Here’s how Facebook Ads are still bringing in top results despite iOS updates and platform changes.

I’ve been working with Facebook Ads for several years and have witnessed many changes.

Now, more than ever, it’s vital to understand how the platform works.

In this video, I talk about two ways businesses can get better results from their ads right now.

HINT:

No. 1 goes against one of Facebook’s own tips.

It also covers why a low click-through rate can be better than a high click-through rate.

No. 2 keeps us in control of our data in a post-iOS 14 world and also reduces lead costs.

Video Transcript:

Hey, I want to talk about the current state of Facebook Ads. Every day I’m speaking to people about Facebook Ads and looking at multiple Facebook Ad accounts. And the people I speak to or in things that I read out there, a lot of people are saying that Facebook Ads aren’t working as well as they used to. And we all know about the iOS changes back in April 21 that affected Facebook Ads. Facebook as a result, made a number of changes. And ultimately one of the things that definitely doesn’t work as well as it used to is the reporting within Facebook. So what can happen is actually ads can be working just as well as they used to, but you won’t see the same results within Facebook. So you’ve got to do other things. You’ve got to be able to track in other ways or get a better understanding of what’s happening with your ads.

And also, as a result of the loss in tracking it affects the feedback loop where Facebook needs to be seeing the data coming through and understanding what’s happening. What’s happening on your website. What’s what type of people are converting. What is it about them, so it can find more people. And of course, if you want to create lookalike audiences and that kind of thing, to find more similar people, there isn’t the same level of data in there for Facebook to work with. But does that mean the Facebook Ads aren’t good anymore? No, not at all. Look at the Facebook platform, which obviously also includes Instagram and WhatsApp. And you think about the number of users that are there. Yes, maybe people are afraid of the demographic of users is a little bit older, but Facebook ads work.

Those people buy. People, see the ads and they still purchase. And Facebook knows so much about its users. Far more than any other social network. You’ve got other channels. Like a lot of people are talking about TikTok these days and yes, you can show ads easily there, but does TikTok really understand as much about what people,are interested in and the actions that they’re taking on websites as Facebook? No, I’m afraid it doesn’t. And if you want to really get conversions, you want to get people signing up for something you want people buying then Facebook and Instagram are the place to be showing your ads. So what is it that I’m seeing that people aren’t doing well enough at the moment? Well, there’s two main things. One of the biggest things that I see now when I use Facebook and Instagram myself, especially, or when I look in at other people’s ads, is that ads just aren’t good enough. Like people just don’t seem to understand there’s so many bad ads out there. And what I mean by that is yes, there’s the creative, so there’s the images and there’s the videos that people are using. You need these to stand out, to get attention, but more importantly to me, it’s the copy.

People think that you can just write a short sentence and put in a few clever emojis, and then somebody’s going to want to click your ad and go to your website and buy something. That doesn’t happen. Maybe that happened more before, because people didn’t see that kind of ad as much, or maybe… even I know a lot of people with e-commerce websites did great early in the pandemic. There was a lot of online shopping and maybe the novelty effect of some ads actually worked, but you’ve got to think about what’s going on with Facebook right now. And one of the things is that if your ads are actually vague, so somebody thinks they could be interested, but they’re not fully sure, but maybe they just click on it because they’re curious. Well, what’s actually happening there is that Facebook has a lack of an understanding of what people it is that are interested in your ads.

You think it’s great, you get a high click rate and you get people going onto your website, but, well, there’s a couple of things there. One is it’s, as I said, it’s mixed, the people going through to your website. So Facebook, maybe can’t easily learn and find more of those people, but also Facebook wants to keep people on Facebook. It doesn’t really want people leaving. So you actually want to play that game with Facebook and use your ads to actually make sure you’re getting the right people clicking through. So what I mean by that is that not only are you trying to put a message out there that gets the attention of the people that are interested in your product or your service, but actually a message that’s clear to the people who you don’t want, that this is not for them.

And people think that, and even Facebook themselves will tell you to only use a certain number of characters in, in your ad, but trust me, we see it all the time. Now, it takes some skilled copywriting and we’ll use some particular frameworks to do that, but longer copy can work very well because why wait for somebody to click, to bring them onto a website and have them read something and realise that it’s not for them or that it’s very much for them. You can do that in the ad. So write the ads for people to actually stay on the platform, learn about your product. And then if they do click they’re much more interested, and then there’s more of a chance of them actually staying on your website, or your landing page, and taking the action that you want them to take.

So, that’s one particular thing that I see, and actually along with that, the second thing that I see is that ads using Facebook lead forms, so forms that actually are inbuilt into Facebook or into Instagram, which like I just said, actually play along with Facebook and keep people within the Facebook or Instagram ecosystem. They don’t even have to leave to become a lead. And they can just fill in that form. Those forms are actually usually prepopulated with the contact details from somebody’s profile. So like email address, phone number, first name, second name. And then I would recommend that you ask some other questions. So you qualify that lead a little bit. So you ask some additional questions which helps them, like I just said, to actually figure out, not just from what they’ve read in the ad, but to figure out from what the questions are, whether this is definitely for them or not, because yes, with these forms, people will say the quality of the lead won’t be as good as you might get if somebody’s come through and gone onto a landing page.

I do see that sometimes, but I’ve seen these forms work very, very well. So just ask a few questions to help qualify the lead, also to put off the people that you don’t want and to just help improve the quality, but the costs you can get leads at using those forms are very, very good. Yes, okay, it’s not going to work for e-commerce unless you’re smart, and you’re just using it to build your email list because, let’s remember, email lists are still so, so powerful. You own that data. You’re not reliant on platforms like Facebook or Instagram when you have someone’s email address or maybe even better, their phone number, and you have their permission to send messages to them, that can be highly effective. So even for e-commerce, you can collect people’s details and then use it to sell to them in your email list.

So that’s two major things that I just don’t see that people or businesses are using well enough, and people are afraid that Facebook and Instagram ads aren’t working as well as they used to. And again, as I said, a lot of people got used to those ads working so well during 2020. We all know what was going on, a lot of people were sitting at home and e-commerce businesses were thriving, but a lot of those they were showing ads that was making Facebook Ads a little bit more competitive, a little bit more crowded. And now it’s the stronger businesses that are still after surviving. And trust me, from what I see when we get the messaging down and we’ve got good ads running, we really are seeing some fantastic results. So yeah, that’s the way I see it. Facebook Ads are not going anywhere. And obviously if anybody wants to talk to me more about using Facebook Ads to grow your business, then I’d be very happy to talk to you.