Creating Effective Facebook Ads
Hi, Everyone...
So I have been playing with Facebook Ads for one of our stores and think I have finally hit the 'Mother Lode' (until the next one)...
We are getting ready for a marketing campaign for the store and throwing a sale for two categories of product and additionally one specific product. I came across a guy on Facebook who has been having tremendous success with his ads...
He was offering a free download of 5 of his best performing ads, and later I was able to get 6 more...
Our Experience...
I use a couple of graphics editing tools, one paid and one free (GIMP), and these allowed me to edit the ads and add what we needed for our sale. It did take some time, but at the end of the effort, I thought they looked good.
To test the market, I posted them with build-up text saying that the sale was coming within the next couple of days. I also negotiated a special shipping rate for the sale which I pointed out...
Imagine how surprised I was when after 30 hours, the generic posts had reached over 1100 people - with no money, no special targeted audience, etc. These ads are going to kick butt it looks like!
Our Sanitized Ads...
Just to give you a feel for the ad, I have added marked up versions for you to have a look at:
Here is the first ad...
Here is the second ad...
and...Here is the third ad...
The Lesson:
It is how you design your ads as much as what you are selling when using them for paid traffic. As stated, these templates were proven winners for the person I got them from, and he realized over $500k USD in sales from them (I saw the proof)!
Simple is good. No chance for losing focus with too much copy, large images are great, and a strong call to action are components...
This ad template below is a start...Basically it is a bar with room for text on the bottom, the image above and that is it...Hard to see the border, but above the bar it is simply white space where you place a good large image of whatever you are selling...
Another Basic Template He Uses...
Our Templates
The template I used was slightly different...For two, the image was on the left 2/3, and the copy was on the right...The third split the available space 50/50...I did not use the one with the bar at the bottom...As you see from the edited ads above...
The images were all great shots of the sale item(s)...Big enough so people could get an idea of what to expect...
In that right text/copy portion, I added the company logo (top) and red arrows at the bottom, and the simple text between the two...
One last thing I added was a small bright circle (in a highly contrasting color so it would catch the eye of the viewer between the right and left portions of the ad to highlight the discount percentage for the sale...
That is it...Simple...Powerful...
Remember:
Over 1000 hits of shares, views and likes - no money, generic traffic from one social platform (we will be posting (free) also on Twitter, Blogger dot Com, and Instagram over the sale period)....
Implications For This Upcoming Ad Campaign
We are pretty confident that we will do well, based on the results with NO money, but we are testing A, B and C versions of the ads each with slightly different format to see which of the three does better...
The plan is to start with $5 a day for each ad, and after 2 days up the best performing one to $15 to $20 a day...Then again if we are happy with the results...This is all small stuff compared to the stories I read about in e-Commerce Facebook groups, but is a start...
We are also using on site tracking (the ad sends them directly to the category page of the store or to the product, as the case may be) and our Facebook Pixel to see from start to finish how each performs, and adjust, and increase our spend...
I will keep you informed. Quite excited to see how this one turns out!
UPDATE AS OF 29 JUNE 13:15 PM DUBAI TIME
After we started our campaign, Facebook came back and said there was too much text (I think they were counting our logo text) for the T-Shirt and the Beer Mug Set so although the shot glass ad was getting an OK 4% CTR, I went on ahead and changed the looks of all three ads...
Here are the amended ads all now awaiting approval by Facebook:
The changes included a larger image, removal of 'click here' over the image (there is a nice 'shop now' button FB adds), The background color changed for the 30% and the special shipping rates, and finally the logo, some text, and arrows were removed...
Much cleaner?
Here is the second with changes:
Here the changes were text removed over the image. logo, arrows and some text removed, and the background color changed to closer match the main color of the walking talking beer mugs...Oh yes, I also changed the color of the 30% Off and special shipping rates to closer match the tongue color of the one beer mug...
Also much cleaner?
Lastly, the one that performed the best from the three:
On this one, fewer changes...I simply made the image bigger to use up the available space, removed the logo, the arrows, and some text...
Let's see what Facebook thinks and how these edited versions do (we did have a good view and CTR, but FB suggested that there was too much text)...
We have a Call To Action button added by FB, which takes the viewers directly to the sales pages, and the logo is in our heading that all will see anyway, so I have to say I am in agreement with the changes...
Keep you posted on how it goes....
Stay Tuned!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Recent Comments
43
Exciting stuff Dave, and very valuable to me as well since we are now starting our online e-commerce store. Bookmarking and will be in touch.
Thanks D. We're gonna try what we have learned first and see how things go. If we don't see results, I'll definitely contact you.
Nice share of your experience! Where did you get these templates from? Would be nice to know for us to try such low cost trials of ads of our own!
Jeff
I ran across a young man who has spent over 150k on FB ads and the templates were the best performing ads from all he tried...After so much experience he really has the PPC for FB down pat...His name (what he goes ny is 'e-Com Dude' lol....Nice young man and smart as all get out! Cheers! Dave : )
Nice one Dave. Mind to share the Guru that you've taken the templates from?
Also, the objective type that you use is website conversion?
All the best buddy! Keep us posted on your result . and maybe you can do a training on fb ads too =)
A young guy who calls himself e-Com Dude hehe...He turned up on my timeline and it looked interesting, so I clicked!
Yes website conversion is the objective we are after, and we are using audiences from prior ads and some new demographics to further refine the ad recipients...
Sure will keep you posted!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Hi Dave,
Glad to know your template is working.I am however unable to see any template example and just see a red bar.
All the best to you !
Yes the example I used is just a template...I thought if I posted my ad it might be considered advertising my business which is a no no....I could do some mark up and add it, maybe I will do just that! Cheers! Dave : )
PS: Did the mark out for the brand and added the edited ads now.... : )
Interesting test. Looking forward to see the results. Hoping also that it will pay off by earning you new sales / customers.
Steven
Yes we are in the phase where we want to ramp up sales and hoping that Facebook will do just that! Thanks M8! Dave : )
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Would you say you can get roughly the same things done with GIMP as with Photoshop?
Although not knowing all the capabilities that Photoshop has (I have used, but not extensively) I would say that GIMP suffices for my needs and is free...Both require a learning curve....
This is why I use a second paid tool that works wonderfully for me - it is integrated with many other tools, is easy to use, is cloud based, and I can automatically export the images....
Also the paid tool sizes images automatically for all the social platforms for ads, headers, business cards, etc. I also have a large library of graphics to mix in....
Cheers!
Dave : )
What is your second paid tool?
It is called You Zign (add the two words together and go do a Google search...Lots of reviews, and this has been a tool I use at least weekly often daily...Cheers! Dave : )
Cool, thanks!