Making Facebook Ads Work
Having run campaigns that have performed well in both the B2B and B2C markets, and experimented with different formats, here are some of the best practices we stand by. Steal these if you want to optimize your ads for maximum results on a shoestring budget and if you want to move past your dreading question “do Facebook ads work”.
1. First, Target Your Existing Audience
Acquiring a new customer is 10X more costly than engaging an existing one. So why waste your advertising budget on getting clicks from cold traffic? When you can use the same to nurture the luke-warm ones already following you on Facebook?
Your existing customers and followers are more likely to respond to an ad positively. Since they already know what you offer, the engagement and participation rates are much higher. Which is much better than targeting new users who don’t know much about you or your product. So aim at getting shares and spreading awareness with the help of word of mouth promotions by leveraging your existing audience.
2. Conduct Split Testing on Ads
No two people from your audience segment will respond to the same ad in the way you want. While one might instantly engage with it, the other might just like the post. The rest might share it in their circles. This is why split testing your ads is important.
Regardless of your advertising goals, you should run A/B tests on the following elements to see what your audience responds to the most:
- Ad headline
- Ad graphic
- Ad copy (long form and short form)
- Ad type (carousel, single image, videos, canvas)
Split testing on Facebook enables you to identify which ad is performing better in your audience segment. This way you can focus on boosting the ad campaign that is getting you maximum conversions. Which is much better than trying to run multiple failed campaigns one after the other.
3. Split Test Ad Targeting
Besides the format and the copy of your ads, another way to test your market is to vary the targeting – even if it’s minimal. Be it the positioning of the ad, the bid you set, the demographics/behavior you add or subtract, make sure you create as many variations as you can. Try to think of every variation there could be within your audience segment.
Focus on A/B testing the following:
- Audience demographics
- Sociographic and behavioral targeting
- Bidding strategy
- Bidding rate
- Ad placement
Just like the hack above, you’ll be able to identify which ad set gets you maximum conversions and what specific demographic or strategy is making all the difference.
4. Set up A Custom Audience
Yes, Facebook targeting is one of the best when you’re trying to define your audience. But with billions of users, how do you pinpoint those who are actually interested in what your business offers?
Installing the Facebook Pixel on your site, you can create a custom audience based on your previous website traffic. This lets you create a similar audience on Facebook. Allowing you to automatically reach out to consumers who are more likely to engage with you. In the process, increasing the number of conversions you get on an ad set.
To back up this practice, did you know that most online marketers agree that in this year 2019, audience targeting has been rising up to be one of the best ways to get the conversion? Similar to segmenting your email list, create audience segments on Facebook to build content that would fit each of your audience’s interests. The more detailed your audience data is, the higher possibility you have to engage them. And obviously, better engagement means higher chances of conversions.
5. Retarget to Generate Leads
Instead of trying to generate leads on Facebook with a fresh campaign in an all-new market, try retargeting your website visitors instead. A website visit is a clear indication that a consumer is interested in what you offer. Why lose the chance to convert him into a lead?
Try offering an upgrade or a special discount to those who have visited your website. What’s more these ad campaigns also improve the brand recall value, improving your conversion and engagement rates drastically.
6. Create a Drip Campaign On Facebook Too
Who says a drip campaign can be set only on emails? You can actually set your retargeting ads in a manner that nurtures your website visitors. And turns them into leads with the help of valuable content.
Create different ad sets, spaced out by a defined time period. Promote different content pieces to a website visitor based on what they have already interacted with or seen. For example, offer ebooks, whitepapers, and other content upgrades that are specific to your niche. This way you would avoid looking like a business trying to spam with the same ad.
More variety and higher context lead to higher conversion rates at lower costs. Period.
7. Use Little To No Text on Your Ad Graphic
Ever noticed how even the biggest of businesses like Shopify use high-resolution pictures contextual to their campaign? With zero text on it?
Facebook’s 20% text rule on ad graphics is a well-known rule amongst social media marketers. The lesser the text, the higher is the reach of your ad campaign. So when you’re creating A/B tests, make sure one of your ad sets is using a graphic with no text on it.
8. Create Layers and Layers of Data
If you’re not using a custom audience on Facebook, spend time to create the right audience with layers of intelligent data. Don’t just include obvious demographics of your target market. Because that’s exactly what your competitors are doing.
Look for data similar to what they’re engaging with, their recent milestones, education, job roles, a device used, purchase triggers, and more.
While broadening your ad campaign targeting increases its reach, it is the narrowed down approach that brings you better conversions.
9. Include Social Proof
One hack that we don’t see a lot of businesses making use of is, including social proof in their ad campaigns. If you want customers to believe that you will deliver what you promise, then social proof is necessary. Because there is no better advocate than an existing customer. By simply showing numbers from the results you have helped others achieve can make a big difference.
This could be a simple campaign that lets your audience know the value of using your product or service. You can also use customer testimonials that direct users to your case studies.
10. Emphasize On Customer Emotions
If you want real people to interact with your business, tap into their psychology, and trigger emotions that nudge them to take an action. Instead of highlighting your product’s value, focus on using a copy that hits the consumer’s emotion. The closer you are to hitting the right nerve, the more likely they are to seek a solution from you!
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