Another excellent BrightonSEO!
The hardest thing about learning Facebook ads is the amount of misinformation that exists on the web. If you’re new to Facebook Ads one of the first things you need to do is figure out what advice to listen to, and what to avoid. This presentation aims to settle the score!
The real aim of this presentation was to demonstrate the difference I’ve seen between the ‘advice’ that is often peddled vs. what I’ve found to be true. The biggest takeaway from the presentation is that it is very rare for one bit of advice to work for everyone – you have to test and keep testing.
To summarise my main points of advice and the ‘5 truths’ I highlighted:
Truth 1: Creative really does matter
Ok, so we’re starting with a relatively obvious point here but it’s important nonetheless. When working on creative you have to remember that people are logging on to Facebook to escape, so you have to find a way of making your creative work to that point. If you don’t, the end result will be higher costs.
Truth 2: You don’t have to spend a fortune
If you take the right approach you can start small and be profitable. In this section I highlighted a case study from a very small campaign that we ran which ended up producing some fantastic results. Word of warning though, if your budget is small you have to make decisions very quickly. The learning curve is steep!
Truth 3: Lead volume does not equal win
For anyone looking to generate ‘leads’, Facebook’s lead ad unit might seem like a super obvious choice. However, because it is so easy for someone to leave their details, although CPL can be amazing you have to keep a very keen eye on quality.
If you can’t hook up with your CRM (ideal scenario) then you can use custom conversions to look for qualifiers and indicators of quality.
Truth 4: Let the pixel work hard for you
Honestly, the FB pixel is amazing. You have to have it working on your side. In fact, in the right situation it can often to a better job than you can! To show an extreme example of this, I included a case study where we ran an ad set with no targeting at all. This ended up with half the CPA of a traditional lookalike. Obviously you have to test this, but it proves just how smart the Facebook pixel really is!
Truth 5: Sometimes best practice is not best practice
This is the biggest point in this presentation. If you take away one thing, take away this. Whatever you read on best practice, you have to test it for your business and look at what the data is telling you.
Parting thought: So where should you look for advice you can trust?
If you’re looking for good, solid advice then I highly recommend you add the following people to your list:
