Welcome to Episode 361 of Hit the Mic, with The Stacey Harris.
All right, guys, I want to talk Facebook Ads today, because there are some things I would like you to know, right now. I know we’re going into that time of year. It’s August now, we’re looking at fall launches, and end of the year promos, and things like that. And that means a lot of Facebook ads. Maybe you’re even looking at your list growth goals for this third quarter, and you’re realizing it’s gonna be over soon. Whatever it is, you want to run some Facebook ads, here are the things I want you to know, right now. We’ve got three things for you today.
Number one, Messenger ads.
So we haven’t talked a ton about Messenger ads, here, yet, but basically, they’re ads that run a lot like News Feed ads they’ve got the same sort of description photo layout. They run in the Messenger area, and destinations, can be, and by destinations I mean wherever they end up when they click, can be a Messenger, meaning they can click to send you a message, or the other destination can be a webpage. So, something like a landing page, something like you would do with a News Feed ad. I actually really like Messenger ads set up with destinations to send me a message, because that’s the environment they’re in, so it makes more sense to click out, and end up sending me a message versus sitting on a landing page. Both can be run successfully, but I like the Messenger destination in that ad format. It’s worked really well for a lot of people.
So, I really like that, but the news about this is that it’s now available globally, meaning we can all do it now, which is exciting. Again, these are just gonna look like News Feed ads, and I’ll actually include a picture of it on the show notes, but it’s gonna look photo destination, that kind of thing. It’s just gonna appear in their Messenger area. So, your Messenger app on mobile, or your message area on the desktop. Cool? So, this is a really cool opportunity for you to connect with your potential audience.
Or, I really like these ads, like retargeting kind of things, meaning I put the ad in front of a custom audience made out of people who have, maybe signed up for a webinar, and this can be a followup sales sequence, meaning “If you have questions about xyz that we offered on the webinar, send us a message, and we can answer them.” Or, upsells, “Hey, you joined us for let’s use Hit the Mic backstage, for example, if you’d like to upgrade that, and get a jumpstart here’s a way to … you know, you can book a call with me, drop us a message, or book your time here.” If I want the destination to be a landing page.
So, that can be a really cool way. I like to do that. I like Messenger ads to a warm audience, just because they recognize the face, they recognize the person, so that can be really helpful. But, I have heard, I have not seen, I have not executed, successful one to cold audience, just because I’ve only tested, so far, to a warm audience. But, that’s how we have been utilizing them, for us and for our clients, all right?
Number two, Destinations matter.
Number two, kind of building on that, destinations matter. So I want to talk about this in two ways. Number one, I talked about, with Messenger ads, I really like to send people to message us, to a message destination because that’s the environment they’re in. That’s something that’s really valuable to think about. Where are they when they’re engaging with your ad, and what’s their kind of mindset, what are they thinking about? On the flip side of that, that also impacts not just what the destination is, but what the destination looks like.
For example, if I’m sending an ad through Instagram, they’re gonna be on a mobile device. I need to make sure wherever they’re ending up looks good on mobile. For a long time, I would say probably the first twelve-ish months of Hit the Mic Backstage, I ran no ads on mobile, because the sales process … so the sales page looked great on mobile, it was gorgeous on mobile, right? However, the checkout process, which at the time, was just linked through PayPal, there was such a delay in the redirect to finish that process, that on mobile, it would time out. And that was something that took a long time to get past tech-wise, and now we have a great cart option. We use Thrive cart, which I absolutely love, and was seriously one of the best investments I made towards the membership site in the last two years of running it, but that’s when we started running ads on mobile for backstage, because the sales process worked on mobile.
So, think about what your destination is, and that’s gonna impact where you run those ads, what those ads look like, because maybe your mobile site’s got something different about it. The mobile version of your landing page, you’ve looked at how your heat map is on your landing page, and they way people engage via mobile is different. Then you want to answer some of the questions they’re not seeing on your landing page, you want to answer those in the ad. Or things like that. So, that destination matters. Be educated on it. Be thoughtful about where you ad is going, and where your ad is … what the copy of your ad, the graphics of your ad, based on what’s going to be happening with your destination. Just consider that, because I’m seeing, a lot of times, people are running ads, and they’re not thinking enough about that destination.
I have said this over and over again on this podcast, and probably even more than that backstage, but a lot of times, a lot of times, I would probably … thinking about it, I would say probably two out of three times a client comes to us, and they say, “My ads aren’t working.” It’s not necessarily about the ad, and it’s very rarely actually about the ad copy, or the graphic itself. It’s generally one of two things. It’s targeting or a lack thereof, or it’s the destination. It’s that there’s a disconnect between the ad and the landing page. Or, the call to action in the ad is there, but there’s no call to action on the landing page. There’s no call to action when they get to where they’re going. So, make sure that your destination is setting your ad up for conversion success, because you got that first one. You got that click. Fantastic. Who-hoo! But, if you don’t get the conversion, you’re not gonna see the ROI, or the return on your investment, from that ad. So pay attention to that, because it’s critical. So, destinations matter, that’s number two.
Number three, Have a plan.
Number three I’m just gonna side my soap box out here, have a plan. Hitting the boost button is not a plan. Now, if you’re hitting the boost button as part of a larger plan, I got no problem with that. I got no problem with that, however, hitting the boost button on every other post, or every post, is not an ad plan, and this is true not just of you’re launching something, but this is true all the time. That’s not an ongoing Facebook ad strategy. It needs to be clear, what am I getting from this? What’s the goal here? Where are they going? Who am I talking to? What do I want them to do? Am I clean on telling them what I want them to do?
Have a plan, and if you’re not sure what that looks like, you’re not super confident that you, yet, have a solid plan, what I want you to do is go, if you’re on the show notes page already, if you’re listening to this on the website, below this episode, there’s a black box. Sign up for the training that’s in there. If you’re listening to this, and you’re not yet tuned into the website, you’re not on the show notes page, maybe you’re listening on iTunes, or whatever, wherever it is you consume podcasts, go to thestaceyharris.com/facebookads, and you will find an awesome Facebook ads training that is built to help you make a plan.
So, we walk through building your plan over four days in that training, and spoiler alert, you’ll get access to a webinar when you sign up immediately that essentially the same information, so you can watch that training, and then work through it with me over four days through some more video trainings. If you … if I say make a plan, and you have no concept of what that look like, spend a little time with me doing that free training. It is a really, really solid way to work through you who, look through your where, to figure out your whens, and what graphics, and what copy, it’s going to help you build your plan. That’s why that training is there.
It’s 100% free, so all it’s gonna take is a time investment. And the time investment is actually pretty simple. I make it as short as possible, but it’s going to be one that pay off big time, because, after you watch that training, after you build your first ads plan, your second one’s easier, your third one’s easier, and pretty soon, you have a replicable process that you just … it’s a no brainer. You go through it every time you’re gonna create an ad, every time you’re gonna create a campaign, every time you want to launch something, you just sort of go through this checklist, and you figure out what you need, and there you go.
So, take the time, it’s gonna be really valuable, but again, thestaceyharris.com/facebookads is where you will find that training. Again, it’s a four-day training, but there is, spoilers alert, a little surprise instantly you’ll get a webinar version of it, so you can start immediately if you want to. Cool? All right.
So check that out, and that’s what my three things for you are today. So, again, first, Messenger ads are now global. We talked a little bit about what Messenger ads are. Number two, your destinations matter for so many reasons. Please don’t forget to care about that, all right? Think about that … some thought process behind it. Number three, build a plan. The boost button is not a plan. The boost button can be part of a plan, I will allow that, but it’s not a whole plan. So, build a whole plan.
You gotta know who you’re talking to. You have to know what you want them to do. You have to know how you’re telling them what you want them to do. Where your ad’s gonna be. Where your destination’s gonna be. That’s where you’re gonna see, again, those conversions. You’re gonna see success in both goals, the click goal, and the conversion goal. And I talk about click goal versus conversion goals a lot in that Facebook ads training I mentioned.
Also, if you want to take this even further, come join us inside of Hit the Mic Backstage. We are celebrating two years of Hit the Mic Backstage. I’m so freaking excited about this. Very, very, very soon, we’re gonna be launching a new level, a high VIP … high level VIP option, which is going to include some one-on- one time with me monthly. So, stay tuned for that, in fact, if you’re listening to this late, it may already be up, so go to HittheMicBackstage.com to see your now, or soon, three ways to join us. I’m really excited about this, it’s going to be a really cool opportunity for the people who get in, which is, by the way, capped. There are only so many spots. So, check that out.
And, if you have any questions any time, head over to the Facebook page, or Twitter, and ask them there, but again, the best place to ask your questions is inside of Hit the Mic Backstage. And I’ll see you guys Backstage, as well as next Tuesday for another episode of this show. Thanks for listening, and I will see you soon.