If you’re reading this then chances are, you have an e-commerce business and are looking to scale and sell using Facebook Ads. With more than 2.6 billion people using Facebook every month, and nearly 1.7 billion users every day, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that they work. And if you have a product to sell, one of the best Ad types to use are called conversion Ads.
While product-based businesses can also use other Ad types (i.e. brand awareness, engagement and lead generation) for the next few minutes I want to help you to understand what conversion Ads are, and how they can help people to not only see your products, but also, buy them.
First off, let me explain just a tiny bit of jargon!
A conversion Ad is simply an Ad type where you tell Facebook that you want to show this Ad to people who are most likely to take the action (conversion) you ask. So, if you set up the conversion as ‘purchase’ the clever AI of the metaverse will find people who often buy products similar to yours, while on Facebook or Instagram. For some campaigns you may want to have ‘page view’ as your conversion, or perhaps ‘add to cart’ - it will depend on the objective of the campaign, and where it is in your sales funnel.
Another piece of information you may find helpful.
While Ads are set up within the Facebook Ad manger platform, they can also be seen on Instagram. You can choose to only show them to people on a certain platform, but both Instagram and Facebook Ads are both set up within the same platform - the metaverse strikes again!
One common mistake businesses make when using Facebook/Instagram advertising:
They fail to integrate them into their overall marketing strategy.
While a well run campaign on Facebook could get you sales, you also need to consider the lifetime value of your customers. A successful Ad campaign will not only get sales but should be supported by other marketing activities. The purchase stage of the customer journey is the final step - if you have other campaigns running alongside conversion Ads, your Ad strategy will be more successful.
Let’s put this into context….
It’s September and a business which sells high end soaps and bath products is beginning to set up their sales campaigns in the run up to Christmas. Conversion Ads will be a great choice for them, but what else should they be doing to maximise these Ads?
Utilise email marketing to reach existing customers (selling to people who already buy from them is the most obvious choice).
Widen their audience with a brand awareness campaign, this could be run as a paid campaign within Facebook, or could also involve collaborating with influencers, as well as building engagement with their organic social content.
Consider the top of their sales funnel - who are they not reaching yet? How can they connect with new people? Where are these new people (in the online space), what platforms do they use and what content works best for them? (i.e. do they respond best to video or carousel posts?).
A business that considers these above points, will then be able to go into running a conversion campaign for sales with a much higher chance of being successful.
So, they have worked hard to connect and engage with their existing audience, as well as work to reach new people and grow their social following, now comes the point to launch some conversion Ads and get the Christmas sales rolling in!
Firstly -> Define your audience
You should consider:
● Their age, demographics.
● Their interests (you may ask Facebook to build an interest-based audience using people who like certain pages - Facebook is pretty clever these days and the more information you give it the better your targeting will be!)
● What type of content they usually respond to.
● Your existing email list which you can use to target with Ads or to use as a foundation to create Lookalike audiences (basically Facebook will find people similar to the ones in your email list).
Secondly -> You need to get creative!
● Working with an Ad strategist will help you to use the best images or video content for each platform, they will be able to tell you current trends, costs and methods which work on the Ad platform itself (people are busy and see thousands of videos and photos each day online, what will stop their scroll?)
● Test different versions of your Ad copy, the message you want to get across is not the only important aspect to consider here, the tone of voice is super important as well as communicating WHY your product is better than your competitors’ and what needs / problems / pain points it solves.
Thirdly -> Be realistic
● Facebook Ads are incredibly effective, and businesses can see a great return on investment, but you need to consider your website average conversion rate. If it is only around 3% (meaning only 3% of people who visit your website actually buy), you need to expect the same level of results from your social Ads. If your landing page isn’t converting without Ads, it probably won’t with them either. A clickable Ad serves to get people to do just that, click through with the intention of ‘converting’ (and buying), but your website/product photography/checkout experience/etc. has to do the rest.
● Time is key and testing is essential. There are so many variables to consider when it comes to running a successful Ad campaign so allowing time (and budget) to test different elements of the campaign is critical.
Using conversion Ads for your e-commerce business is a valuable marketing tool, and many businesses see a rewarding return on their investment, both generating revenue and improving the strength of their brand online as well.
Don’t forget, while conversion Ads should generate sales, they will also serve as brand awareness too - someone is always watching…!