Have you ever advertised on Facebook with so much excitement about the kind of results you were expecting?
You thought deeply about every possible thing your prospect could ever be interested in, the people they follow, their occupation and job type, age bracket, songs they listen to, food they eat and every other thing you can use to find them.
Then used all these to create different detailed targeting options that you put inside a dozen or more ad sets…
You launched with so much excitement…and waited in anticipation of so many orders…only for your ad to not convert well.
All you hear is crickets…
“Are these people cray?”, you thought. “Do they know the importance of this thing I’m giving them?”
You go back to the advert and you get a lot of “I’m interested” comments. Nothing more.
But you remain hopeful…and decided to leave the campaign for two more days, perhaps the Facebook algorithm would’ve stopped being silly and bring you your dream customers.
The third day comes and the story is still the same.
This time you’d gotten a few lucky purchases, but the profits you’ve gotten so far can’t even be enough to pay for your ads the next day.
So you decided to kill the ad.
Targeting roller coaster…
The first thing you say: “my targeting is bad.”
Then you start the targeting cycle all over again: new interests, new demographics, etc.
And then you launch the second time…
Same results: not enough sales to make any profits.
Third time, fourth time…then you gave up on the entire campaign.
You sought for help…and the first Facebook advertising expert you found said what you have is a targeting problem; you’re not targeting the right people.
You believed it was true, just because it’s the same thing you’ve been telling yourself.
So, you decided to buy his course on “ninja targeting tactics to find people who’ll beg to pay for your product”. Or “how to find deeper targeting options not available to the general public”.
A fresh wave of excitement comes over you. You’re hopeful again.
You consumed the entire course and then used your extra knowledge to launch another campaign.
And this time around, things seemed better; you were able to break even on your ads and perhaps even made little profits the next day.
But a few days later, things went back to how they were before: you started losing money on your ads.
And then you had to pause again…and find newer solutions.
And then the cycle begins again…
Targeting? No problem!
What you don’t know is: the problem isn’t your targeting. It’s not because you suck at finding the right people to purchase your stuff.
It’s also not because Facebook advertising doesn’t work for your type of product/service/industry.
The real problem is that you’re not putting out the right message that’ll attract the right people to you.
Copy? Ermmm…
Yes, the likely problem is your ad copy…
But hey, chill out and listen to me…it’s not about writing powerful copy with all the persuasion tactics or principles that exist. It’s deeper than that: you’re simply not speaking to them with words that will let them self-identify themselves and desire your product/service.
Look at it this way: imagine you go to a couple’s conference and during break, you take the mic and say: “come to the back of the stage to get my secret formula for planning a great wedding on a budget.”
How many people do you think you’d meet at the back of the stage?
That’s an extreme example, but it shows a great disconnect between your message and the audience. It’s not what they want or need; they’re already married. (Perhaps you’ll get one person…maybe her sister is getting married soon.)
Disconnection problem!
It’s the same with advertising.
If there’s a disconnect between your message and your target audience, you can’t expect to get any good conversions/results from your ads.
Your targeting doesn’t suck.
Your product/service isn’t unwanted.
You’re just not saying the right things to the right person.
This will make the wrong people click on your ads and the right people ignore them.
Here’s what you should do instead.
Even though Facebook makes this harder, try as much as possible to focus on the person/people you’re serving.
All the research and energy you’re using to find this person so you could target them, transfer those into creating a message for this person: something they would resonate with and respond to.
And the only way to do this and start converting like crazy is to do an extensive market research that I call Audience Intelligence.
Audience Intelligence
This is the kind of research that reveals not just who your audience truly is, which you can then use to call them out (in a way that doesn’t go against Facebook’s policies), but also their biggest problems/desires/fears (which you can use to grab their attention).
Most importantly, it reveals to you why they would ever want to buy what you sell.
Think about it: if by some divine assistance, you can get to know the deep reasons someone would want to buy (or needs to buy) your product or service, would that not make your job as an advertiser easier? All you’d have to do is speak in those lines, and that’s when you get the reaction: “this dude/gal gets me!”
That’s when their hearts become open to you, and as a consequence, their wallets become open to you.
Except that you really don’t need divinity to get that done.
When you use Audience Intelligence to not just know who your audience is, but also know the right things to say to persuade them to take any action you desire, your ads are bound to convert.
Zero targeting
For example (let me shock you a bit), notwithstanding how much I know about Facebook ad targeting, there are several products/services I’ve sold successfully with ZERO TARGETING.
That is, other than basic data like gender, location and age, I use no detailed targeting.
I simply use the message in my ad copy to call my people out of the crowd, and they start to self-identify and engage with my ads. Facebook identifies the trend and automatically begins to go after more of those that look like the people already engaging with my ads and converting.
I call this kind of copy “the Attractive Copy” (not attractive as in beautiful, but attractive as in magnetic…pulls the right people to itself.)
I’ve successfully sold skincare products, makeup services, wristwatches, photography services, private school enrolment, etc. with Zero Targeting.
Some of these came from several testing. Like skincare and schools: my ad sets without any detailed targeting beat, by a huge margin, all my other ad sets with different types and degrees of targeting.
So, if you’re tired of wasting your time and energy (and emotions) doing ninja targeting tactics without any ninja conversions to show for it, then, perhaps, it’s time to look closely at your messaging/copy, and make it more attractive.
Talk later,
Oludami
PS: What did you think about today’s post? Let me know in the comments!
