Facebook has grown immensely over the last decade. This huge social platform attracts over 2 billion unique users every month. Its prodigy, Instagram, has a reach of over 500 million users on a daily basis. Thus, Facebook Ads have become one of the best advertising methods available online. At the moment, Google and its vast range of partners is the only advertising network that stands toe to toe with Facebook.
For most companies today, the question is not related to whether or not to invest in Facebook advertising. The real question is how to make the most out of your investment in Facebook Ads. An optimized, creative and streamlined advertising strategy on Facebook can make all the difference in successful lead conversion.
To help you make the most out of what Facebook has to offer and create successful Facebook Ads, we have created a list of our 9 best tips. Check them out below and take your Facebook strategy to a whole new level.
A/B Testing
Split testing is extremely effective when it comes to optimizing your landing page. Essentially you need to create similar ads by changing the headers, Call to Action (CTAs), images or descriptions.
Start with 2 similar ads that have a different heading, description, or image. Initially, set of budget of $5 per day and watch the ad performance once it reaches 500 impressions. Once that happens, you can check your Cost Per Link Click (CPLC), and Cost Per Conversion (CPC). Depending on the lifetime value of the prospect you are targeting, you can decide when the CPLC or CPC are too high. This can be a somewhat subjective number since it is entirely up to you as to what you want to spend in your budget.
Once you have a winner, eliminate the loser and continue to test another part of the ad. When you see some ads continue to convert with a lower CPLC and CPC, up the budget in those ads and shut down other ads that are not performing.
TIP: Don’t let Facebook decide on what is is performing best for you! When you create several ads in one adset, Facebook will optimize your ads within the adset selecting what their algorithm thinks is best. This does not always have the best outcome. Instead, test different ads in different adsets and decide for yourself what is working best.
Design Your Content to Convert
Your text, including headlines, description and call to action, should be specifically created to convert. Hold a brainstorm session with your team and think of the right approach to use. Write an irresistible headline that gets your audience’s attention, coupled with a suggestive photo or video, and bold CTAs.
Remember, however, that people often zero in on the heading or description but overlook the other pieces of the landing page. A CTA button, for instance, can sometimes greatly increase your conversion rate. If you choose the wrong wording for a CTA button, this can turn off prospects and they’ll leave your funnel without even giving you a second thought.
Create an Irresistible Offer
It is essential that your offer is a jaw-dropping offer. If you provide a service, offer a big discount on that service for the first month to bring in new clients. If you are unable to offer a discount, offer something else of value to a prospect. If you are a consultant or coach, offer them insight into some of their most pressing issues. Take your time and think about your offer very carefully. A good offer is extremely effective at lead generation.
Any Facebook expert will tell you that your offer could make or break your campaign. If the offer is weak or worse yet, not related to your product or service, you will lose the prospect.
Some potentially good offers include an eBook, a free webinar, or a secret course that has a lot of value to the target audience. You can also split test offers to determine which one converts better.
Leverage the Urgency Factor
On Facebook, just like on any other social media platform, urgency plays a key part in getting and keeping the attention of your target prospect. Since almost all internet users live fast-paced lives and are always looking for great deals on-demand, it is important to incorporate urgency in any offer you create. For instance, a massage therapist might run an ad with a special promising a steep discount for the first three people to register on her site. Or they could offer a special for a limited time. By adding urgency to the offer, a massage therapist may get more prospects to send their information to them than their competition does.
In some instances, adding a timer or a countdown on your landing page may also urge prospects to register, subscribe to your offer, or buy your product.
Do not Neglect Social Proof
Social proof (customer testimonials) is very effective at boosting sales on Facebook – sometimes by up to 50%. (source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/a-new-way-to-measure-word-of-mouth-marketing). Hence, the next time you are brainstorming ad copy, do not forget to include a customer testimonial in the text above the image. In a marketing funnel, I always recommend video testimonials since they are more powerful and video is much more engaging than a quote or image.
Show Your Expertise
You should always position yourself as an expert in your niche. If you want to boost your sales or sign-ups, you need to show people that they can trust your approach and can utilize your ideas. For instance, if you have 10 years of experience as a digital marketer, you could use a subheading like “Course offered by a digital manager with 10 years of experience”. Emphasize your strong points and your experience, as this will dramatically boost your ad appeal to prospects.
Discover your Core Audience
Make the most out of Facebook’s targeting feature to micro-target your audience. Look at aspects such as age, sex, location, education level, purchase behavior, interests and even income. After you conduct a lot of A/B testing with your audience, you will be able to fine-tune it and discover the exact type of customers who are more likely to buy from you.
It is also important to keep your relevance score high on Facebook ads. If your score is low, Facebook will show your ad to less people in your targeting and they will charge you more for clicks or impressions depending on your ad optimization method.
Use Custom Audiences
With custom audiences, you can leverage the power of retargeting right on Facebook. You can also create lookalike audiences and dive deeper into Audience Insights.
One of my favorite methods of retargeting involves using video. If you have a Facebook ad using video, you can then set up a retargeting campaign to display additional ads to only people that have viewed your initial video. I usually set the trigger to anyone who has viewed my video for at least 3 seconds. Often, this is enough to get your target audience seeing your initial ad and then followup ads – without saturating your entire target audience which could lower your relevance score. This practice helps increase brand awareness and help you address the ‘rule of 7’. The rule of 7 refers to customer conversion and the fact that most prospects won’t convert until they’ve seen your offer at least 3 to 7 times. If you also add an email campaign, then you should adequately address this rule.
Use Videos
This is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, not many digital marketers know that users who watch videos are 1.8 times more likely to convert than those who watch photos (source: https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/search-marketing/seo-for-success-in-video-marketing/). Video ads are extremely easy to create, convert better and have a lower CPC. Video is always more engaging than a photo and easier to use in a retargeting campaign.
The Bottom Line
I always tell clients if they are struggling with their Facebook ads they should always look at the offer. Is it a jaw-dropping offer? If the offer is great, then look at the targeting. Those are the two most important areas for getting prospects to convert. If you are trying to convert from a website that Facebook ads link to, ensure that the landing page looks similar enough to the Facebook ad with similar language or you will get a noticeable drop in conversions on the landing page. Remember, if you get lots of interest from the Facebook ad, but people don’t sign up on the website landing page, then the problem is not your ad but rather your landing page.
Good luck out there!
Hi, I'm Paul
I publish helpful blog, podcast, and video marketing tips and for business owners and entrepreneurs that want to get more clients for their businesses and earn more revenue!