If you’ve ever felt like Facebook Ads are something you want to use so you can expand your financial services business but you have gotten overwhelmed with all the updates and changes or if you’re just not sure you can make them work than you are in the right place.

In this post we will cover the 5 Key Strategies you must know before you even think about trying to run a Facebook ads campaign.

Yes, sometimes people absolutely kill it running their first ad and then brag about it. I would too. But most don’t.

In fact over 90% of Facebook ads lose money.

Think of it in terms of your clients. How many portfolio’s actually make money… Do most people have a strategic plan or do they just throw stuff against the wall hoping it will stick?

 

Don’t get me wrong – this blog post will not make you a Facebook Ads expert and send you on your way to getting a flood of new clients beating down your door.

 

It will however, provide a strong foundation for getting ready to venture into the world of Facebook ads with key strategies that are crucial for any successful campaign.

 

Let’s start off with the basics:

1.  Use Power Editor – Facebook basically has 2 ways you can input an ad. One through what is named  Ads Manager and the other is Power Editor. 

Ads Manager is a relatively simple way to get started. The interface is streamlined to have your ad up and running in just a couple of minutes without a whole lot of input from you.

Sounds easy, right?

Well, it is as compared to Power Editor but there is still a little bit of a learning curve.

Some of the downside includes – Limited text input at the top of the ad. Meaning you have a character limitation. Also, Ads Manager does not allow full reporting or get advanced updates like Power Editor.

With Power Editor you really don’t have a character limit. Not that you want to write a novel but it’s nice to have the text available when you need it.

The other reason you should just start in power editor is your ability to scale.

Once you start hitting home runs with your Facebook ads you’ll want to expand and track. With Power Editor you can do this much easier and if you use your initial time learning power editor up front the experience you’ll gain will help you create easier, better and trackable campaigns.

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2. Install your Pixel – This is a little technical, so here is some background.  When I first heard the term ‘pixel’ all I could think about was Pac Man.

So, if you’re not tech savvy or if you aren’t sure what a pixel is don’t worry about it. You don’t really need to know the complete ins and outs.

The short of it is, a pixel is a piece of code used to track you as you visit websites or use applications so an advertiser can ‘remarket’ their products or services to you.

Have you ever noticed when you go on Amazon and look at a book you might buy but don’t, then magically that book appears on Facebook and other websites you visit…. That’s a pixel in action.

Facebook assigns each ad account ONE pixel.

You in turn take this pixel and place it on your website.

Depending on the type of site you have it can be very simple or more advanced to install. Either way, if all this talk about pixels is starting to stress you out don’t worry about it. Just send it over to your website person or get the local 15 year old website expert and have them install it.

If you’re a DIY kind of person there are tons of video tutorials or you can check out my tutorial here if you have a WordPress site.

Even if you don’t use the features of the pixel right away, you want to go ahead and install so it can gather information about who is visiting your website. This will be invaluable later.

 

3. The REAL key to Facebook Ads and marketing in general is targeting. Knowing your ideal market inside and out. Narrowing it down.

Saying you want to target everyone in America age 35+, who makes $100,000 a year or more witha net worth of at least $500,000 is not a target.  That is way to broad and you’ll waste tons of money trying to cast a wide net.

You must be able to define your market better.

I’m not saying you can’t have multiple targets but when you’re using Facebook you have to be as narrow as possible with each ad campaign or else you won’t get the results you want.

If you’re having trouble defining your target market – check out my free guide 26 questions to identify and reach high converting leads.

 

4. Types of Ads and which should you use –

1. Single Image
2. Carousel – Multiple Images
3. Canvas – Multiple images / story telling format
4. Video

For now I’m going to make it simple. Pick either single image or video. 

The single image should be something compelling.  I hate to break this to you but if you’re advertising to a cold audience, a picture of you is not compelling.

Look through your news feed and see what catches your eye.

The image is just there to make someone stop and take a look at your ad. It will not sell them on your services.

Your only goal is to get them to click on your ad.

Just so you know, video tends to do much better than an image. We’re not talking about some major production.

 

 

It can be as simple as using your iphone for a video selfie.

For those of you who think “oh my client is way too sophisticated for that and they won’t look at a video that is not professionally done.”  

My comment would be – have you actually tested that theory?   Because I have.

It’s the whole “well, my brother-in-law told me so” mentality. Ever heard that from a client about a particular way to manage money or invest.

Yet the ‘brother-in-law’ is no expert and lives in a van down by the river.

One of the nice things about doing Facebook Ads for clients is I get an opportunity to test and test and test.  I get to find out what really works versus what conventional wisdom says works.

I only care about results. What I think, what you think, what my brother-in-law thinks – none of that matters. Only what the client thinks matters.

To give a recent example – one of my clients a Financial Advisor who caters only to those with $1m net worth or greater used to say the same thing.

I asked him to try a quick video and he resisted.  While his ads were doing fair with just an image he was ready to scale it up.

Finally I convinced him to do a video.

He pulled out his iphone at his home and did a 90 second video in his living room.

The only thing we did is remove the ‘shaking’ because it was a selfie but other than that no editing whatsoever. 

This ad out pulled the image ad 5 to 1.  Not bad.

All I’m saying is don’t dismiss it just yet.

 

5. Where are you sending them –

This is one of the most overlooked part of the ad. It’s not enough to run an ad to get people clicking but if you’re only sending them to your website you are missing an enormous opportunity.

 

You DO NOT want them to go to your Facebook page. The goal is to get them to  Landing Page with a free giveway, like an ebook, a video, audio or some other freebie.   You can also send them to a really compelling blog post just like what I did here.

This gives you the opportunity for them to give you their email or you have a chance to retarget them from your pixel.

 

Sending them to the home page of your website is a sure way they will get lost.  Once they get on your home page they will have to many options. Make sure you give them an opportunity to ‘opt-in’ to your email list at a minimum.  You can then start emailing them on a regular basis until they become paying clients.

 

As I stated, these are just a foundation… the beginning. These strategies will give you the basic knowledge for how to get started using Facebook Ads. 

There are a couple of free resources I mentioned:

1. Video walk through for installing the pixel 

2. The free cheat sheet 26 Questions to Identify, Understand and Reach High Converting Leads

 

If you have any feedback comments or suggestions or if you have Facebook Ads experience, share you story in the comments.

Get Results!

All the Best,  

Ben Blackmon