Despite Changes, We’re Still in a “Golden Era” of Facebook Advertising

Facebook advertising

If you’ve worked with Facebook advertising for any amount of time, you’ll come to know that there is one thing that is always certain: change is inevitable.

Changes come quickly and without warning.

It’s been a couple months since Facebook announced a major change to the algorithm that controls what users see in their feed.

An important component of that announcement was that users would see more posts from family and friends and fewer posts from businesses and brands.

Now that we have a few months of hindsight (and valuable data) to look back on, it’s a good time to reflect on those changes and look forward to what that means for businesses who utilize Facebook advertising.

Before we get started, I want to make something clear. Although some marketers have panicked, I still believe we’re in the Golden Era of Facebook advertising.

That is, there are still abundant opportunities to profit.

Although I believe it is the Golden Era, it is not the Wild West. Facebook advertising is young but it has evolved. In turn, the way advertisers interact with their prospects and customers must also evolve.

However, if you keep these 3 principles in mind, you’ll continue to thrive, despite these or any future algorithmic changes.

Facebook’s Goal Hasn’t Changed

Zuckerberg has been clear on his priorities from the beginning: to give the user a positive experience.

The changes to the newsfeed are consistent with that goal. He’d like to provide the user with more posts from friends and family that they’re likely to engage with and enjoy, and less mindless scrolling through the newsfeed.

What does that mean for businesses?

If you’ve consistently been adding value and have become a brand that your audience enjoys interacting with, your strategy should remain the same.

For brands who only push sales-driven content, they need to make a big change. If the content isn’t enjoyable, it simply won’t be shown.

Again, this isn’t anything new, it’s just more apparent after the early 2018 changes.

Facebook is About Community

“Community is the new brand.” - Ryan Deiss

The type of advertising that many of us have grown up hearing and seeing is much different than the type of advertising that is effective on social media.

Above all else, Facebook is a community. Brands who understand how to build a community are getting great results above those who push only conversion driven content.

Understandably, some business owners are not natural community builders and leaders, or they simply don’t have the time. That’s ok. If you’d like to build community, just ask for help.

Reach out to a super-fan and create a community manager role. If they’re already active on social media and speaking about your brand, it may be a natural fit.

Consider this a long-term strategy. A brand who is just starting to build community may not see results immediately. However, building a community will have long-term positive benefits for just about every business.

There’s Still Room To Stand Out

Facebook advertising is still evolving and this means there is still room to stand out.

New businesses begin advertising on Facebook every day, but many only push content that is sales-driven.

If you provide helpful content instead, you will stand out in the newsfeed among other advertisers.

As an example, in December of 2017, most users of Facebook advertising saw an increase in costs because there was a lot of competition for sales.

Our clients didn’t experience that spike. The reason is that we continued to provide value in a world where everyone else was selling.

Not only did costs remain low, but these clients were now poised for successful launches in early 2018 because they had very warm audiences to sell to.

The key is understanding how to monetize likes, comments, views, Facebook fans, and website visitors.

Final Thoughts

Compared to other advertising media, Facebook is still young. There will be more changes, but there’s no reason to panic.

Continue to remember what Facebook’s top priority is (user experience), and work with them on that priority by building community and adding value. If you continue to do that, your brand will remain strong through these and all future changes.


In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

                       

The Non-Designer’s Guide To Creating High-Converting Facebook Ad Images

Facebook Ad Images

How Important Are Facebook Ad Images?

In advertising, it’s always been vital to grab a prospect’s attention. That’s especially true when advertising on Facebook ad images. The news feed is crowded. Friends, family, co-workers, and advertisers all compete for the scrollers’ attention.

Images are, for the most part, the driving factor behind where a scroller’s attention turns.

According to Consumer Acquisition, images account for 75-90% of an ad’s effectiveness.

Without a compelling Facebook ad image, a Facebook user will scroll right past that cleverly written ad and mouth-watering offer in favor of something more captivating.

Besides stopping a scroller in their tracks, the image can also compel a click, comment, or like.

That’s a lot of pressure for one little ad image!

In a previous article, we touched on the importance of testing Facebook ad images. If you read that post, you’ll know that in our experience, we’ve come to the same conclusion as Consumer Acquisition: small changes in Facebook ad images can lead to a significant difference in CTR and cost per result. 

So, it’s important to get these images right.

This post will guide non-designers through creating ad images that convert. Just like anything else, the more ads you make, the better you’ll get. Use this guide as a starting point for creating better ad images that get noticed and get results.

Step 1: Create the Facebook Ad Image Copy

Because images pull so much attention in the newsfeed, this is a perfect place to highlight your most important text.

When creating the image copy, consider the biggest benefit to the user. Use clear language and avoid vague statements or questions.

Example: “50% Off Teeth Whitening” would likely work better than, “who wants whiter teeth?”

Keep it short and to the point. Although Facebook doesn’t have a rule for how long copy can be, they do have a rule for the percentage of the image that can be covered in text.

Facebook’s recommendation is 20% or less, which doesn’t give a lot of space. The more words used, the smaller that text will need to shrink to fit within the designated area. Instead, keep the text short and sweet so it can stand out and easily be read in the newsfeed.

Step 2: Check the Landing Page for Inspiration

A high CTR is great, but if the viewers don’t convert when they get to the landing page, that CTR doesn’t much matter.

Besides optimizing the landing page, keeping the ad images consistent with the destination page is another way to help improve conversion rates.

Consider matching colors, fonts, and possibly even exact images from the landing page. Now that you’re inspired, it’s time to create!

Gather any elements you’d like to use (logos, headshots, graphics, images), and make sure you have the proper rights for all images you plan on incorporating into the ad.

Step 3: Prepare the Facebook Ad Image

Since this guide is for non-designers, we’re going to focus on creating a design in Canva. This is an exceptionally user-friendly, web-based design platform. No design experience necessary!

If you’re making designs regularly, it’s best to invest in the premium version of Canva. The premium version saves brand colors and logos, supports multiple team members, and opens up access to many more images and design elements than the free version.

Once the Canva account is all set up, upload the design elements that were collected from step 2.

Step 4: Design the Background

Choose a size for your design. Canva offers a preset Facebook Ad image size that is just the right size.

Once you’ve opened that up, start with a background image that represents the ad’s biggest benefit or a color that matches the landing page.

For example, if you’re promising a guide for growing an Instagram following, the background image could be an Instagram account with high engagement, a happy woman at a computer, or a well-curated Instagram feed.

If you’re planning on layering on design elements or image text, add a solid color over part or all of the background image. The solid color can be made transparent if desired by adjusting the transparency setting found in the upper right corner. This will help elements and text shine through.

Tip: Images that convey a positive emotion tend to perform better. Try images of happy or smiling women looking at the camera, or at the text.

Step 5: Add Design Elements

Layer the chosen design elements on the image until you achieve the desired look.

As you move elements across the image, Canva will display a grid to help line up the images.

Aim for symmetry. The design should feel balanced from top to bottom and side to side.

While adding to the design, keep in mind that many people will view this ad on a mobile device, so keep elements large enough to see on a small screen.

If these ads are running to warm audiences, feel free to use more branded elements (images of influencers, logos, etc.). If the ad is running to a cold audience, avoid branded elements.

Remember to add the image copy in a clear and easy-to-read font.

Step 6: Check the Text

Once the image looks the way you want, download the design. It’s time to check that the text is taking up 20% or less of the image.

Not too long ago, Facebook *slightly* loosened up on the 20% rule. Now, they allow images with more text to run, but the reach is lower and cost is higher when text exceeds the limit.

Because of this, we choose to only run ads that meet the 20% requirement (why pay more for less reach)?

To check an image, use Facebook’s Text Overlay Tool. Simply upload the ad images and Facebook will instantly let you know if the text covers too much of the image or not.

If the overlay tool spits back a green check mark, the image is good to go! If a yellow or red icon appears, consider adjusting the image so that the text takes up less space.

Step 7: Test the Facebook Ad Image

Because images can have such a large impact on clicks, engagement, cost, and conversions, we want to make sure we get the most effective images in front of the audience.

That’s why it’s so important to test. We typically test 6 images per message with 3 images going to a cold audience and another 3 images going to a warm audience.

Bonus Tip: If all else fails, Facebook has a wide variety of stock images to choose from. When in the “Ad” level, add your image and select “Stock Photos.” Search for the type of image you want and select your favorite. Images can be cropped after selection.

That’s it! You’re ready to go design your first set (or next set) of Facebook Ad images. 

Take your time to get the image right. The results will be worth it!


In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

                       

The Quick & Dirty Facebook Ads Checklist

Facebook Ads Checklist

Measure twice, cut once. It’s always a good strategy. I like to apply it to Facebook ads because carefully checking work is especially important when you’re about to spend valuable ad dollars on Facebook ads campaigns.

There are a lot of moving parts to a Facebook ads campaign. It’s easy to click the wrong button and not even realize it.

I want to make sure you have all of the checks in place to reduce the chances of a campaign going live if it’s anything less than perfect.

This helps make sure your creative is on point and the correct audience is targeted, but it also guarantees you’re not blowing your budget because of a careless mistake (sending visitors to a landing page that doesn’t function, for example).

This checklist will help keep you, well, in-check.

After creating a campaign, use this Quick and Dirty Facebook Ads Checklist before going live to make sure everything is in place.

I’ve broken down this checklist into four categories to make the final review quick and easy; the campaign level, the ad set level, the ad level, and the landing page.

Step 1 - Review the Campaign

Check the campaign name. Is it clear and to the point? A sloppy naming structure creates confusion later on, especially once there are a lot of campaigns in one account.

Check the campaign objective. What’s your goal? Select an objective that matches. (Try to get this right during the creation process as it’s a little tricky to change later on).

Step 2 - Review the Facebook Ads Set

Check the budget. Choose between a daily or lifetime budget and make sure it’s something that makes sense for your business goals.

Verify the target audience. Check demographics or custom audiences and make sure they’re set how you’d like them. If you’re using a custom audience, verify that you have the most up-to-date data.

Verify the audience size. An audience should be narrowed, but not too small.

Check the dates. Verify that the ad set will be turned on and/or off at the right time, or that it will run indefinitely if that’s the plan.

Verify the placement. Whether you’re targeting desktop, mobile, right hand, or Instagram, check that your ad will be placed in the correct spot.

Tip: Select all ad sets to edit at the same time to verify variables that will remain consistent across ad sets. This will help you spot any inconsistencies that you may have overlooked while viewing individual ad sets.

Step 3: Verify the Facebook Ads

Check the image for consistency. The image should be consistent with the landing page and reflect the goals of the campaign.

Check image text. Image text shouldn’t exceed 20%. You can use this tool to verify.

Crop images. Take a look at how the image will appear on all of the placements for that ad (mobile, desktop, etc.). Crop the image if needed.

Read copy. Check for typos, grammatical errors, or awkward sounding phrases. Reread the copy in all of the text areas (text block, headline, and link description).

Check for Facebook policy violations. Headlines and link descriptions should be consistent with the landing page and not violate any of the policies.

Check links. If you’re sending anyone to a landing page outside of Facebook, verify the links are correct and functioning.

Tip:  Test multiple images per campaign. You may be surprised at which one converts better!

Step 4: Verify the Landing Page

Check landing page for compliance. Facebook reviews landing pages before approving Facebook ads, so make sure yours is compliant.

Verify the pixels are working. If you haven’t pixeled your pages yet, you really should. Once the pixels are in place, use the Facebook Pixel Helper for Chrome to verify it is working properly on all of your pages.

Verify the landing page on mobile. If you’re targeting mobile, assume a good portion of traffic will come from a mobile device. Make sure your site is functioning and legible on a mobile device.

Tip:  Follow these tips to create a high converting landing page.

If you’ve checked off all the boxes on this Quick and Dirty Facebook Ads Checklist, your campaign is good to go!

At Marigold, we run each campaign through a series of 4-5 levels of review. Each review is conducted by a different member of the team so the chances of going live with a less than perfect campaign are minimal to none.

I suggest you do the same, especially if you’re new to running ads.

If you can have a teammate who can look over the campaign, great. If not, take your time to go over each item on this checklist in detail so you don’t miss those little mistakes that could cause a decrease in conversion.

There you go, the quick and dirty Facebook ads checklist. I hope it helps!

In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

                       

2 Variables To Test For Better Facebook Ad Results

Better Facebook Ad Results

In the world of marketing, testing is king for better Facebook ad results. 

Finding the exact right elements, tweaking for perfection, and coming up with a winning combination is how marketers find what works and what flops.

If you’re not a marketer, the thought of testing might feel a little overwhelming.

Just consider the endless possibilities when testing for better Facebook ad results. 

There’s the image, the text, the headline, the link description, the landing page (not to mention everything on the landing page), the audience, placement, conversion goal, the time of day, the day of the week… the list goes on.

The combinations are endless, but before you throw in the towel, I’m going to share a secret:

At Marigold Marketing Group, we’ve found that testing even two variables leads to significantly better Facebook ad results.

To be fair, we didn’t just guess at which variables to test. We run and test hundreds of ads each week, and that has given us insight into what works best when it comes to things like campaign type, placement, conversion goal, etc.

Basically, we know what typically works best when it comes to better Facebook ad results. Yet, even when following all the best practices, it’s still beneficial to test each ad because there are significant differences when it comes to audiences and images. You’ll never know exactly what the audience will respond to until you test!

Here’s what you need to know about testing images and audiences.

Image

According to Kissmetrics, images can increase a piece of content’s visibility by 94%.

Posts with high quality images get more attention than those with no images or those with poor images.

Through our own testing, we’ve seen that images affect reach and cost per result, even when all other variables remain the same.

Here’s an example:

In the above image, 3 images were delivered to the same audience, with the same copy, the same call to action, the same landing page, and the same placement. In fact, everything was identical. Yet, the cost per lead varied based on the images alone.

Because images have such an impact on whether or not people will even see or engage with an ad, it’s important to test multiple images to see which performs better.

Still… there are an unlimited number of photos, and even more possibilities when it comes to graphic and photo combinations. Obviously, you can’t test them all. Here are some guidelines for getting started.

Images should be 1200x628 pixels, and keep text to under 20%. Although Facebook has changed their text ration rule recently, images with more than 20% text won’t reach the full audience.

To check the percentage of text on an image, Facebook has created a tool. You can find that here.

When it comes to creative, keep the colors, images, and fonts consistent with the landing page in which the ad is driving traffic. Having a drastically different landing page can lead to poor conversions, even if people are clicking through the ad in the news feed.

Finally, images that reflect positive sentiment typically do better than those with negative sentiment.

If you have a designer to create images, great. If not, it’s still possible to create images without using Photoshop or other graphics programs.

Canva is an easy-to-use, free, web-based application that allows users to click and drag to create images.

Or, select a stock image when creating an ad. Facebook allows users to select stock images and use them on ads for free. Just remember, not all images will comply with Facebook’s policy. So, don’t assume that the text meets the 20% rule just because it was found under the Stock Images section.

Now that we have the basic requirements, it’s time to test.

For a conversion campaign, we recommend testing 3-6 images. Let them run for a few days, then come back and make adjustments based on which ones are delivering better Facebook ad results. 

Let’s move to the second variable, audiences.

Audiences For Better Facebook Ad Results

We’ve talked a lot about building an audience, and the benefits of creating a warm Facebook audience before, but this is about testing between those audiences that you’ve created.

For most campaigns, we test 4-5 warm audiences and 5 cold audiences.

By breaking up the audiences, it’s easy to see which group is responding best to the ad. It also will give you control to put more money behind the audiences that are giving you a lower cost per conversion, and reduce spending (or turn off) audiences that aren’t responding as well.

Take a look at the following example:

Notice that even with the same photo (and all other variables being the same), each audience within our cold audience set performed differently with the lowest cost per lead coming in at just $2.75, and the highest being $4.81. That’s quite a difference!

You may also find that certain combinations are performing better than others. For example, maybe the audience made of email list subscribers is responding better to an image that includes your branding or face, but a cold audience isn’t responding well to that same image.

By breaking out your audiences and photos, it’s easy to adjust the ad spend to reflect these differences. If all of the audiences were grouped into one ad set, it wouldn’t be possible to make these adjustments.

Testing doesn’t have to be complicated. If you want to get a lower cost per conversion, but don’t want to run hundreds of variations of the same ad (or don’t have the budget to support such testing), start with just these two variables.

After a few days, jump back into the campaign and make adjustments. The results might pleasantly surprise you!

In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

                       

3 Ways to Target Your Ideal Audience via Facebook Ads

Target Audience

Welcome to Facebook, a marketer’s paradise for finding your ideal audience!

Facebook has created a space for sharing. Users willingly hand over personal details daily. This includes major life events (babies, weddings, moves, job changes), family and relationship status, location, likes, demographics, and more.

This means there is a wealth of information about Facebook users, and it’s all available for advertisers to use.

Compared to other paid media, Facebook ads comes with a significant advantage: the ability to target your ideal audience and show them hyper-relevant ads.

The key is knowing who to target.

Without utilizing targeting, you might as well slap a billboard up on the highway. You’ll get the same amount of traffic. Neither audience will be qualified.

Mastering targeting means having the ability to reach a more qualified cold audience at any time.

In a previous post, we talked about the importance of creating and nurturing a warm, ideal audience. It’s true, warm audiences typically convert at a lower cost.

But knowing how to target a cold audience means you’re always able to keep your funnel full by turning a cold audience into warm, and warm into red hot buyers.

Today’s post is about creating these cold audiences inside your Facebook Ad account.

We’ll discuss 3 options for building a targeted, cold audience.

Ideal Audience Type 1: Lookalikes

If you’re already in business and you have sold your product or service, creating this first cold audience is easy.

All you’ll need is a list of email addresses for your current and past customers or clients.

An existing buyers list is the hottest list you have (they’ve already bought)! Essentially, we want to “clone” this list and create more people who are willing and able to purchase.

To do this, we need to head into Power Editor.

Jump up to the top menu. You’ll click to reveal a dropdown menu. Inside, find “Audiences.”

There, you’ll see a big blue button prompting you to “Create Audience.”

That button will give you some options for creating different types of ideal audiences. For this step, choose to create a custom audience.

Then, choose Customer File.

Here’s where you can upload your list of buyers. Make sure to name your audience something that makes sense to you so you know which list this is. Choose something like, “Buyers - Jan 2018.”

Now that you have your list of buyers ready to go, it’s time to create the lookalike ideal audience.

Head back into Audiences and select “Create Audience.”

This time, choose to create a lookalike audience.

Here’s what you’ll see.

If you click on “Source,” you’ll see options drop down. Find the audience that you just uploaded and select it.

This will now become the “source” for creating an entire ideal audience of Facebook users who are similar to your buyers.

You can now narrow by location and select the percentage of a population that you’d like to match. We tend to keep it at 1% (where 1% is most similar to your buyers list and 10% is least similar).

Give your ideal audience a name that makes sense to you, something like “Buyers Jan 2018 - Lookalike.”

If you’d like, you can repeat this process with other audiences such as your email list.

Ideal Audience Type 2: The Interest Bundle

When we work with a client, we take into account a few factors:

  1. The geographical area the client serves (don’t target Asia if you only ship to North America, for example).
  2. The client’s avatar (who the client intends to attract).
  3. The client’s actual buyers (who the client actually attracts).

Using these factors, we create a set of rules that Facebook uses to target users who have the highest chance of converting into paying customers.

Before we get started, make sure you’ve created a list of your current and past buyers and named that audience. See above for details if you haven’t done that yet.

Next, head into “Audience Insights.”

Here, you’ll find information on all Facebook users!

It’s also a good place to find out who is connected to your page, and who makes up your saved and custom ideal audiences.

When you jump in, Facebook will immediately ask who you’re interested in learning about. For this case, select, “A Custom Audience.”

The screen will prompt you to add your custom audience. Choose the buyers list (it should be saved already if you’ve uploaded it).

Now, you can see insights into this audience.

Explore a little to find out the age, gender, location, household status, other page likes, the devices they use, and other information.

Some clients are surprised to see who their actual audience is. It isn’t always who a business intends to attract!

Take note on the composition of this ideal audience. This will be the basis of our interest bundle.

*Note: If you don’t have a buyer list to look at, just use the information about who you think your ideal customers are. It’s ok to start here. You can always modify as you collect more data.

Either way, it’s time to grab your notes and head back over to “Audiences.”

Again, select “Create Audience.”

This time, choose “Saved Audience.” Use your notes to create an audience of your choosing. Consider targeting age, gender, location, and other interests that your buyers have in common.

Ideal Audience Type 3: Video Views

If you’ve run ads for any length of time, you may already have a group of people who have seen videos from your page.

This is a great place to pull both warm and cold audiences from.

We consider a “warm” audience a user who has watched a larger percentage of a video, usually 50% - 75%.

However, Facebook also tracks users who’ve only watched 3 or 10 seconds. We consider these cold audiences because they probably haven’t watched enough of the video to know, like, or trust your brand at this point.

Here’s how to create your cold video view audience.

Again, jump into “Audiences,” like before.

Now, when you create a new audience, choose to create a custom audience again.

Choose to create an audience based on engagement, and then select Video as the type of engagement.

Now, you get to choose the videos to add to the list. Whichever videos you choose, Facebook will create an audience of people who watch part of that video. You get to decide how much they need to watch to be added to your cold audience.

Follow the prompts and answer the questions to complete the audience set up.

That’s it! These audiences are all ready to use inside your campaigns.

Now that you have 3 cold audiences to target, you can continue to add people to your funnel and move them closer to a conversion!

In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

                       

The Myth About Facebook Likes, Comments And Other “Vanity” Metrics

Myths

“Likes and comments don’t matter. They’re just “vanity” metrics!”

That’s the basic sentiment around the internet. A quick Facebook search on “vanity metrics” revealed a number of posts mocking those who pursue likes, comments, and shares.

The argument among marketers is that only the bottom line matters. After all, likes, shares, and views don’t pay the bills.

Assuming you’re not a social media influencer who gets paid to advertise on a channel, can likes, comments, and views actually pay the bills?

At Marigold Marketing Group, we’ve found the answer to be a definitive, “yes.”

as long as you know how to monetize your page’s engagement.

Specifically, these likes, views, and comments can translate into a lower cost per lead and customer acquisition.

In this post, you’ll discover which metrics actually matter and how we’ve been able to monetize using those metrics with an overwhelming majority of our clients’ Facebook ad accounts.

The Metrics That Matter

Before we move forward, let’s define the metrics we’re focused on.

First, we’re assuming that all numbers (or a very large percentage of your numbers) represent real people who are current, former, or potential customers of your company.

So, if you’ve “purchased” a number of Facebook likes for your page, those numbers won’t increase your ROI.

Not sure how your page fares? Let’s do a quick health check.

Jump into the “Audience Insight” section inside Power Editor.

Once inside, choose to view the audience connected to your page.

Set the demographics to reflect your ideal buyers. Is your page mostly composed of those people?

For example, if you only serve the United States, you should see that most of the people connected to your page live in the U.S.

Unless you are specifically focused on India, be skeptical of too many likes coming from that area of the world. Sometimes, well-meaning (or not) page admins will purchase likes online.

The likes are then “created” using bots, and they mostly originate from places like India.

This would be an example of a page that possibly “bought” likes (and therefore can’t monetize these fans).

In contrast, here’s an example of a page that’s in good health. This company serves people in a very specific geographical area. Their audience reflects this.

Assuming the numbers on your page are representative of “real” people (not bots) who are potential buyers, here are some metrics that we’ve found can be turned into leads and customers.

  • Fans

  • Video Views

  • Page Engagement

  • Post Engagement

Let’s look at why these particular audiences matter.

Audience Temperature

When analyzing a group of people who could potentially purchase from you, they can be broken down into three basic categories:

  1. Cold Audiences

  2. Warm Audiences

  3. Hot Audiences

A cold audience is full of people who have never heard of you. They don’t know who you are, what your brand stands for, or why they should care.

This audience isn’t necessarily a bad fit for your product or service, they simply haven’t heard of you… yet.

That can change. And when it does, they’ll join the warm audience.

The warm audience is full of prospects who know who you are. Maybe they follow your brand’s blogs, listen to your podcast, have read or listed to an interview your CEO did recently, or even saw your shop while driving to work in the morning.

For whatever reason, they have “warmed up” to you.

A warm audience is far more likely to purchase from you than a cold audience. That’s because typically it takes a prospect a couple “touches” to get to know, like, and trust a brand.

Assuming you’re a good fit for the audience, the more you interact with them, the “warmer” they’ll feel toward you.

The warmer they feel, the more likely they are to join the “hot” audience group.

A hot audience is full of people who have purchased from you and who will likely purchase from you again in the future.

This is your customer list. For most brands, this is the list that is easiest and most cost effective to market to (side note: Digital Marketer gives a really good overview of audience temperature, as well as what you should be pitching to each).

Building Warm Audiences

Now that you know that warm audiences are more likely to buy than cold audiences, you might be wondering, “how do I build a warm audience without blowing my ads budget?”

Good question.

Some warm audiences cost more than others.

For example, it likely costs you more to broadcast a television ad then to post a blog post.

The same is true when it comes to Facebook advertising.

Typically, conversion campaigns will cost more per lead than content views.

This means that asking people to sign up for your newsletter, or to buy a product or service (even if it is low cost), will typically cost more than asking someone to read a blog post, like your page, or watch a video.

However, in all of the above situations, you’re building a warm audience.

We’ll talk more about how to build a warm audience in a future post.

Monetizing Warm Audiences

Now that you’re sold on the importance of building a warm audience, it’s time to turn those so-called “vanity metrics” into cold hard cash.

Again and again, data shows us that when it comes time to ask for lead information or for the sale, warm audiences cost much less per conversion than cold audiences do.

Let’s take a look.

Here is a screen shot from a recent campaign. You can see that we’ve broken the audiences into two groups, warm and cold.

The cost per conversion for the cold audience is $7.22, whereas the cost per conversion for the warm audience is just $2.65.

Here’s another example. In this example, the goal was to get registrations for a webinar.

The cold audience resulted in $3.47 per webinar registration, whereas the warm audience resulted in just $2.76 per registration.

These warm audiences are made up primarily of people who have liked a client’s page, interacted with posts, or viewed content in the past.

For example, here’s what the results looked like specifically for the sub-set of audience members who interacted with the client’s Facebook page in the past:

You’ll see that for two of the three photos, the cost per conversion was well below the cost of conversion for the cold audience.

Note that these audiences were being sent to the same landing page. Having an optimized landing page is critical, but even the best landing page will work better on warm audiences when compared to cold.

How To Target A Warm Audience

Facebook makes advertising to warm audiences very easy.

If you’ve been active on a Facebook business page, you can start advertising to your ready-made audience right away.

The Facebook Power Editor allows you to choose an audience to market to. This is always done at the “Ad Set” level.

Inside the Ad Set section, you’ll see a place to choose your audience.

(Creating custom audiences is too much to cover here, but be on the lookout for a post about that in the future.)

Now, you’re ready to run your ads!

Give it a try. Are you able to cash in your likes, comments, and views using your own campaigns?

We’ve had so much success using these metrics to lower conversion cost that growing engagement is part of our system for every single client we work with.  

Let us know if you find the same success in your own campaigns!

In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

                       

7 Simple Tips For Better Landing Pages

Landing Page

You’ve finally nailed down your targeting, warmed up your audience, and now you’re sending your dream clients over to your web page.

People are clicking, so your job is done, right?

Just kick back, sip a hot, delicious latte and let the leads roll in!

Until… nothing happens.

Don’t panic!

If your target audience is clicking on your ad, but they’re not following through, there’s likely a problem with your landing page.

We see this sometimes. A client wants us to send traffic over to a page, but that page just isn’t quite ready to do the job of converting prospects to leads, or leads to buyers.

Luckily, the problem is fixable.

Here are 7 simple tips for creating better landing pages.

Our Facebook Ads team uses this checklist to review every client’s landing page before sending traffic their way.

Use this checklist to quickly evaluate your landing page and make any corrections to help improve your landing page and your conversion rate before you hit “run” on any of your Facebook ad campaigns.

Add Your Pixel

Before you can get an accurate depiction of what’s happening with your campaign, you’ll need to accurately track all traffic.

If you’re not yet using Facebook’s tracking pixel, make sure to get that on your landing page (and any other page your audience might land on).

The pixel is fairly easy to install using Facebook’s instructions, or you can ask your tech team to get it up and running for you.

You can create a pixel inside Facebook’s Power Editor.

Just go to the Power Editor Menu, then find it under “Measure and Report.”

Once the pixel is on your page, check to make sure it’s working properly.

An easy way to do this is by using Facebook Pixel helper. It’s a Google Chrome extension that lets you check which pixels are installed on any web page.

Now that your pixel is properly functioning, you’ll be able to get accurate data on how many people are landing on your page. You’ll also have the ability to retarget them later if they don’t convert.

Make it Mobile

If your landing page isn’t mobile-friendly, this could be a big part of the problem. Mobile traffic is taking over desktop as the preferred method to browse Facebook (and click on ads).

Having a desktop-only site will alienate a large percentage of your audience, making it impossible for about half (or more) of your Facebook Ad traffic to convert.

Check your page on a mobile device.

To do this, navigate to your landing page inside Chrome. Then, hit Command+Alt+I (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows, Linux) inside your Chrome browser to pull up the developer tools.

From there, you can simulate your page on a variety of device by clicking on the image in the upper left hand corner that looks like a tablet and a mobile device.

When checking mobile, make sure the user won’t have to scroll to the left or right to read the text, that your CTA is still viewable on the first screen (above the fold) if possible, and that the buttons and forms are easy to use on a mobile device.

Check the Details

Do a once over and check the details on the entire page. Check for glaring typos, grammatical errors, and readability.

Then, go a little deeper. It’s common to reuse a landing page from another campaign, and that’s ok. Just make sure to check that you’ve updated all the details.

Are your times and dates correct for any live events? Is your offer showing the correct expiration dates? Is your offer consistent throughout the entire page?

Make sure your page reflects the current offer and is ready to receive your prospects!

Check for Policy Violations

Facebook updates policies frequently and without warning. It’s easy to have a landing page that meets all requirements one week, then have one that breaks a policy the next.

Before you run a campaign, review the ad policies.

The policies change so frequently that our Facebook Ad Team reviews the ad policy at least once a week. We often find new policies and update our clients’ accordingly.

If your landing page is violating any policies, don’t chance it. Before sending over any traffic, make the necessary changes to avoid possible complications.

If you’re in certain industries, you’ll need to be more careful than others. For example, if you are offering weight loss products, money making, work from home, gambling, alcohol, supplements, or adult content, be extra vigilant when proofing your page. These are restricted areas and you need to be careful about your offer and the promises you make.

Fix Broken Functionality

It’s easy to get wrapped up in all of the moving pieces that go along with a new campaign. Sometimes when that happens, it’s easy to overlook something major, like page functionality.

Check that all your videos play, the sound works, forms function, and emails go out as planned.

Not only can a non-functioning landing page get your campaign shut down, but it will definitely kill your conversion rates and skyrocket your per conversion costs.

Privacy Policy

This last tip isn’t sexy, but it’s absolutely necessary.

Facebook requires all landing pages to display a link to a privacy policy.

Don’t skip this step. Set up your policy page and outline your privacy policy to let your potential prospects know what you will and wont’ do with their information once they trust you with it.

Link to that privacy policy page somewhere on your landing page to meet Facebook’s ad requirements.

Create Consistent Messaging

If your page looks good, reads well, and you haven’t found any major errors when running through this checklist, it could be your messaging.

There’s good news and bad news here.

The good news is, if people are clicking on your ad, there is interest!

The bad news is, your messaging on your landing page isn’t creating the same desire.

The solution is to make the messaging match. Are you promising something in the ad that isn’t mentioned on the landing page?

Is there conflicting information? A different tone?

Make sure that everything from the copy to the images are consistent. Not identical, but consistent.

Give your prospect a clear reason to sign up, let them know what will happen when they do sign up (receive an email, book a call, claim an offer, etc.), and make sure your offer itself is compelling.

These steps won’t just ensure that Facebook continues to happily send traffic over to your page, but that you will reap the rewards when they do.

Use this quick guide to assess your landing page. Make necessary changes, and then it’s time to finally kick back and enjoy that latte!

In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

                       

The #1 Facebook Advertising Myth

Facebook Advertising

Running a Facebook advertising campaign is easy.

Running a Facebook advertising campaign that is scalable, makes money, and delivers solid ROI… not so easy.

The public-facing Facebook Platform/Tool/App is “easy” for almost ANYONE to navigate.

It’s clear, it’s straight-forward, and it rarely glitches/goes offline, so most business owners are lured into believing a myth that Facebook advertising is as simple of a push-button solution, as using the Facebook platform is. 

So…

Why can’t Facebook advertising be mastered in seven simple steps?

Because every campaign has its own unique attributes and its own variables.

And every target audience has its own unique voice, with its own set of likes and dislikes similar to that of an actual human being.

It would make sense then that no two campaigns perform the same.

Now… this doesn’t mean that best practices don’t exist.  They definitely do.  

There are common threads you can replicate that may appear in every campaign.

One of them is following a process of testing and optimizing.

Nobody knows for sure how many times Thomas Edison tried to find a filament that worked for his light bulb.

Probably more than a thousand, and Edison wasn’t exactly starting from scratch.  Other inventors had already used electricity to create light.

Even after he was granted a patent for a bulb that burned for 13 and half hours, Edison stuck at it, searching for improved performance, and optimizing.

That process led him to discover a carbonized bamboo filament that burned for 1,200 hours.

How To Optimize A Facebook Ad Campaign

Optimization is ONE process we obsess about.

Further, the process of campaign optimization is just one of the tools we use that debunks the myth of “instant” Facebook advertising success.

Even when the first campaign you run is profitable, you can’t possibly know if it’s as profitable as it could be.

You could find a change just like Edison found a filament that would burn for 1,200 hours instead of 13 hours.

What’s the best way to optimize?  What accelerates the process?

Study what creative (ad copy & images) and audiences are working…

And here’s the key: Study (and make a note of) what is NOT working…

Both in the Facebook Ads Dashboard, as well as in other media, platforms & even direct mailers. 

It’s a timeless tactic… (No SHOCKING secret “revealed” here)…

But one we frequently see businesses/advertisers over-complicate due to the amount of data that is offered to them. 

Here at Marigold Marketing Group, a philosophical, core belief we hold about advertising is: “Amplify what is working. Study, improve, and/or eliminate what is not working.”

How do we know what is “working”?

We get deeply familiar with what our clients’ goals are. 

Typical goals our clients share: ROAS (Return on ad spend), Conversion Cost, Click Cost, or CPM (Cost per 1000 impressions).

If the audience/creative matches we’ve designed are delivering on (or exceeding) a stated goal, we methodically increase the budget on those ads. 

If not, we study which ads may be hidden in a campaign, which are producing results and study/implement our findings into an new “optimized” campaign/ad. 

If any ad/campaign is not delivering on a desired goal after testing and optimizing ads/campaigns over a period of several days (sometimes weeks – it depends on the client’s budget), we’ll turn those ads/campaigns off. 

Making clear choices feels good.  Arriving at these choices takes some work.

Knowing what to do next to optimize a campaign takes time.

Ultimately, that’s why the notion mastering Facebook advertising in seven simple steps is a myth.

What’s not a myth…

Like most other things, with time and effort, mastery is achievable.

In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:

Get more tips here.

Marigold Marketing Group | Facebook Advertising