Over the last year or so, I’ve played around with Facebook advertising for a number of businesses (including some of my own).
I’ve found some approaches that have worked, and some that turned out to be dead ends. I’d like to share 13 of my discoveries:
#1: A simple way to decide if Facebook Advertising fits your business
Imagine this was 1995, how would you sell your product/service?
If you’d sell via shops or the yellow pages, then Adwords is probably the best fit.
On the other hand, if you would have used direct mail and/or telemarketing, Facebook probably suits you.
#2: Understand the game
This may be obvious, but I’m going to say it: Facebook wants to make as much as possible from its ads.
That means, if you’re bidding pay per click, the money they earn from your ads is your bid x your click rate.
Which means, if you want cheap clicks, you need a much higher than average click rate. Otherwise, Facebook will stop showing your ads.
#3 Clicks for high ticket sales are so much cheaper than on Google
If you’re selling high profit products and services, you can usually get clicks for a fraction of what you’d pay on Google.
There are 3 reasons for this:
#1: There are far more companies using AdWords than Fb Ads.
#2: AdWords is well-established and best practices are common knowledge. Facebook advertising is new and most advertisers don’t really understand what they’re doing.
#3: Because it’s demographic targeting, rather than behavioural, most of the advertisers you’re up against are selling something completely different – usually low margin. So out-bidding them is easy.
#4: It’s all about the targeting
Bob Stone, in his book, “Successful Direct Marketing Methods”, said that list selection was, by far, the most important element of direct mail success.
The Facebook equivalent of list selection is targeting. So spend time figuring out all the ways you can target users.
#5: Gurus and celebs
One very effective way of targeting is to use the names of industry experts or celebrities. For example, if you’re selling marketing training, you can target people interested in marketing, but you can also target fans of people like Jay Abraham, Perry Marshall and Tim Ferriss.
#6: Ads usually fatigue
Facebook advertising is based on demographics. This means, unlike PPC, where different people are searching each day, the FB audience is fairly static.
As a result, you’ll usually find the click rates of your ads start to drop quite quickly. And, as I explained earlier, low click rate means Facebook is less likely to show your ads.
So you get hit by the double whammy of fewer ad impressions x lower click rate.
So you need to keep your ads fresh if you want to get the maximum traffic for the minimum price.
#7: The picture is crucial
The picture is the part of your ad that most sticks out.
It’s not unusual for one image to get 3 times as many clicks as another.
So, in order to maximise your clickrate, you need to test lots of different images.
#8: Take people to your website
Many advertisers seem to think you must take people to your Facebook page. You don’t. You can take people to your website instead.
#9: Offer value
For B2B sales in particular, a two-step approach – where you offer something for free (e.g. a white paper) in return for their email address – can work very well.
Remember, unlike with search engine advertising, these are not people who are looking to buy right now. Give them something of value, keep in touch with them by email, and you’ll be in pole position when it’s finally time for them to buy.
#10: Forget about likes
There was a time when getting a “like” was valuable. The idea was that, if someone liked your business, they’d see all your posts.
That’s no longer the case, and the % of your likers who actually see your posts is tiny.
So, in 2015, if you want to use Facebook to build a list, there are 3 options:
#1: Gain likes and use paid advertising to ensure they see your ads.
#2: Take people to your website and use a remarketing pixel to build a list within Facebook. (Which you’ll then have to pay to advertise to.)
#3: Take people to your site and capture their email address using a squeeze page or popup.
IMO, the first of these 3 options is usually the weakest. I’d advise using a combination of 2 and 3.
#11: Remarketing
People who have previously visited your website are usually good prospects. Facebook has a remarketing pixel you can put on your site that builds a list of those visitors.
#12: Run local events
If you’re a local shop, café, or venue, consider running special events and promoting them through Facebook.
#13: Click on other people’s ads
Facebook advertising is still in its infancy. Because of this, it’s evolving rapidly. So any book that comes out is going to be out of date by the time its published.
So, if you want to keep current with the latest techniques in Facebook advertising, click on the ads you see on Facebook.
That’ll allow you to see some of the different tactics advertisers are using.
Summary
I believe that, right now, Facebook is where PPC was 10 years ago: there aren’t many advertisers and, because best practices aren’t well known, savvy advertisers are getting dirt cheap traffic.
This won’t last forever. (I give it 2-3 years). So, if Facebook advertising suits your business, make hay while the sun shines.
All the best,
Steve Gibson
