I used to think Facebook ads were a joke, a huge waste of money.
I thought this for two reasons:
First, a small business I once worked for used them in the early days, before they were refined. We paid lots of money for tens of thousands of likes.
What did that get us?
Well, the tens of thousands of likes, mostly from bots presumably, may have encouraged others to like our Facebook page. Maybe.
And, eventually, the Facebook page became a great source of positive reviews for the company.
But little of that can be attributed the ad spend.
The other reason I thought Facebook ads were junk is because I always told myself “I’ve never told bought anything on Facebook”.
So, to deal with the second objection first:
It’s true I’ve never bought anything through Facebook. I never have.
But I’ve become aware of many things through Facebook which I later purchased, notably concert tickets and beer. (Particularly during the pandemic I have bought beer that I learned about through Facebook.)
Though I have never intentionally clicked on a Facebook ad – except to charge someone I didn’t like some money – I have indeed joined the buyer funnel for certain products due to Facebook ads.
And I’m likely not the main target of Facebook ads, as I don’t buy a lot of stuff over the internet. (Except for, you know, beer and concert tickets. And books. And music. And, um, probably some other stuff…)
But to address the first objection:
I have been hearing for years that Facebook ads can target people better than other PPC ads. And I’ve known that was true but just ignored it.
But now I am taking a course on Facebook ads through CXL and I am coming to learn just how damn precise the targeting.
Moreover, the reasons why I thought companies used Facebook ads -for likes and shares and purchases – turn out to not be good reasons for using Facebook ads.
What’s most impressive to me about Facebook ads is the ability to deliver exactly the right content to a person at a very specific spot on the buyer journey.
This is a huge advantage, one I’ve never thought of because I’m just not really a PPC guy. But also because of my poor initial experience with the ads back when they weren’t very good.
(There are, of course, serious privacy concerns with Facebook ads. I am aware of them and all I can say is that I don’t own a smart phone so I’m less worried than you should be.)
So I’m going to be spending a lot more time talking to my clients about Facebook ads. In the past I said “Don’t bother.”
Now I know better.
And knowing is half the battle. (Please don’t sue me, Hasbro.)