Are people getting fatigued over Facebook? If so, are Facebook ads still worth it then? I’ve invited the amazing Liz Melville, one of the top Facebook ads strategists, to chat with us today about all things Facebook ads. Liz is currently working with businesses to get amazing results with Facebook ads.
Liz answers a very important question, and that is: Is Facebook ads still worth it for business owners, especially those who are just starting out? She also talks to us about the benefits, the types of ads should you use, and the things you need to know about Facebook ads. And of course, we also talk a bit about Google ads. You definitely won’t want to miss this juicy episode!
Important Links Mentioned in the Show:
Women in Business Retreat 2020
Angela Henderson Active Business Facebook Group
Angela Henderson Facebook Business Page
Prefer to read Are Facebook Ads Worth It? Here’s the transcript:
ANGELA:
You’re listening to the Business and Life Conversations Podcast with Angela Henderson, Episode 81.
Hey there, you’re listening to the Business and Life Conversations Podcast. My name is Angela Henderson and on this show, we talk about improving your business, life or both, by having amazing and rich conversations with brilliant guests who will inspire you and who will give you tips and tricks to help you grow both in life and in business.
Well, hey there and welcome back to another awesome episode of the Business and Life Conversations Podcast. I am your host, Anj, from Angela Henderson Consulting where I am a Business Consultant helping women in business go from stuck and that really yucky overwhelm, and far too often, they are working in their business to helping them gain clarity, strategies and systems in order to allow them to grow 5, 6 and 7-figure businesses.
Now today, we are going to talk about Facebook ads. And the million-dollar question, are they still worth it? You see, my team and I have been testing Facebook ads, and at time of recording, we’re also about to start split-testing Google ads because I’ve got some theories around are Facebook ads still worth it?
In today’s episode, I’m super excited to have the amazing Scottish, Liz Melville, one of the top Facebook ads strategists from around the world here today who is working with some pretty amazing businesses, getting some amazing results with Facebook ads. And she’s going to chat with us today on the podcast about all things Facebook ads.
And some of the topics that we’re going to talk about today are going to be things like are Facebook ads still worth it for business owners, especially for those owners who are just starting out? What are the benefits of businesses to run Facebook ads? Does she feel that people are getting fatigued with Facebook? I also want to look a little bit deeper at does she find that it’s harder to create ads these days because we’re running on a real estate on Facebook?
We’re also going to talk about what type of Facebook ads should people be using and what do they need to know? And so many other amazing little tidbits like what is the most important things businesses need to do and try to get their ads to be successful from day one? And we’re also going to dive a little bit into Google ads, and seriously, you’re not going to want to miss it. There’s so much more goodness that we’re going to talk about in today’s episode.
So get ready, it is a very educated episode, a fun episode. I love her Scottish accent. So sit back, pour yourself a wine, beer or whatever you choose to drink today and get ready to take some serious notes about are Facebook ads still worth it?
But before we jump into this episode, I just want to let you know that this episode is sponsored by my new, on-demand, business master class, The Ultimate 4-Step Framework for Creating a Sustainable and Profitable Business. In my 60-minute jam-packed master class, you will learn my signature four-step framework for creating a sustainable and profitable business without sacrificing time with your kids, without the overwhelm or without wasting more cash. I also dive deep into the four big business mistakes that everyone in business makes and why they’re keeping you from growing a sustainable and profitable business.
Now, you can sign up to this amazing on-demand master class simply by heading to bit.ly/masterclasswithangelahenderson. Again, that link is bit.ly/masterclasswithangelahenderson and I’ll also have this link in the show notes.
Alright. Let’s get ready to rumble with today’s amazing episode on ‘Are Facebook Ads Still Worth It?’ Welcome to the show, Liz.
LIZ:
Thank you, Angela. I’m really excited to be here.
ANGELA:
Yes. I am so equally as excited to have you on the show today because you are a bucket of knowledge when it comes to Facebook ads. Pre-recording this, you and I have been talking I think for about 20 minutes about Facebook ads and I finally look down, I was like, “I think I better start recording, Liz,” because we were talking about a lot of juice and I feel like the listeners, potentially, can miss out. So we’re just going to kind of dive into it.
But one of the things, listen, that I reflect on before I even hopped on pre-recording this with you, is that we’ve only known each other for a very short time. In fact, I think we’ve only met; it’s been almost like less than a year ago when I joined the coaching program of Evergreen and courses with Caitlin in the US. But I swear, it feels so much longer than that, Liz.
LIZ:
I know, it does. I was thinking that exact same thought. It feels like over a year and we briefly met in March at Social Media Marketing World, and even that feels like it was ages ago, and yet, it was only March this year. It’s crazy.
ANGELA:
I know. Where, at time of recording, it’s August, so it’s one of those things that I just go like, “Where has the time gone?” You know, like it’s just like, absolutely, this year is flowing by. Now before we start, Liz, one of the things that I like to do is I think it’s important that my guests get to know you as a person and not just the amazing Facebook ads strategist that you are. So my first question to you is are you a savoury or sweet kind of person?
LIZ:
Oh, that’s the easiest question you could ask me, Angela. Sweet, all the way.
ANGELA:
Sweet all the way. And what is your go-to sweet item?
LIZ:
Chocolate. Chocolate cake, in particular. I am such a chocoholic and I have been all my life. And I’m never going to be able to shake that habit. And you know, my husband hasn’t quite got that yet though, after 11 years of marriage, he still, at weekends, goes and buys chips and it’s crisps. And I say, “No, that’s not what I want.”
ANGELA:
You are not going to cut it heavy. I’m going to need a little bit…
LIZ:
That would be chocolate.
ANGELA:
Yup. So chocolate is your, no pun intended, sweet spot there, Liz.
LIZ:
Oh, yes.
ANGELA:
But can you tell a little bit about you to the audience, so kind of where do you live, where are you from, what’s your background, kind of what you’re doing in business now?
LIZ:
So I, as you can probably tell for now is I live in Scotland. So just near Glasgow, near the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond. And I’ve been in Facebook marketing for 10 years now. 10-year anniversary is actually coming up in October.
ANGELA:
That’s exciting.
LIZ:
I know, I’m actually just realizing that I need to celebrate that. So I’ve always loved Facebook and when I started out, it was really a key, so it was broad Facebook marketing, it was helping any type of business with how do they get on Facebook and really promote themselves.
And that kind of quickly niche down to thinking about well, Facebook ads and paid traffic is becoming more and more important to businesses if they want to have a presence, especially as organic reach started to kind of closed down on Facebook. So I started to learn Facebook ads and I have to say, I hated them at first, I invested them so much wanting to do them and I think a lot of your listeners will probably resonate with that.
ANGELA:
Yes.
LIZ:
And so, but I kind of also liked it because I was also equally fascinated by them about how they work and how to nail them because I’m a bit stubborn; I really am a stubborn Scottish lass. And when I want to understand something, I will go to all the degrees to learn it. So that’s kind of what I did with Facebook ads and that’s what I now specialize in.
But for me, I just love trying to simplify it and I, by no means, think Facebook ads are easy. I think it’s becoming more and more technical as the years go by, and as more features get added to Facebook. But they can be simple, and for me, it’s all about ditching the drama of Facebook ads. You know, stopping this, “I’m scared to do them. They don’t work,” and turning into, “Right. Okay. With some simple strategies, I can do this. It can be effective for my business.” And really just breaking that down that people understand what they’re doing.
ANGELA:
Which I think is important because again, I think it’s though this goes with that fear of the unknown. Anything is scary until you start to understand what it is, but you just kind of have to get over that, push through the fear and just kind of dive in, bite in. And as you know, you and I are very much about data. Sometimes things work at the beginning, other times, things don’t work, but there’s always opportunity to learn from the data that’s presented. And I know we’ll talk a little bit about that as we get on to some of the questions for today.
And I mean, if we just look at Facebook collectively, Liz, let’s be honest, the majority of us continue it every single day to be on and off with the Facebook platform multiple times a day, including Instagram. It’s been a platform that has seen some amazing launches for some amazing big players such as James Wedmore, Amy Porterfield, just to name a few.
And that’s why I’m super excited to have you here today and to have a really, I hate using the word open because every discussion I have on the podcast is open. I guess it’s diving a little bit deeper about Facebook ads because there’s a lot of people that I’ve been speaking to here in Australia anyways; I can’t speak for the rest of the world; wondering if Facebook ads are still even worth it?
Especially for those in the small business, those that kind of need a little bit of a break. They’ve got an audience, they’ve got a valid product, but they haven’t quite tipped the scaling aspect. So I really want to dive into that, and I guess my first question to you, Liz, is with that ever-changing platform of Facebook, and things are changing, let’s be honest, every hour, it feels, with Facebook.
LIZ:
Yes.
ANGELA:
And in that fast-paced world, my first question right out the gate, let’s kind of like clear the air. Is Facebook ads still worth it for business owners even if they’re just starting out? Have they missed the ball or is it not too late?
LIZ:
It’s a great question, Angela. And I think my initial response to that and not just saying this because my job depends on it and my business; I’ve got a bit of a vested interest in Facebook ads still being worth it. But I think they are. I do believe they are. And for me, it comes down to a choice. There are lots of other ways of getting new people into your business and creating attention, creating awareness. It doesn’t have to be Facebook ads.
But you can have a choice. You either do it organically, you do it for free, and you find ways to reach people; that’s probably going to be more time-consuming, or you can use paid traffic. And that doesn’t need to be Facebook ads, it could be Google ads, any other Pinterest ads, any other kind of paid traffic.
But if we’re talking about Facebook ads, it’s a faster way to reach more people, and it’s a faster way to be very targeted about who you reach. So for me, Facebook is the most targeted marketing option of all the paid traffic ads that you can run because of the data it has on its account holders.
So if you’re in a position where you know, “Right. Okay. I don’t have the time to waste, scraping around Facebook groups, trying to encourage people to come and look at my sales page or to sign up for a lead magnet,” and you want that to scale quicker and grow quicker, then I absolutely feel that Facebook ads are worth it because they’re not just about what most of us tend to react to, “I need to run a Facebook ad because I’ve got something to sell,” I think it comes before that.
It’s where the beauty of Facebook ads are in how you can create awareness, create connection, create conversations on that platform for your business to bring in fresh blood, to bring in a fresh audience that is going to be essential if you want your business to survive. So yes, I do feel that Facebook ads are absolutely worth it. It becomes a question of what’s more valuable to you, your time or your business in growing it.
ANGELA:
And I think before we pressed record on this, we were talking about at the end of the day, any business owner that’s listening who doesn’t think that this is a numbers game, that business, collectively, is in a numbers game, I would strongly suggest that you really look at the kind of your business, right? Because here’s the thing, is like, you can have a hobby, you can have a business or you can have an empire is the kind of the way I look at the three different things, and other people will look at it differently; but for the purposes of today’s kind of conversation.
And if you want us to get to that empire a bit, where that scale bit is it’s going to come down to numbers. How many people are seeing your stuff? How many people are getting to know you, getting to know what you stand for, what you sell, what you don’t sell? If they click with you; if they don’t click with you? And as we were talking about pre-recording this, you’re lucky if you get a 1% conversion.
So for every hundred people that see you, or go through your webinar, or go through your 30-day challenge, or, I’m not talking so much about e-commerce, but again, it’s still a numbers game. 1% will convert. So you have to, at some stage, drive this traffic. And like you said, it could be Pinterest, it could be Facebook, whatever, but to get a hundred people through that 1 conversion, you’re going to be busting your butt doing free organic stuff.
LIZ:
Absolutely. And I think that’s a point that a lot of people miss, and I get that, I understand why because, especially when we’re starting out, is that need for sales and, “Oh, I would love to have 50 people buy my online course. So if I just go and talk to 50 people in a Facebook group, that will make the sales,” or you won’t, because they won’t all sign up. So it’s looking, as you say, if only 1% of people will actually buy from you, you actually might need 5,000 people to talk to. Are you going to find that in a group? And how long is that going to take you to get around those people, where you could run an ad and reach those people in a matter of minutes.
ANGELA:
Yeah.
LIZ:
So really, I think, when it comes to running a business, business is going to take something from you and it’s going to be time or money. And so many people just give away their time, like we’ve got an endless supply of it. But we hold on to our money tightly and we say, “I’m not going to spend money on Facebook ads, I’m not going to give Facebook money.” But you kind of have to weigh up what do you value the most.
ANGELA:
Yup. And at the end of the day, this is what; I hear a lot of people whinge about Facebook, “Oh my goodness, Facebook’s changed again. Facebook’s changing again.” And I’m like, “You’ve got choices. Adapt to the changes that Facebook’s making or don’t adapt, but don’t complain about it.” Because I’m just kind of like, “They’re a business, too.” They’re trying to be successful, just like any of us that are listening to this podcast right now. That’s exactly what they’re doing, they’re playing the game, and you’re either playing the game or you’re not.
And if you don’t want to, like you said, you’re going to have to work harder because the organic reach isn’t as great as it used to be back five, six, eight years ago and there seemed to be pros and cons to that. But I know you touched briefly about some of the benefits for businesses to run Facebook ads around building that connection, that continuity, starting a conversation. Do you have any other thoughts about what other benefits Facebook ads bring to businesses?
LIZ:
I think, I mean a lot depends on I guess what your business is and how you want to grow that. But particularly if you’re a personal brand, for example, which I know a lot of your audience will be, Angela and a lot of people I work with are. You need to create authority and you need to create influence to be believed and to be trusted. And that can quite often be the factor, the difference between you getting a good conversion rate to sale and not.
And because you can have all the fancy sales pages, you can have the most amazing funnels, you can do the most interesting webinar on the planet, if nobody believes that you know what you’re talking about, then they’re still not going to buy from you. And Facebook, for me, gives an amazing opportunity to establish that authority in what you say, what you do on Facebook, what you post and then using Facebook ads to amplify that so that you reach even more people.
So for me, it’s almost like sending out the carrier pigeons; it’s really releasing the message to a massive audience in a way you just can’t do on your own. And that will establish you and allow you to have conversations with people who are in different parts of the world to you, and not just locally. So it’s a phenomenal opportunity to really benefit your business and grow it and reach people.
ANGELA:
And I like one of those words that you used there, which is conversations. I think in a world, again, I talked about this multiple times on many podcasts and also over on my Facebook community, The Australian Business Collaborative, conversations equal conversions. So naturally, the more conversations you are able to have, which means, again, the more people you are able to reach, the more people you reach, you can have those rich and juicy conversations. They can get to know what you stand for, and eventually, that conversion is going to happen a lot quicker than not having any conversations at all. Would you agree with that or disagree with that?
LIZ:
I 100% agree with that, Angela, and we were having that conversation that it’s a phrase I often use it on my own podcast and when I’m talking about Facebook ads is that we need to get away from thinking about ads as ads and thinking about what I said as conversations. And if I’m going to have the conversation with this person over in Australia who’s thousands of miles away from me and hasn’t a clue who I am, what would I say to them?
If I was to meet them face-to-face, what would that conversation look like? Would you make them watch a 30-minute video that said how brilliant you are and would they watch that? No, I think they’ll probably say, “Yeah, right. Okay, I’m off.”
ANGELA:
“I’m going to go out.”
LIZ:
But if you said something for 30 seconds that was really interesting and it was an icebreaker, and left them wanting more, would that be more effective? So I think it’s thinking about your ads in terms of conversations that are going to create connection, that are going to create trust, that are going to help people to like you. That will have a far bigger impact on your business if you think about it that way.
ANGELA:
Yes, conversations people. Conversations, alright? Regardless if you’re doing Facebook ads or not, just have a conversation with people, is that’s what I’ll say on the side. Now, Facebook; I don’t know about you, Liz, but there are some days like I’m over it. I’m just like, “Oh my God,” like I feel like I’m not even happy being on Facebook some days, and that’s just maybe me.
So do you think like, and I’m probably fatigued with Facebook a little bit, it’s been around for a while now. It’s not as exciting as it used to be, even though it’s still brilliant; I get to stay connected with my family and friends back in Canada and see my new little niece named Lottie, who’s a little joy. It’s still brilliant, you know? But do you think people are starting to feel a little bit fatigued with Facebook?
LIZ:
It’s a really good question, and I think, personally speaking, I do get fatigued with certain aspects of Facebook quite frequently. And we’ve probably got a 9:00 o’clock watershed in our house where mommy’s going to start swearing after 9:00 o’clock when she’s working on ads marketing because bitch has happened and things go wrong and I’m ready to throw the lots of it out the window.
And so, in those moments, I could see Facebook far enough, but I think I then take a step back and every time Facebook makes a change, people throw the toys out of the pram and it’s, “This is ridiculous and why are they doing this? This is awful.” And the doom-mongers come out that, “This is the end of Facebook. We’re all going to Instagram where the trendy kids are.” Well, you know, that’s great, but we haven’t really seen the demise of Facebook yet that everyone predicted would happen with all the changes they’ve made.
So I think we go through these cycles where people say, “Yeah, I’m fed up with Facebook,” but they’re still on there. And I find it really interesting about a lot of the people who say, “I hate Facebook. I hate; it feels really negative. It feels really, like waiting [Inaudible 00:19:18]. Everyone’s just trying to present the best view of themselves. It’s not real life and I don’t like it.” But they’re still on there. We’re still running Facebook groups. So I think we’ve got a choice.
ANGELA:
Totally.
LIZ:
And if you’re really fatigued with Facebook, why are we still on it? And for me, I think Facebook is still the daddy of all the social networks. It is still the biggest in terms of what we in Western Europe would use and the US and wherever. I mean, China’s obviously got its own network as far bigger. But generally speaking, Facebook is the biggest.
And yes, Instagram is amazing and a lot of people are flocking over there, but it still doesn’t offer a lot of the features that Facebook has. So for me, as a marketer, Facebook is still the go-to network and because there are so many things you can do, posting images, post videos; all, everything in different formats. Instagram; much more restricted and how you can have that conversation with people and it’s a different audience.
So I just think Facebook, yeah, we do say we’re fatigued with it and some people will leave, but has it really impacted it? I don’t think it has.
ANGELA:
Not yet.
LIZ:
I know not in a big enough way that it’s going to see Facebook go down the tubes.
ANGELA:
And I guess and we also talk about fatigue, I also think about, obviously, Facebook is, it’s real estate. It’s prime real estate that we’re all bidding for; our ads to get shown in front of our audiences. And so, not only with the fatigue, my question is this, do you find it’s also harder to create ads and get in front of our audiences because we’re running out of real estate? I mean, they started doing ads into messenger and doing all of that.
So obviously, they’re looking at new creative ways. I wouldn’t be surprised again, I’ve heard groups who’ll start to get advertising, etc. etc. But do you think it’s getting harder to create ads these days and get in front of that audience because we’re running out of real estate?
LIZ:
Yeah. I know it’s often been talked about that Facebook are running out of real estate for where ads can be served. But that said, if you look at the total population of Facebook business page owners on Facebook, there’s only about 6 or 7% of those owners are actually advertising.
ANGELA:
Well, that’s quite a low number; I thought it would definitely be higher.
LIZ:
No, it’s actually a lot smaller number than most people realize. So there are very few business owners on Facebook advertising. So it’s almost still in its infancy, almost, which, it doesn’t almost feel like that when you are advertising. But there’s still enough volume of ads going on there that they are running out a little bit of space and I think Facebook are trying to be mindful of people don’t want to see just ads in their newsfeed. So there is only a certain number of ads that they can show in the news feed any one time.
But then we see things that you can advertise on Instagram, you can advertise on, WhatsApp will be the next big thing and that we can advertise on there. So they’re always coming up with new audiences. And I think we can be, in no doubt, Facebook survives and is supported by ad revenue. It has to pay its shareholders, so therefore, it has to keep ad revenue coming in. It is its primary source.
I mean, we all remember Mark Zuckerberg signing it from the Senate and you say, “How do you make money?” Said, “We run ads.” And I know that was kind of tongue-in-cheek comment, but it’s so, so true.
ANGELA:
Yes.
LIZ:
So Facebook almost have to keep finding the real state, they have to keep finding the space and encourage people to advertise. And it can sometimes feel a bit more frustrating because they tighten up the rules that we have to play by and getting ads approved, so that can make it a little bit more difficult to get in front of people.
But for me, I kind of like that because it actually means it gets rid of the people who don’t take care over their advertising; it’s protecting people from these funny people who are writing really awful ads and trying to target people who should be protected. So it can sometimes feel a little bit draconian, but I do genuinely believe that Facebook are seeking new real estate areas to serve ads. They have to, and therefore, it’s so the opportunity.
ANGELA:
And speaking of ads, I know some of my listeners, my listeners are probably more beginner to intermediate. And so, for those that are out there, and I’ve multiple conversations every single week about, “Should I start Facebook ads. Do I not start ads, Anj? What do I do?” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And I’m not a guru. I always lead those on to the gurus, but for those that are listening, and I’ve never really doubled in with the Facebook ads before, Liz. Can you talk to them a little bit about different types of Facebook ads? Like, listen, I know, there’s a million different complexities and, what would you say, configurations that could go into this.
But just as a broad, generally speaking, like for example, I use engagement ads. Could you talk a little bit about what that means so the audience can just get familiarized? Because I’m a big believer about educating people. If you educate people, it doesn’t become scary. And if it’s not scary, people might be prepared to start to learn the strategy in how that impacts their business; so I’m all about planting the seeds.
So can you talk to us, Liz, a little bit about Facebook ads and what that would look like for different businesses?
LIZ:
Yeah, absolutely. And Facebook ads 101 in two minutes flat; here we go.
ANGELA:
Boom.
LIZ:
I think it’s one of those terms that we say, “I’m going to run a Facebook ad,” and actually, it’s what do we mean by that because there are 11 different types of Facebook ads you can run, depending on what your objective is, what you want to achieve with that ad. So it comes back to, you mentioned you love engagement ads. So engagement ads are one type of ad that you can run.
And it just comes down to you deciding, “Right. What do I want people, what I should want them to take when they see my ad?” And it might be that you just want them to see a post that you put on your Facebook page and you want them to like, comment or share on it. You just wanted to get that engagement on your page, so that’s how you’d be saying, “Right. I’m going to choose an engagement objective.”
Alternatively, you might decide, “No, I’ve actually got a really amazing lead magnet, a PDF,” whatever it is, “I want people to sign up for that.” So you’re wanting people to take a specific action, to click on a link, go to a website page, give you their email address and take that action. So that’s where we choose a conversion objective ad.
So it really comes down to stepping back, and before you go near ads manager, mapping out, “What’s my customer journey here? What do I want them to do? What actions do I want them to take? What conversations do I need to have along the way? And what type of ads are going to help carry them through that process?” So that’s how I usually start by thinking about it.
And then, my sort of signature strategy is what I call ABC, keeping ads as simple as ABC. Starting with, “Right. I’m a new business owner. I need to bring in awareness about what I do. I need to reach more people.” So you’ll probably going to run things like engagement ads where you’re just having those conversations, you’re building connection, you’re allowing people to get to know they can trust you. And you’re not putting a call to action in front of them to say, “Buy this,” or “Sign up for this.” It’s purely about that awareness.
And then, engagement ads is really a good place to start. So if you’ve never run ads before and you’re like, “Oh, I’m a bit scared about this,” run some engagement ads because all you need to do is put a post on Instagram or put a post on your Facebook business page and then turn that into engagement ads to get even more people engaging on it.
It’ll be good for the health of your page and it also will give you a great practice test run of what to say to your audience that are going to react to and what images they like; whether they like videos. You can test all that out just through the content on your page and then by promoting it via an engagement ad. And it don’t cost much either. You could just spend a dollar a day on that if you wanted to and start to build a warm audience. So I love engagement ads for that.
Then, when you want to deepen that relationship, it’s about saying, “Okay. I would now like someone to commit. I’m showing about commitment. I’m going to put a ring around their finger,” or “Why don’t you sign up for something?” So you might start to think about traffic ads or conversion ads where you’re going to take more committed action.
And then, you want to get them to actually buy something. It’s again a conversion ad, but thinking about again, “What’s the conversation? What am I asking them to do in the ad copy?” So I think it’s about starting out gently. Don’t feel you need to learn the whole of Facebook ads and all the strategies, you can learn a lot just by posting some things on your page and then promoting that through engagement.
ANGELA:
Brilliant advice because again, I think people sometimes go, “I’ve got to know everything, and therefore, since I don’t know everything, I’m just not going to do anything at all.” And then, they’re missing out on opportunity, missing out on those connections, missing out on conversations just because they just don’t know everything. So yeah, so I think it is important, just again, keep it simple. And there’s a variety of different things; like you said, 11 different types of ads, trying to look at what one could you do.
Now, one of the things though that I also know is that I see this happen often and it’s I’m all about testing. But there are, I believe, there are some things that are pivotal when starting ads that businesses also need to really take in consideration. And I talk about my own ads manager will say, “Anj, we’re going to need to have your assets ready to go, etc.” And I’m like, at the beginning, I was like, “What’s this lady talking about? This is like [Inaudible 00:28:45] Like, what does she mean? Like, “Yeah, man. I just need you to throw an ad together.”
But when you’re first starting out with ads, what do you think are the most important things that businesses need to do to try to get their ads to be successful? Because I see it happen is like again, they just throw an image up there, they throw a couple of words up there, and then, they’re like, “But why isn’t this converting? Like I did, I’ve got an image. It’s just not working.”
So can you tell us a little bit about what businesses can do to try and have the most success on those ads even if they’re beginners? Yeah, that would be super helpful.
LIZ:
Yeah and that’s a great question and I think it’s an important one that everyone should consider, even if you’re not beginners, even if you’re intermediate and you’re advanced in ads, it’s a stage that’s often missed and it’s kind of, “I’m just going to throw up these ads and hope they stick.” For me, it’s being very, very clear on who your audience is and what you need to say to them that they’re going to resonate with.
So it really comes down to your message. It’s not, and I differentiate, I would say the copy you write in an ad is not your message; they’re just the words that you put together. The message is absolutely what you want to tell people. If there was one thing you want them to remember and take away, what is that and how can you put that into your ads? How can you convey that in a conversational way and that they’re going to sit up and take notice?
And you’re only going to really define that by knowing your audience, knowing their pain points, knowing their challenges, knowing the transformation that they want to achieve in their lives and speaking to that with your ads. And the copy from you is very, very important in doing that. So then, I think it really is about working on that hard; it’s not just chunking together some words in half an hour and thinking about, “Okay, that’s me. I’ve created an ad. I’ll send that off to my ads manager.”
I think you’ve really have taken the time and even getting professional copywriter help to do that. It’s worth its weight in gold and then teaming that with an image that is likely to convey the sentiment you want to put across in your ads so that when people see it in their news feed, it pops out and they almost instantly, visually relate to your ad and then read more and decide whether they’re going to cook or not. So yeah. I think it’s two key things; totally understanding your niche and be very clear who they are and then forming your message based on that understanding.
ANGELA:
And do you also think, I’ll use an example; we were running ads, which were great. We were getting wonderful leads anywhere from 35 to 50 new leads a day, but there was one thing that again, it was quite hard to confirm whether or not they were the right client. And I’ll give an example, so our number one opt-in was 30-Days, 30-Ways of Instagram Content. And Instagram as we know this year is exceptionally hot with stories; even in news feed slightly changing. People still obsessed with hash tags combination. And so that was great.
But that message match of that Instagram opt-in that I was selling wasn’t the right match in what you’re talking about, to leave them going, “Great. Anj is the next Instagram strategist,” because I’m not. I am a business consultant working with women in business to move them from stuck and overwhelm to gaining the clarity and strategy they need. That’s not like; I’m not going to teach you Instagram.
Tyler McCall, someone who we both know; that would be a great opt-in for him, 30 days of Instagram content into say, his Instagram webinar and then into his Instagram program. That would be a brilliant match. So I believe it’s important, but I’m curious to know what your thoughts are about how important it is so that if you’re running something like an opt-in, or if you’re even running engagement ads that you’re solving their problems or you’re giving them content or you’re helping them based on ultimately something that you can sell into? Because if not, there’s going to be a disconnect incongruency.
LIZ:
Oh, absolutely. And I think it’s about stepping back and thinking is there a thread that links my lead magnets through to what I eventually want to sell? And a common thing I see is people wanting to run Facebook ads to promote a lead magnet and saying, “I just want to build my list.” And I’ll say, “Well, great. But build your list to sell what?”
ANGELA:
Yeah.
LIZ:
Because presumably, you’re not just building that list because you got a kicker seeing the number group. And well, maybe I think some people actually do.
ANGELA:
Some probably, yes.
LIZ:
You’re paying money to get that person on your list if you’re using Facebook ads. So it would be make good business sense to know what you would eventually like to sell to them and you’ve got a better chance of selling that to them if your lead magnet links and the topic is on point to lead them through. That’s why it’s called a lead magnet, it leads them through to the offer that you’re going to put in front of them.
So I absolutely think that’s really important, and then it comes back to your messaging is what’s the message that you want to convey about how amazing your offer is and what transformation is that creating for people? Why would they desire it? Why do they need it in their lives? And what can you help them with as the first step in your lead magnet that allows them to move towards that offer?
So you’re almost creating a gap. It’s almost like, “Well, I’ve helped you a little bit, but I’ve kind of left you hanging, and the only way you’re going to fix this problem completely is to buy my course or my program,” or whatever is. So yeah, I think it’s hugely important that lead magnet connects with their offer.
ANGELA:
I also think though, and it’s something that I probably wasn’t going to ask, but I am going to ask is that I think people put so much energy into either Facebook ads manager, Facebook, collectively, and Facebook ads and Facebook ads manager can get people on to your list. And then people will still get shitty and go, “But I didn’t have any conversions,” or “I didn’t have any sales. Facebook didn’t work.”
People miss a crucial step, in my opinion, about what happens once they’re signed up to your lead magnet or whatever the action you’ve asked them to take on that Facebook ad that your potential ads manager has set up. If you get them on to your email list and you do sweet nothing with them, and then send them an email once every four months, that’s not the Facebook’s problem. That’s your problem.
You haven’t nurtured them, guided them, had them take micro-commitments to getting them closer to a sale. And so, for example, if you have a launch and you’ve gotten, you’ve done them, you’ve gotten them to the webinar list as the ads manager; you’ve got them signed up. You’re retargeting, you’re rocking and rolling.
But if they’re email sequencing after that opt-in is shit, then getting them to that sales page and that end result is equally going to potentially end up in a problem. Would you agree?
LIZ:
Oh, yes. I’m just getting my soup box out from under the table. [Crosstalk 00:35:26] And you know, if I had a dollar for every time someone says to me, “Facebook ads don’t work because I didn’t make any sales,” or “Those leads weren’t good enough, high quality enough because I didn’t make any sales,” then I wouldn’t need to work as an ads manager; I would just be rich anyway.
And it is a view that a lot of people take, and exactly, as you said, it’s missing a point; Facebook ads’ only purpose is to generate leads. And if people are reacting to an ad where you’ve put your heart and soul into crafting the right message that you know is exactly right for your audience, and they’re reacting to that, then by definition, you’ve got the right people on to your list because they have connected with that ad and spoken to them in the way it should. They’ve clicked on the link and they’ve signed up for something.
So you have got a high-quality lead there. If you then don’t make sales out of it, it’s about having a hard look at yourself and at the numbers to say, “Well, why is that? Was it the webinar? Did nobody turn up? Did I not bother to send them any emails out? Or if I did, was it just want one then that were not adding any real value to build that connection to further building the relationship with that lead that you’ve got; that you’ve plucked out of the air?”
Because at that point, yes, they’ve raised their hands and said, “I’m interested in what you have to offer.” It’s then your responsibility; what are you going to do about that? Are you just going to walk away and never talk to them again? How is that going to work for you?
ANGELA:
Yeah.
LIZ:
Or as you say, nurture them, send them emails, encourage them to learn more about you, and then, put an offer in front of them that they’re more likely to buy. And then the other thing as well is the offer itself, and I know, as business owners, we all get very invested and very close to our offers and our programs and what we’d created, and it’s sometimes very hard to swallow that actually maybe nobody wants your offer.
ANGELA:
Yeah.
LIZ:
And I think that’s a crucial element as well; it’s almost before you run Facebook ads to try and sell something, test out organically on people who do know you already. See if it is something they want to buy. And then, when you know that and you’ve got the data, that’s when you can really bring in Facebook ads to ramp it up. And as long as you focus on the numbers, you will know you’ve got the right audience and that you’ve got good leads and spend your job to how you sell to them.
ANGELA:
Yeah. And I guess, again, like you said it, Facebook ads are the top of funnel. You’ve brought them to the top of the funnel. You’ve gotten them in. It’s now, you’ve got to get them to the bottom of the funnel. So just again, that would be another whole 800 podcasts all strung together, but again, I just think it’s important that I think, so often, people are becoming more and more dependent just on Facebook ads as their only funnel.
And I can’t emphasize enough that again, if Facebook closed down tomorrow, and they closed your account and you were very successful with ads, do you have other funnels that are going? Do you also think it’s important that businesses have other funnels that are working in conjunction or congruently with the Facebook ads?
LIZ:
Yeah. And I think it is important you have traffic streams from other places, which may or may not be organic. So I mean, for example, I’ve got my podcast as well; that’s a great lead generation source for me and that means I’m not solely relying on Facebook ads. And then maybe Google ads or Pinterest ads or other social media ads; there are so many different options.
And I think you’re right, Angela. It’s about testing out all these different ones and see which ones work well for you at the stage of the sales process that you needed them to work. And just running them and testing them out and not relying on just one thing. Because you’re so right, if Facebook did disappear tomorrow, and I certainly hope it doesn’t, then, what would you do?
ANGELA:
Yup. What would you do?
LIZ:
If groups were gone and Facebook ads couldn’t be run, what would you do? And I think savvy business owners are looking at multiple income streams and ways of generating traffic and revenues that they’re not solely relying on one thing.
ANGELA:
And I know for us, we’re currently, we are in going on month three at time of recording with a pretty solid Facebook strategy; some of the shit’s working, some of it isn’t, but I’m very grateful for the data that it’s giving us. It’s also telling me again, as we talked about, Aussies potentially buy differently to the rest of the world. You know, do they need a longer runway?
And so, one of the things that we’re also going to test, too, is because Facebook; someone could be sitting there in their undies, binge-watching Netflix and just happen to see your ad. They’ve got no intent to buy, but they’re like, “Oh, that was cool.” They’ll sign up for the opt-in. They’ll do whatever and they might get back to them and just a fleeting, like a passing moment, right?
Whereas, that’s what we want to do, too, is we’re starting to be testing Google ads, because Google ads, a lot of times, people have already intent to buy. They’ve got a problem and they’re going to go looking to find that solution. And so, again, that’s why we’re looking at, again, having a funnel on Google ads in the upcoming months to see that.
And again, the example that I’ll use is, you know, obviously, my brother passed away unexpectedly on Mother’s Day last year. And so when he passed away, I didn’t go on Facebook to find the airline ticket. I went on to Google to go, “What is the fastest and most cost-effective way for me to get back home to Canada?”
LIZ:
Yes.
ANGELA:
And so, I think it’s something we said, I think Facebook ads, for my business, personally, maybe there’s parts of Facebook ads that are working really well and other parts that aren’t. And that’s why I’m super curious to see where people have intent to, say, look for a business coach or Australia business coach, or business; whatever that is, the keywords that they potentially try and is that again, if they’ve got an intent to buy, they’ve got a higher potential conversion rate versus someone who’s going to need a longer runway.
So for those listening, just always, again, I’m a firm believer that you’ve got to keep split-testing. And just when you could, you potentially could have a great opt-in, great ad working really well on Facebook, and shit could change. So how are you going to adapt to this in order to make sure that you’re not becoming so complacent and so dependent on one particular thing because you never know what could happen?
LIZ:
Absolutely. And I think it’s also about playing to the strengths of each kind of income stream and traffic stream that you’re using as well. And you raised a great point there, Angela; you know, social ads, Facebook ads, I cut off when I’m doing talks and ask people, “When was the last time you actively searched for something on Facebook and bought something? That was your pure intention.” And that’s usually a zero response because most people are on social media to connect with their family and friends and have a chat and find out what’s happening in the world; we’re not on there to buy.
Whereas, Google is a different experience. Google, as you see, you’re usually on there specifically looking for something. So if you can run ads that are tapping into keywords; you’re catching people at different stage of the buying cycle, but Facebook still present an amazing opportunity for building connection, creating awareness and running the type of ads where they’re almost just like ordinary posts that people would expect to see in their news feed.
And that’s where actually people really meet great groups is when they realize that, that it’s not about the promotion, it is about creating something that feels and native to Facebook that you would expect to see, that’s when people watch it, that’s when people look at it because it feels natural.
ANGELA:
And also, I think, I don’t know what your thoughts are, but I also think, in a world where we love immediate gratification; everything’s quick, speedy; you’ve got all these wonderful things. Netflix, you no longer have to sit in ads. And my little nephew, actually, he was, I was at his house a few weeks ago and he was pissed right off because he’s just about to turn three, and the show he wanted was on TV and it got to an ad he couldn’t understand why he had to wait.
Like, “Auntie, put it on.” Like, “Auntie, why did you turn it? Where did it go?” And I’m like, “Nobody; I didn’t touch it.” “Where has it gone, Auntie?” And then he’s crying and also funny and hysterical when it comes on, right? So the world where I think we’re in about immediate gratification, I also think people are wanting Facebook to be immediate gratification.
Like, “I run a Facebook ad, why am I not a millionaire? I run a Facebook ad, why do I not have 5,200 new leads?” Right? I think also, people are comparing to a lot of those big people like Amy Porterfield, James Wedmore. They have worked hard over the years to gain their credibility and their authority in the market, and their email list. And they’ve played well with Facebook; I can only assume that Facebook rewards them for the amount of money that they’ve auditioned and the algorithm that they’ve worked on their side etc. right?
That I just have to go, guys, this isn’t going to be immediate gratification for some of you. And that just because one set of ads doesn’t work well and you don’t see the ROI right away doesn’t mean that all Facebook ads are bad. You just have to keep testing. What are your thoughts about that?
LIZ:
Absolutely. And when it comes to Facebook ads, that is the keyword. You’ve got to test, and I think it was once measured that on average, you need to spend about $1200 US dollars just to test out your ads to get a feel for what is and isn’t working and what kind of messages your audiences are relating to.
And most people are expecting from dollar one that, “I should be seeing some kind of return because Facebook ads are this magical unicorn that I sprinkle a little bit of fairy dust on my marketing and they’re going to produce this phenomenal results. I’m suddenly going to make all these sales and I’m going to have this five-figure launch.”
It doesn’t work that way, not for most people. I mean, you will always get the exception where someone run an ad campaign and they had a five-figure launch and they only spent a couple of hundred bucks. That’s the exception; it’s not the rule. And I think for most of us, you do need to test what’s working.
You do need to test which campaign objectives are the best for you. You do need to test what copies are most effective. You do need to taste what optimization settings are working best. It is quite technical and that doesn’t just happen overnight. You’ve got to cool the leavers, you’ve got to tweak them, you’ve got to adjust and you’ve got to repeat that process until you get it right.
And I think what’s frustrating for a lot of people is you can hit that sweet spot run the exact same campaign a week later and it doesn’t work.
ANGELA:
Yeah.
LIZ:
So even at the end of your campaign that are identical to the previous one, you’ve still got to adjust and tweak and test. So I think that’s the mindset that people really need to adopt and embrace and not come at this from, “It will work because Facebook ads are this magical thing.” They’re not.
ANGELA:
Yup. And like you said, I know, before recording, it may work for one business coach, for example, but it might not work for the next business coach. So that’s again, it doesn’t mean that all Facebook ads are bad, it might just mean that it’s not hitting your target market, or again, your messaging is not right, or your offer is not right. Go back and test, go back and tweak.
My main thing though, is I, again, I’m obviously in the position that I can afford a Facebook ads manager. They are not cheap, but you’re not paying for cheap. You’re paying for quality, such as yourself, Liz. Years; 10 years, you’re going to be celebrating your business. That’s 10 years of you going to conferences, 10 years of you learning from the best, 10 years of you spending copious amounts of time on those back-end, managing those Facebook ads. You’re paying for people’s level of expertise, hence, why you pay for a Facebook ads manager. That’s typically, once you start to get into those higher numbers, it is, it’s a few thousand dollars a month, potentially.
So my question though is for those starting up; because this is where I see a massive gap at the moment, Liz, is I work predominantly with small business owners and that start-up to kind of one to three-year phases. I genuinely believe that they need to just test ads, but they’re in that holding period where they couldn’t afford a few thousand dollars for Facebook ads manager because it eats too much into the profit and revenue at this particular stage in their business.
So my question is for those starting out with Facebook ads, how do you recommend they start to go? Because I also think it’s important that people understand Facebook ads, alright? Because I have invested in myself in learning about Facebook ads and it’s not my zone of genius, but I can ask questions to my team and go, “Why isn’t this working? Why is our cost per lead here? What’s going on here? What’s going on?” I know enough about Facebook ads to know if I’m getting screwed or not screwed.
My first ever Facebook ads team with Angela Henderson Consulting, I won’t name names, I fired them halfway through the launched last year. I was paying them $3,000 US amounts to run my ads. They were targeting people; males in third world countries. I had 400 new likes come on. I was like, “Wow. This is really great, 24 hours.” No, they were all males from third world countries, but I was cluey enough to go on in there and look. I knew where to look, I knew what questions to ask and I knew that this isn’t right, right?
So people can go, “Yup. I’ve got money, Anj. Disposable income. I’m happy just to pay for someone like Liz.” Okay great. That’s awesome. But they still might not know; they don’t know what they don’t know about Facebook ads. So do you think it’s best for those in these infancy stages, or who have never run ads before, they may even have been in business for a few years; to learn ads themselves and to set them up correctly. Like, what are your thoughts about that because I see so many people getting stuck in this kind of phase?
LIZ:
Yeah. And what I see most struggling entrepreneurs do is that they come at this from a place of fear and will often, will hear things like, “I’m not a numbers person. It’s too techy for me, and so I want to hand it off to somebody.” And I understand that because it can seem that it’s all about numbers and metrics and you look at the dashboard and think, “What the heck? How do I interpret that?”
But I’m a firm believer you should not outsource Facebook ads from being a blind spot. You should outsource it from it being a good business decision to take away, to give you more time to focus on what you really wanted to look at. So don’t outsource it just because it’s a blind spot that you have to fight and to tackle it.
An analogy I would use is I hate doing accounts, I hate bookkeeping and all that kind of number work. So I have an accountant and I have a bookkeeper that does that for me. But if I didn’t understand the profit and loss statements when they came back to me from them, and I didn’t know how to read those numbers and know what I was looking at whether it’s good or not, then they could be embezzling me, they could be taking money out of my account and I would never know.
So for me. it’s my responsibility as a business owner to understand the key numbers that indicate success in my business and I would apply that to Facebook ads. I think if you’re going to use Facebook ads, it is absolutely your responsibility to understand the numbers and what good looks like so that you can have a conversation with your ads manager that is collaborative and that you are taking control of your own business, but just getting someone else to do the work for you.
And I think that’s a much better outlook and mindset and place to come from with your Facebook ads than just blindly saying, “I don’t want to do it. I’ll just chuck it at somebody else,” and hope that they’re doing a good job. How will you know? How will you actually know?
ANGELA:
Just like bad business coaches, God, there’s a handful of them, let’s be honest. They think they know what they’re doing, but they’re just taking a course off the back of a cereal box. The same thing goes for ads manager, too; there’s dodgy people in every way. Like, I see in groups, “Oh my goodness. Look at how much I got. Look how much I made on this.”
But it’s like, anyone who knows anything that has a close look at the numbers, you’re like, “Actually, you’re probably running at a deficit here,” but the way that they’ve been able to look, make it look and sound is that they’re killing it, right, for this particular clients.
So I agree with you there, Liz, it’s so important, not only to know your Facebook numbers, but to know just your basic numbers, your accounting numbers, your profit and loss, your Google analytics; like you name it. Numbers are super important any way you look at it.
LIZ:
Absolutely. And it doesn’t need to be complicated with Facebook ads. So I mean, I normally teach that really, it’s usually three key metrics you need to look at for any given Facebook ad campaign that will tell you within 30 seconds whether those ads are performing or not. And that doesn’t take a lot, it’s not rocket science.
You just have a quick look and you’ll get a really good feel for how things are doing. Isn’t that more important to know that and just take the time to learn what those stats are than blindly give away your business to someone else and trust that they know what they’re doing?
ANGELA:
Absolutely. And I’ll use an example that I have a few times in the podcast is I had an SEO person here in Australia. Again, I won’t name names. Again, you don’t know what you don’t know when you first start off. So I was working full time in Mental Health, helping people who are suicidal and homicidal.
It wasn’t on my plan to learn SEO. But because I failed to learn the basics of SEO and what I needed to look for and not look for, by the time I got an SEO person on board, we’ve grown to 1,400 different products, etc. etc. that had cost me $20,000 US dollars to be able to get my entire site cleaned up to scratch.
So again, it can be extremely costly if you choose to kind of put your head in the sand and not take responsibility. So again, that’s when I first started off. You’ll learn from your mistakes. And so that’s why I’m really big when I work with my coaching clients about your numbers. And like you said, it doesn’t have to be complicated, but you need to be able to look at those key metrics in order to know if your business is working or not working.
LIZ:
Absolutely. 100%.
ANGELA:
So now for those, like listen, like I said earlier, I could talk to you for hours about this stuff because it’s just so good and so juicy. Obviously, I think we have settled that Facebook ads are still worth it, alright? There’s a few things that business owners need to take responsibility for in order to make those Facebook ads work better or have a better success rate, potentially. But for those listeners out there, Liz, that they would love to get to know you more, connect with you, where can they find you?
LIZ:
Best place to find me and get more tips and hints on Facebook ads is to listen to my own podcast. So that’s, you’ll find that at Ads That Converts on Apple and all the great podcast players.
ANGELA:
Fantastic. And I’ve got one final question; what do you know now that you wish you knew when you started in business?
LIZ:
Oh, that’s a great question. There’s actually a couple of things, but if I was to pick one, it is the importance of really understanding your niche and niching down. Getting very focused on who you want to serve and narrowing that down as much as possible because the most specialized I’ve become, the more my business has grown because I was talking one language to one type of person and not trying to be everything to everyone.
So I think I wish I had listened earlier to the people who said to me, “Don’t be such a broad Facebook marketer and what we’re all businesses, what is your niche?” I think that’s hugely important for any business to very focused on that.
ANGELA:
Yes. And I couldn’t agree more with that. And I know we had a podcast episode where I’d spoke specifically about to niche or not to niche. I will link that in the show notes because I don’t know that particular episode off the top of my head. But, yeah, I think it is super important. I think there’s a time and place to niche.
I think again, as I talked about in that episode, there is survival mode when you’re first just starting out. And then, I think once you get past survival mode, you’re able to kind of go into specialty mode. And I talked a little bit more about that, but I definitely think there is niching is imperative for growth and scalability. 100%.
LIZ:
Yeah. I’m glad you said niche as well, Angela, because I’ve been saying niche there because I’ve worked with so many people in the US. [Crosstalk 00:55:30]. No, let’s say niche with pride.
ANGELA:
Niche; same, same. I’m like, you can just pretend I’ve had a few short names. It’s fine. It all sounds the same. Well, listen, it has been fantastic as always to connect with your wisdom and your wealth and your just bubbly personality, Liz. I hope you have a brilliant day over in Scotland.
And for the rest of you, just a reminder before we sign off that my team and I will also be putting together the whole transcription for this episode at angelahenderson.com.au. And of course, I cover all sorts of related business and life topics inside my amazing and super active Facebook community, The Australian Business Collaborative. Don’t be scared off; it’s business owners from all around the world, so head on over and join.
And for the rest of you, have a fabulous day no matter where you are in the world. And I look forward to you joining me again next week for another amazing episode of the Business and Life Conversations Podcast. Thanks again, Liz, and have a fantastic day.
LIZ:
Thanks, Angela.
ANGELA:
Thanks for listening to the Business and Life Conversations Podcast with Angela Henderson, Are Facebook Ads Worth It? www.angelahenderson.com.au
