Believe it or not, Facebook Ads and marketing in general on Facebook works.
I know what you're thinking, who really uses Facebook!
The answer: over 2.89 BILLION people use Facebook every month.
On top of that, business owners all over are benefiting as well; Facebook is on track to make over $60 billion in revenue this year from advertising.
So even though Facebook isn't the sexy new app to use like TikTok - it works. Clearly people are using Facebook and clicking on ads, so as an entrepreneur, you should be using it to your advantage.
If you are new to Facebook Ads, we caught up with Aleah Rae of Rae of Light Digital (ROL Digital) to help you out. Aleah is a Facebook Ads Coach that works with founders every day on their Facebook Ads strategy.
Before launching ROL Digital, Aleah was a pro-MUA turned beauty entrepreneur. Rae got her start in the beauty industry behind the counters of brands like Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, YSL and NARS to name a few. A few years later while working at Nordstrom, she started her own indie beauty called LIPP Beauty. Even though she had customers, she struggled with making consistent sales. While trying to figure out how to improve her business and make more sales, she learned about Facebook and Instagram ads, and was inspired to teach beauty founders everything she was learning. From there, Rae of Light Digital was birthed, and since then, she's helped beauty bosses all over create effective Facebook Ads.
Keep reading for Aleah's tips.
Biggest misconception around using Facebook ads
One of the biggest misconceptions is that Facebook ads are complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. People often feel like they need to hire someone to run their ads for them because they just "can't handle another thing" to do in their business --- and that they have to be able to spend hundreds of dollars a month on their ads to get results, but none of that is true.
Why should Facebook ads be included in your marketing strategy
Facebook ads (and let's be clear, when I say FB ads, I also mean ads that appear on Instagram --- both FB and IG ads are set up and managed via a program called "FB Ads Manager") are by far the most cost-effective way to:
1) GET your products in front of a target audience for the first time that doesn't know anything about you or your brand and
2) KEEP your products in front of the people currently in your orbit (those on your email list, those that have been to your website, those that follow you on social) because those are the people that are most likely to BUY from you.
Beginners using Facebook ads
My number tip is to get ya mind right before you run a single ad. Most of the frustration from ads when you first start running them comes from the fact that you expect IMMEDIATE results. People want to run an ad for 2 days and get sales, but it does NOT work like that.
Facebook Ads are a long game strategy --- but if you are intending to be in your business for the long haul, then you've definitely got the time to play that game.
Ads take consistency to be effective, and if you are not willing to be consistent and stay the course (3-4 months to sell a really big boost of sales), then don't start.
Producing effective Facebook ads
#1: Know the "temperature" of your audience. Oftentimes, ads don't work, not because the ad itself isn't strong, but because you showed the wrong ad to the wrong audience. You must be aware of the "temperature" of your audience (aka where they are in their buying journey) before choosing your ad campaign.
#2: Take note of the types of ads that big brands are using on YOU. Save all the ads that stopped YOU from scrolling through your IG feed, and model your ads and ad copy off of them. There's no need to guess what will work - big brands have the budgets to test things, so learn from them.
Split testing and defining your Facebook ad target audience
Don't make any determinations about your results until at least 3 days AFTER your ads campaign has been approved - it takes a full 72 hours for the algorithm to really work and give you a true read on how your ads campaigns are doing. Also, spend only $5-10 a day no more than 5 days testing a particular variable. After that time, you'll know what worked and what didn't. Move on and try something else.
Facebook Pixels
The FB Pixel (you will only use one pixel in your business --- and it will be unique to your brand) is a tool that allows you to be able to track the types of actions people take on your website. It's great because as long as someone doesn't have any strict privacy controls enabled, the pixel allows you to tag them virtually and create an audience in FB to retarget with ads.
Common mistakes found in most Facebook ads
Trying to control your ads too much is a common mistake I've seen. Facebook has a powerful algorithm that helps to optimize the results and effectiveness of your ads. When you start dictating a lot about how, and when, and where your ad is going to run, FB's algorithm can't work its magic and you end up with higher ad costs and a poorer ROI that you'd hoped.
