Are your Facebook Ads strategy ready for Black Friday? 

This is THE time of the year when shopaholics are hunting for the best offers, so you need to make sure your Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads campaigns are ready to attract hungry buyers. 

So, do you have your Black Friday Facebook Ads strategies all planned out? No? Well, you’d better get on that, because the big day is just around the corner! 

With so many changes to how we advertise on Facebook and Instagram in a post-iOS world, the Meta algorithm is going through some growing pains of its own. So, how can you be sure you’re setting your ads for success? Well, we talked to ACTUAL engineers at Meta and created a checklist with everything you need to have your target audience open their wallets for you!

7 Meta Tips & Updates You Need to Know BEFORE Creating Black Friday

#1. 20 is the New 50

Everyone has heard that an ad set needs at least 50 conversions in a 7-day period. And yes, that was true a while ago, but now things have changed. 

In the past, the Facebook Ads Learning Phase ended when, in a 7-day period, an ad set reached 50 events (whether it is conversions, lead gen, landing page views, etc). However, the Meta Ads Manager has evolved and improved. Now to exit the learning phase for optimization, your campaigns need 20 completed events in a 7-day period.

What does that mean? 

Now, a campaign can leave the Learning Phase after it reaches 20 events, again, depending on the objectives you select. The algorithm will gather data until that time to help you make better decisions in a simplified, quicker way, and make it easier for you to be successful on the platform. 

But what happens if my campaign doesn’t achieve that goal? Then, after the 7-day period *and not a minute before*, you can edit your campaign to optimize it! The algorithm will still learn based on successful events, but to hit true Meta Ad success velocity, you’ll want to consider increasing your budget so that you can achieve the 20 events Meta needs your campaign to hit for optimization in a 7-day period.

#2. Keep Your Cold & Warm Audiences Separated

Let’s think of our cold and warm audiences like a dating process. 

Cold traffic is like when you’re interested in someone you don’t know and want them to swipe right back at you. Your profile pic and information is all they have on you to make a snap judgment decision on whether they’ll engage in a convo and maybe give you their number.  

This is the same for an IG ad. They have 1-3 seconds MAX to decide whether or not your ad is worth ‘swiping right’ via engaging with your content by stopping their scroll. 

Meanwhile, our warm traffic is geared to those that have already engaged with your profile and is either mid-convo or mid-first date. Like a Facebook ad, you’ve already captured their attention, and now you’re ‘courting’ them. Asking them to get to know you more and ideally make some sort of commitment. With dating, you’ll want to ‘make it official’ and with ads you want that lead or purchase! 

They’re totally different, right? 

• Cold Traffic’s primary goal is to get them to swipe right or engage with your content (and maybe purchase!)
• Warm Traffic’s primary goal is to get them converted into being Facebook officials by subscribing to your list and actually purchasing a product

When you blend warm and cold audiences in your campaigns, you’re giving the algorithm the chance to favor warm audiences as they’re more likely to convert to a more cost-effective bidding strategy. This means, using our last example, that it’s more likely for someone that already had a first date with you to say “yes” to a second date because they already know you. Thus slimming down the chance of new swipes showing up on your feed.

Taking this into account, at the top level of your campaign, for cold audiences, you’re teaching the Meta Ads algorithm which cold audiences are yielding conversions. A successful conversion sends a signal to the platform to find more humans like the user who just converted. 

When you’re using cold audiences in a campaign, and excluding warm ones, you’re forcing the platform to find new people *aka people that don’t know anything about your product/service* that will make the desired conversion event.

Should you blend the audiences and include warm audiences in the campaign, Meta will favor the warmer audience time and time again because an abandoned cart purchaser is more likely to convert than someone who doesn’t yet know, like, or trust your offer. 

And Meta is always optimizing for the easier (more cost-effective) win in their algorithm.

That’s why at Mongoose Media we recommend not mixing these audiences in the same campaign. When you throw cold and warm audiences together you’re not teaching the algorithm to specifically find new prospects, you’re asking your algorithm to find the best buyers possible, allowing it to cheat and deliver the ads to people that already know who you are. So, instead, build a campaign for prospecting and another for retargeting warm traffic. 

#3. Know What CPA You’re Willing to Pay for Your Cold & Warm Audiences

The algorithm is listening to you, so you have to tell it exactly what you want. And this applies to anything you set up in Facebook Ads, but it is especially important for the CPA.

Let’s suppose that you are willing to pay $85 per CPA (cost per acquisition) for a skincare customer, but you capped the bid budget at $75. In this case, the algorithm doesn’t have the means to know that you have more money than what you put, so you’ll be forcing it to optimize your ads for a $75 budget. Which can mean you’re limiting your audience reach to forced CPAs that fit within your lower budget. Meaning, you’re missing out on potential customers that you’d be willing to pay for but your bidding strategies say otherwise.

Why is this so crucial? Because there may be better people with potentially higher order value or propensity to purchase available to you, but because you told the algorithm that $75 is your spend limit, your ad may not reach those people. 

Bear this in mind: if your CPA is too high, it will eat into your profits. Conversely, if your CPA is too low, you could be missing out on potential customers. 

Additionally, every day we get closer to Black Friday is a day that the auction experiences additional new competitors to the marketplace and more auction pressure that you’re competing against. So, start thinking about your CPA before the big day approaches. 

{important dates graphic: September 20th, the soft pressure increase in a ‘pre-Black Friday auction’. October 15th – the unofficial kickoff for Black Friday and the D-Day for heavy auction bids. November 15th – consider using different Meta objectives cause everyone and their grandmothers are doing ads.}

And, if you’re not sure what your CPA should be, working with a qualified Meta Ads consultant can help you to set a realistic CPA for your business!

NOTE: Your WARM CPA and COLD CPA should be different.

#4. Your Ads are a Marathon, Not a Place to Bet on Horses

I know that it is very tempting to look at your ad campaigns and ads like they are competing in a horse race. But you’re not betting on a pony, you’re marketing your products or services, so there’s no rush. 

What I mean is that even though you may want to perform a gazillion changes every time you check your ads statics and something seems off, you need to let it rest! As I said above, the Facebook Ads Learning Phase covers a 7-day period; however, if you edit your ad every other day, what will happen is that the time period will restart with every change and your campaign will be stuck in the Learning Phase *sounds like time traveling, right?*. 

Plus, you won’t be giving the algorithm enough time to optimize your campaign! Simply put, let’s suppose you launched your ad on a Monday, but by Wednesday you don’t get any of the results you wanted, so you turn it off. But, what you don’t realize is that, in a 7-day period, the algorithm is working to understand your campaign, so it may take time to reach your target audience and generate conversions. 

And don’t worry! 

Everyone is tempted to edit or stop a campaign when it is not achieving what we want! In fact, at Mongoose Media we used to make that decision after a 4-day period. However, we realized that, by doing this, we were potentially wasting the effort the algorithm is making to optimize a campaign, so now we wait a full 7 days before touching anything. 

So, walk away and go back in a week… But wait, there are a few things you need to be mindful of before you sit back and relax. Here’s a quick ads checklist

• Tracking: 

For Facebook Ads to be effective, it is essential that you have your tracking set up correctly. Without tracking, you will have no way of knowing whether your ads are succeeding or failing during the Holiday season. 

• Creatives: 

During Black Friday, brands compete for consumers’ attention with ads that are often loud, colorful, and eye-catching. As a result, it’s important to make sure that your ads are designed to be thumb-stopping.

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One way to do this is to start working on your ad creatives well in advance of Black Friday. This will give you time to experiment with different designs and ensure that your advertising campaigns are truly eye-catching. 

• Winning offer

Have you already put some thoughts into your Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals? It is important to craft a must-click offer that your specific audience is going to love. 

Remember that Facebook, unlike Amazon, is like walking into the mall during the holiday season. There are a lot of options you can pick and different offers that sound appealing, so, with many competitors out there, it is important to create deals that really persuade your audience!

• Work within a comfortable budget

Have a budget that you’re comfortable spending daily with a long-term goal of success. If you’re coming to Meta ads for a silver bullet, a single solution in your company’s bottom line, you better have a budget to back up the investment for data and the algorithm to find your target audience.

Meta Ads are great to-scale offers that work and as a discovery tool for new audiences. When Meta Ads stand on their own without a cohesive marketing plan for omnichannel remarketing, subscriber engagement, and more, expect to pay high acquisition costs to cover your marketing gaps. 

{Meta Ads on a CVJ image? Meta ads drive awareness, meta ads help subscriber acquisition, Meta Ads can drive excitement and loyalty, but Meta Ads aren’t Atlas, holding the weight of the company alone – that’s my graphic recommendation…. People think Meta Ads are the Atlas holding the world, but instead, it’s the offer that’s atlas and Meta is the muscle on the one bicep only}

#5. The Algorithm Assumes the Data is True

This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is important to understand that the algorithm can’t read your mind, so it learns from the data you give it. 

That’s why it is so important to be mindful about what you tell it. From your target audience to your ad spend, that algorithm will take everything you put as a fact and, if you’re not careful, it can affect your campaign negatively.

#6. Advantage+ Placements & Advantage Campaign Budget & Why They Matter

Placements are also known as the different platforms on which Meta can show your ad. An example of this is running your ads on Instagram, Facebook, or Messenger.

In this case, choosing multiple placements is a great idea if you want your ads to reach your target audience across different platforms. Meta’s platform is going to try and serve your ads on the placement your targeted audience is most likely going to engage and convert.

Taking this into account, by using Advantage+ placements, you’ll be allowing Meta to find the best conversion opportunities for your ad in all the placements.

This not only will help you to get the optimization events at a low cost (because Meta’s delivery system will analyze the data from all available placements and choose placements that are both cost-effective and high-performing) but also will help you make the most out of your campaign budget!

Another way of automating your campaign is by using the Advantage Campaign Budget. This is a feature that allows Meta to distribute your budget depending on the placements where each ad set will get the most optimization events at a low cost. 

With both features, you can make sure that your budget is effectively invested, Advantage+ placements and Advantage Campaign Budget are godsend help during the Black Friday season

#7. Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

If you were looking for a way to increase your campaign’s performance without having to stick to your computer 24/7, the new Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, launched on August 15, 2022, is quickly becoming my favorite new roll out from Meta. This new Meta product can automate an entire ad campaign with machine learning, so you can focus more on the general aspects of your online store and less on managing campaigns.

Just imagine being able to automate EVERYTHING from creatives and placements to audiences. With Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns you can maximize your ads’ performance throughout the Black Friday weekend (and beyond) without all the manual work it used to require. 

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns allow business owners and paid media buyers to use AI to automate a campaign from end to end and make the best out of their ad budget by finding the best placements in which your ad will get the most conversion events at a lower cost.

And, if that wasn’t enough, this new feature can also automate creatives to analyze which ones are more effective in a specific audience! 

Finally, if you have a Facebook or Instagram Shop, Meta is using AI to drive traffic to the most converting destination for your eCommerce store. Either your in-platform store (FB or IG shop) or your website, depending on which one will generate the most optimization events in a certain audience! 

There’s nothing you can’t achieve with this tool and, even though it’s still in its Beta version, acting on it now will give your campaigns a lift as most other brands and advertisers aren’t taking advantage of this new campaign!

What’s the Best Time to Run Facebook Ads for Black Friday?

As soon as possible! Taking into account that you have to wait for the Learning Phase 7-day window, help the algorithm understand and optimize your campaign, and make edits if necessary, at Mongoose Media we recommend our clients to start their Black Friday Facebook Ads campaigns between July and September. 

However, this doesn’t mean that you should have launched your sale months ago! What you should have done is launch campaigns to find your audience and build a warm list.

The idea is to build a list of buyers that want your product/service and are eager to get a good deal, so you can offer them early access or another offer if they signup or register ahead of the big day. 

Why is this so important? Because even though Black Friday and Cyber Monday may seem like a weekend events, more and more people start craving good deals and offers even before November starts, so it is crucial *and cheaper* to start warming up your traffic early

But wait! If you’re reading this in October/November, that doesn’t mean everything is lost. You just need to be mindful that, when you launch your Facebook ad campaign, there’s going to be a lot more auction pressure. 

Ready to Start Preparing for a Successful Black Friday?

Planning your Black Friday campaigns with time is the key to not only crafting profitable ads that catch the attention of your target audience and persuade them to click the “Buy now” button, but it also helps the algorithm understand your brand and put your deal in front of the right people. And now you have a checklist with everything that has changed in Facebook Ads and you need to keep it in mind to set your campaigns up for success. 

Do you feel already overwhelmed with all the preparations pre-Black Friday? Fear not, you’ve come to the right place! At Mongoose Media we have a team of Facebook experts, copywriters, designers, and strategists that will help you with the planning while you worry about running your business!

So, meet with us and start your journey to a successful Black Friday Facebook Ads strategy!

The post 7 Things You Need to Do AHEAD of Your Black Friday Facebook Ads According to Meta appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Looking to create awesome social media content to boost engagement?

It’s a given that creating engaging social media content is crucial for building a strong online presence, engaging your audience, and growing leads and sales. 

But how do you get it right?

Here are some tips and examples.

9 Tips To Create Social Media Content That Boosts Engagement

Start by creating professional and compelling social media profiles. Then use these tips when creating content. 

1. Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience is the key to marketing success, whether it’s in email personalization or creating tailored social media content. 

For instance, Canva creates tailored messages for each of its target groups. This is a post for nonprofits.

And here is content created for teachers.

How do you identify your social media target audience?

You can use market research, email survey campaigns, or website forms to find out your customers’ social media preferences.

Here are other ways to gain audience insights:

• Facebook: Facebook Audience Insights gives data about your audience like this.

• Instagram: Click the Insights action button to get details of your existing audience and their engagement with specific content.
• Twitter: Twitter analytics and Tweet activity page give you stats such as key demographics, languages, and interests of your audience.
• LinkedIn: Access the “Analytics” tab where you can see audience insights.

Tools such as Copper CRM also let you sync your contacts with social media accounts to build lookalike audiences and target specific groups.

This Copper CRM review gives you more details on how to use this tool to sync contacts.

2. Define Your Goals and Metrics

While boosting engagement may be the primary goal for creating social media content, you’ll need to go granular when defining your goals. And tie each goal to a specific social media metric that you can track.

Here’s a framework to help you get started:

3. Choose The Right Content Type 

The types of social media content you can experiment with include:

• Blog posts
• User-generated content 
• Live streams/webinars 
• Ebooks and whitepapers  
• Stories and reels
• Contests/giveaways
• Videos
• Infographics
• Polls and surveys

Be sure to link the type of social media content you want to write with:

Your Target Audience’s Interests

As you can see from this image, short-form videos, images, and live videos are the most engaging social media content, as per a 2022 survey.

The Type Of Content Suitable For Each Social Media Platform And Demographic

Here’s a quick summary of the type of social media content to write for each platform/demographic.

Your Niche

The type of social media content you’ll create will also depend on your industry.

For instance, a Gartner study found that educational and user-generated content works best for software marketers. 

4. Create A Mix of Social Media Content

Experiment with different types of content, such as text, images, videos, and live streams. 

Simplilearn uses different types of social media content to boost engagement. This is a post on LinkedIn that promotes its professional certificate program.

And, on YouTube, the brand has multiple informative videos.

Make sure that your content is offering something of value to your audience.

Whether it’s helpful tips, informative articles, or just entertaining videos, give people a reason to stick around and keep coming back for more.

5. Write Compelling Social Media Copy 

Write social media copy that is catchy and easy to understand. And always include a call to action that encourages people to share your post with their followers.

The more shares you get, the wider your reach. 

Are there any formulas for writing catchy copy?

I have these tips for you:

Keep it short: Here are the ideal lengths for each platform:

• Instagram: 138 to 150 characters
• Facebook: 40 characters
• LinkedIn: 220 characters
• TikTok: 300 characters

This is an example of a short and catchy caption on Instagram:

Include action words and adjectives: Experiment with action words such as earn, save, act now, and adjectives such as powerful, awe-Inspiring, brilliant, etc. See this example from TED Talks.

Use numbers: Numbered lists and guides with easy steps can help increase engagement. See how Semrush does it.

Ask questions: Humans are always drawn to questions that spark curiosity like this post.

Write the social media copy by following the Google EAT guidelines so that your social media campaign can also help in getting good results from the search results. Your social media copy should include trustworthy, authentic, and expert facts and information.

6. Use Trending Hashtags

Utilize relevant hashtags and keywords to increase the visibility of your social media content. 

For example, if you are a food blogger, you may want to use hashtags such as #foodie, #yum, and #foodporn.

You can search for trending hashtags by typing your keyword on social media platforms’ search bars. 

Platforms like Twitter also have an Advanced Search feature where you can search for specific tweets and hashtags.

You can also use the right software to generate hashtags in your industry. These software can help you to create and how to use hashtags for your social media campaigns.

7. Post At The Right Time

Timing is crucial when it comes to social media. Post your content when your audience is most active to increase your reach and engagement.

According to a recent study:

• The best days to post social media content are Tuesdays to Thursdays
• The best time to post social media content is 9 AM and 10 AM.

But, there’re individual variations between each social platform when it comes to the peak engagement time or days. 

For example, posting on Instagram between 10 AM and 1 PM on most weekdays can help you maximize your reach.

8. Use Visual Elements

High-quality visual elements, such as images and videos, can make your content more engaging.

Be creative with how you present them. 

One way to stylize your photos and images is to use photo filters. You’ll create stunning visuals in minutes.

See this eye-catching visual from Velvet Spectrum.

9. Encourage Engagement

Encourage your audience to engage with your content by asking questions, starting a conversation, or running a contest. You can also host a giveaway as Fraser Hill Farm has done.

Be sure to show your audience that you value their opinion by responding to their comments.

You can also use lead generation software that allows you to integrate your social media platforms to manage and monitor interactions.

10. Analyze and Improve

Creating powerful social media content isn’t all about just content creation. Studying the content’s effectiveness is equally important. You need to use social media analytics tools to figure out if your social media posts are performing as expected. 

Check whether they’re generating significant engagement, driving sales, and bringing you new followers. 

In the case of blog posts, you can leverage a Google index checker and Google Analytics to check if your social media post helped speed up indexing or improved its rankings on Google.

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Wrapping Up

Remember that social media content doesn’t just have to be about your brand. In fact, some of the most successful social media campaigns focus on providing valuable information or entertainment to users. 

The goal is to get people talking about your business in a positive way!

Use analytics tools to track the performance of your content on each platform and adjust your strategy accordingly.An easy way to master your social media content strategy is by becoming a Certified Social Media expert. Learn how to apply proven strategies and boost social media engagement.

The post From Clicks to Conversions: Create Content that Boosts Engagement appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Facebook ads are changing. Realistically, who’s surprised?

Facebook ads and change are synonymous. It would take at least 3-digits to count all the updates Facebook has made to its advertising platform since its launch in 2007. As marketers, we’re just riding the wave (including the biggest wave of their recent parent name change to Meta).

With each advertising change, it’s not our job to dramatically ask, “WHY?!”. Instead, we have to ask, “How?”.

• How are ads changing?
• How does this impact my business specifically (based on products and niche)?
• How will I adapt?

Here’s what you need to know about the latest changes launching on January 19th, 2022.

*Some* Detailed Targeting Options Will be Removed

For those relying heavily on Facebook advertising for profits, take note that Facebook said *some*—not all.

This isn’t necessarily Facebook’s opinion on how to make advertising better. The social media platform confidently says, “We strongly believe that the best advertising experiences are personalized.” But, their consultants in the civil rights and policy sectors (and their stakeholders) are requesting the update.

Facebook is agreeing to make some parts of their advertising platform less personalized to “better match people’s evolving expectations of how advertisers may reach them on our platform…”.

The detailed targeting options that will be removed involve topics that Facebook has categorized as sensitive like:

• Health
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Sexual orientation
• Religion
• Political beliefs

As of January 19th, 2022, advertisers will no longer be able to target users based interests like:

• Lung cancer awareness
• LGBT culture
• Jewish holidays
• Social issues

And as usual, Facebook will also use this update to remove targeting options on interests advertisers haven’t been opting for.

Here’s a rundown from the Meta for Business blog on how advertisers can adapt to these new changes.

What Does This Mean for the Marketing API?

The Marketing API will change on January 19th, 2022, but most campaigns can continue targeting the above options until March 17th, 2022.

That doesn’t mean you should wait until March to make changes, though. Facebook’s recommendation is to “the list of ad set IDs targeted at affected objects via the Deprecated targeting terms API. Thereafter, partners can evaluate the ad sets’ targeting specifications against Targeting Status API to identify the object IDs that may cause a pause in delivery.”

Before March 17th, you can make edits at the campaign level but Facebook warns some edits at the ad set level, like changes to placements and targeting options) could update your target audience. They’re advising you to avoid editing your campaigns or ad sets if possible, after January 19th.

How to Know If You Chose a Removed Targeting Option

After March 17th, 2022, advertisers choosing a remove targeting option will see this message from Facebook:

“Error code 100, sub code 18157520: Cannot Use Invalid Detailed Targeting Options: Some of Your Detailed Targeting Options Have Been Removed: This ad set includes detailed targeting options that are either no longer available or unavailable when excluding people from an audience. You may need to remove items from your ad set or confirm the changes to turn it back on.”

If you see this message, you’ll need to update your targeting option outside of the mentioned interests above.

Facebook advertising is changing, but we’re not surprised. We’re here to ride Facebook’s wave—which looks like it’ll be taking us into the metaverse pretty soon. Using their suggestions to help reach these audiences, we can update our ad sets and campaigns to adapt.

Because as marketers, that’s really our main job. 

Master the marketing fundamentals—and adapt to the latest and greatest platform available to reach our audience.

The post How Facebook Ads Are Changing In 2022 appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

If you couldn’t rely on Facebook Ads any more, what would be your top alternative? Find out which ad platform is the best!

The post After Facebook Ads, What is Your Favorite Paid Ad Platform? appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Four percent of iOS14 users are opting in to let apps track them.

Compared to a few months ago (in a pre-iOS14 world), these numbers can feel staggering. As marketers, we feel these numbers as we look at our paid marketing strategies and wonder…is it all over?

It’s a valid question in a world of uncertainty.

Our first question to ask: where is this data coming from?

“Flurry is an analytics tool that the company says is installed in 1 million apps. Since iOS 14.5’s public launch, it has been tracking the opt-in rate every day using data from 2.5 million devices,” says Mashable.

To be clear, this isn’t data released by Apple based on information from all devices. It’s a “smaller” sample size, but we consider these numbers a valid look at what to expect from Apple’s data.

Does this mean Facebook advertising is going to die?

From billion-dollar lawsuits to government-mandated oversight to politically-driven censorship, there’s a lot to be concerned about. We won’t act like we can predict the future, but we can give you our take.

We’re here to say that Facebook advertising isn’t going to die.

It just might become different.

Facebook’s Current Battles

There’s no secret Facebook is working through a privacy struggle. Governments and states are questioning what Facebook is doing behind the scenes, and part of that involves Facebook paying up for damages.

TechCrunch recently covered the platform’s battle with Illinois, “Facebook will pay over half a billion dollars to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged systematic violation of an Illinois consumer privacy law.” If Facebook faces half a billion payout to one U.S. state, we have to question what that could look like on a global level.

Time reported on Facebook’s attempt at self-regulating itself with the hope of avoiding government regulation in the future, “Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is telling everyone who will listen that it is time to regulate the internet…

Zuckerberg’s efforts began with a 2019 op-ed in the Washington Post, ‘The Internet needs new rules.’ The article proposed four specific actions including things that Facebook was already doing. A few months later Facebook released a white paper reiterating the ideas.”

And then came Apple and their bid to win back consumer trust through the app tracking notifications of iOS14. The Business of Apps explains, “Apple has historically offered people the chance to opt-out before, with their Limited Ad Tracking feature. In iOS14, [the Identifier for Advertisers] will become opt-out by default.”

Facebook’s legal team is hard at work as they try to protect their advertising platform that made $84.2 billion in 2020. We certainly see a platform that needs to abide by the modern consumer’s values when it comes to data privacy‚ but we don’t see this as the end for Facebook.

We just see it as a catalyst for change.

Proof That It’s Not The End of Facebook Advertising

Reason #1: Bet on the Network

A press release from Facebook gave us an inside look into their current numbers. The app 

had an 8% increase year-over-year in daily active users, with an average of 1.88 billion users on the app daily in March 2021. Facebook reported 2.85 billion monthly active users for that same month.

And that’s just Facebook. We still have all of the Instagram users who can spend thirty minutes cruising through their Explore page (we’re talking from experience here). We know Facebook has changes coming its way, but with this many users, it’s impossible to say that this advertising platform will disappear.

Reason #2: There’s Still Data Being Collected

While consumer behavior across platforms creates a dream world for marketers, it doesn’t mean that a world without it equals fewer conversions. What it really means is that we have to learn to market a different way: platforms changes = marketing changes.

The iOS14 update and the privacy updates Facebook is making due to the huge checks it’s cutting to governments and states don’t remove the entirety of data collected on consumers. It just reduces it. Anything a user does on Facebook can still be tracked and used to identify ads users would be interested in.

Reason #3: Marketers are masters at pivoting

Our final reason for our belief in the continued dominance of Facebook isn’t even related to the app. It’s related to you. As a marketer, you’re always changing things. You’re A/B testing your subject lines, seeing how well your offers are converting, and updating your strategies based on the latest trends. We know you’re not going to let privacy changes stop you from advertising.

You’re going to pivot. If users ask not to be tracked across platforms, then we shouldn’t be tracking them. 

This doesn’t mean marketing is dead. It means it’s time for a change. How can you and your team create strategies that get the attention of your customer avatar? Get creative; that’s the foundation of marketing.

We know that a statistic telling you only 4% of Facebook users are letting the app track them across platforms is scary. But it’s only scary at face value. 

When you dive deeper into what’s really happening here, we see a company ready to do what it takes to maintain control (ahem, Zuckerberg’s quest for self-regulation). We also hear consumers asking for options (another ahem, user’s confusion as to how online ads track them).

As marketers, this tells us Facebook will do what it can to make the advertising experience as good as possible for its advertisers—the people who made them over $80 billion last year. It also tells us people are looking for brands they can trust, which means creating loyalty can become a huge part of your marketing strategy. 
That sure sounds like Stages 7 and 8 of the Customer Value Journey…

The post Is Facebook Advertising Going to Die? appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Facebook advertising is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing out there, but it’s not easy. Between massive amounts of competition and the ability (and responsibility) to constantly refine your ads by reviewing loads of metrics, it’s tempting to simply “set it and forget it” after you establish your initial strategy. Don’t do that!

Facebook advertising is changing and so are your customers’ expectations. Here we’ll give you three new concepts to supercharge your current strategy.

Even with the big iOS 14 update, Facebook continues to be one of the most cost-effective advertising strategies. With that in mind, anytime there is a major change to a platform, it’s time for every business to do a little strategy refresh…

We’ve taken a lot of time to examine and explain our approach to Facebook ads, so for this one we’re simply going to give you a few of our favorite “ingredients” to refresh your strategy. Combine these with your existing marketing message and past advertising analytics to create a fresh strategy to improve your results.

If you have yet to set up your first Facebook Ad, we have you covered.

It’s More Divine to Combine

As more and more digital marketing methods have become available, the harder it has been for marketers to both learn and integrate them into a holistic marketing approach. Each one has a learning curve for proficiency and creativity and, worse yet, the methods themselves evolve quickly over time. Because of this, it’s now necessary to take a step back every few months and reexamine how all the pieces of your marketing plan fit together.

Needless to say, Facebook is one of those pieces. Within Facebook, you have your social media presence, advertising, and community management. While these elements are often parceled out individually, doing so actually weakens them all.

Related: A Holistic Approach to Marketing

Ideally, everything you say on Facebook should feature a similar theme and/or message (we call it your Brand Voice). There’s nothing worse than getting excited about an advertisement just to realize that the most interesting part of a brand was their ad (just imagine the last time you got hyped up for a movie only to find out it was garbage). 

You need to create a set of guidelines that each element of your Facebook presence follows. Here are a few questions to consider:

1. If you had to describe your brand as a person, what adjectives would you use?
2. What colors represent your brand, and what percentage of time should you use them?
3. How are you positioning your brand in the viewers’ minds? Are you one of them, an authority figure over them, a friendly buddy?

These questions really relate to your overall Brand Voice, so be sure to check that out for more details. Once you have that set, use these questions to create a more holistic approach to your Facebook efforts:

1. How can your most popular posts be integrated into your ads (and vice versa)?
2. Does your commenting voice match your posting/advertising voice?
3. If you lined up your last post, ad, and comment, would they look like they came from the same place?

Yes, Videos

Yup, videos are still a thing you need to worry about. The statistics for videos in both content marketing and advertising heavily warrant your attention (thank you 99Firms (https://99firms.com/blog/facebook-video-statistics)  for these stats):

• 500 million viewers watching 100 million hours of Facebook vids daily.
• Facebook earned 24.5% of all video ad spending in the USA in 2018.
• 47% of consumers watch more video ads on Facebook than any other channel.
• 71% of consumers find that Facebook video ads are relevant/highly relevant.

More intriguing than those numbers is this one:

Facebook video ads are 10% of the cost of carousel or single image ads.

You need to use video! No, it’s not easier to make a video than a single image, graphic, or carousel. No, you’re not going to be happy with the additional skills, development, and time necessary to create video versus other methods. Yes, you will appreciate the advice once your video ads start killing it.

Creating videos does more for your marketing than just improve advertising return. The process of creating video ads requires additional thought, effort, and residual content that can be utilized in other aspects of your marketing.

For example, the process of storyboarding requires the creation of a central message and purpose, forcing you into the mindset of your potential customer. The effort of setting up your shoot, designing your graphics and animations, writing your narration and/or prepping your actor/spokesperson will all generate content that can be repurposed into dozens of pieces of content for social media, your blog, or your marketing materials.

If you need some inspiration, we’ve created a short list of some of our favorite outside Facebook Video ads of 2020 (link to new article). If you want to see some of our best, check out our most effective ads from 2019. 

It’s Time to Get Real

Your potential customers are looking at A LOT OF ADS. If you’re a marketer, you might actually like seeing them because they give you ideas on how to improve your own. If you’re anyone else, you probably scroll past them quickly, and possibly get angry in the process.

What you and everyone else is looking for is either interesting content (content related to your favorite brands, hobbies, interests, and people) or content related to your personal community (pictures of friends and family, updates about people you love, etc.). The content you share is either supremely entertaining or supremely useful.

Native videos on Facebook get shared 487% more than videos from other sources. While this stat sounds fantastic for your Facebook video ad ambitions, you need to remember that the majority of the content is user-generated and being shared among the user’s friends. 

The point is that you need to start making your Facebook ad strategy more “real” if you want it to gain more traction. Ads featuring user-created content, or that at least appear to be user-created, could be a key to unlocking more conversions.

Here are a few examples of big brands using user-generated content in their ads (you’ll notice that one of them also appears in our recent article featuring the best examples of evergreen copywriting):

Peloton

Dollar Shave Club

AD LINK

DoorDash

AD LINK

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