Facebook ads

[tony84]

Is there a knack to this?
They gave me a £30 voucher so I just banged something out - 2 days in, 300 views, 3 clicks and no new likes/no enquiries etc.

I know the numbers are small but I just thought I would have seen something.

Are there any good sites with hints and tips?

 

[ethical PR]

Do your target market use FB to find a mortgage adviser?

If not spending any more time on this is a waste for you.

Communications works best when done as part of a wider communications plan with a consistent design approach and messaging/calls to action.

I think your experience demonstrates that FB certainly doesn't work for all businesses (despite all those on this forum saying - 'use social media', 'use social media' as the pancea to all ills without having a clue as to what someone's business is, or their target audience).

 

[Darren C]

As you have found, just banging stuff out with no plan in place is a quick way to blow money away.

There are loads of guides and tips out there but most have been written by people who don't know what they are talking about. If they did, they wouldn't be wasting time writing guides.

 

[ethical PR]

As you have found, just banging stuff out with no plan in place is a quick way to blow money away.

There are loads of guides and tips out there but most have been written by people who don't know what they are talking about. If they did, they wouldn't be wasting time writing guides.

In what way is this response helpful @Darren C ?

If most are written by people who 'don't know what they are talking about'. Which ones would you recommend? Do you think FB marketing is an effective route for someone who is a mortgage adviser?

 

[Darren C]

In what way is this response helpful @Darren C ?

It may save him the time reading a load of nonsense about 'engaging content' and such. It may not?

If most are written by people who 'don't know what they are talking about'. Which ones would you recommend? Do you think FB marketing is an effective route for someone who is a mortgage adviser?

The clue is in the first statement; I wouldn't recommend any. And, I don't know if the OP is a mortgage adviser or not but, assuming you haven't just pulled that as a random example, I wouldn't know since I don't have any experience promoting mortgage advisers. It may, it may not?

I have taken time more than once on this forum to outline a simple facebook strategy that can work but on each occasion the OP (not this OP) has never bothered to engage in conversation about it. I am , therefore, a bit tired of seeing the same basic question crop up every time I log-in.

I f my response offended anyone (you included) I am truly sorry.

 

[tony84]

Cheers for the replies.

I think my potential customers are on facebook yes, I am not sure they would be looking for a broker on facebook, but I was not looking for a watch and then an advert popped up with a picture of a watch I liked (very random as I have never bought a watch before).

Most of my customers are people in their 20s and 30s. Im 32 and I go on facebook as do a lot of my friends/family etc so I do think my potential customers are there.

It is not costing me any money at the minute so I am happy to waste my £30 voucher giving it a try but it would be nice to see if I am getting the most from it. If it works, I would happily throw a bit of money at it on a regular basis.

 

[Darren C]

but I was not looking for a watch and then an advert popped up with a picture of a watch I liked

This isn't a good example of how facebook ads would work since it's a bit random and applying the same logic to financial services is a sure fire way to waste money.

Think more of do my target audience have a particular problem and do I have a solution to it? When you have the answer to both these questions you are on the right track.

Like the watch analogy, the problem isn't 'they need a mortgage'. It's 'this problem is stopping them getting a mortgage' or something like that?

 

[tony84]

My main customers are first time buyers and/or those with bad credit. The problem is that if I do an advert for bad credit, I have to put loads of wording on there which would more than use up the number of characters I am allowed. So I was looking to advertse to first time buyers primarily.

I am not sure first time buyers have problems to overcome in the main, but many just want their hand holding so to speak.

 

[ChrisRM]

The 'challenge' with advertising on Facebook is that people are not on there to purchase anything.

They are there to consume content. They're looking at statuses, pictures, videos, articles, etc. Generally people are not in a buying mind set.

This contrasts with Google somewhat as it is where people have 'intent' to buy. They are actively looking for something.

The challenge is not insurmountable and Facebook has its benefits, primarily that most people are on it. And that they actively input information about themselves into it. For example they live in Manchester and are a window cleaner.

With that in mind one strategy could be to target people of a certain trade/job in Manchester that you know would benefit from your service. Or people who live in a certain area (you can show adverts to people who live in a set postcode). Then the advert could be an educational / informative piece. A piece of content they can consume and leads to them seeing you as an authority figure.

Say... 'FREE guide to beat the interest rate hike as a self employed tradesman'...(timely given the news today!). Or 'Best interest rates for self employed tradesmen'.

Or 'First time buyers guide to the interest rate hike'... and show this to men and women in Manchester aged 25-35 (subject to testing this is the right age bracket).

Make sure the Pixel is setup on your website (many guides available a Google search away'. And it will track who visits your site.

Then you can 'retarget' the people who visit the page with the guide on it at a later date (maybe some sort of offer to get them started).


Or do you already have a good piece of content on your website that gets your target audience to it (say via Google)? If so you could 'retarget' them with an advert.

Could you take advantage of todays increase in the interest rate?

 

[Donfelix]

If they did, they wouldn't be wasting time writing guides.

People who actually do it and then have some case studies use writing to generate leads for their agency. Writing in this form is part of the larger term known as content marketing.

 

[bathuy]

I have a facebook account that also runs facebook ads but was reported to need to verify the account, i sent the photo but still not approved, someone like me can tell me what to do to advertising facebook ads

 

[Darren C]

My main customers are first time buyers and/or those with bad credit. The problem is that if I do an advert for bad credit, I have to put loads of wording on there which would more than use up the number of characters I am allowed. So I was looking to advertse to first time buyers primarily. .

As @ChrisRM says, you can target specific groups of people as 'first time buyers' because such a group will also have 'bad credit' or some other issue that you can't advertise directly.

Of course, I'm oversimplifying because finding these target groups takes a bit of work.

And, going back to your original question, the knack of it is finding a formula that works and optimising it to the 'enth degree. Start with a small budget and tweak every aspect of your campaign until you are running at a profit (no matter how small). Then scale it up.

 

[Donfelix]

Valuable lead magnet + Well defined buyer persona + good conversion funnel.
That's all you need to start breaking even on Facebook ads.

 

[Hahnbeck]

Do your target market use FB to find a mortgage adviser?

This is the crux of it. Your target audience seems to be better suited to search marketing.

If you have a big advertising budget, then display advertising and re-targeting (showing ads to the same people across different websites) can be effective. Facebook is one channel for re-targeting. But you need a substantial budget for this. It can be employed in addition to search (i.e. use Google / Bing ads to drive traffic to a website, then re-target those people with ads as they visit other sites, including Facebook).

 

[LanaW]

Do they really work?

 

[Hahnbeck]

Do they really work?

Yes in some cases, no in others - it depends entirely on your audience, your product, and your objectives. Facebook advertising is still cheaper than Google Adwords in terms of cost per thousand impressions (and it is visual of course). But with Facebook you are interrupting someone from what they are doing, and trying to get their attention. With search marketing you are providing information to someone who is already searching for it - they are very different.

 

[StevePoster]

Expect nothing from Facebook ad if your page is new because it is not established which means few or no one knows your brand. So you need time to promote your brand through interesting content and engage with the target audience so they will follow you.

 

[Paul Thomas]

One major knack in FB ad's is having a value packed funnel for your traffic to follow.

 

[KindaichiShota]

Facebook ads works nicely but if your product or service is new then you have to research and study to make the FB ads more better....

 

[DavidWH]

We've been using it this year, along with one adwords campaign. Although we narrowed down our audience to those who actually have a business, or are in a management role. Reduces the impressions, but more targeted audience.

Initial thoughts are that the leads Facebook has bought us are less 'professional' businesses. Smaller more price conscious buyers. That said we've converted the leads into sales.

Adwords seem's to have bought in a higher calibre of leads, more established larger companies.

Either way, we've increased leads for minimal spend, and that is targeting one service we provide.

 

[Honey Blinds]

You have to wonder what effect FB's new 'back to basics' algorithm changes which downgrade businesses in favour of 'real' friends will have