New Version of Facebook's Ads Manager

As always, Facebook likes to keep us on our toes with updates from user feedback.  We had many customers that complained that they couldn't open the multiple levels of Campaigns, Ad Sets, and Ads.  We also worked with many customers that were confused by the Reports tool and didn't know how to create different types of reports based on the ads running. I sat in on many round tables with programmers where we gave them this feedback from customers.  They took this advice and created the new version of Ads Manager.

Unfortunately, the design is not very intuitive if you are coming from the old ads manager.  This will take some getting used to!  I have a client that has this new version but he is missing links to Power Editor and Audiences.  This is not such a good situation since Power Editor is usually the work-around if your Ads Manager is funky due to an update.

What is your experience with the new Ads Manager?  Do you like it?  Do you have trouble?

Think of the person viewing your ad

Are you creating ads today?  There are some important elements of ad that really help to increase performance:  

• grab attention
• give them a call to action (click, buy, like, follow, etc.)
• and...
  

When you are creating an ad, keep in mind that you need to answer the question "What's in it for me?" Why should I Like your Page or click to your website? 
Even if I am familiar with your product or service, why would I want to subscribe to your newsletter?  I already get a ton of email.  
Why should I follow you on Twitter?  WIIFM!  
Convince people seeing your ad of the value of taking that specific action. 

If you can quickly answer this in your ad copy, you will find better ad performance! And get a better return on your ad dollars!

1 Million Facebook Fans for $1

I keep seeing people out there saying "I can give you 1 MILLION Facebook Likes for $1" or other promises like this.  It makes me sad and it gives marketing consultants a bad name! Usually their suggestions are not...um...exactly in line with the advice we were giving at Facebook on how to use Facebook.  The thing that small business owners need to ask is WHY do I need a million Facebook likes?  I get it. Competitors might have a lot of reach - tons of people see their posts every day!  You want an edge...so what will it hurt to get a little boost to your numbers?

Once you know more about what Likes do and what you can do once you have genuine fans you will have a better understanding of why you don't want to cash in on this promise.  

Genuine fans are important for businesses so you understand what works and doesn't work to turn fans into paying customers!  If a restaurant in Arizona, creates ads targeting people in India just to get cheap Likes they are hurting their data!  Now Facebook's Insights are no longer helpful.  This restaurant can't send out an ad to just existing Fans to remind customers to return.  Everything is thrown off a bit.  Don't try the shortcuts.  It will actually save you money in the long run if you earn genuine fans!

Don't freak out about how many Likes your competitor has!

Your competitor has a ton of Likes and you don't?  Instead, take a look at their Facebook engagement.  What does that mean?  Go to the competitor Facebook Page and see how many Likes, Comments, or Shares they get on average with each post.  

Are there very few Likes or Comments and a really big fan base?  Don't worry!

Is it 10% of their fan base?  Then they are doing something right!  Take a look at the types of posts that your potential customers seem to enjoy.

Hire or delegate wisely!

Did you know that as an advertiser, you are responsible for the ads that consultants create on your behalf?  Same goes for the content on your Facebook Page.   

You shouldn't just get an intern or an Administrative Assistant to create posts for your business without reviewing what goes live.  My suggestion to clients is to have their employees create posts ahead.  This way they are all there for you to review before they go live. If something doesn't sound quite right for your business, you can delete the post before it is ever published.  That is much easier than losing fans because your accounting firm was posting kitten pictures. (This actually happened!)

Shameless self promotion time...Call me!  Even if you aren't ready to hire me to help you on a permanent basis, I can at least teach you the basics so you can do it yourself.  

I want you to be successful!  SO successful that you don't have time for marketing and advertising...then you can call me back and hire me to do it all!