Answers to the Most Common Questions about Facebook Ads

We moved, which has resulted in me driving a lot more each day. This gives me extra time to listen to a lot more podcasts. So somewhere within this hectic week, I listened to a terrific episode from Amy Porterfield. Episode number 58 is nearly a year old, but the advice in it is so spot on that I almost choked on my coffee when I heard it. 

Amy takes a question from a fan who leads with, "How do I increase my FB followers?" 

If you've read my post about vanity metrics, you'll know that I hate this question. It turns out, so does the extremely successful (and very succinct!) Amy Porterfield. 

Amy doesn't use the word "hate," though. Here's how she puts it: "This is where we need a reframe."

The reframe: Facebook followers don't translate into the number of clients your business has. Ads can help you build your client base, but only if each of your ads has a clear strategy behind that you implement and monitor, tweaking along the way as you see your results within Facebook Ads Manager. 

As Amy says, " I want to help you see FB as a place where putting in a little bit of money will result in bringing back a lot of money."

Seriously! Or as I have said to new and prospective clients, to friends and family, to my dog Toby as he sits at my feet while I hammer away on my laptop keyboard:

Don't buy a Facebook ad unless you have a clear strategy for how you will receive a return on that investment. If you can't draw a line between that Facebook ad and how it will get prospective buyers/clients in the door, don't spend the dough. 

This doesn't mean you won't have to experiment with some trial and error as you figure out the target audience for your ad, the right text and images, times of day (in some cases), and the most rousing calls to action you can.

But you can only figure these things out if you have a clear goal in mind. You can only know whether the ads are "working" if they are moving you closer to that goal, or if they aren't. 

For example, if you set up an ad with the goal of getting those who see the ad to join your email list, and no one joins your e-mail list, you know the ad didn't work and you need to try something else. 

But I just love how Amy handles this question because she puts to rest the idea that your number of Facebook page likes has much to do at all with the effectiveness of your online marketing. 

Check out the full episode. 

The Difference Between “Boost Post” and “Boost Your Posts” in Facebook Ad Manager

Facebook ads: Have you thought about using them? Even if you have a $5 budget to begin with, I encourage you to test them out. Not just because you'll reach more people. A colleague at my co-working space recently reminded me what else you get for your $5: When you buy an ad, you get a TON of information on who responds to your ads. That information may surprise you. Are you reaching people you didn't expect? Not reaching the people you expected to? 

Both of those insights allow you to take action, either to experiment with your messaging to reach the people you really want to reach, or to re-assess whether your target market is different from what you thought it was. 

Those are actionable metrics, as opposed to the vanity metrics I talked about in previous posts. 

So buying ads can be useful even if you don't make a single sale. (Although odds are you will make a sale if you are sharing good content with a simple call-to-action.)

Today I'm talking about dipping your toe into ad-buying, and a simple what-not-to-do. Don't click on "Boost Post" at the bottom right corner of one of your Facebook posts. Instead, go to ads.facebook.com and click "Boost Your Posts."  Here's why. 

If you click "Boost Post," here are the options you get: 

If you go to ads.facebook.com and click "Boost Your Posts," you get about 8 bazillion more options. (Yes, 8 bazillion is the official number from Facebook's own team.) 

Those include: 

"Detailed target" which allows you to find people who engage in some pretty specific behaviors. Such as... people who are likely to watch home improvement shows and have also recently bought a home in a particular zip code.

That's pretty specific targeting for, say, an interior designer. And it's just the kind of targeting you don't get if you click on "Boost Post" at the bottom right of the post itself.

So don't do it.