Facebook is currently the biggest social media platform with almost 2 billion members. Half of those are online daily. With very few acceptations, your ideal client is there!
Facebook also has the very best targeting opportunities of any social media platform, which is critical for successful advertising.
I see so many entrepreneurs making the same mistakes over and over again. They are running Facebook ads incorrectly and wasting money. Or they are using Facebook advertising when they shouldn’t – it’s too early in their business to invest. Here are my 8 Steps to get you started the right way!
- Start with your offer
If no one wants what you are selling or offering, no Facebook ad can succeed. So if you can, use an offer where you have a proven track record – a course that you have already sold successfully, a coaching package where you have had previous successful clients. This way you know the offer is proven and you can focus on the ads themselves.
If you are starting from scratch, start with a lead generation campaign where you are offering something of value for free.
- Know Your Objective
When it comes to running Facebook ads, the first step is to choose your objective. You can run ads to build brand awareness and increase the number of likes on your Facebook page. Or you can promote your Facebook posts to do the same. I don’t typically recommend either of these tactics, as building an email list is more valuable than increasing Facebook liked.
NOTE: For more very valuable information, and more detail on these 8 steps, click here: http://bit.ly/FB-blueprint
3. Know your Numbers
This is a critical next step.
Before you start running any Facebook ad campaign, you need to know what you can pay for a new customer or lead
For example, if you speak to 10 potential clients, how many can you close into paying clients? Some people can close 1 out of 3, for some it’s 1 out of 5.
Once you know, decide how many clients you want, and calls booked and you can figure out how much you can pay per lead and still be profitable.
- Identify a budget you can live with
The number one question that people ask when it comes to Facebook advertising is how much do I need to spend on my Facebook ads?
It just depends on your monthly income and comfort level. With my clients, we usually start with $30 a day and build it up to $200, $500 or more.
The second most frequently asked question is how much should you be paying per lead (or for someone to join your list).
You will pay less for somebody opting in to your lead magnet (your free opt-in offer) and more for a webinar registrant or to get somebody to get on a sales call with you.
- Start with the testing phase
Facebook ads are a test and iterate process. You will probably not hit the jackpot with the first campaign you run. The more variables you can test, the more you will learn, and the better and more productive your ads will become.
If you don’t already know, you should know and this testing period will tell you what your business model can support.
- How much can you pay for a new lead?
- What is your typical conversion rate from lead to paying customer?
- How much can you pay for a new customer?
Let me tell you what a true strategic testing approach to FB ads looks like. In the beginning you are testing with a plan, and preparing for the rollout – not throwing a few ads out and watching for the magic. It’s a test and iterate process. The testing phase it for the purpose of learning as much as you can to prepare you for the future growth of your campaigns
Testing as many variables as you can afford to pay for.
- Test 5-10 ad sets
- Test 2-4 ads
- Long copy vs. short copy
- Split Test of landing pages.
It’s probably going to take $100-500 dollars, for that one week to establish your metrics and figure out how to expand with your successes.
- Create a landing page that will convert
Aside from the ad itself, the landing page will highly influence the success of your ad campaign. When you are getting clicks on your ad but people are not opting in, your landing page is the problem. Your landing page should convert at a 20% at minimum for your Facebook ads to work. Assuming you are sending traffic to a page prompting people to give you their email address in exchange for a free offer.
Your landing page should be closely aligned to your Facebook ad. Meaning, it should match the colors, fonts and the copy you used in the ad.
- Define your target audience or audiences
There are 2 types of audience; warm and cold.
Warm: These are people who are either already doing business with you or are on your email list, or have liked your Facebook page. They are the most likely to do business with you if you have a new offer. Your email list can be uploaded to Facebook so that you can send them your ads. You can create a “look-alike” audience where Facebook will take your email list and find similar people within Facebook for you. You can create a look-alike audience the with your Page likes as well.
Cold: This is everyone else. They don’t know you or your brand and will need “warming up” before you can convert them to any kind of sale.
You always want to start with your warmest audiences first as you build your Facebook ad campaign. If you are first starting out and are building your email list with a lead generation campaign with a free offer you will probably be using cold audiences. Look for interests that are related to your offer, or pages that are similar to what you are offering and certainly define your demographics by age, gender and geography if that is relevant.
- Create a compelling ad
Have you ever heard the phrase “thumb-stopping”?
People are browsing on Facebook constantly, rifling through their feed quickly. The goal of a well-crafted ad is to get the viewer to stop the scroll and actually look at the ad.
In your copy, be conversational. Use words that your ideal audience would use themselves. Use interesting images that go well with your ads but also stand out in the newsfeed.
The words and phrases in your ad should be repeated on your landing page to create congruency between the two.
Your copy can be short or it can be long. This is one of the things you will need to test to see which gets the less expensive leads.
BONUS – The secret is in the follow up
Now that you have a system in place to get more leads cost effectively, what are you going to do with them? The success in all online marketing, or any marketing really, is to have a follow up process to continue to warm up that lead to the point where they are willing and WANT to spend money with you. Have a clearly defined process in place before you start your campaign so you are ready for more customers and more revenue!
You now have the 8 basics of what creates a successful Facebook Ad campaign. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. For much more detail that will assure you of success with your ad campaigns, click below
