What exactly makes FACEBOOK ADS work in 2023?

How often do you see this in Facebook groups where someone just makes a blanket statement that they spent money with Facebook, and well, it either didn’t work at all, or the leads that came through were garbage?

So where does it go wrong, and how can you succeed where others have failed? And be the person who quietly laughs as your calendar is stacked full of work all from Facebook. How do I know this works well so far, I've been responsible for over a million dollars in ad spend for different clients and myself, so let's dive into using direct response marketing to find people needing your services now.

Stop The Scroll

First, we need to get them to stop scrolling, ever wonder how you lost so much time on Facebook. Well, we need to shake them to stop and look. From now on, when you're using facebook and scrolling, look at ads that make you stop. What made you stop? Then use something similar in your ads to test their effectiveness.

Now some people will use a graphic that is totally unrelated to what they do, think of that video where a baseball flies to the screen, and it feels like it going to hit you. Is this going to attract everyone… yes.. But is that a great thing no. As the AI is going to find more of these people people who love watching a baseball fly at the screen.

So make sure the image relates to what you do, painting, house before/ afters, and team members in painting gear near the work van etc. And then use things like bold statements like “Brisbane Homeowners!” alternate colours, use angles on the background behind titles etc.

Let the Headline / First Paragraph draw them in next.

This is like fishing, we have them hooked but only slightly. Now we need to get them to read more. So that headline usually works well if we call them out, or we make a statement that they relate to. Like “Brisbane House Need Painting?” for the title, we have less room to play with the title so you need to get creative so it doesn’t cut off in the preview.

And in that first paragraph, we may reinforce it again. “Hey Brisbane Homeowners, does your house need painting?

Now for the text part where we want to persuade them.

We now try and get that hook a bit deeper in to stop the fish from getting away, this can be boring as to what exactly you write, luckily there are many copywriting frameworks to follow, and the most popular is the AIDA one, which is :

Attention: This is your initial hook, a sentence or two that's meant to stop people in their scrolling tracks. It could be something surprising or unique about your service. For instance, "Tired of dull, lifeless rooms? Bring your home back to life!"

Interest: Next, you need to keep your reader interested in what you have to say. Here, you could introduce the specifics of your service and what sets you apart. For instance, "Our expert painters use eco-friendly paints and can transform any room in just a day."

Desire: Now, you're going to make your reader desire your service. Describe the benefits and evoke their imagination. For example, "Imagine waking up in a room that feels fresh, vibrant and truly 'you'. A space that fills you with joy every morning."

Action: Lastly, this is your call to action. Tell them what to do next. This could be a simple, "Click here to book a free consultation!" or "Message us now for a 20% discount on your first room!"

What’s next?

You will notice I haven't talked about targeting, interests, or the pixel. But why? Because the magic of getting your ads to work is ….. The ad itself. Gone are the days of crappy ad content, and hoping the AI will magically find you customers. Those days are long gone. This is great as this gives you the edge to focus on writing and producing great ads.

So when you run these ads on Facebook, you will then target the areas you service, so drop a pin and then set the radius of how far you will drive from there. And the age range is probably 35+, and that’s it. Broad is the game in 2023, let the AI find the people and use your ads to “call” them out.

Pick a campaign that works for you, I find engagement with the objective of messages works well for most clients. As this lets us chat back and forward on Facebook while also requesting a phone number. You can also use the lead objectives, but I find it can increase the number of leads, but not the quality, so chat works better as we can be human and follow up etc, for people who haven't provided a phone number yet. And now, if we have done a great job, they hit that send message button, and we have them hooked and reel them in to get their details which is mainly their phone number and get them on the phone for you to work your sales skills.

What are other mistakes?

The biggest one I see is letting the leads go cold, the quicker you are to engage with the lead, the higher your chances of securing the work and of higher value before they call your competitor.

Running just one ad. All this will tell you is do Facebook ads work, and well if your ad sucks, your going to say nope, they don’t. Have 3 or more ads running, and now you will see which ones work better and why. Sometimes even a headline change increase leads.

Complex campaigns, the more you make, the less Facebook will learn. One local campaign and one adset where you just focus on the ads is the goal. It just gets better and better, no need for it to learn all over each time.

Not spending enough or not increasing your spending because of beliefs Facebook is evil. Treat it like any other advertising source, Yes, I’m not the biggest fan of Mark Zuckerbergs world domination plans or Google's, but if it’s getting you work then consider how much you need and work out a budget to get it. You pay per impression, so spending more means more eye’s on your ads. That’s all your doing when you spend more on your ads in front of more people.

Giving many calls to action, like call now, message us, and oh visit our website also. People are lazy just tell them one thing you want them to do.

Mark Spray spraymedia.com.au