How To Get The Most Out Of Facebook Ads For Your Business

I cover all of the ins and outs of how to get the most out of Facebook Ads for your business in this podcast episode with Inspire Connect Grow Podcast.

Why would a business invest in FB ads?

FB is still one of the biggest social media platforms out there today. This gives us an opportunity as business owners to connect with users every day, but if you are someone who has been on the platform for a few years then you are probably aware of how there is a dramatic drop in the organic content on Facebook. Facebook advertising is the most cost-effective for your business and you see the best results for a small investment. And because it is so cost-effective it really levels the playing field for those smaller businesses to now be able to compete with larger businesses, which from a marketing standpoint is game-changing.

What stage in someone’s business is the right time to dive into ads?

Facebook ads work when you are already making money in your business and when you already have some pieces in play that are already working towards your business and your overall marketing strategy. List building you are regularly posting on your social media channels you have an optimized website and you are already building customers thought to you through a marketing sales funnel. FB ads will be the fuel to your fire. If no one is buying from you now then it is probably something else wrong with your strategy.

What are some other big misconceptions about FB ads and how can we set the record straight here?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Facebook ads is that people hear that they are a waste of money.

Serving the ad to the wrong audience. Really you need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of who your audience is and what we are offering them and really how we are going to convey what we are offering them. It is so easy to blame FB but I think businesses really need to ask themselves are we approaching this in a strategic way?

What are some things we can prep ourselves with?

The number one thing to start with would be to really get to know your audience. A lot of people will say to me, that does not really have anything to do with advertising, but it does. The whole point of running these ads is to put yourself in front of people who are interested in what you have to sell to them. Even if you have a current fan base it is really easy for us to assume what our customers are thinking. The mindset that you have when you are looking into your customer’s shoes is a lot different than the mindset you have about your customers now. It is possible that your target customer would not be where they are without your product or service. Go out and ask them. it never hurts to ask your customer what you can do to solve their problems. It is important to ask them those questions to figure out who they are and what they want.

By taking the time to really figure out who it is you are reaching with your ads you are going to naturally improve your results with every ad campaign you put out there. Because those people are more likely to naturally comment on your post or like your post. Besides knowing your audience, I think just get really clear on what your end goal is and what you want to promote, and also how you want to track those efforts. It is really easy to get started when you have an end goal in mind.

An example of this would be if you were a consultant, like myself, and your end goal would be to get a client on a discovery call with you so that you could pitch them your services, so if that is your end goal the next step previous might be getting people on your email list so that you can start to educate them on your services and you can start to benefit them the next step previous to that might be getting your costumers to an opting page where they can give you their email. And the next step previous to that would be to show an ad on Facebook to get people to your opting page so that they can give you their emails. You look at what is your end goal and how can I map that out back to get there. If you know where you want to take people they are much more likely to get there.

What can we do to make sure we are on track with meeting our goals by staying within our budget?

First, FB lets you set your budget for your ads when you first start running them. You have to be very aware when setting up your budget of what you want it to be. because if you tell FB I am willing to spend $100 then you will spend $100. So you want to be really clear when you are getting your ads set up that you are setting up your budget correctly. FB lets you set up a daily budget, what you want it to be set up on a day to day and also for a specific time period. And just know you can always start at the smallest budget. $5 a day is all FB requires you to get started. So just getting started with that and letting results roll in will ensure that you are not just throwing away money before results start pouring in for you. I think the biggest tip I can give you with your ads and what you are promoting is just do not start by running an ad directly to your sales page. If you are just getting started with FB ads that is the worst possible place you can start because you are not on FB to buy things. So trying to get people to buy things when they don’t even know who you are, seems very obtrusive, that does not make them get to know you and want to follow you. And that does not really make them feel like you care about them or your problems. That definitely makes you look like you are part of a business that is only trying to get that sale. I’m not saying that it won’t work, it is just not the best place to start especially when you are running your ads to cold traffic. You have to start by building that relationship with them. And the best way to start would be by offering them something for free or something of low discounted price points and I think that is honestly the biggest tip I can give to people.

Are there any go-to tools when you are setting up FB ads or doing the research?

The one I use most on a day-to-day basis is the Facebook ads iOS app.