My Secrets for Onboarding Clients into My Agency

by | Jun 15, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads

If you run an agency like I do or you own a service-based, client-based business, you know how important it is to onboard clients effectively… and how tricky it can be, too. See, the onboarding stage is arguably one of the most important parts of the puzzle in the client relationship, because it sets the stage for either a really incredible experience or a lackluster one.

And we’re allllll about the really incredible ones over here, huh?! (Heck yeah!)

Over the years, I’ve onboarded a lot of clients into my agency, and I’ve gotten the entire process down to quite the science. The keys? Overcommunicating, making all the checklists, and documenting each and every step.

Ready to dive in? I’ve got you covered.

Why onboarding is so important

Have you ever started working with someone, only to realize that you felt super unsure of what the correct next steps were — or, even worse, to realize that the person/business you’re working with feels really unorganized?!

Same. And there is nothing worse — which is why onboarding is so, so important.

While onboarding is what kickstarts your client relationship, it’s also what kickstarts the internal workflows in your own business that keep that client relationship moving forward. When you onboard clients properly, you set the stage for an organized, positive experience for everyone involved — including your team, yourself, your clients, and their teams. When you don’t onboard clients properly, you set the stage for a messy, confusing experience for everyone involved.

My Secrets for Onboarding Clients into My Agency

While our onboarding process over here at System Envy is definitely made up of a lot more than just a few secrets, there are 3 go-to’s that form the foundation of each step in our onboarding process: overcommunication, lists, and documentation.

Here are the 3 secrets we swear by when it comes to onboarding clients over here:

  • Over-communication is key: Being under-communicated to is the #1 driver of confusion, excessive questions, and unclear expectations — which is why we over-communicate in the onboarding process (and then after). We never want clients and their team to feel out of the loop in their onboarding status, and we also want to make every detail apparent and clear for everyone. At System Envy, we rely on Slack for quick communication and updates, but anything can work.

 

  • Checklists make everything easier: We love a checklist over here, and rely on them heavily when onboarding new clients. There are a ton of different checklists we use here (and have built into Asana), starting with researching the account and setting up iOS update tasks for their ads all the way to getting client assets and necessary logins. Those checklists keep us on track and prepped for client launches, and they’re also how we don’t miss out on important steps.

 

  • Document everything: No amount of communication or checklists can account for keeping track of where everything goes, which is why documentation is KEY. We document everything, from client communication to contract signatures to deposits, in our backend area of Asana to round out our onboarding process as much as humanly possible, and it’s come in handy over and over again.

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There ya have it — the 3 major secrets we rely on over here at System Envy to streamline and kill it with our onboarding process in our agency! Have any additional ones you love to use? Send ‘em our way!

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7 Ways to Reduce What You Pay for Facebook Ads

7 Ways to Reduce What You Pay for Facebook Ads

by | Jun 7, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads, How To

I may be in the business of making money from helping people create solid Facebook ad campaigns, but the last thing I want is for anyone to waste their money and time making ads that aren’t getting the results they want. In fact, teaching others how to run the most efficient ads is my specialty, and it all boils down to knowing the tricks experts use to reduce how much it costs you to get the most clicks, leads, sales, or whatever your goal may be for your ads.

Although Facebook ad costs depend on many factors, like how engaged your audience is and the type of industry you’re in, there are always ways to lower your costs for each action someone takes with your ad.

SET UP THE META PIXEL AND CAPI

Whether you have yet to start creating ad campaigns or aren’t having any luck with your current ones, I want you to do this one thing that will help your future efforts: install the Meta Pixel on your website. This little pixel is an optimization genius that you can’t afford to ignore.

The small code goes on your site and tracks important information about your users and integrates that information with your Facebook campaigns so that you can target the most relevant people, measure conversions, and stop wasting money. It has tons of insights that show you how people use your site, what they visit, and what’s most important to them to help you tailor your ads accordingly.

Facebook/Meta has all the details on how to install and use it, which you can find here.

The next one is a little more complicated but is so worth it to have it installed. That is the conversion API. cAPI is another bit of code that allows your server to connect conversion events, meaning customer action, to Facebook. cAPI works alongside the Meta Pixel to help advertisers improve the performance, measurement, and data collection of their Facebook ad campaigns. The installation process depends on where your content is housed. WordPress is a partner with Facebook so it’s a little easier, but there are workarounds for most platforms using a little bit of code. 

In order to install cAPI, make sure your domain is verified, and events are prioritized as well. These are all steps to help us get all the data we can with the iOS update. Here are more details from Facebook for getting everything installed. 

PUT EFFORT INTO YOUR LANDING PAGES

You might think that it’s your ads that aren’t converting well when in reality, it could be that your landing pages for your ads aren’t enticing enough to keep people where you want them or do what you want them to do. This is one area where many people fail to realize what they’re doing wrong.

If you’re going to put a bunch of money into something, put it into paying someone to make your landing pages stand out. These are the areas of your website where people will come after clicking through your ad, so they need to be super relevant to what they just clicked on and engaging. They should also have clear call-to-actions so your audience knows what they should be doing once they get there.

TARGET, TARGET, TARGET

It’s so important to target the correct crowd – not too broad and not too narrow. One way to gauge your target audience is by viewing the ads’ Relevance Score. This little tool shows you how much your ad information matters to the people you’re targeting. The higher it is, the better. Surprisingly enough, many creators don’t even know this score exists or how to use it to its full potential.

Targeting is an essential part of a Facebook ad campaign strategy because the more specific your ad is for your audience, the likelier your chances of getting action. The lower your cost-per-click, the higher your return on investment!

…AND THEN TARGET AGAIN!

Then comes retargeting. Retargeting is targeting people who have already had some interaction with your business, whether it’s through your Facebook page or website. Maybe they’ve made a purchase from one of your ads in the past or have clicked an ad, visited a landing page, and signed up for whatever you were offering. These people already have an interest in your business, so they’re an excellent audience pool for targeting again without having to find a new audience to target.

One of the easiest ways to make this work for you is by using the Facebook Pixel to see who’s clicked on your ads and had an interaction on your website through those ads. Create a custom audience in your ad campaign and choose the people who have visited landing pages similar to the ones you’ll use for this campaign. Of course, because of the iOS update, this is more limited than it used to be, but still worth it especially when you’re driving consistent traffic to a page.  

MAKE YOUR ADS MORE APPEALING

Your ads themselves might need some sprucing up if you’re not getting the cost-friendly results you want. Think about the ads you click on most: Are they plain with no real value, or do they get you interested and excited about a product or service enough to want to learn more about it?

You might need to rethink your images and copy for better results that will stop people from scrolling past your ads and get more of them to click on your offer.

GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR CREATIVES

Experimenting with different types of ads is a huge part of successful ad campaigns on Facebook. It may take some time (and extra money) in the beginning to run a variety of campaigns and ad types – like a carousel, video, etc. – to learn what your audience likes best. Once you do, though, you should narrow your options to a few choices that you know work well, reducing the amount of time and money you have to spend figuring it out for each campaign.

EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR CTA

There are a few criteria your call-to-action needs to meet to be the most effective, regardless of your niche, audience size, and what you’re selling or offering:

Clear and concise (no wordiness and difficult-to-understand language)

To the point (people should know exactly what you want them to do)

Show excitement (“Get a lower payment today!”, “Order now for 30% off!”)

Includes command verbs (order, shop, learn, download, etc.)

Again, though, experimentation is crucial. Depending on your audience, you might have a better click-through rate with certain wording than you do with others, like “Learn more with our free guide” instead of “Shop the collection now.” Testing out all this stuff in the beginning can lead to much lower costs for future campaigns.

Facebook ads definitely get expensive if you’re more focused on pumping out ads for more cash flow than you are about all the other aspects of a successful campaign. Take time for some A/B testing and utilize the several free Facebook ad tools that spell everything out for you to lower CPC. Come back here and let me know what’s working for you and what isn’t – I’d love to help!

xoxo,

Kerry Swetmon

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How to Use Existing Video Content to Build Audiences

How to Use Existing Video Content to Build Audiences

by | Jun 1, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads, How To, Uncategorized

If you’re even kiiiiinda in the avenue of marketing (which I’d bet you are, if you’re reading this blog post!), there’s no way you haven’t heard a zillion and one things about the power of video. Whether it’s on social media or on a business website, people love talking about video.

We do, too — and we’re big believers that video content can totally transform your Facebook ad strategy and build audiences.

Plus, we know that our clients have zero time to build out a bunch of extra videos on top of everything else (retweet, right?!). That’s why we place a huge emphasis on already existing video content… AKA, the videos you already have in your arsenal. 

So, have you been looking for a new way to level up your ad strategy… without a bunch of extra work? We’ve got you covered. Here’s how to use existing video content to build your audiences.

Here’s the key to using existing video content

Marketing your business often goes hand in hand with feeling like you need to catch up… always. Here’s the thing, though: you do not need to reinvent the wheel with every piece of marketing content you send out, and you certainly don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you build out a Facebook ad.

The key? Use what’s been well received. It’s that simple. For instance, say you hopped on IG stories recently to talk about something business-related and it sparked engagement! Save the story from your archive and use it as an ad. Say you recorded a video for a course or class a few months ago that seemed to really resonate with your audience. Save the video and use it as an ad. 

It’s that simple.

Video content = engagement ad content

When you build out your video content with content that people have already engaged with in the past, you’re setting the stage for what we like to call engagement audiences — which build warm audiences very quickly and very inexpensively. We use engagement ads constantly with our clients by utilizing their existing video content, because these can easily be edited and run with the ‘post engagement’ campaign objective to build ‘video view’ audiences for $0.01/post engagement.

Like, that’s basically free. (!!!) 

We’ve done it time and time again, and it’s been an excellent way to help our clients build their followings, create lookalike audiences, and spur engagements with their brands — it’s that easy. Now, it’s your turn!

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So, if you’ve been looking for new, easy, and inexpensive ways to boost your engagement and ad strategy, there ya go! Existing video content is your secret, pals.

 

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Top 4 FB Metrics To Pay Attention To

Top 4 FB Metrics To Pay Attention To

by | May 25, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads, How To, Uncategorized

The key to a successful Facebook Ad campaign starts with tracking and analyzing results. The data in the Facebook Ad Manager lets you know what’s performing well and what isn’t. The information can be used to adjust ads and track the results of those adjustments. It also gives you ad-specific data to improve your overall Facebook marketing strategies.

Facebook ad metrics are pieces of data that convey the success of your ad campaigns based on the intention of the ad. Some of the key elements of a successful ad campaign are:

  • Desired Action – Is the ad doing whatever it is you’re asking it to do (get clicks, garner engagement, get conversions, etc.)?
  • Cost – Are costs acceptable?
  • Building your Brand – Is advertising overall helping to build your brand and engagement in a positive way?

There are many factors that determine ad campaign success but answers to these three questions are an excellent place to begin.

Perhaps you’re already familiar with your Facebook analytics in Ads Manager and you regularly track how your campaigns are doing. For some, the data in there can be overwhelming, particularly if you aren’t a marketer or you’re just getting started with ads. Let’s get you started and stick with it! I promise it will be worth it.

I’m going to break down some of the steps so you can use the data to improve your results. We’ll walk through the process of analyzing your Facebook ad performance using the analytics dashboard and a few important metrics. Let’s zero in on some key ad metrics in your Facebook Ads Manager that tell you how your campaign is doing.

HOW TO FIND YOUR DATA

If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to know how to get to your Facebook Ads Manager, which houses all the data:

  1. Sign into Facebook.
  2. Click the arrow at the top right of the screen and then click Manage Ads (you can also click here – you must be logged in to Facebook). 
  3. Click on your ad account.
  4. From here, you’ll see your current and previous campaigns and can click on any of them for more detailed information.

This area is what we’ll be using to find key metrics to analyze including link clicks, ad frequency, cost per action, and return on investment.

CLICKS

Clicks are one of the most straightforward forms of ad data and the most important Facebook ad metrics, even when not the main objective of your ad. How many times a click on your ad occurs is the most basic way to know that your ad prompted an action. The click confirms that action. I’m sure you’ve clicked on ads on Facebook. Here’s what happens next.

LINK CLICKS

When you click on an ad it takes you to a landing page where you are asked to take another action. It’s there that you’ll either take another prompted action – like sign up for an offer or make a purchase or register for something – because you’re interested in what you see. Or, you’ll click away and go back to what you were doing because the offer didn’t interest you enough, even though the original ad did.

Your ad link clicks can show you if your ad is interesting enough to make people click, which is critical for you to know. If your audience is not clicking over to the landing page, they never consume the message on that page. They won’t be signing up for an offer, making a purchase, or registering, etc. Link clicks tell you if the ad is effective enough to get them to go to the landing page in the first place.

CONVERSIONS

If they click over to your landing page but then don’t sign up, buy, register, etc., this tells you it may be the landing page (and not the ad itself) that needs adjusting. Link clicks with minimal conversions (purchases, sign-ups, etc.), reveal that something isn’t working with your landing page or offer itself, and the ad is not the likely issue.

Find your link clicks in Ads Manager. If you’ve chosen Traffic as your main objective when you created your campaign, clicks will automatically show. Alternatively, you can click on Columns (see screenshot below) and select “Performance and Clicks.” And if you REALLY want to see what’s what, click on Breakdown (right next to the Columns ) -> By Action -> Destination, to see the breakdown of where people clicked from your ad, like your page’s name or the URL associated with your ad (which will most likely be your landing page).

AD FREQUENCY

The frequency metric, ad frequency, shows how many times Facebook shows your ad to each person who sees it. Think about some of the ads you see on Facebook. You might see some only once or twice, while others come across your feed a few times a day.

Those that you see frequently might start to annoy you after a while. They might even cause you to click on the “Stop showing me this” option that Facebook offers.

Use your frequency score to improve your results. Retarget the Facebook audience that sees your ad to include new people instead of the same pool of Facebook users. Here’s more information on Facebook targeting and retargeting to help you out!

Find the frequency by clicking on Columns: Performance and Clicks. You want that number as low as possible. For my clients’ campaigns, I start itching when it’s above 3 views per person. There are some exceptions. However, higher frequencies run the risk of irritating people, so keep that in mind.

COST PER ACTION AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT

These two go hand-in-hand. They’re both related to how much you spend, obviously a crucial part of the ad process. Cost Per Action (CPA) refers to how much you spend per targeted action. For instance, it’s how much it costs you for someone to sign up for something or make a purchase. Return on Investment (ROI) is how much you make versus how much you spend. In Facebook Ads world, it’s called ROAS, or Return on Ad Spend.

Your CPA helps you know how well your ads, your landing pages, your targeting and your offer are working together in terms of getting prospects from your ad to your chosen action. 

Your ROAS depends on the type of conversions you’re looking for because sign-ups will obviously not bring you money immediately like a purchase will. But, if you’re getting hundreds of sign-ups from people who will become potential customers from spending $100 on one ad campaign, then that’s a pretty good return, amiright?

PUTTING THE METRICS TO WORK 

At face value, Facebook Ad metrics provide valuable data about the results of our ad campaigns. Their true potential is found when we take action after analyzing them.

Get familiar with the data for your ads by using the steps we’ve explored. Then adjust your current and future ads based on what you learn. This is the best way to use Facebook Ads to market your business over the long haul. Metrics help you fine-tune your Facebook Ads marketing strategy.

These steps offer an introduction to Facebook ad metrics and their value to an overall Facebook Ads marketing strategy. Using the data to improve your results over time is how you can really have an impact. Anything here shed some light on data to help your ad campaigns? I’d love to know.

 

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Why Selling Directly from FB Ads Doesn’t Work

Why Selling Directly from FB Ads Doesn’t Work

by | Apr 27, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads

I get a lot of questions from people new to or trying to learn more about, running ads. I loooove chatting things out and helping business owners craft successful ads. There seems to be one very common question, that I get all the time and we’re talking about it today.  What’s the question…Why aren’t my ads converting?  And yea, what’s the point if they’re not converting, eh?

If you know anything about Facebook ads, you know that there are a lot of variables that make up a successful ad, but my first question is always “Are you trying to sell directly from an ad?”.

Yes, selling is one of the primary reasons you’d want to use Facebook ads, but indirectly, not directly (unless you’re an ecomm biz). Sales ads need to be part of a larger sales pathway or funnel. Here’s several reasons why…

 

FACEBOOK ADS SHOULD BE VIEWED AS A SCALING TOOL

Facebook ads should be used as a scaling tool. Here’s what I mean – it’s best to use FB ads to reach a wider audience for a product, program, or service you have ALREADY had success selling (unless you’re a retail operation). If you have an offer that you aren’t able to sell to the people who already know and trust you, you won’t be able to sell it using ads. This is a common mistake. The solution is to figure out why people in your warm circle aren’t buying and then fix that first, before you invest money into ads. And don’t be discouraged as a lot of times an offer isn’t selling because of simple tweaks that need to be made. And MOST people/businesses have to do this to get the offer just right.


SELLING TO COLD AUDIENCES IS HARD

Trust is super, super important for any business, and building that trust should be a part of your ad strategy. It can be very difficult to get people to purchase directly from an ad without having already built trust (again, unless you’re a retail operation).

Therefore, it’s super smart to warm people up with your ads first and then retarget them with an ad for purchase. Think about it this way: Would you feel comfortable going to lunch with someone you’ve never met? You’d probably have some reservations. You might even think twice about meeting up. Your audience feels the same way. Until they get to know you, they might not be keen on giving you their hard earned dollars. 

So, butter them up first. Make them see why you’re the one they want to do business with. Focus your strategy more on building an audience who loves what you do before you try to sell anything and you’ll start seeing way more success from your ads.

 

PROVIDING YOUR AUDIENCE WITH VALUE

The keyword here is value. Before you start advertising something you want to sell, you need to give your audience a reason to believe you’re as awesome as you say you are. You do this by giving them something of value that will get them talking about you and trusting your word.

You can do this in a number of ways but my favorites are with a fun and engaging video ad or an ad for a free offer. Anything that gives value and helps people along in some way will work toward building your brand recognition and trust. You can always retarget those people who acted on your free offer later because you’ll know they were interested.

And this strategy should definitely not stop once you’ve built your ideal audience. You’ll always want to keep building that audience. More importantly, you want to hold onto the people you already have by continuing to provide them with the value that got them there in the first place!

 

THE BEST SELLING STRATEGY FOR FACEBOOK

Once you start creating your sales ads, you’ll still want to keep tacking on value instead of just selling, selling, selling. When people want to buy something, they’ll go buy it. 

Depending on the price of your offer, you may need additional touchpoints there before you will be able to achieve a sale. For example, let’s say you have a $497 digital course you’re offering. You might consider running ads for a free offer (PDF download, free training, etc), and then retargeting those people to invite them to a webinar where you’ll pitch your digital course. If your offer is lower-priced (under $50), you might not need that webinar piece.

You could test running ads to a free informational video and then retargeting people to a free opt-in and then pitch your low-priced offer by retargeting them with ads while simultaneously sending emails that pitch the low-priced offer.

People get tired of hearing me say the word “test” but it’s truly the way to success with FB ads. Everyone, even the most successful of businesses, has to test. The real magic with FB ads is once you’ve done a bunch of testing and can feed the results back into your newest marketing efforts. Your results will get better and better. 

Last but not least, try to reframe your mindset to not view unsuccessful ads as a failure but to see them simply as part of the marketing process. I don’t know anyone – myself included – who gets it correct, right out of the box, every time. Marketing is a process that consistently evolves as your business grows and morphs. Everything you learn along the way is a tool for future success.

Does this post resonate with you? Do you think you’ve been trying to sell too much in your ads instead of providing value? I’d love to hear about your Facebook advertising strategy so far and how it’s working for you – drop me a comment below!

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What Facebook Metrics Matter

What Facebook Metrics Matter

by | Mar 9, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads, How To

The Facebook ad world is  a big one, absolutely packed with random terms and tons of numbers to remember on any given day.

And, if you’re not actually a FB ad expert (which, hey! Most people aren’t!), it can be reaaaaally tricky to know which of those terms and numbers are, like, actually important to pay attention to.

See, every piece of Facebook ad data does matter in the long run, but there are really just a few we recommend our entrepreneurs pay attention to: budgets/frequencies, clicks, and good ole’ pixel events.

And, if you read that like “whaaat?!” don’t you worry — we’ve got you.  

First things first — personalize your Ads Manager dashboard.

When you take a look inside your Ads Manager dashboard, you’re going to see a ton of categories that you might not understand. The key? To personalize it so you see the good stuff!

If you visit your dashboard, you’ll see a little drop-down arrow next to the words “Column: Performance.” Click it, and select “Personalize Columns.” Now, you can personalize exactly what you see.

Select the metrics you actually want to see, and drag and drop them in the order you want! This almost immediately takes away an absolute ton of confusion for you, since you’ll be able to only see the things you already understand on a high level. Win, win. And feel free to use the pre-set options that you see in the image column above. If I’m looking at something quickly, I like the Performance and Clicks option. 

Still confused as to which ones you should highlight? Keep on readin’!

What Facebook Ad Metrics *Actually* Matter

While you build out your custom dashboard and start implementing a great ad strategy, there are a few things that are more important to pay attention to than anything else. 

A big part of a great Facebook ad strategy comes down to the very high-level basics: i.e., the ones you need to be knowledgeable about, no matter what. I recommend keeping this super general, too: costs and results.

So, bookmark this + keep coming back to it!

Results: Depending on your goal (leads, sales, engagement, etc), the Results column will be your best friend. If you aren’t seeing results, you can start diving deeper into why (see this blog post for how to diagnose this.) Your result will be whatever you chose for your objective when you set up the campaign. So, if it’s leads you’re going for, your result will be the number of leads. If it’s purchases, the number of purchases will show in that column. I’m sure you can see why this is my top metric as my clients are looking for results! And again, if you aren’t seeing results, try to diagnose why.

Costs: When you’re running an ad strategy, you’re obviously spending money in hopes for a desired result… which is why you absolutely must keep an eye on the amount you’re spending.

The Cost per Result column is where you’ll find the cost per action. So, again, if you’ve set up your campaign to get leads, you’re “cost per result” will really be your cost per lead. Once you run ads for some time, you can begin to predict what a great cost per lead is. And it will depend a lot on what your offer is, what industry you’re in, and who your audience is. I like to tell this story about a client I had many years ago. He was a diamond broker. We marketed his ads to diamond buyers. It was a hard sell. Our cost per result was gigantic but when we secured just one result (1 lead), it sure paid off. Tens of thousands of dollars. So, obviously his cost per lead/result would be much, MUCH higher than my current clients who are selling digital courses and offering freebies, right? So, our costs per lead are typically between the $1 – $8 range, depending on the audience). 

So, pay attention to your cost per result and test different creative, copy, audience and offers to see if you can get that cost down. 

Bonus: other metrics: Ok, so we’ve got the basics above. Now, when you’re ready, there are a few other metrics I like to look at. Cost per impression is always interesting to me. This is what it is costing you to “impress upon” 1000 people. During the holidays I was seeing this number up to the $80 range, which, for our audiences, was outrageous. And it allows me to think about strategy. Do I want to try other, less expensive audiences? Or is the return on ad spend still fruitful enough to keep going? Or do we want to focus on engagement ads (which are inexpensive) until after the holiday? So, cost per impression can be insightful. Frequency is also a number I like to pay attention to. Frequency is the number of times any ONE person has been shown your ad. I personally like to keep this number at 3 or below, however, during a launch, when we’re pushing people for just a few days toward a sale, that number might be higher. And I’ve heard other advertisers say that they let it reach 6 or even 8. It’s a personal preference but the further that number climbs, it’s an indicator to me that people are being bombarded again and again and we likely need to widen our audience. 

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And, there you have it: the Facebook ad metrics that really and truly matter! Stop stressing about everything else, ok?!  In a nutshell, start high level and as you become more comfortable, you can start digging deeper!

 

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The Importance of Warm Audiences

by | Feb 23, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads

I’m about to give the dreaded Facebook algorithm a little rebrand. (You’re welcome, Mark Zuckerberg.) While I see business owners and influencers go on and on about how it’s hurting their engagement and drowning out their posts, believe it or not… the algorithm is actually there as a tool for us to BEST reach the people we need to reach.

It’s just up to YOU to harness its power.

Yep. I went there.

And when it comes to Facebook ads, the algorithm is on. your. team. In fact, if you can give the algorithm even a small amount of information, it will go out and find your people for ads. How can we do this? In the form of utilizing a little something called: custom audiences.

Wait, but what are custom audiences?

Custom audiences are defined groups of people who have some kind of relationship with you, your business, or your brand. Maybe it’s someone who’s bought from you before, or it could be someone who’s “liked” your page on Facebook. Or it may simply mean they engaged with a previous post or ad in the past.

Basically… your custom audiences are the peeps who know who you are already. They’re your warm audience, and this group grows in real-time.

Using targeting to reach custom audiences:

Facebook ads allow you to reach your audience through highly specific and defined parameters that let you dial into their behaviors, location, age, and other demographics using targeting. In other words? It lets you get your offers in from the right kinds of folks (and ideally, those folks ultimately click *purchase*).

But in order to target your custom audiences, you need to be tracking them… like, yesterday. Even if you’re not running ads yet, tracking your custom audiences (those people who have an existing relationship with you) will allow for even more detailed ad targeting once you DO start running ads.

In my free download, I’m sharing the 3 types of custom audiences you can get set up TODAY (plus, an extra bonus audience!). Grab it right now for free to learn who your custom audiences are!

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Why NOW is the Best Time to Learn FB Ads

by | Feb 9, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads, How To

I think people spend a lot of time thinking that “next week” or “next month” or “next year” is the best time to do things… and, well, I get it. Like, I really, really do. See, being an entrepreneur means that you have a ton of things to do ALL the time — and sometimes the thought of learning something else just seems like… a lot.

But, I can absolutely promise you that now — right now — is the very, very best time for you to learn Facebook ads. Not “next week” or “next month” or “next year,” okay?

Here’s why: Facebook ads may, in fact, be *the* #1 needle mover in your business. They allow you to target people where they are (hellloooo, social media), they allow you to advertise to a great number of people at a lower cost, and they allow you to make big results in a smaller amount of time…

…if you know how to do them well.

Okay, but I’ve tried FB ads before and, um…. they’re hard.

If you’re like a lot of people I know, you’ve tried FB ads before. You’ve uploaded a link or a graphic, you’ve let Facebook do its thing with some automatic targeting, and you’ve waited for the results to roll in.

Only, they didn’t.

Sound familiar?

I get you, my friend. And I’m also a huge believer that you can learn and understand FB ads like the back of your hand without spending months, years, and thousands of dollars in the meantime.

In fact, I know you can.

Because, here are 5 truths that I know like the back of my hands:

  1. You don’t have to be a tech expert to run FB ads.
  2. You don’t have to add another financial biz burden with FB ads.
  3. You don’t have to stick just with traditional marketing to grow a business.
  4. You don’t have to make everything ~perfect~ to start.
  5. You don’t have to use the same FB ads techniques you’ve used in the past.

Enter: The Facebook Ads Method, my comprehensive course geared towards biz owners just like you looking to scale and strategize the right way… with FB ads. Inside the FB Ads Method, I’ll teach you how to find a money-making, time-saving system that WORKS, and, more importantly, one that gives you freedom.

Like I said, there’s never, ever been a better time to learn FB ads, my friend. That’s why right now you can snag an exclusive, limited-time discount on my course… like, a real big one (that we’ve never, ever offered before). Use promo code ADSGENIUS for 70% off the FB Ads Method, and hurry! This offer won’t last forever. 

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6 Ways to Boost Engagement on Your Ads

6 Ways to Boost Engagement on Your Ads

by | Feb 9, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads

Wondering how on earth to boost engagement on Facebook ads so that people start interacting with your ads? These are some of our favorite ways to do it.

Ask questions: One of the absolute easiest and best ways to encourage people to engage with your ads is by asking questions. Why, you ask? Because people like to answer questions. It’s that simple. 

(Pssst… One of my favorite ways to do this is by asking people what they struggle with around your ad topic — it helps you gather data, promotes engagement, and also helps people look at you as the solution.)

Create a conversation piece: Sparking conversation tends to spark engagement, right?! Enter: writing or stating something that people want to respond to, like an unpopular opinion! Things like this tend to have a tooooon of engagement via comments, and can be a really fun way to spark conversation.

One of my clients teaches direct sellers, and does this a lot on her Facebook ads (for instance, one of their ad images clearly states “Facebook parties are DEAD,” which always leads to tooooooonnnnns of comments). Now, you do wanna be careful with this (people have opinions!), but it can be a great way to get people to talk.

Include links in the copy: Okay, so this is a simple way to boost an engagement — but a GOOOOD one. Trust me! Next time you build out an ad copy or campaign, don’t just keep the landing page URL hidden in the preview text. Instead, add the link to the ad copy text, too! It allows for easy access to the content and is great for accessibility, too.

Stay relevant: People engage with ads that feel relevant to them — which is why keeping up with the times is so, so important for ad engagement. Whether it’s using trendy lingo or keeping things like seasons of current events in mind, focusing on relevance can be a great (and easy!) way to encourage engagement.

Include clear CTAs: One of the easiest ways to *discourage* people against engagement is by confusing the heck out of them — so don’t do this! Instead, make it incredibly clear as to what you want them to do. Keep your copy clear, make their next step immediately evident, and focus on clarity.

Try out some movement: People love ads that pop off the screen, so try out playing with movement in the form of gifs, videos, and a little bit of sparkle. You definitely want to keep things consistent with your branding (always), but embracing some movement can encourage some clicking.

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One more thing, though: remember to respond to engagement, too. If you want to get high engagement on your ads, having someone on duty to communicate with your audience is ~absolutely~ essential. There is nothing that looks worse on an ad than a bunch of unanswered questions and comments on an ad, ok?!

Alright, friends — now you’re ready to encourage some massive engagement on your ads this year! 

*happy dance*

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How to Create a Custom Audience of Your Instagram Engagement (for Facebook Ad Targeting)

by | Jan 26, 2022 | Facebook™ Ads, How To

For many digital entrepreneurs, the people who engage with you the most on Instagram will always be the audience you profit from the most. Think about it… Instagram is a social media platform meant for connection, storytelling, and engagement. The followers who keep up with you there, comment on your posts, DM you regularly, and like everything you post are the ones most captivated by your content. They LIKE you as a business and a human, and so of course they’re more likely to buy from you. But, did you know you can create a custom audience for Facebook Ad targeting using Instagram?

I’ve found that this audience will be your best buyers when using them as a target for ads. And it’s a great audience from which to create a Lookalike audience, as well.

First, and most important to note, you need to have a business Instagram profile to make this possible. It needs to be either an Instagram Creator Account or an Instagram Business Account. After your profile is set up as a business account, follow these steps to use your Instagram profile to create a custom audience

 

5 Steps to Create a Custom Audience for Facebook Ad Targeting Using Instagram

 

Step 1:

 

From your Ads Manager, you’ll go into Audiences.

Step 2:

 

Click Create Audience and select Custom Audience from the dropdown.

 

Step 3:

 

Then select Instagram Account from the box that opens. Click Next.

Note: You will only have this option if your Instagram account is linked to your Ads Manager AND if your IG account is a business account. 

 

 

 

Step 4:

 

Select the appropriate IG account and then make your selections. I like to create multiple audiences for IG profiles.

So, for example, I might create separate audiences for each of the top 3 selections shown here (everyone who engaged, anyone visiting your profile and people who engaged with a post or ad).

On top of that, I would also create audiences for multiple timeframes. So, the default is 365 but I will likely repeat these steps to create an additional audience for 180 days and maybe 90 days too so that I can test which audience works best when running ads.

For example, it might be okay to use an audience that’s been building for 365 days (a full year!) OR maybe you’ll find that an audience that has engaged in the last 30 days works best at converting because they’re freshest. But it’s better to have more than enough audiences to choose from.

 

Step 5:

 

Adjust your number of days, name your audience, and click Create! Repeat the steps to adjust the “events” and number of days to create as many custom audiences as you’d like.

Remember, they build in real-time so it’s best to create them NOW so they’re ready when you need them.

That’s it! You’ll be able to test and deliver ads to your Instagram pals and reach those who already love engaging with your stuff.

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