For the whole of last year, I was hooked onto Facebook advertising.
I wanted to know what image, copytext, and frame sells and what does not. I was bent on figuring out the perfect formula and then entering the workforce as a confident consultant for your social media ad solutions.
After cycles and cycles of testing, I came to realize the sole purpose Facebook ads should be used for in any organization- branding and only branding. Today, if you are starting out on Facebook advertising and putting your bets on it for conversions, may I suggest you review your return on investments for these ads again.
We now live in a post-click era where clicks should not be a concern. While it signifies the lure you have created with your ads and the interest of your audience, this number says nothing about the quality of your likes and whether these clickers are potential converters.
This realization meant one thing to me- I have to rethink and retest my ads (bats away my idealistic thoughts of my future career as a consultant) with two questions in mind: Which ad brings in quality clickers that are interested in my offering, and which ad, when exposed to the viewer, can stay edged in their mind even though they are not interested in clicking. Now that, I must say, is a lot of groundwork. But it is definitely worth it when you gain the numerous insights of your audience.
Nonetheless, regardless of the factors to consider, rounds and rounds of rigorous testing running on Cost-Per-Click should always be the number one step anyone should take before launching proper ad campaigns on Facebook. That said, I came to realize a growing trend of companies devising ads with a seemingly different mindset from me.
1. Firstly, there is a serious problem nowadays with marketers assuming that vampires and werewolves are the way to go in targeting the youth.
2. Also, there seem to be a growing knowledge gap with regards to maximising one’s return on investment. You should ensure your clicks convert into purchases, not protests.
3. There’s a saying ‘you can’t force someone to love you.’ Similarly, you should not, by any means, force any connection between a battery and Chris Daughtry.
4. I believe greatly in these two companies because they have good headlines and succinct copies. Allow me to insist that they must have had a robot to grab a photo by random from Google to be used as their ad image. I insist.
5. Finally, I conclude with my favourite Facebook Ad. It has a good headline, a concised copy, and an image that resonates with the woman behind closed doors, scrolling through her Facebook feed. Perhaps slightly too graphical, but the pleasant face helps a little, ain’t I right?
As much as these ads seem absurd, it seems important to note that understanding the man or woman behind their screen is tougher than you can imagine. People can take on differing online personas both intentionally and unintentionally, and react to message strategies that might be deemed ineffective on them in the offline world. Hence, it would not be surprising if my previously mentioned ads do get tons of clicks, even though the quality of these is another matter to consider.
The case in point is this- it is only crucial for online marketers to be tightly attuned to the transient behaviour of their target audience. We must constantly revise our ads to optimise its effectiveness and relevancy to our viewer.
With this in mind, you can be confident that your final ads after your preliminary testings would be totally LEGEN… wait for it… DARY! And I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the second half of the word is DIARY.
Don’t you just love Barney Stinson?
Facebook ads so bizarre you would click on them – Click To Tweet
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