So how do you make money with Facebook ads?
Last month we looked at the opportunity that is Facebook paid advertising. We left off with the first step in the conversion process…getting someone to click on your ad.
So now that you got the click, what’s next?
Well, the secret here is that with Facebook, it’s usually NOT the sale.
Confused?
I know, this post is supposed to be about converting with Facebook ads and I just told you you’re probably not going to make a sale right after someone clicks on your ad. What gives?
Stick with me here…I promise to get to the “conversion” part of the equation in a minute.
What is Time-Wasting Mode?
First though, it’s important to think about the mindset of someone on Facebook. Why are they on the site in the first place? What are they doing there?
The answers to these questions are summed up beautifully in a quote from PPC expert Perry Marshall who said…
“People aren’t on Facebook to make decisions, they’re on Facebook to avoid making decisions.”
In that quote lies the trick to converting on Facebook.
Facebook is not like Google AdWords where people are actively searching for your product/service because they have a pressing need for what you offer. They’re in social/time-wasting mode…not in buying mode.
This makes it very difficult to get someone to click on a Facebook ad that leads directly to a sales/product page and whip out their credit card to buy something from someone they don’t know.
Making money on Facebook is usually a multi-step process
In fact, if you approach Facebook paid advertising more as a list building exercise than a direct sales exercise, you’re more likely to turn a profit.
With that in mind, let’s look at turning Facebook ad clicks into dollars…
First let’s talk landing page. Based on the results I’ve seen from my tests and those of others, you’re usually better off sending the traffic to a landing page on Facebook instead of one on your website.
And when you send that traffic to your Facebook page, don’t send the traffic to your Wall. Send it to a landing (or “Welcome”) page that’s designed to get someone to Like your page and/or capture their email address.
This usually involves dangling some sort of carrot in front of your target audience. Here are three examples from different types of businesses that do this well…
The Local Business
This company ran a very simple ad that had their logo and a message encouraging people to Like their Facebook page in order to get special weekly deals the company posts on Facebook. The ad led to this “Welcome” page:
Very simple. Like them, you get a special deal.
Using this strategy, they’ve built up a following of over 5000 on Facebook…which for a niche local grocery store is awesome!
The National Brand
Similar to offering access to special deals, you can take people straight to a page with coupons. Here’s one of the Welcome pages that YoCrunch yogurt has on Facebook:
They’ve gone from around 1000 Likes to over 150,000 in about 6 months. While I have no idea what percentage of those people have redeemed their coupons, with 150,000 Likes, I have no doubt they’re moving some yogurt!
The Internet Marketing Pro
This last example comes from one of the big names in the world of Internet Marketing, Lewis Howes. (I don’t know if Lewis has used Facebook ads to drive traffic to this page but, for our purposes, it doesn’t matter…just look at what he’s doing here because it makes for a great landing page template to drive ad traffic to.)
Again, very simple…enter your email address to get his free LinkedIn video tutorials. Also note the great use of video here. If you watch this video, it’s a personal message from Lewis that encourages you to click the Like button as well as enter your email to get access to the video tutorials.
The Common Strategy
Even though these examples are from very different businesses, they all follow the same basic steps to converting on Facebook…
Step 1: Dangle the carrot (a special offer, a coupon, the offer of high value free content, an event, the start of an intriguing story)
Step 2: (The List Building Step): Get the Like and/or capture an email address
Step 3: (The Building the Relationship Step): Immediately deliver on the promise you make on your landing page and continue to engage your audience with interesting/relevant content on your Wall.
All of which lead to…
Step 4: (The Converting Step): What this step entails depends on your business.
Step 4 could be driving foot traffic to your store to take advantage of the specials you post on Facebook (as with Straub’s) or to another retailer to redeem your coupon (as with YoCrunch).
It could be following up with a strong auto-responder sequence that further builds your relationship with people and directs them to your products (as with Lewis Howes).
It could be posting links to sales offers directly on your Wall (mixed in with other non-salesy content!).
At the end of the day, the conversion part really boils down to the marketing fundamentals of making the right offer to the right audience at the right time. While Facebook offers some intriguing new ways of reaching prospects and connecting with them, it does not change the reasons people buy.
The Hidden Value of the “Like”
One last little Facebook ad nugget I’d like to share with you that most people aren’t aware of…
Did you know that when you’re the administrator of a Facebook Page you can run ads targeting everyone who’s Liked your page?
So, using one of the examples above, Straub’s can run ads targeting just their 5000+ Facebook friends. (And they can get even more specific with their targeting. In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, they can run their ads promoting a “Chocolate and Roses Valentine’s Day gift basket for your wife” to their fans in the St. Louis area who are males and are married.)
This is cool for a few reasons. First, things you post on your Wall can easily get lost in your fans’ News Feeds. Running ads to your fans can help your message(s) stand out from the crowd.
Even cooler is how cheap it is to do this. You can probably have your ad reach 1000 of your fans for about $1 – $2. It’s very hard to get your marketing message out to that many of your customers/fans for so little!
The Bottom Line on Facebook Ads
As I discussed in Part 1 of this article, there’s plenty to love about paid Facebook advertising but it can be a tremendously frustrating endeavor, even for the pros.
If you go in with the right mindset and manage your expectations based on the lessons above, you can reduce your frustrations and increase your likelihood of converting with your Facebook ads.
