Facebook Ads

Valentin Pearson

Valentin Pearson

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Has anyone tried facebook ads?

How long did it take for you to start getting some results from it?
What's your budget?
What advice would you give to someone wanting to try it?
 
Valentin Pearson said:
Has anyone tried facebook ads?

How long did it take for you to start getting some results from it?
What's your budget?
What advice would you give to someone wanting to try it?
Click to expand...
I have found that FB ads are much more of an internet "billboard" where you have people see your stuff but it doesn't really register unless they keep seeing it - it is an awareness campaign at best. Users are scrolling and see something that catches their eye, and they might watch/listen to your ad if it can get past their social media induced ADHD.

That is not to say they don't work - but they are a bit of a longer game than something like Google ads which more direct response orientated (customer wants the service right here and now)

With FB dying, I don't know how much effort I will make in the future with them, I have steered clients away from them for ages, as the metrics aren't there.
 
Thefinalepic said:
I have found that FB ads are much more of an internet "billboard" where you have people see your stuff but it doesn't really register unless they keep seeing it - it is an awareness campaign at best. Users are scrolling and see something that catches their eye, and they might watch/listen to your ad if it can get past their social media induced ADHD.

That is not to say they don't work - but they are a bit of a longer game than something like Google ads which more direct response orientated (customer wants the service right here and now)

With FB dying, I don't know how much effort I will make in the future with them, I have steered clients away from them for ages, as the metrics aren't there.
Click to expand...
I gotta disagree with you there, chief. FB ads in the hands of a pro are very profitable, especially if you're doing B2C. I do admit that B2B is much harder on that platform.

Valentin, find a pro on Upwork who has a lot of hours, great reviews, and a top success score. Have that person run your ads. Yes, you could always learn the platform yourself if you have the time to do so, but it is not as easy to succeed as FB would have you believe. It's a lot like playing chess - easy to learn but hard to master.
 
I've been doing facebook ads for a few weeks now. I'm selling an ebook. I got 1 sale on the 8th day ($20), but no more since then. I've tried a variety of ads, images and ad copy, and made multiple edits and improvements to my sales page.

I was having trouble with the pixel but I finally got it fixed, and I've set up a new ad set and ad, and I've also straightened out my ad set conversion event (which was previously set to website views rather than purchases, which is what I want).

Since then, and (inexplicably) even a day before that, I've had a major increase in clicks to my landing page. Right now, on day 2 of my new ad set and ad, I've got, at the time of typing this :

- Daily budget : $6 per day

After 2 days :

- Impressions : 10,660
- Reach : 8,191
- Frequency : 1.29
- Link clicks : 195
- Cost per click : fluctuating, but a just a few cents, very little
- Link CTR : 1.83
- Results (website purchases) : 0

- Clicks to my landing page today : just over 100

Is that good for 2 days? I was hoping to get at least a few sales. I'm disappointed. But I wonder, is it just a matter of time before facebook starts bringing me well targeted people who want to buy? I would have thought facebook would be clever enough to figure out who are the best people to show my ad to by the end of 2 days. I'm worried that I've done something wrong or not good enough, but my ad is getting a good CTR and if I say so myself my sales page is very good.

Should I just keep waiting? How long does it take for them to figure out the best people to show my ad to? Is a 10% conversion rate a reasonable amount to expect? I realise that I should not adjust anything and leave it alone to see what happens.

EDIT : A few minutes after posting this, my reach is 8,355
 
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It's still a mystery. It might be my sales page but I doubt it. However you never know so if anyone wants to critique my sales page, let me know and I'll send a link.
 
Are you a known figure in the community you are trying to sell to (or do you use a spokesperson who is)?

If not, you may need more touches before you get an ebook buy.

Eg. person is scrolling FB, person is intrigued by the message in your ad and maybe wants to solve the problem you are talking about, goes to check out landing page "meh, I don't know who this guy is, why would I trust him?", bounces
 
I'm a complete nobody. But why should that matter? I've bought countless ebooks without having heard of or caring who the author is. I'm sure most people do the same.
 
Not to say it's impossible, but let's unpack this:

You want people who are scrolling on Facebook in the middle of a huge dopamine orgy to stop what they are doing and go over to your website and impulse-purchase something for $20 that they have to READ to get benefit from, from a guy they didn't even know existed 15 seconds ago?

If you think about the triggers that get people to buy, and examine popular marketing, you'll find that 99% of buyer psychology hinges on authority, social status, trust, and demonstration/proof elements. Hence "as seen on", hence tons of testimonials, hence celeb endorsements, etc etc.

You're spending a very low amount of money ($6/day). But even if you need to spend 8x6 ($48) to make one $20 sale, that could still be profitable if you have a backend / upsells. That assumes your ebook is good and people will read and implement it, and now they like you and you can sell them something else.

But no one knows if X impressions or Y clicks is "good" on Facebook, because everyone's audience and offer is different. Serious FB advertisers spend 3,4,5 figs a day.

Anyway, maybe you are going for the sale too quickly is all I was saying. You are getting 100 people per day to look at your landing page. If you gave away some bribe to get them to join an email list, maybe you could convert 8 to 20 people per day. Then you email them a few times a week with some fun stuff that ties into your ebook, with a link at the end of the email to buy the book. Maybe they need 3, 10, 50 emails before they buy. Do you really think online ads are as simple as "one ad, then they buy"? Everyone would be killing it, then.
 
TooFineAPoint said:
Not to say it's impossible, but let's unpack this:

You want people who are scrolling on Facebook in the middle of a huge dopamine orgy to stop what they are doing and go over to your website and impulse-purchase something for $20 that they have to READ to get benefit from, from a guy they didn't even know existed 15 seconds ago?

If you think about the triggers that get people to buy, and examine popular marketing, you'll find that 99% of buyer psychology hinges on authority, social status, trust, and demonstration/proof elements. Hence "as seen on", hence tons of testimonials, hence celeb endorsements, etc etc.

You're spending a very low amount of money ($6/day). But even if you need to spend 8x6 ($48) to make one $20 sale, that could still be profitable if you have a backend / upsells. That assumes your ebook is good and people will read and implement it, and now they like you and you can sell them something else.

But no one knows if X impressions or Y clicks is "good" on Facebook, because everyone's audience and offer is different. Serious FB advertisers spend 3,4,5 figs a day.

Anyway, maybe you are going for the sale too quickly is all I was saying. You are getting 100 people per day to look at your landing page. If you gave away some bribe to get them to join an email list, maybe you could convert 8 to 20 people per day. Then you email them a few times a week with some fun stuff that ties into your ebook, with a link at the end of the email to buy the book. Maybe they need 3, 10, 50 emails before they buy. Do you really think online ads are as simple as "one ad, then they buy"? Everyone would be killing it, then.
Click to expand...
Newbs are always in disbelief when their campaign doesn't take off from the start.

You have ad copy, image/video, audience, offer, landing page, and other things that all affect whether or not a user will buy from you. And they all need to be dialed in to have a truly winning campaign.

It's harder than it looks.
 
Valentin Pearson said:
I've been doing facebook ads for a few weeks now. I'm selling an ebook. I got 1 sale on the 8th day ($20), but no more since then. I've tried a variety of ads, images and ad copy, and made multiple edits and improvements to my sales page.

I was having trouble with the pixel but I finally got it fixed, and I've set up a new ad set and ad, and I've also straightened out my ad set conversion event (which was previously set to website views rather than purchases, which is what I want).

Since then, and (inexplicably) even a day before that, I've had a major increase in clicks to my landing page. Right now, on day 2 of my new ad set and ad, I've got, at the time of typing this :

- Daily budget : $6 per day

After 2 days :

- Impressions : 10,660
- Reach : 8,191
- Frequency : 1.29
- Link clicks : 195
- Cost per click : fluctuating, but a just a few cents, very little
- Link CTR : 1.83
- Results (website purchases) : 0

- Clicks to my landing page today : just over 100

Is that good for 2 days? I was hoping to get at least a few sales. I'm disappointed. But I wonder, is it just a matter of time before facebook starts bringing me well targeted people who want to buy?
Click to expand...
Usually, you'll see some success at the start of the campaign due to the low-hanging fruit FB usually puts in front of your ad.

Valentin Pearson said:
I would have thought facebook would be clever enough to figure out who are the best people to show my ad to by the end of 2 days.
Click to expand...
No, this takes time. Their algorithm has to learn who your buyers are. It does this by seeing who converts for your offer. However, in the post-IOS 14 world, FB can no longer track Mac/IOS traffic off of FB. So instead it makes guesses as to how well it does. This affects the accuracy of your conversion data. There are 3rd party services like Hyros and Segmetrics which use a 1st party pixel that can help fix this problem but they might be out of your budget. Next best thing is to install CAPI for better accuracy. But it doesn't completely solve the problem.

I'd recommend only running to users on PCs so FB can accurately teach the algorithm who is purchasing from you. And when you do start running to the Apple crowd, use another ad set, but don't trust the data from that ad set. Use the PC ad set metrics instead to inform you what is working and what isn't.
 
These are different contexts than yours, but I have frequently used Facebook marketing for two separate organizations (one was a company I owned in the entertainment industry, the other is a non-profit Christian organization…actually, I think I used it once for my church, too). The waning use of Facebook has affected the viability of ad campaigns, but it was very useful to me a few years ago with my company. The non-profit still benefits somewhat, but the effectiveness has dramatically lessened since they stopped letting you target based on things of religious significance (there are some creative ways around this, but it’s much less effective than it used to be). YMMV.
 
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