Overview: ADVERTISING ON FACEBOOK Are you active on Facebook? If not, you could be missing out on building connections with your current clients and finding new relationships. First Heartland is happy to provide you with a step-by-step guide to get you started, from creating your page to running a full ad campaign and following up. We are even providing you with a client video to promote! Use this overview as your guide and continue reading to find more detailed steps for each part of the process. 1. Set up Facebook Page 2. Run Ad Campaign with link to your website 3. On the landing page, include a contact form If you would like to do so, offer an incentive for filling out this contact form. Examples: E-book, free consultation or policy review 4. Once you receive contact information, make a follow-up call and add to your e-mail list 5. Optional: Set up an e-mail campaign that includes Testimonials and personal stories from your top clients More offers (e-books, seminars, etc.) Newsletters with timely financial news and advice Information about your practice Opportunities to set up appointments or phone calls 6. Pay attention to the results of your campaign and adjust accordingly Try changing one out of the four main ad settings (targeting, budget, placement or bidding) one at a time and watch the performance closely 7. Run more ad campaigns targeted at different objectives! If you started by trying to get clicks to your website but didn t have much engagement on your page at the time, try running an ad for engagement and see if you get more results on your other campaigns. You can always pause campaigns and come back to them later - all of your work will be saved and you do not have to pay while they are not running.
How to: CREATE A FACEBOOK PAGE If you do not have a Facebook page yet, you might be missing out on the opportunity to connect with your current clients as well as find and grow relationships with potential new clients. The good news is it s incredibly simple to set up a Facebook Business Page and get started. Here s how: 1. Before you begin, make sure to contact FHC compliance for approval and to discuss proper usage, including setting up our archiving service, Smarsh (for registered representatives) 2. Go to facebook.com/pages/create 3. Click to choose a Page category PAGE CATEGORIES 4. Click Get Started and follow the on-screen instructions 5. Click here to learn more about how to use your Facebook Page
Overview: FACEBOOK AD CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE Running a Facebook Ad Campaign is easy once you get to know the structure. This overview will get you started. Later in this document you will find step-by-step guides for each of the different types of ads you can run on Facebook. 1. Campaign Level: Choose your objective For this campaign, your objective will be: get more video views. Other objectives you might use in the future include: Increase page post engagement Increase page likes Increase clicks to your website Increase website conversions (people visiting your site and taking a certain specified action, such as signing up for a mailing list or making an appointment) Increase app installs or app engagement (Facebook offers these but they most likely do not apply to your business) Get people to attend an event you are putting on Get people to claim an offer you are putting out there, such as a free service or discount 2. Ad Set Level: Choose your audience(s) Choose the demographics that you want to see your ad and Facebook will target to that group specifically. This narrows the scope of the ad and saves you money. You can target many different attributes, including: Location Demographics (age, gender, language, etc.) Interests Behavior (shopping, type of phone, if they have recently researched a purchase) Connections (people who already like your page, friends of people who like your page) Custom Audiences (people a contact list, your website traffic) Lookalike Audiences (people who look similar to your best customers)
3. Ad Set Level: Set your budget and placement Bid for your objective, clicks or impressions. Your bid is the amount you re willing to pay to have customers see your ad and click it or take some other action. You can choose to set your budget to only spend a specified amount per day, or you can set a lifetime budget, which means the ad will run until your budget is reached. 4. Ad Level: Create multiple ads and Facebook will optimize for the top performing ad Create a small variety of ads with variations in image, video, texts or links You can have up to 50 ads per ad set 5. Ad Level: Test your ads and reallocate your budget Facebook will tell you which ads are not performing as well as others. Turn those off and allocate more of your budget to the ads that are getting the results you want.
How to: RUN A FACEBOOK AD CAMPAIGN After you get your page up and running, you might want to run some ads to get more likes, drive viewers to your website, increase engagement on your posts or promote a video. Start by going to facebook.com/ads/create. TYPES OF FACEBOOK ADS PAGE POST ENGAGEMENT ADS Get more people liking, commenting on, and sharing your posts. You ll reach more of the people who like your Page and new audiences. PAGE LIKE ADS Build your Page audience by getting more Page Likes. It s a great way to connect with new clients and learn more about your audience. CLICKS TO WEBSITE ADS Bring more people to your website from Facebook. When people click your ad, you can send them to any page on your website. WEBSITE CONVERSIONS Track actions people took on your website after they saw your Facebook ad. This data helps you understand who comes to your site and what they re responding to so you can make your ads (and website) even better. EVENT RESPONSES Let people know about your special event with a Facebook ad. When people see it, they can join and it will be added to their Facebook calendar. They ll get reminders for the event, and you can keep track of how many responded. VIDEO VIEWS Create engaging ads that feature your videos and tell your story. Your audiences can view your video ads in News Feed on desktop and mobile devices.
PAGE POST ENGAGEMENT ADS How to: Run an ad that gets more people seeing, liking commenting on and sharing your page content on Facebook. GET STARTED WITH PAGE POST ENGAGEMENT Select Page Post Engagement, choose a Page you manage and then choose the post you want to boost. To create a new post to boost, just click the + button. SEE WHAT YOUR AD LOOKS LIKE As you build your ad, you ll get a preview of how the ad appears to someone using Facebook on a computer or mobile device. You can also add a website address to send people to a specific page on your website, or choose a conversion pixel to track how many people arrive at your website or if they buy from your online store. CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE With any Facebook ad, you can choose the audiences you want to reach. Just complete the fields to select your audience by location, age, gender, interests and more. You also have the choice of reaching the people who already like your Page and their friends, or new audiences SET YOUR BUDGET AND SCHEDULE After you choose an audience, you can create a name for your ad, set a daily or lifetime budget and schedule how long you want it to run. With this ad, engagement means whenever someone clicks, likes, comments on or shares your post. By default, your ad is optimized to reach people within your chosen audience who are more likely to take action on your ad. HOW PEOPLE SEE YOUR AD ON FACEBOOK And at any time, you can update or make changes to your ads.
PAGE LIKE ADS How to: Run an ad to get more people to like your Facebook Page. GET STARTED WITH PAGE LIKES Select Page Likes, choose a Facebook Page that you want to promote and start building your ad. SEE WHAT YOUR AD LOOKS LIKE As you build your ad, you ll get a preview of how the ad appears to someone using Facebook on a computer or mobile device. You can select an image, write a headline and description, and also choose which section of your Page you want people to go to when they click. For example, if you have really great photos to share, you can send them directly to the Photos section of your Page. CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE With any Facebook ad, you can choose the audiences you want to reach. Just complete the fields to select your audience by location, age, gender, interests and more. SET YOUR BUDGET AND SCHEDULE After you choose an audience, you can create a name for your ad, set a daily or lifetime budget and schedule how long you want it to run. By default, your ad is optimized to reach people within your chosen audience who are likely to click the Like button for your Page. HOW PEOPLE SEE YOUR AD ON FACEBOOK And at any time, you can update or make changes to your ads.
CLICKS TO WEBSITE ADS How to: Send people to any section of your website from your Facebook ad. GET STARTED WITH CLICKS TO WEBSITE Select Clicks to Website and enter the web page address you want people to visit. Choose your home page, about page or contact page you decide where your customers arrive when they click your Facebook ad. SEE WHAT YOUR AD LOOKS LIKE As you build your ad, you ll get a preview of how the ad appears to someone using Facebook on a computer or mobile device. Select images for your ad, write a headline and description, and choose a call-to-action button like Contact Now or Learn More. CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE With any Facebook ad, you can choose the audiences you want to reach. Just complete the fields to select your audience by location, age, gender, interests and more. SET YOUR BUDGET AND SCHEDULE After you choose an audience, you can create a name for your ad, set a daily or lifetime budget and schedule how long you want it to run. By default, your ad is automatically optimized to reach people within your chosen audience who are likely to click your ad. If you want more people to see your ad to build awareness, you can choose to optimize your ad for impressions instead. HOW PEOPLE SEE YOUR AD ON FACEBOOK And at any time, you can update or make changes to your ads.
WEBSITE CONVERSIONS How to: Track what people do on your website - like browsing web pages, registering or making a purchase - after seeing your Facebook ad. GET STARTED WITH WEBSITE CONVERSIONS You can choose to measure checkouts, registrations, leads, key web page views, adds to cart and other web conversions. When you choose a category, you ll get a snippet of code the conversion pixel. Copy and paste the conversion pixel into the HTML of the web pages you want to track. If someone else runs your website, you can send the conversion pixel code to them right from Facebook. CHECK THAT YOUR PIXEL IS WORKING With the conversion pixel added to the HTML on the web page you want to track, visit that web page. Next, go to Ads Manager, click Conversion Tracking and then click the Verify Pixel button to see if it s working. USE THE CONVERSION PIXEL When your conversion pixel has been verified, create a Website Conversions ad and choose the pixel you created. Next, build your ad. You can choose images, write a headline and description, and choose a call-to-action button like Sign up Now or Learn More. SEE WHAT YOUR AD LOOKS LIKE As you build your ad, you ll get a preview of how the ad appears to someone using Facebook on a computer or mobile device. Select images for your ad, write a headline and description, and choose a call-to-action button like Shop Now or Learn More. For example, you would use the Shop Now button to send customers to your online store.
WEBSITE CONVERSIONS CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE With any Facebook ad, you can choose the audiences you want to reach. Just complete the fields to select your audience by location, age, gender, interests and more. SET YOUR BUDGET AND SCHEDULE After you choose an audience, you can create a name for your ad, set a daily or lifetime budget and schedule how long you want it to run. By default, your ad is automatically optimized to reach people within your chosen audience who are likely to convert. READ YOUR REPORTS As data from your website comes to Facebook, you can read your conversion pixel reports under Conversion Tracking in Ads Manager. HOW PEOPLE SEE YOUR AD ON FACEBOOK And at any time, you can update or make changes to your ads.
EVENT RESPONSE ADS How to: Create an event that clients on Facebook can add to their own Facebook calendar. GET STARTED WITH EVENT RESPONSES Select Event Responses, choose the event you want to promote and click Continue. SEE WHAT YOUR AD LOOKS LIKE As you build your ad, you ll get a preview of how the ad appears to someone using Facebook. You can select images for your ad and write a headline and description. The event is automatically added to the Facebook calendar of whoever clicks the Join Event button. CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE With any Facebook ad, you can choose the audiences you want to reach. Just complete the fields to select your audience by location, age, gender, interests and more. SET YOUR BUDGET AND SCHEDULE After you choose an audience, you can create a name for your ad, set a daily or lifetime budget and schedule how long you want it to run. HOW PEOPLE SEE YOUR AD ON FACEBOOK And at any time, you can update or make changes to your ads.
VIDEO VIEWS How to: Create video ads that are memorable and help build your brand on Facebook. GET STARTED WITH VIDEO VIEWS Select Video Views and choose the Page that you want to run a video ad for. SEE WHAT YOUR AD LOOKS LIKE When you create your ad, you ll get a preview of what people will see in News Feed on desktop and mobile devices. When you upload your video, you can select a thumbnail for the ad this is the still image that people see before your video plays. CHOOSE YOUR AUDIENCE With any Facebook ad, you can choose the audiences you want to reach. Just complete the fields to select your audience by location, age, gender, interests and more. SET YOUR BUDGET AND SCHEDULE After you choose an audience, you can create a name for your ad, set a daily or lifetime budget and schedule how long you want it to run. By default, your ad is automatically optimized to reach people within your chosen audience who are likely to click your ad or watch your video. HOW PEOPLE SEE YOUR AD ON FACEBOOK And at any time, you can update or make changes to your ads.
BONUS: 9 secrets the Pros Use to Create Great Facebook Ad Designs 1. ALWAYS TEST MULTIPLE DESIGNS Never assume anything. Always test everything. No matter what your level of expertise is or how long you ve been advertising on Facebook, always test both your ad s design and its targeting. Every time you re creating a new campaign, take the time to come up with at least 4 different Facebook Ad Designs and then test each one. For example, you might test two different images with two different copy texts (2 images x 2 texts = 4 variations). Mix it up to keep things fresh: vary both copy text and images to reduce Ad Fatigue and steer clear of high ad frequency, which can decrease ad effectiveness. While illustrations perform pretty well and are great branding, an ad with a picture of a person performs far better: Cost per Download: $1.68 Cost per Download: $3.13 2. CREATE CLIENT PERSONAS By creating Buyer Personas, you not only improve your Facebook Ad Designs but you serve your customers better, overall. For each potential customer type, write down a persona. Man or woman? Profession and job title? What s the biggest problem s/he s hoping to solve by using your product? Once you ve created your buyer personas, design a Facebook Ad (paired with laser-focused targeting) for each one, directly addressing their pain points. Here s an example of two potential AdEspresso Ads, one aimed at Startups and one aimed at Media Agencies:
3. ADD SOCIAL PROOFS Do you know what the most influential emotion in a purchase decision is? Fear. People resist buying your product because they re scared of losing money and afraid of making the wrong choice. This is why free products are so effective. And it s not just about the money. Free = No Risk = No Fear. Of course, you shouldn t give your services away for free. You just need to address customers fears by adding Social Proofs to your Facebook Ad Designs. A great social proof that reduces fear are testimonials from current clients. Having someone endorse you immediately gives you credibility and removes a level of fear. If you don t have testimonials, you can still leverage your large user base. Check out this ad from Dropbox. Despite being well known, Dropbox still highlights that they have more than 100,000 businesses relying on them! That s a testimonial in itself. Can you imagine how users respond? 100,000 businesses?! Wow! If everyone and their sister are using Dropbox, there must be a reason. It must be a great product and so I have no fear jumping on-board. 4. USE CALL-TO-ACTIONS Adding a Call-to-Action to your Facebook Ads might not increase your click-through rate or make your ad more engaging but it s likely to improve your overall conversion rate and decrease your cost per conversion. Why? Because a good call-to-action decreases friction. If a user clicks your ad and arrives on your landing page, it won t need to waste time figuring what to do next. He ll already know and quickly proceed to perform the desired action. He ll know because you ve prompted him in your Ad with a Call-to-Action like Download our ebook, Subscribe to our newsletter for a chance to win, Take the survey and receive $10 off, etc. 5. CHOOSE IMAGES THAT STAND OUT If advertising is a war, then Newsfeed is your battlefield. And a very crowded one it is. If you want to get your ads clicked on, you have to grab the users attention so that they read your ad. This will come down to your ad s image. The right image can immediately attract the eye and earn you a click. Therefore, carefully select an image that will stand out from the crowd. You might also try to add some visual contrast like the ad here. Some people don t like this tactic as it looks a bit spammy and therefore is bad branding. It does tend to work, however. A better strategy is to use Instagram-like filters on your pictures. Be creative but remember, while the image needs to stand out, it should not be offensive or too strong. That would be against Facebook s rules and your ad will be rejected.
6. ADDRESS YOUR USERS RATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL SIDES We think we re intelligent animals who always act rationally but that s only partially true. Our emotional side has a lot to say when it comes to buying. A simple list of product features might convince the rational self in some users but has no effect at all on their emotional self. Our emotional self don t care about features, that part of us wants benefits. No one wants to become a millionaire just to have money. They want the beneficial lifestyle that comes with being rich. Likewise, you don t buy a product for its features. You buy it to solve a problem and, thereby, to make your life better. In your Facebook Ad designs, therefore, address both the rational and emotional side of your users. Here s a great example: 7. BE CONSISTENT Like Call-to-Actions, consistency will reduce friction and help your users complete the desired action. If someone clicks on your ads, it s because they like the image, your message, and what you re offering. After clicking, they should end up on a landing page that reinforces what they saw in the ad. Use the same images and wording, just go into more depth describing your product and why they should buy it. People decide if they like a website in seconds. If you don t hook them immediately, you lose them. Imagine what would happen if, after clicking an ad for red sport shoes on Facebook, you ended up on a generic page with hundreds of sport shoes without one that is red. You d leave immediately, right? This is a crucial thing that so many advertisers overlook! Here is a typical error: You click on a very specific ad with a pink shoe...and on the landing page there s no trace of it. And no mention of the 55% discount promised.
8. PUT THE RIGHT AD IN THE RIGHT PLACE Correct placement of your Facebook Ads is critical and, ideally, you want to optimize your design for each placement. Desktop Newsfeed: Great for engagement and generating sales & leads. Supports longer copy and link description. Desktop Right Column: Less effective but cheaper. Images are smaller and text less readable. Works well for retargeting users who already know your brand. Use an image they ll recognize to catch their eye. Mobile Newsfeed: Great for engagement & Mobile app installs. Mobile users tend to click Like a lot. Copy is shorter, so be careful. While conversion rates on mobile are often deceptive, mobile is great for discovery. Users will discover your product on their phones then buy it the next day on their desktop. The ad below was in the right column but it was clearly meant for the Newsfeed. The text is simply too small and, therefore, unreadable. The copy has the same problem. It s just too long and you can t tell what the ad s about! 9. ALWAYS BE CREDIBLE Trust and credibility are fundamental. Without them, you ll never convince a user to buy your services, give out their email address, or establish any relationship. While this should be common sense, we see ads all the time that do not appear credible and so immediately come off as spammy. Point #6 above describes how you appeal to the emotional side of your users by highlighting the benefits of your services but this does not mean you should over-promise or, worse yet, lie. A self-improvement course can surely help your career. A service like AirBnB can help you earn extra money from an unused bedroom. But would you advertise either with a picture of someone driving a Ferrari or having fun on a Yacht? That would be far too much of a reach, right? Check out these two ads: It s easy to believe that a new Startup can guarantee me $100 per month or up to $1,000 per month but words like billionaire and breakthrough immediately stand out as not credible