So you want to use Facebook to give your business a boost? You’re not alone!

According to Sprout Social, there are currently over 60 million businesses on Facebook. Those 60 million businesses are all competing for the attention of 2 billion monthly active users, over a billion of whom are active daily. Are you feeling like the odds are stacked against you? Don’t. With the right Facebook Ad knowledge, you too can enjoy a share of those billions of users!

Make your Facebook Ads Profitable Every Time
We know, churning out profitable ads time and time again seems far-fetched, but if you ask Nicholas Kusmich, who sees some of the highest ROI on ads in the industry, it’s 100% possible.

Kusmich draws attention to the shift marketing has made. Gone are the days of mass marketing being king – it’s all about micro-marketing now and through Facebook, you’re able to pinpoint and target only those who need to be seeing your message.

Kusmich has come up with a predictable profit process, which begins with the ad, then the lead magnet, the thank you offer and retargeting. He also encourages keeping these three principles in mind

1. Content – how does your message stand out from the competition?
2. Distribution – what good is having a great message if no one or the wrong people see and hear it?
3. Conversion – what good is great content and distribution if nobody turns into clients?

Per Kusmich, you can’t just jump into the marketplace and ask people to buy your product and expect them to do it. No, you must give before asking. You have to earn the right to ask anything of your fans by providing value to them first. 

Keep in mind, every step of your marketing process should be valuable in and of itself. The name of the game is value, and your content and ads must have it! Keep to SAGE (short, actionable, goal-oriented, easy) principles, and you’ll begin to see a return on those ads.

Small Business Tips
As Andrea Vahl, co-author of “Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies” points out, organic reach may be decreasing, but users are increasing and Facebook is still the cheapest form of advertising out there. When done right, Facebook Ads will be quite a boon for your small business. Emphasis on the ‘done right’ part!

According to Vahl, you want to take the customer journey into consideration:

1. Use Facebook to build an audience
2. Target your ideal customer
3. Enhance the relationship with good content
4. Retarget to convert.

Ultimately, Vahl stresses that your goal is to move them off Facebook as soon as possible, whether that is on to an email list or your website. Since Facebook ad costs are rising, you have to get smarter and have a system in place for testing those ads.

Why Ads don’t work and how to fix them
Per Jon Loomer, an advanced Facebook marketing strategist, the ultimate reason why your Facebook ads are not working is because the wrong people are being targeted. So how do you fix this? It’s simple – adjust how you’re targeting the audience. 

Loomer suggests breaking your audience into different groups, those who engage with your content generally (aka not based off of specific posts, videos or events) and those who engage with specific content.

Making Facebook Ads Work For You
Azriel Ratz, CEO of Ratz Pack Media, shared some valuable knowledge on how to do just this at Social Media World 2018, and it involves four simple steps to optimize your Facebook Ads.

1. Set business goals
2. Find your best potential audience
3. Engage with the most effective ads
4. Optimize your ad performance

Are you only running 1 to 3 ads in every ad set? That is probably not your best-laid plan. As Ratz pointed out, the chances of making anything really good when only doing 1 to 3 is very rare. You should be mixing things up, testing copy, testing images, testing everything possible with the ads. He also points out that to optimize your ads you need to be monitoring cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM), cost per click (CPC), time on site and the conversion rate. Our digital experts at MILO are skilled at all things testing, in fact, they live for it! If you’re unsure of how to correctly test the effectiveness of those ads, we’re here to help!

If all ad sets have high CPM, you’re targeting the right audience, but with the wrong messaging. On the flip side, some high CPM and some low CPM may mean you have the right messaging, but wrong audience. Do you see high CPC? Try switching out the copy for more compelling language. The time on site numbers can be impacted by low-quality placements, a disconnect between your ads and the landing page, or a landing page optimization issue. Finally, if you’re conversion rate is low consider this: They just might not be interested in the offer or your form needs fixing.

You don’t have to dive into the world of Facebook Ad Manager alone, MILO’s team of digital experts are here to come up with a strategy that is just right for your business. Contact us today!