A lot has changed when it comes to running Facebook ads (or Meta if you like) since Apple released iOS14.
Tracking is not as accurate anymore. Targeting and custom/lookalike audiences are not as powerful as before.
More importantly… The cost per lead/acquisition has gone up significantly for businesses.
What does this mean? Should we stop running Facebook ads? Switch platforms?
Maybe.
But we can’t deny people are still spending a lot of time on FB/IG.
So it remains one of the best platforms to get customers for your business.
As I continue to run Facebook ads for my businesses, I know my costs will continue to go up.
(I too am facing more expensive clicks and cost per conversion right now.)
So I’ll be doing things slightly different this year.
In this post, I explain what I’ll be doing to maximize my ROI.
- Write stronger call-to-actionheadlines
When you run an ad, you are effectively selling the click. You want people to click on your call-to-action (CTA) headline so they can buy your product or service.
So what you write in that little space beside the button is crucial.
In all of my ads, I make sure I write killer CTA to get them to click on “Learn More” or “Shop Now” or whichever button you select.
How?
My call-to-action text should answer at least one of the following three questions:
- Will my target audience know I can solve their pain/struggles? (Solution to problems)
- Am I making my target audience curious about my product/service? (Curiosity)
- Why should they click now and not later? (Scarcity/urgency)
Here are some actual CTAs I’m using:
(I run an eCommerce store selling music instruments and courses to beginners. For the example below, it’s for a product I’m selling called the Flexi-Piano Starter Kit – where beginners can learn to play piano by watching our tutorial and using our roll-up piano)
Learn to play piano even if you don’t have one! Perfect for beginners with zero knowledge! Free tutorial included. (Solution to problem)
Discover This 1 Secret Shape To Start Playing Piano Fast! (Curiosity)
Get this at just $XX before it runs out again! (Usual $XXX) (Urgency)
The main aim really is to get them interested in my offer and click on the button.
- Write multiple ad copy for the same ad
This is a relatively new feature (maybe rolled out in 2020~)
When writing an ad, you can write up to 5 different copy in the same ad.
This allows Facebook’s algorithm to show the best performing ones to your audience.
Click add options to add in different ad copy.
I do this for the headline (call-to-action) text as well.
I write at least 3 different variations of ad copy for the headline and primary text.
This may not be a big needle mover for your ad performance.
But since you’re already paying for the space…
Why not write more and let Facebook decide which one works best?
The only drawback is you wouldn’t know which ad copy brought in the clicks. Which doesn’t matter for me because I just want the ad to convert.
- Explore broader targeting
Just a few weeks back Facebook announced in their ad platform that certain interests, demographics and behaviours are being discontinued.
I personally experienced lower conversions on my lookalike audience too over the last few months.
My lookalike audiences used to work wonders… and I was scaling really hard back in 2018-2020.
Right now I feel we cannot rely as much anymore on custom audiences and lookalike audience.
So I’ll be adjusting my targeting to a wider audience.
Meaning, instead of zooming in on a particular demographic/behavior/interest, for example parents with teenage children, or parents with toddlers etc) I would just zoom out and target all parents.
Instead of a particular music genre, or music instrument interest (like piano, guitar, violin etc) I would zoom out and just target general music interest.
This way my CPM (cost for 1000 people to see your ad) should ideally be lower.
And from there I aim to get more clicks on my ads.
- Use more testimonial/review ads
After running ads everyday for the last 5 years…
There are (in my opinion) only 4 types of ads that work really well.
Without going too deep into describing, here’s a brief summary of what they are:
- Hype/benefit ads that showcase the benefit of a product (whether a video or image)
- Story ads where someone tells a story of how they faced a problem and overcome it with a solution (usually a video)
- Contrarian or curiosity ads that grabs your attention by going against the norm. E.g. how to get 6 pack abs without doing sit ups… why you don’t need a business idea to start a business now. Those type of ads.
- Testimonial/review ads where you show proof of your customers praising your product/service or reviewing it. (video or image)
I would like to expand on using testimonial/review ads.
I’ve been using a lot of them and they usually convert well. It doesn’t have to be a video of your customer giving a review.
It can be something as simple as a screenshot of your Whatsapp conversion with your customers, showing that your product works or your service is good.
Here’s one ad I created where I used a screenshot of a conversation with my customer:
We know consumers these days are very well-informed and they look at a lot of reviews before purchasing something.
So why not show them how your customers are raving about your product/service?
- Show more proof on your product/landing page
This is important if you run an eCommerce store and you’re running a conversion campaign driving traffic to your product page.
Show more proof of your product and customer reviews.
Get your customers to write in review or send in videos of them using your product.
This can be a big needle-mover for your ads ROI that is easy to implement without you having to put in too much effort (like creating a new product video)
If you’re selling a service, then show as many happy customers review as you can on your landing page.
Here’s some of the reviews I have on my product page:
There are several elements you must have on your product or landing page if you want it to convert well.
I can’t stress further the importance of good copywriting on your website.
However that is a whole new topic altogether and it’s tough for me to write everything here.
If you’re keen though… I wrote an ebook on running profitable Facebook ads.
I talk more about writing copy and creating high-converting ads in it. It’s perfect for people relatively new to marketing. You can find out more here.
- Start building your email list. Your business will thank you one day. (And then you can thank me thereafter)
When Covid-19 struck, we weren’t allowed to run large scale events due to the lockdown/restrictions,
Our business revenue from events (we run corporate team bonding events using music) and music classes (we have a physical music school) were hit.
I stopped all my ad campaigns back then.
There are several elements you must have on your product or landing page if you want it to convert well.
I can’t stress further the importance of good copywriting on your website.
However that is a whole new topic altogether and it’s tough for me to write everything here.
If you’re keen though… I wrote an ebook on running profitable Facebook ads.
I talk more about writing copy and creating high-converting ads in it. It’s perfect for people relatively new to marketing. You can find out more here.
- Start building your email list. Your business will thank you one day. (And then you can thank me thereafter)
When Covid-19 struck, we weren’t allowed to run large scale events due to the lockdown/restrictions,
Our business revenue from events (we run corporate team bonding events using music) and music classes (we have a physical music school) were hit.
I stopped all my ad campaigns back then.
As restrictions loosened a little, it didn’t make economic sense to run ads for our music classes.
Therefore, I tapped into our email list of about 8k subscribers to get people to join our classes.
I wrote and send sales emails too whenever we launched a new online course (we pivoted to online music class).
Surprisingly, we survived 2 years of running our physical music classes without running ads.
Coupled with extra revenue from sending sales emails…
We survived pretty well during the covid-19 period.
And that was when I realized the power of having an email list.
If you have a system in place to keep bringing in new (and relevant) subscribers to your email database…
It’s like sitting on a goldmine.
Therefore in 2022, I will start building up my email list again for my business.
I’ll do it by giving out free lead magnets (snippets of our video course) and get people to join my email list.
I’m currently working with a client on this as well.
I’m running 2 campaigns – both are lead generation campaigns but one gives out a free lead magnet.
You can see that the campaign with a lead magnet brings in more leads and cheaper clicks.
Now, of course these lead quality are different (as you get people who just wants the free stuff)
However, the idea is to build a base of relevant subscribers interested in your business…
And then nurture them via emails and they can one day become your customer.
This is a long game I’m ready to play.
Because I know many years from now, email marketing will still work.
- Selling a higher ticket back-end product
This is something that took me a while to figure and build.
You see most of the time when we run ads to sell a product, we usually sell just 1-2 products.
After factoring cost of goods, ad costs, your margins can’t be high.
To really get a high ROI from a campaign, it’s what you sell them later that can really move the needle.
You need to sell a large/higher ticket back-end offer.
But it has to be relevant to what you sold on the front-end.
A front-end offer is something like the precursor to your back-end product.
For example…
I sell an online beginner piano course as my front-end.
My back-end product would be my complete piano course (consisting of beginner, intermediate and advanced levels)
Your back-end product would typically cost 3-5x more than your front-end offer.
So if you can get your sales process in place to sell a higher ticket back-end offer to your customers, it will give a huge boost to your overall revenue (and profit).
How to do this?
There are various ways.
You can build a funnel on your own…
Or if you’re running a store on Shopify, you can explore upsell apps.
How am I doing it?
Using emails.
I’m doing it in an automated way – by building an automated email workflow to sell my customers more stuff.
In 2022 I plan to build up more automated workflows to sell more back-end offers.
This way, I can still overcome the expensive cost per acquisition that we’re all facing.
In summary…
If you are planning to run ads on Facebook, we got to make the best out of it by generating positive ROI, whether now or in the long run.
I hope these 8 points have been insightful to you.
If you are new to Facebook ads or want to become a better marketer, check out the my eBook here on running profitable Facebook ads.
