Welcome to episode 336 of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.
As promised at the end of last week’s episode, I’m keying off a whole series of three Facebook Ads-related podcasts. We’re going to start today with one of the fundamental questions, which is, “Should you even be using Facebook Ads as part of your launch?” I want to bring this up because, A, I know a lot of you are launching, a lot of my clients are launching. We’ve been doing a lot of one-on-one calls with people who are going through launches and who want Facebook Ads advice. We know that this is a massive time of launching. We’re a little bit into the new year now, it’s time to stretch your legs. Get those things that you’ve been working on creating rolling out. That’s awesome. I’m so excited because I love seeing what you guys are creating and offering. The question then comes up, “Should you even bother with Facebook Ads?” Most often this question comes up because of budget. That’s where I want to start with.
A lot of people ask me, “Well, I only have X amount of dollars to spend.” Maybe it’s $100, maybe it’s $500, maybe it’s $1000, is that really enough to run Facebook Ads? Here’s the reality is, yes. $100, $500, and $1000 are all enough to run Facebook Ads. You do not have to have a $10,000 budget to run a successful ad campaign. Here’s the caveat, though. Your successful ad campaign is going to look different than somebody who has a $10,000 budget. Also, your targeting is going to need to look different. You cannot the target the same size group when you have a $100 as when you have $10,000. You just can’t. You have to be more specific. You have to be really, really tight with your targeting. You’re not going to get 5,000 people on your list for $100. Make sure that you’re paying attention to your expectations. Make sure you’re paying attention to your targeting. Don’t let budget stop you from creating an ad campaign. You can absolutely run a successful campaign with a small lower budget.
That’s really, for me, in my opinion, that’s really one of the biggest benefits of Facebook Ads, is that you can run a successful campaign at any budget. It really does, it allows you to do things on another level that we haven’t always had the opportunity to in the past. When we think about advertising days gone by, when the extensive advertising was billboards and commercials and things like that. Yeah, no, $100 budget is not going to get you real far. However, in the land of social media, $100 budget will get you a whole lot further than it would in traditional media. Yes, even if you have a small budget, you can absolutely run a Facebook Ad campaign. Here’s the thing, though. You need to pay attention to that targeting and to the goal. Be really, really clear about how you’re spending that budget.
For me, when we have clients who have really, really small budgets, let’s say $100. One of the things we’ll do is instead of running an ad campaign to a cold audience created through interests and things like that, we will run an ad to a lookalike audience with half of our budget. Then we’ll run a retargeting ad with the other half of the budget. Now, $50 will not get you a ton of opt-ins. However, will you then talk about a retargeting ad to your email list, to the people who have been on the page before. You start to get narrower and narrower with those warm leads, you’re able to do a little bit more. We’ll actually run retargeting ads to people who have been on the list and spent time on the website. Saying, “Hey, here’s the opportunity that we’re giving you,” whatever the offer is, and actually go right for the sale from there with that other half of the budget.
That has been really, really powerful for maximizing the profitability of a small budget. However, if you’re just looking for straight up list growth, you want to get people on a challenge or a webinar or whatever, and you’re confident that you can sell them there without a retargeting ad, and you want to throw all of your money at the beginning. Again, your target’s got to be solid. You have to know exactly who you want to get in front of. You’re not running ads to men and women all over the world between the ages of 18 and 65, and hoping that it shakes out. No. You’re going to be out of your budget in a matter of minutes. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration. You’re going to blow your budget really quickly and to a really, really unqualified audience. Run the ad to people who are going to care. Build a custom audience, build a lookalike audience. Things like that are going to get a lot, a lot farther. Okay? All right.
Number two thing to consider is really your expertise. If you’re somebody who has no idea what they’re doing in Facebook Ads, it just freaks you out. You’re not comfortable, you want no part of it. First of all, why are you not at Hit the Mic Backstage because that will help a lot. Number two, then no, don’t worry about running ads during your launch. Focus in on your content marketing, your affiliate marketing, your networking, your speaking, whatever other pieces your doing. Your organic social media, whatever other pieces you are using to fill your program, your client list, whatever it is that you’re selling, you’re launching, use those. Don’t worry about Facebook Ads because in all likelihood, you’re probably going to spend quite a bit of money and get very little results. You just simply don’t know what you’re doing. That’s okay. That doesn’t make you bad, it doesn’t make you dumb, it doesn’t make you …
You can have a successful launch without running Facebook Ads. It is possible. It’s just going to look different. You got to make up that space other places. If it’s something you’re totally uncomfortable with, especially if this is the first time you’re launching this program, or the first time you’re launching at all. Then, no, don’t worry about Facebook Ads. They are not required for program sales success. They are not required for launch success. You can absolutely find the results you want without them. You just have to hustle in other ways. Okay?
The other side of that is if you’re completely uncomfortable with the idea of creating ads, you’ve no idea what you’re doing, and you have a decent size budget, instead of throwing the money at the ads yourself, hire someone to help you. Hire a consultant, a social media strategist, a Facebook Ads expert. Somebody who knows what they’re doing to maximize your budget, if your budget allows that. That’s a great way to get the results without having to know all the stuff. Without having to be comfortable on Facebook Ads. If that’s something you’re interested in doing, connect with me, I have a whole list of recommendations for you, people who do a killer job with this stuff. All right? All right. Again, if this is something you’re completely uncomfortable with right now, and you want to do it, join us backstage. That’s what that space is for, okay?
The thing I want to wrap up with is really that if you are saying you can’t do Facebook Ads because of one of the two reasons I mentioned, your budget’s too small, or you have no idea what you’re doing. No. Not excuses. You can absolutely have success with a small budget. There are ways around not knowing what you’re doing. Learning, outsourcing, there you go. On the flip side, Facebook Ads are not required to be successful. They are not required to see any real results. They do not have to be part of your strategy. Now, do I encourage them? Do I use them? Have I been successful with them? Yes to all of those questions. I think Facebook Ads are fantastic. It’s one of the best paid advertising opportunities for solopreneurs, and micro business owners like you and me. Absolutely, but they’re not required. You don’t have to do anything. Okay? Don’t get stuck on this idea that you won’t see results if you don’t do this, because it’s simply not true. Okay?
Okay. If you want to learn more about Facebook Ads, the best, best, best first step is to go to thestaceyharris.com/episode336, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. There is a image there that you’ll see that says, “Facebook Guide and Checklist.” Click on that, put in your email address, and I will deliver that to you. You will also have the opportunity to take advantage of a $1, 7-day trial and to Hit the Mic Backstage. I would encourage you to take that opportunity, if for no other reason then you can use that seven days to ask me questions in the community. Watch the brand new Facebook Ads training videos we have inside of the Facebook Guide, which sits inside of Hit the Mic Backstage. You don’t have to stay on after the seven days. You don’t like it. It’s not a fit. You’ve gotten what you need from it, fantastic. Send us an email, we’ll cancel it. You won’t renew.
You love it, you want to stay, you want to be a part of this community, that makes me super happy. You will automatically renew at the regular membership price. Okay? It really is that simple and that really is the next best step for finding a way to make Facebook Ads work for you. Okay? Okay. I feel like I’ve said okay a lot this episode, so I’m going to go. I will see you backstage.
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