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In this episode of the Unbottleneck Podcast, Steve Wiideman is joined by B2B & B2C marketing expert, Ashleigh Chanel Womble, to discuss the most effective Facebook advertising strategies, common mistakes and best practices. 

About Our Guest: Ashleigh Chanel

Ashleigh Chanel is a B2B & B2C Marketing Genie who makes marketing dreams come true. Ashleigh is the CEO of Make Your Mark Digital Marketing Agency, transforming businesses into revenue-generating and impact-creating machines. She regularly helps launch successful end-to-end marketing campaigns and digital media strategies. 

Sponsored by Ryte

Ashleigh Chanel on LinkedIn

  • Does Facebook Advertising Work?
  • Facebook Boosted Posts vs FB Ads
  • Move Beyond Overanalysis Into Authenticity 
  • Common Mistakes with Facebook Advertising
  • Best Practices for Business Promotion 

Do Facebook Ads Work? 

Yes! Facebook ads indeed work…when done correctly. 

Facebook ads are designed to keep you in the forefront of people’s minds. Having a solid strategy and targeting correctly can help you pop up in front of people where they are scrolling and spending the majority of their time. 

Facebook is not a search engine, so the approach to ad targeting is going to be different from standard search engines, such as Google and Bing, which are typically based on keywords. Keywords don’t define who your audience is on Facebook, which means you have an opportunity to target people based on affinity or interest.

When you target the right people at the right time, you will get the most out of your Facebook ads. 

FB Boosted Posts vs FB Ads

If you frequently scroll through your Facebook timeline, chances are you have come across either a boosted post or a paid ad. 

These terms are often used interchangeably, causing people to use them incorrectly. By understanding the purpose and functionality of each, you will be able to incorporate the appropriate feature into your strategy. 

Boosted Posts Are NOT Ads

Boosted posts are a paid service, but they are not ads. When you boost a post, you are paying to get more eyes on your content. This is helpful to get more engagement, but you do not get the same targeting features that actual ads can provide. 

Boosting posts is good if your goal is to get more likes or followers. They are ideal if you already have a large following on your Facebook page because you will then have the potential to reach more people who are already interacting with your page. 

Choosing Paid Ads

Ads actively promote your business based on your intent. 

Creating an ad is an opportunity to get in front of your desired audience at the desired time. 

When you run an ad, you will have to do so in FB Ads Manager which will help you create the right ad based on your objective. Some popular ad objectives include: 

  • Brand awareness
  • Conversions 
  • Video views 
  • Lead generation
  • Traffic

By choosing the right objective, you can put your ad in front of people who are likely to convert or click. 

In a nutshell, ads make you money while the boosts get you engagement. 

Moving Beyond Analysis Paralysis: Choose Authenticity

The dreadful cycle of analysis paralysis is no joke when it comes to putting yourself out there on social media. 

In simple terms, analysis paralysis is the inability to complete an action or make a decision due to overthinking or over-analyzing. Watching people crush it on social media can make us feel intimidated and out of place as if we will never attain that level of engagement. No matter how successful other businesses and influencers are online, you still have a duty to show up for your audience and add value that will help them move from where they are to where they want to be. 

Regardless of what others are doing, authenticity should be your guiding principle when deciding how you will present yourself to your audience. 

Some important questions to ask yourself when planning your content include:

  • What do you want to be known for? 
  • What are you launching? 
  • What problems, goals or fears do people have? 
  • What are people already asking you?

Once you answer these questions, you can establish a framework for your content that will put you in front of your ideal audience in an authentic way – thus, making you stand out. 

Common Mistakes with Facebook Ads

No one wants to waste money. If you’re spending money on ads, you want to ensure that you are checking all the boxes to make sure that you’re getting a return on your investment. 

To get the most out of your investment in Facebook ads, you should avoid these common mistakes:

  • Using images that have nothing to do with the content you are promoting. If you’re displaying an ad for an e-learning course, use a picture that is relevant to the course topic. 
  • Copying text from competitor ads. Use your own language to speak to your audience, not the audience you see around you. 
  • Curating content instead of creating your own original content. Don’t overshare content that is not your own – think outside the box and come up with a new creative concept that will resonate with your audience.
  • Not building an organic presence first. Don’t use ads as a first resort to promote your business – instead, use an organic marketing strategy and see what content people are interacting with. Content that does well on it’s own doesn’t need to be a paid ad. 

Best Practices to Promote Your Business Online

In conclusion, here is a summary of best practices that will help you promote your business with both organic and paid content. 

Organic Content 

  • Plan out your content in advance.
  • Decide what source of content will be the easiest for you to do (writing, podcast, video, etc.).
  • Repurpose your content in a meaningful way to build engagement.

Paid Advertising 

  • Have a Facebook Pixel installed on your website to track conversions from social media.
  • Choose the correct objective when creating your ad (brand awareness, traffic, conversions, etc.).
  • Ensure your sales process is set up correctly so users can complete an action with ease when responding to your ad. 

Pro-Tip: There are many businesses and influencers who make 6 to 7 figures with less than 10K followers. Focus on growing and nurturing your audience rather than spending money to expand it.  Having the attention of the right people – those who have a genuine interest in you and your business – can do more for your business growth in the long run. 

Keep up with the best Facebook ads and digital marketing strategies. Follow Steve on LinkedIn!