When I moved on to the movie industry my advertising budget exploded, there was money for TV spots, print ads, digital banners and I think the smallest Facebook campaign I ever ran cost $ 15,000, not to mention the top of the line creative assets which came with a massive price tag. Fast forward to starting my own business, doing my own Facebook ads, not only on a moderate budget but also entirely by myself and without the resources of an entire creative, online marketing and media team, who are all experts in their field.
Hello and welcome to the real world of a solo-preneur.
When you are on a shoestring budget you want to make sure all your ad content is stellar so you get the most engagement out of your advertising dollars.
But first and foremost when you invest in a Facebook ad, be really clear about your intended goal. Is it to generate leads or are you selling a product?
I have found that Facebook works best for lead generation because people go on there to be social, connect with others, learn, find information and not to buy products. (I hear Pinterest is actually more and more becoming a platform for buying products, but this is a story for another newsletter….) In order to generate leads you have to provide something compelling that your target market absolutely wants to get their hands on. Depending on your industry this could be a variety of things:
• eBooks
• How-To Guides
• Webinars and Tutorials
• A competition or a quiz where you have to enter your email address to be eligible to win the price or see the results. Personally I love the idea of a quiz because it invokes a natural emotion – curiosity. Would you not want to see your results?
Now that you are clear on your intended goal and the freebie you are going to offer, it is time to create your ad and all the components that go along with it.
From a brand perspective your ad should always match up with your landing page in look and feel.
Here is why this is important. If you have a great ad that entices your viewers to click on it and then they land on a not so stellar or let’s just say it, crappy landing page (this is where your audience is going to opt-in and get the freebie), they are not likely to stay engaged with your content. You have about 3 seconds to make a good first impression. Here is what you need to watch out for:
• Make sure your landing page is aligned with your ad (meaning it has the same look & feel, in terms of colors, tone of messaging and quality, so there is no disconnect.)
• Use a captivating tagline (this is the most important real estate on your landing page) and add a clear call to action to direct the viewer to what you want them to do next.
• The opt-in box needs to be above the fold, so your viewers can see it right away and don’t need to look for it by scrolling down.
• Ensure your landing page is responsive and loads within 2 seconds on all devices (desktop and mobile). Remember the attention span online is short and if it does not load fast enough, your viewers will get bored and click over to the next thing.
Once all this back end work is done, create your ad in Power Editor, specify your target audience and set the daily budget as well as the duration of your campaign and you are good to go. Stay tuned for more on how to create an ad in Power Editor coming your way soon in my video tutorial
Much love,
