How to write effective Facebook Ads

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Let’s start from the very beginning: why on earth would you advertise on Facebook?  

I admit, I’m a regular on Facebook. I’m checking in on my Facebook mobile app when looking for a distraction from these days’ #workingfromhome screens, check on the feed news or watch some of my groups’ updates where I can read comments on topics discussed or run into random live videos (some fairly entertaining, while some – nonetheless informative). I’m not alone—the social media platform averages 1.09 billion daily active users.

It’s the most visited social platform there is and comparatively to other platforms such as Google or Amazon where we’re purposefully browsing (most often) with an aim to find or to buy,  on Facebook we don’t mind to get ‘distracted’ by an advert, as long as it looks conversational, non-intrusive and most importantly – entertaining, aka engaging!

Getting our attention on Facebook, generating our intent to action: be it sign up to a lead or buy a product is a matter of both skill and practice – all attainable with the right type of guidance. I’ve listed below some of the key observations I gathered from 9+ years of advertising on Facebook and spending a whopping 8-digit figure for some of UK’s largest retailers.

Here’re some of my core notes I hope will help guide you on your way in:

Posting on Facebook alone isn’t enough anymore: 

Especially for the ones just starting out. It’s akin to being in the phase of building your brand from scratch, taking a voice amplifier and starting to shout out to a mass while being surprised that no-one reacts or turns their heads to you to listen.  It could be that discouraging at first. There’s a good reason to it. 

Unless you don’t have few powerful distribution channels to promote your organic Facebook posts or store page – no-one will even know you’ve posted. Advertising however allows you to start as minimal as £2/day and target the type of audience you’d be most willing to test, as granularly as post-code level!

Social advertising needs a scientific approach to audience targeting:

There’s a lot of hype on the internet about “quick, easy success on Facebook.” Don’t buy it. Yes, Facebook advertising works extremely well, once you know the rules. Hence we approach the advertising on Facebook scientifically:

Audience quality is more important than size because, with Facebook advertising, the goal is engagement and/or conversions. ‘Talking to’ a wide set of individuals who are not your target audience will tank your relevance scores and give you mediocre data to work with.

The good news is that Facebook’s targeting capabilities are more robust than any other platform, including demographics, interests, location, and even behaviour. That means you can get far more specific on who you want to see your ads. For example, you don’t have to settle for “women between ages 35 and 45” when you can target “women between ages 35 and 45 who like home-made cooking and whose favourite show is MasterChef.”

By getting granular, you end up excluding users who are not your target market, showing ads to only those who will find it most relevant and who are most likely to convert.

         Here are a few targeting options you can choose from:

• Custom audiences – allows you to target your existing CRM customers or leads; 
• Location – allows you to target by location (city, county, country, radius) 
• Gender – allows you to target by gender (male or female) 
• Interests – allows you to target by interest (such as sports type, entrepreneurship,  hobby, photography, cooking, reading, fashion, art, etc) 

Social advertising is first and foremost – visual:

3. Visual content is not only treated more favourably in the Facebook algorithm, but it’s  also more likely to be shared and remembered than written content. No matter what type of ad you create, your image needs to be visually appealing. 

Have a look at the below few examples:

Here a client on our portfolio FOGA.CO – a wellness brand selling plant-based smoothies is using an enticing type of ‘Testimonial ads’ – which allow to not only showcase your brand’s 5-star rating but also share user reviews in ‘quotes’ below:

 

In the next example we’re using review boots in sponsored posts highlighting full-size customer reviews reviews which I’m sure you’d agree looks fairly clean and visually compelling:

Below is one other client example which is using GIF imagery to help both entertain and intrigue while appealing to new customers interested in gardening/lighting products:

It’s also important to realise that interactive imagery is the smoothest route to create a product/service dialogue, check-out the below which shows how an enticing image triggers the interest for products sold on site:

Once you’ve entertained, engaged and established connections with your customers – offer them reasons to shop more …and more! – try Offer Ads:

Time to share your key take-away from the above:

Your key take-away: Write Your Copy with an objective in mind: Copy That Drives Results on Facebook.

The best ads on Facebook ultimately lead to sales. As a marketer, you need to make sure you’re putting the ingredients together to create an ad that gets the job done, and strong copywriting is an essential part of a good Facebook ad.

Thank you for reading and tune in again soon for more tips & best practices.

P.S. Meanwhile be ready to entertain yourself by taking a Quiz on Facebook Ads to see how well you’re now getting familiar with the channel:

https://kahoot.it/challenge/01816314?challenge-id=a8755edb-dcd1-4dbb-9501-ad4942d723ed_1593425780494

GAME PIN: 01816314