AMY PORTERFIELD: Well hey there. Welcome back to another episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast. I’m your host, Amy Porterfield, and today we are jumping into Part 2 of our two-part series around getting started with Facebook ads, the list-building series.
Of course I’m not doing this one alone. If you listened to last week’s episode, #172, you know that my sidekick is back, Mr. Rick Mulready, as we dive into the Power Editor as well as Facebook ad analytics.
If, by chance, you missed last week or you forget where we are in the series, let me give you a quick refresher. Last week in Episode #172 we kicked off a two-part series around getting started with Facebook ads.
We said this episode is for somebody in their first or second year of business, maybe you are a coach, consultant, some kind of trainer, you have a service-based business, or you’re doing one-on-one work and you’re looking to expand your business.
You want to sell online training courses or something of the like such as live workshops, masterminds, group coaching, but you’re just not there yet. However, you know the value of list building and you want to make sure you start to grow your email list so that when you are ready to promote and when you are ready to launch you have a list that is genuinely interested in what you’re sharing and they are more primed to buy from you.
That’s why we’re focusing on getting started with Facebook ads and putting a spin on it and focusing on list-building ad campaigns.
Last week we talked about the strategy of a list-building ad campaign and we talked about targeting. If you missed last week and you’re somebody who wants to get started with Facebook ads, maybe you’ve never done them before, or you’ve tried Facebook ads and you’ve been burned, then definitely jump over to Episode #172, listen to that episode, come back to #173, and we will pick up literally where we left off.
We essentially recorded the entire episode together and then we broke it up into two episodes so it’s not so overwhelming. In a moment you’ll hear us jump right back into it with no “hi” or “hello”, we’re just continuing the conversation so I think you’re going to find it incredibly valuable.
Again, I would listen to Episode #172 if you haven’t done so yet. Before we jump in to continue where we left off, a quick word about our sponsor.
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Are you ready for Part 2 of Getting Started With Facebook Ads: The List-Building Series? Let’s do it.
Amy: We are moving into our third section of our Getting Started with Facebook Ads and we are going to talk about the Power Editor. Once you have your strategy set up, it could be a very simple strategy but you want to think about your end game, once you have that set up then you are going to think about targeting and really spend some time on who you’re going to target before you ever get inside of the Power Editor.
Now it’s time to get into the Power Editor. Rick and I talked about the fact that if you’re just getting started with Facebook ads do you really need to go inside the Power Editor? You also have the opportunity for the Facebook Ads Manager.
The Facebook Ads Manager is simpler, for sure. But I wanted to encourage all of you to just start out with the Power Editor. Once you start out there and kind of get your sea legs and figure out how it works it is like riding a bike. You’ll get better at it and then it will just click for you.
I’d rather you just start out there versus having to transition into the Power Editor. It’s okay if you just transition into it but we thought that’s what we would do today.
Rick, can you first just explain to people the difference between the Ads Manager and the Power Editor?
Rick: Ads Manager is really kind of what it says, you manage you ads in there. Once your ads are running that’s where I go to look at all of the stats and metrics and see how my ads are doing. I set my ads up in Power Editor.
In Ads Manager there is a green “create ad” button so you can create your ads from within Ads Manager but it’s more of a one-at-a-time sort of thing. That’s the biggest thing I don’t like about it.
If you are creating multiple ads it’s going to be a lot faster in Power Editor. Power Editor is better for setting up large amounts of ads even if you’re just starting out. Get in there and learn Power Editor. If you’ve never been in the Power Editor it might be a little bit overwhelming at first but if you know the foundation of what you’re looking at and you know a Facebook ads campaign is set up into three different levels (campaign level, ad set level, and ads level) that is across the board whether you are using Power Editor or Ads Manager.
When you understands things like that and kind of understand the function of each, when you go into Power Editor and notice a tab that wasn’t there yesterday and Facebook made an update overnight you don’t freak out. You get what it is and know they moved it from one place to another and you just go with it.
It might take you a little bit of getting used to but you are good to go. When you understand the three different levels of your campaign (campaign level, ad set level, and the ad level) and what each function is then you are good to go.
There is a little bit of a learning curve with Power Editor but just like you said, it’s like riding a bike. It might be a little bit challenging at first but then you’re good to go.
Amy: Awesome. Where do we start with the Power Editor?
Rick: The reason we set up our strategy in the very beginning and know what our strategy is going to be that helps us figure out what type of ad and how we are going to set it up in Power Editor. When I say “how we are going to set it up” I know we don’t want to go down a big rabbit hole because we spent a whole episode or multiple episodes on this but you will need to track conversions.
If we are sending people to pick up our blueprint on the landing page we need to be able to track those conversions. We need to be using the Facebook pixel and placing the pixel, in the very least, on the thank-you page after they opt in so that we can set up that conversion and track that conversion of people who are actually clicking on our ad and opting in for our lead magnet or freebie.
The strategy helps us know where we need to track conversions. We will need to make sure the pixel is placed on the thank-you page and (keeping this very basic) we will need to set up our custom conversion.
The custom conversion is very, very high level and simplistically all I really need is the URL of that thank-you page and I need to make sure the pixel is on the thank-you page and then I can set up my custom conversion.
I kept mentioning the three different levels. We have the campaign level, the ad set level, and the ads level. In the campaign level all you are really doing at that point is naming what your ads campaign is, choosing an objective, and then choosing the auction type. It defaults to auction and we go with that all the time.
Really, at the campaign level you’re just saying, “This is the name of my campaign, this is the objective we’re using.”
For the objective you are choosing an objective that most aligns with the goal of your campaign. Again, we are going back to Step 1 and setting up our strategy. We have to understand what the goal of our campaign is. In this case the goal of our campaign is to get people on so that we can build our email list.
We are looking for conversions as our objective. In a nutshell, we’re telling Facebook to show our ad to as many people within our target audience who are most likely to convert (opt in) on our registration page. We’re choosing conversions. That’s the campaign level. That’s it.
At the ad set level that’s where you get into all kinds of different things. You are setting up the budget, the schedule of your ads, this is where you talk about the targeting and what you want to optimize for. This is really the meat of your ad campaign.
As I mentioned before, if we’re doing conversions as our objective, the first thing Facebook is going to ask us on the ad set level is what we want to optimize the campaign for. People have a lot of confusion around this.
Essentially, when your objective is conversions then Facebook understands we want conversions. If Facebook were talking they would say they get that we want conversions but which conversions do we want to optimize for?
They want to know what we want more of. What they are talking about here is if you have multiple conversions (again, this is more advanced) and you are tracking the original opt in and then you are tracking sales down the road Facebook needs to know which of those conversions you want the most of.
You want the most of the first one. If we’re getting people into our sales funnel with the opt-in page we want to tell Facebook we want the most of “this”. In our example here that we’re using we want the most opt ins.
There is a field there that you just click on and choose the conversion that you set up for the blueprint or the freebie. Does that make sense?
Amy: It does. It’s difficult and overwhelming when you’re just starting out. Plus, when you’re hearing it and not seeing it it’s hard. You’ve got to get in there and kind of work your way around. But yes, that makes sense.
Rick: We’re optimizing for the opt in that we created. We want people to go from our Facebook ad to our opt-in page and opt in for our freebie or lead magnet or whatever it is. We’re optimizing for that, whatever you called that conversion, that’s what you’re optimizing for.
Then you move into setting up your targeting and your dates and budget. Again, on the targeting part we are going to keep it very simple. For the detailed targeting we would put in one or maybe a few of those interests that you came up with when we were talking about putting your targeting together.
Then there is the optimization part. How deeply do you want to go into the optimization part? This is a little bit of a more advanced conversation. But there is a very simple answer for it too.
Amy: Okay, give me the simple answer. Although this episode is all about getting started I think it’s important to know these elements.
Rick: The simple answer, especially when your objective is conversions, I would suggest going with the default option that it gives you. You are optimizing for conversions.
The other thing I will mention there is that there will also be a little drop-down menu asking for the conversion window (to add a few more layers).
Amy: My goodness, what’s that about?
Rick: Again, I could explain it but it might get confusing. Or, I could just make the suggestion on which one to choose.
Amy: When I’m just starting out I like someone to suggest or tell me what to choose.
Rick: I would go with the one-day click.
Amy: One-day click.
Rick: You are telling Facebook when someone lands on your opt-in page they are going to make the decision to opt in within a day. They are not dropping down $5,000 right now. They are opting in for a freebie and they should be able to make that decision pretty quickly so I would do one-day click.
Amy: Back me up a little bit. There are three sections of the Power Editor. We are in what section?
Rick: We are in the Ad Set level.
Amy: We are in the Ad Set level and can you tell us once again some of the key decisions and suggestions you are making? Can you walk us through one more time?
Rick: I think the three key things we are looking at here are that you want to optimize for the opt-in conversion that you have set up. That is also a good point. You’ve got to make sure that the pixel and the conversion is set up prior to setting up your ad set.
Amy: We talk about the pixel in an entire episode. If you’re going to run Facebook ads you want to listen to that episode (Episode #163). It’s all about pixels.
Rick: That’s the first one. Then you set up the dates and the budget. That’s pretty straight forward. But then we get into targeting. We are talking about the detailed targeting section, the basics. You want to put in one or a few of your interests that you’re talking about and then looking at the audience size that changes as you put those interests in.
The third part is what we’re talking about here. Just go with the default option, “Optimize for conversions,” but change that conversion window to one-day click.
Amy: Perfect. When you’re in there at the Ad Set level you will see all of these options. It’s pretty easy to find them all.
Rick: Yes. And again, I want to caveat this for all of your listeners who are saying, “Rick, you can’t be giving a general ‘do this’.” We’re talking basic here. We aren’t talking about when you get into more advanced stuff and are using reporting to figure this stuff out. We are talking basics, get started, give me the suggestion on what to do. That’s what we’re talking about.
Amy: For sure. And once you get going then you can make new decisions based on your own experiences and experimentation.
Rick: Exactly. Then we move into the ad level. We have handled the campaign level and we’ve handled the ad set level. Then we move into the ad level. This is pretty much what it sounds like. This is where we set up our ad.
You have to make a decision based on, again going back to the strategy of what you are trying to achieve, what type of ad are you going to run?
When you’re just starting out the simplest way to do it is to just do a standard type of ad that you’ve seen a million times on Facebook. It is the one with an image and some ad copy. Then, when they click on your ad they go to your landing page.
You and I haven’t talked about this but I had an idea last night, if you want to keep it really simple, because people want to know what their image should be and how they should put it together. Of course we could use things like PicMonkey.com and Canva.com, which are free tools, and make it super simple to create Facebook ad images.
But, let’s just say you don’t want to do that. You just want the fastest way to do something to get your ad up. You could do a Facebook Live.
Amy: Ohhhh!
Rick: You and I didn’t talk about this.
Amy: No.
Rick: You could do a Facebook Live. We’re talking either hopping in front of your web cam on your computer, grabbing your phone and doing a Facebook Live, and then all you do is introduce yourself, you talk about who you are, maybe a little bit about your background and how you can help people, maybe how you’ve already helped people, and then you’re giving a little information about your lead magnet.
You are teasing your lead magnet and then you are giving a little bit away of what you talk about in the lead magnet. Then you’re talking about where people can download the lead magnet.
You are doing a video ad as a Facebook Live. If you’re on your Facebook page then you are getting some social proof on there. You have your fans and they are liking and commenting and so forth. Then you can turn that Facebook Live into a video ad very quickly.
Amy: That is really cool. Let me back up a little bit more because as we are recreating some of our ads for my webinar program, as I mentioned, one lesson I’ve learned is that when you are creating video ads something that’s working really well is that you do a video and you teach something, something of value.
You teach at tip, a trick, a strategy, or whatever it might be. Then you lead people to get the freebie if they want to dive in deeper with you or make it actionable. I have seen Facebook ads like this that are converting really well.
To piggyback on your idea of creating a Facebook Live that goes into a recording that can become an ad, how do you feel about them actually teaching something before they even talk about their freebie?
Rick: Absolutely! We have to remember too that it’s the first three to ten seconds of the video that’s most important. You’ve got to catch people’s attention. You’ve got to give them a reason to continue to watch the video.
Get right into it to hook their attention. I wouldn’t necessarily wait until the very end to mention your freebie.
Amy: Good point.
Rick: I would be sprinkling that throughout the video. Not everybody’s watching an entire video. If you sprinkle it throughout the video there are more options for people to get it.
I bring this whole Facebook Live video up because it’s the fastest way to get something up. Not only that, because you’re doing Facebook Live, Facebook loves that. Your video is going to get more reach when you do it on your page and you are more likely to get some social proof on that.
Facebook really likes it when you convert that Facebook Live video into a Facebook video. It is very simple to do. All you have to do is click “Use existing post” as the option at the Ads level. You would then choose from the dropdown that lists all of your posts on your page.
You will then see your Facebook Live right there. When you select it you have an ad.
Amy: That does make it really easy. I have a few quick questions. My first question is, let’s say you went live. You know how you can put some copy above the video before you go live. After that video is live and it goes into the recording are you still able to change the text around and then put it into a Facebook ad?
Rick: Yes. Before you turn it into an ad you can make edits to the copy. After you turn it into an ad you can’t make any edits to it.
Amy: This is important guys. I love this strategy and I feel like it is great for a beginner. You don’t have to deal with ad images. You don’t have to have a lot of ad copy. You just want to make sure you’re prepared for your Facebook Live so that it’s really powerful.
I would suggest that after you go live I would edit the copy above the video and you want to include (tell me if you disagree Rick) a link to your freebie.
Rick: Absolutely.
Amy: Great. Maybe you could talk about your freebie just a little bit. Tell them to watch the video to learn XYZ and tell them you are giving away a free PDF to make it even more actionable. Tell them they can get it “here” and include the URL so that you are including a call to action above the video to encourage them to watch but also to download your freebie.
Rick: Exactly. If we’re talking about speed for creating an ad then that’s going to be the fastest way for you.
Amy: Okay, cool.
Rick: Again, Facebook loves video.
Amy: Yeah, so they’re really going to reward you for doing it this way.
Rick: Exactly. Of course, you don’t have to do that if people are grumbling as they are listening and don’t want to do a video. Well then yes, you can create a simple image and you can use tools like Canva.com or PicMonkey.com to create those images and then write some ad copy.
People often overthink the ad copy as well. Think about not getting all corporate with the ad copy speak. Think about like sitting down to coffee with your target audience. What would that conversation be like? How would you be telling them about whatever you are offering?
You want to be conversational because you have to remember what type of platform Facebook is. It’s a social platform. People are on there to share with their friends and family so we want to make sure your ad copy is written as such. It needs to be conversational.
You are using the ad copy to speak directly to your target audience and then you want to share the benefits of whatever you’re offering and give them a reason to click on your ad to go to your landing page.
Amy: Yes, so smart.
Rick: The last part of the Ads section at the bottom is just to make sure your pixel is selected. It usually defaults to the pixel and you should be good. But just make sure that when you see that you know what you’re looking at.
It is tracking all conversions using “this” pixel. It usually defaults to your pixel so you should be good but just make sure it is checked. You will see it there. It’s very straightforward in the Ads section.
Amy: Once they get to the bottom of the Ad section they are going to go ahead and save it and push it to Facebook for approval. I can’t remember what the button says.
Rick: I can’t think of that off the top of my head either. Amy: But it’s in the upper right corner so you’ll find it. Rick: It’s like a big green button.
Amy: Yes. So once you do that, on average, how long does it take for your ad to get approved and go live?
Rick: It should be just a matter of a few minutes. It should be. I have seen it take a few hours though. If you’re going on longer than 24 hours there is probably a hiccup there with Facebook. In that case I would resubmit it again.
I get that question a lot. People tell me it’s been 48 hours since they’ve submitted and it is probably that something happened with the system. That’s a bug. I would resubmit it.
Amy: What does it mean to resubmit it?
Rick: I would go back in there and at that point I would probably duplicate the campaign and click the green button again to upload it for Facebook to review.
Amy: Got it. Perfect.
Rick: When you do that, because we’re doing this in Power Editor, whenever I submit it for approval I always go over to Ads Manager and refresh Ads Manager just to make sure it populates in Ads Manager.
Amy: Okay. So you can kind of toggle between the two in order to make sure it populated.
Rick: Yeah. I always like to have two tabs open in my browser. Well, two among my 60.
Amy: You have a million. Just be honest. One time I saw his desktop and I’m like, what are all of those tabs? I’m having a heart attack.
Rick: Amy’s head started shaking with anxiety from all of the tabs. Yes, I just like to have Power Editor open in one tab and Ads Manager open in another.
Amy: Gotcha. And then Netflix open in the third?
Rick: Exactly.
Amy: Let’s be honest.
Rick: Yes.
Amy: This is great. We went through the Power Editor. They are going to submit. Hopefully it will go live. If you are ready for those ads to run, meaning if you want them to start immediately, if you set it up that way they will start immediately.
I think this is a good transition into our final section which we are going to talk about, metrics. Once that ad starts running you want to check it regularly. What does regularly mean?
Rick: This is the hardest thing for people to do, including myself. If your ad starts at 6 a.m. I recommend that when you get up you check in on it to make sure it’s active. Then make sure it’s starting to deliver a little bit.
Then the hardest part comes next. You have to leave it alone.
Amy: Yes. It’s like playing the stock market.
Rick: It is. It’s really hard but you’ve got to just let it ride. You’ve got to let it go. You’ve got to give Facebook’s algorithm time to get your ad into the flow of delivery and so forth. That’s going to be at least three days. We’re talking 72 hours.
The biggest mistake I see people make is to make a decision too quickly. The ad starts at 6 a.m. and by 1 o’clock in the afternoon they are looking at it and thinking it’s not doing anything so they shut it down.
That’s too quick. You’ve got to give the algorithm time to do its thing and get your ad into the delivery flow. We’re talking 72 hours at that point.
Amy: Gotcha.
Rick: Once we get to that 72-hour point then we are looking at the metrics. If we make any changes at that point, let’s say we’re happy with our ad. We are $10 a day for our ad set and we’re pretty happy with it. If we want to increase the budget the biggest mistake that people make is to crank up the budget because they are all excited about it.
If you go up to $30 a day that’s not good.
Amy: Why?
Rick: The easiest way to say it, and I’m using air quotes as I say this…
Amy: You always love air quotes.
Rick: I love the air quotes. It confuses the algorithm. You’re flooding the algorithm with too much data too quickly. Everything we do on Facebook is based on this algorithm. The easiest way to think about it is sort of like the man behind the curtain that’s running behind the scenes of Facebook and running all the ads.
When you are happy with the results, when you started the ad the algorithm is setting up to deliver and get you success based on how you set it up from the beginning. Any kind of change that you make to it, drastic changes, confuses the algorithm.
One of those changes, again, the mistake that people make is to make too big of a jump on that budget. Instead, I wouldn’t go more than 30% per day or 25%ish on the increase.
For example, if I’m at $10 a day and after three days I’m pretty happy and want to increase the budget then you are only going up to about $12.50 a day or $13 a day. You are only doing that little incremental increase.
Once you make the change you are waiting again for the algorithm to take in the new changes and, again, it’s a waiting game. It is a longer term thing here we’re talking about because we’ve got to give the algorithm time to do its thing.
Should we talk about some of the metrics that we should be looking at?
Amy: Let’s do it, definitely – and where to find these metrics.
Rick: At this point our ad is running. Now I’m looking in Ads Manager. I’m not looking at it in Power Editor, I’m looking at it in Ads Manager to look at my stats. There is a little performance drop down on the right-hand side of your Ads Manager.
I like to go in there and select “customize columns” so that I can select the stats that I want to be looking at for my ads. One of the biggest mistakes people make, especially when they are running conversion ads (when you want people to opt in and download something) they are looking old-school online advertising metrics like CPM and CPC. People know those numbers and those are the first numbers that people look at.
I don’t recommend that at all unless your objective is traffic and you are just trying to drive traffic, then CPC is important. I’m not saying CPC is not important. It’s just not your primary metric when conversions is your objective.
In that case I want to know what my cost per lead is right off the bat. That’s the first thing I’m looking at. What is my cost per lead? Then I can start to look at other stats like my conversion rate on my landing page.
The cool thing, if you’re using LeadPages, is that it will tell you what that number is. I like to look at a conversion rate of at least 20%. If it’s below 20% the first thing I would look at to troubleshoot is the consistency between the ad that we’re running and the landing page that we are sending people to.
If you did that Facebook Live video maybe there’s a screenshot of that video on the landing page with you on the video.
Amy: Oh, that’s a good idea.
Rick: You want to make sure you’re using the same copy you’re using on the ad on your landing page so that there’s consistency between the two. The worst thing ever is for someone to click on an ad and land on a landing page then see completely different text and color scheme.
They wonder how they landed “here” and want to know what it is. You will lose people quickly. So that’s what I would look at on a very high level. That’s what I would look at if my conversion rate is below 20%.
Again, just to recap, for a conversion campaign I am looking at my cost per conversion and then I’m going to look at how much traffic is actually going to the landing page and actually converting. That’s the conversion rate.
At the same time, I really want to be looking at the click-through rate on the ad. I like to say at least 1% on your click-through rate. If you are in the 0.3% range your ad is not resonating with the audience you’re targeting.
I am then looking at other scores like the relevant score. I think we have talked about that on your podcast before.
Amy: We have, yep.
Rick: That scale of 1-10, the closer you are to 10 the better and also the higher the relevant score the lower your costs are going to be. Basically, all a relevant score (for simplicity sake) is how relevant is your ad to the target audience you are targeting?
I don’t really want to get into what to do if you have a low relevant score because there are a bunch of different things. There is no one answer for that. Essentially, if you do have a low relevant score Facebook is telling you that your ad is not relevant to the target audience that you’re showing it to. It could be your ad or it could be the target audience you’re targeting there.
Amy: So you want to experiment around that. We won’t get into all of the details about how to do so but it’s something to be aware of.
Rick: Exactly. I also want to be looking at the frequency. I like to say if you are four and above you are getting into the range where people are seeing your ad too many times and then they are getting into the whole what I call banner blindness. They aren’t going to look at your ad anymore. They are seeing it too many times.
In that case you want to change things up. Create a new ad. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to change the target audience but I would change the type of ad you’re showing to that specific target audience.
I call this the troubleshooting metrics, they are some of the high-level metrics I am looking at. Then you can look at your cost per click at that point. Again, if our objective is conversions then knowing what my cost per click is, for me personally, is a little bit further down the list of the things I’m looking at to make that determination.
Just to kind of recap, I’m looking at my cost per lead and we didn’t mention…
Amy: I know, that’s a whole ball of wax so let’s do that.
Rick: The inevitable question is: What is a good cost per lead?
Amy: We have to talk about it. Rick and I laugh because this is a very tough question. But I want to let you all know that the show notes will list those troubleshooting metrics and the actual numbers that Rick is suggesting. You can go to the show notes at http:// amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/172 and you can see a list of what he just went through.
Let’s address it Rick, we’ve got to. What is a good cost per lead?
Rick: The first thing I want to say is to be careful what you believe out there. People throw costs per lead out very quickly, bragging. They say they are getting $1 leads.
Amy: It’s kind of the favorite thing our peers love to brag about. We’ve been guilty of it too but we like to throw these numbers around.
Rick: It’s just looking at it in context and looking at it in the overall relevance of what they’re talking about. We’re not saying people aren’t getting 50 cent leads but maybe it’s one ad set in the warmest audience possible.
With that said, it’s very possible to be doing 50 cent leads on cold traffic. It is. I just say that because it really frustrates me when someone is getting $5 cost per lead and they are doing extremely well on their ads.
I have these conversations all the time. They are super bummed out about it because they keep hearing it’s not a $2 lead or a $1.50 lead. Yet they are getting $5 leads and it’s converting really well. Just kind of keep that in mind.
Amy: Sorry to cut you off but I’ve got to mention where this conversation gets a little tough. If we were talking about running Facebook ads to a webinar to sell an online training program it’s easier for you to decide how much money you want to spend on your leads to get them onto a webinar because you can estimate how much money you think you are going to make from that webinar promo.
You can kind of work backwards just as Rick started this whole conversation. I’m going to make $20,000 on my webinar promo so I can work backwards and decide how much I want to pay for each person that signs up for my webinar.
When you’re just list building with Facebook ads and not ready to sell it gets a little bit confusing and you are guessing here.
Rick: Exactly. Again we’re talking in very big generalities, for most people who are listening right now I would be shooting for $9 and under on a lead for cost per lead. Some people might feel like $9 is really, really bad. Look, the reality of Facebook right now is that we keep hearing on the news that the advertising inventory on Facebook has become a lot more competitive and they are “running out of space”.
Everyone ask if costs are really rising. They have seen the cost of ads rise over the past several months. Yes, it is getting a little bit more expensive on Facebook. However, it is still far and away the best platform to be advertising on. Even with the cost increasing a little bit, it’s still the most cost effective platform.
Don’t let that scare you. But this whole getting $1 and $2 cost per lead (it is very possible and I know a lot of people who do it on a regular basis to cold traffic), if you’re going in with that expectation when you’re just starting out be careful of that.
That’s why I’m saying if you’re $9 or under then you’re doing pretty well. This is a bigger picture here about getting a $2 lead and a $9 lead but in the end maybe the $9 lead is actually better. Maybe that person turned into a paying customer.
We’re getting more advanced here though. We are trying to keep it as simple as possible. But really keep in mind that making a general statement about a cost per lead varies so much because it varies from niche to niche.
Someone in one particular industry might kill for a $9 lead and they are getting $30 leads. Maybe that’s good for them. But on the flip side they would never want a $9 lead. It varies and depends on what industry you’re in. But in general that’s what I would be looking at.
Amy: I’m glad we addressed it. Where do we go from here? We talked about the troubleshooting metrics and I’m going to give you extra detail in the show notes so you know where to find it. You have a list of those. But what else do they need to know in terms of metrics when they’re just getting started?
Rick: We talked about what metrics to be looking at to make the decisions on what to do with the ads. Let’s just say our ad is running for three or four days. Cool. We’re going to go in and look at the metrics we just looked at.
If you’re pretty happy with the metrics then you start to scale from there. Make sure it’s an incremental scale. If you’re not getting very good results, you are trying to use the data (the metrics we just looked at) to figure out what your next step is.
Let’s just say you’re getting a 2% click-through rate and people are clicking on your ad. Let’s say your relevance score is seven and you think it’s cool that people are clicking on your ad. But let’s say your cost per lead is higher than you think it should be.
That would tell you that there’s probably a disconnect on the landing page when they get there. People are clicking on your ad and your relevance score is good. Everything is good but when they get to your landing page they are actually not converting and opting in.
This is an art, I’ll be honest with you. It takes a while to kind of get used to this. You are seeing a stat so it might mean “this” and you might need to look over “here.” If you have a low click- through rate, as I mentioned before, let’s say you’re at 0.5% click-through rate and you have a relevance score of three your ad is probably not resonating with that target audience that you’ve chosen to test out.
You want to make a decision. If you feel pretty good about the target audience and feel they are your people then it’s probably the offer or how you are communicating the offer to those people to get them to click.
You are really using the data to make those decisions. You might be saying, “Alright Rick, my ad’s doing pretty well. I’ve bumped it up to $12.50 or $13 a day from $10 but I want to start to get some more going and scale some more but I’ve already scaled up that one ad set by 25 to 30%. What do I do now?”
You now have the list you are compiling of target audiences. Now let’s create a new ad set with one to a few interest targets in there. Again, we are going back to what we were talking about before and you are now starting off with whatever budget you would like to start with at that point.
This is where you start to snowball your efforts because we’re starting off small and low budget. As we start to scale we see it’s working pretty well and are feeling good about it. We have more budget that we want to put into it. At that point you can then start creating more ad sets.
Amy: Nice. I like how you went through that. It makes perfect sense.
Rick: Cool. Thank you.
Amy: Did we make it to the end?
Rick: I think we did.
Amy: Oh my goodness.
Rick: I mean look, we can talk about all different types of things here with different scenarios and stuff like that but from start to finish as far as keeping it as basic as possible we nailed it.
Amy: I love that you are so sure of yourself.
Rick: I feel good about it. I know you might have people saying I missed “this” part and I missed “this” part. Maybe we did miss a few little things along the way but starting from our strategy going through our targeting and talking about setting things up in the most basic way possible and then looking at the metrics.
Out of all of this stuff I would say the part that most people have the hardest time with, again as I mentioned it is an art, your ad is running but maybe you’re not getting the results you’re hoping for so what do you do?
Hopefully that conversation as far as using the metrics to help you figure out what next step you should make was helpful.
Amy: Awesome. We made a commitment to pump up the show notes for this episode just so you could see some examples of what Rick’s talking about and have a lot of the data at your fingertips as you’re listening. You definitely want to go the http:// amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/172 and check out all the notes we’ve included to enhance this episode.
Rick, I cannot thank you enough. This two-part series of getting started with Facebook ads, the list-building series, has been so amazing. Thank you for being here.
Rick: This has been so much fun. We could go on for a six-part series.
Amy: I know, we really could. And here’s the greatest part. I’m glad you said that. We have gone on and one. We’ve done so many podcast episodes around Facebook ads and I’m going to link to some of the most relevant ones that will help you if you are just getting started.
Don’t stop here. Make sure to go to the show notes and check out some of the episodes that Rick and I have chosen for you to kind of continue your education. Become a student of Facebook ads and you will definitely find the strategy in your business that helps your list continue to grow and helps you to promote your programs, products, and services in the fastest, most efficient way possible.
We cannot talk enough about Facebook ads. We feel it’s a must for your business and it’s something we use every single day in ours. Again, thanks, Rick for being here. I can’t wait for you to come back.
You can check out Rick at http://rickmulready.com. He has an amazing podcast on his own called The Art of Paid Traffic. It is definitely worth checking out. I talk about Rick’s podcast all the time.
Rick: Thank you.
Amy: Make sure you go check out everything Rick Mulready.
We have finally reached the end of our two-part getting started with Facebook ads series and a big thank-you to Rick Mulready for all of his help in making it happen and bringing in the tips and tricks and process so that you can take the knowledge you have now around getting started with Facebook ads and putting it into action.
That actually leads me to next week’s episode. No matter how much knowledge you have around a certain topic that doesn’t mean you know how to take action and it doesn’t mean you have really good habits to getting the work done.
That’s why I invited Carrie of Life Hack Boot Camp in order to help us understand what it takes to create really consistent habits in our business and in our life and what it takes to get the kind of accountability you need to get the work done.
Next week’s episode is all about accountability and I think Carrie is going to blow your mind with some of the details, tips, and tricks she has in order for you to help take all of the knowledge that you have and turn it into daily habits to actually get the work done that mean the most to your business.
I’ll give you a hint, we talk about champagne moments and how to create those bottle- popping champagne moments of celebration when you get the big stuff done in your business. I think you’re going to love the entire process that Carrie lays out in next week’s episode and I hope to see you there.
Before we sign off, a final word about our sponsor.
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To get your 30-day unrestricted free trial go to www.freshbooks.com/amy and in that section where it asks, “Where did you hear about us,” type in Online Marketing Made Easy. I can’t wait for you to give Freshbooks a try.
Okay guys, I can’t wait to see you again next week where we’re diving in to getting the work done and chatting about accountability. Bye for now.
