every person over 25 is active on FB, but ads haven’t tarnished the experience too much… yet.
Facebook’s power editor delivers serious results, but the ad platform changes frequently enough that casual advertisers keep their distance.
Promoting video is cheap, because Facebook wants to eat YouTube’s lunch.
You can manage your Facebook and Instagram advertising from the same place.
All that is a great combination for someone like me who lives and breathes digital marketing.
But what about those who don’t?
Eventually Facebook will make things so easy that a newbie can point and click a fully featured campaign in seconds. However, we aren’t there yet.
Now is the time to get in before saturation hits.
There was a time when Google Adwords was here. If you missed the boat then, here’s your second chance.
I’m about to share the exact process we use to get the best results on Facebook for our clients.
This is the same method used by top Facebook ad agencies, and although it’s super simple you rarely hear it shared.
Ready to Master Facebook Ads?
Ambitious aren’t we?
Very few folks can claim Facebook Ads mastery. Overall mastery might not even be possible right now with the rate that new features are being released.
Our team is pretty darn good, but our campaigns are not at the level of mastery in early 2017 for these two good reasons.
- Our small business clients are extremely happy when we start sending them leads that come in faster, are higher quality, and still cheaper than their other advertising.
- A mastery level campaign requires modeling your entire sales funnel within Facebook so the algorithm can understand and optimize conversions all along the way. In plain English: Mastery takes a ton of time to set up, so it’s extremely expensive before it gets cheaper.
When you go from $9 per lead, to $4 using Facebook, your client is extremely happy. Investing a ton to shave another 40 cents isn’t immediately super attractive.
At Overflow we’re practicing mastery level techniques in our test campaigns, but in general for smaller businesses and budgets it’s just not worth it.
At some point in the future having mastered the platform will separate profitable from unprofitable campaigns, but we’re not there yet.
Why does this matter to you?
You don’t need to be the most knowledgeable. Do what it takes to create a profitable campaign… now! Ride the wave before it’s gone.
These Two Steps Guarantee Facebook Success
Ok. You’ve let go of the pipe dream of campaign perfection, so what basic process will get you the most bang for your buck?
It all boils down to two steps.
Like most of my other articles, this two-step process is based on the core principles of good marketing and advertising. So, although we’re talking about Facebook, the concept can easily be expanded to other platforms both digital and physical.
Step 1: Maximize Congruence with the Platform
When I say maximize congruence, I mean blend in with Facebook.
Don’t start by creating ads. Start with content your target market wants.
You will pay to promote this content, but it should not be what anyone would traditionally consider to be advertising.
Your content should be just like what your market is already engaging with.
In my Facebook stream, friends regularly share memes, thought provoking articles, politics, recipes cooked on video, life accomplishments & current events.
Figure out what your audience’s stream is full of, and interpret that content through the lens of your industry.
If you’re a sneaker company but politics is front and center, what about a meme that compares the sneaker Obama represents vs Trump?
Only those in your target market should be interested in your content. When this is true, anybody who engages has self-selected as a member of your tribe.
The content must be polarizing to your people, and ignored by others. Your market should love or hate it. (Note: They should hate the subject matter, not you. i.e. a common enemy)
A luke-warm reaction from your market is the enemy of success. Measure the effectiveness of your content by monitoring comments, likes & shares.
Step 2: Minimize the Friction to Conversion
Add the people who engage with your content to custom audiences using your Facebook pixel. Retarget them with ads.
Without the tech-speak… use interesting content as bait to attract your customers. Then show only those people who took the bait your ads.
It’s that simple.
Facebook and other auction based ad platforms like Google Adwords reward advertisers for high click through rates and engaged audiences.
It’s hard to have a low click through rate when you’re only showing ads to your best potential customers.
If this doesn’t work for you, you suck.
I hate to end on a negative note, but I don’t want anyone reading this to go around looking for someone else to blame. If you try this two-step process and it doesn’t work for you, you have one or more of these problems:
- You suck at identifying your target market
- You suck at creating quality content
- You suck at creating Facebook ads
(Don’t you just love how when somebody says “I hate to do… but”, that means they’re about to do the exact thing they claim to hate?)
If you’re doing things right, your ad ‘relevance score’ on Facebook should be at least 5. If not, revisit the three items above.
Remember… Facebook ad mastery isn’t required.
Just don’t completely suck, and you’ll still kick some Facebook butt! 😉
Although I may have just told you that you suck, also know that you’re incredibly intelligent for being here reading this post in the first place!
I just can’t in good conscience allow you to go around thinking that Facebook won’t work for you. In 99% of cases it will work, you just need some additional tweaks to improve one or more of the 3 problems.
Here’s another thing that might make you feel better…
I fail at getting exactly what I want from Facebook about 70% of the time. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hit a home run the first time up at bat.
The true skill is in recognizing where you need to improve and knowing how to iterate to get successful results.
Pro Tip: Start your campaign by trying many variations simultaneously, including different images, copy, landing page headlines etc. and let the winners emerge from the pack.
PS: Although I said your relevance score should be above 5, if you’re able to get successful results with lower metrics, BE HAPPY. The low relevance score probably means there’s room for improvement, but a final result that’s aligned with your goals is all that really matters!