We are now on the third step of how to run a simple Facebook paid ad campaign.
If you missed Steps One and Two, click HERE for last week’s episode.
So far we have designed an offer, or a few offers, we think will appeal to people in our facility’s market area.The offer is based on what other self storage facilities in your area offering, if anything.And it’s also something you think might interrupt someone who is using Facebook and have them claim the offer.
We have also figured out where we are going to drive traffic who want to claim the offer. That will either be a page on our website or a landing page.
I am not going to use these episodes to teach how to format the landing pages or the offer into a usable format. That would be for a more formal training class format. There are a lot of good training out there on online traffic and online marketing. I am going to assume you can get that on your own.
If there is demand for more details on the “How To Do Each Step” please leave a note in the Comments section.I will create something later.
So, you have created the offer. It is in the form of a pdf or something downloadable. Here was the offer in this ad campaign we have been discussing:
Click “Setup Conversions.”
I suggest for now using “Track Conversions with Standard Events.”You can create custom events but that is a little more complicated.
So what we have just done is choose a conversion as our goal for the campaign. In other words, our campaign is successful when people are driven to a landing page and “convert.” The Conversion is actually clicking on the ad, claiming the offer by filling in personal information (Name, email), and then being taken to the “Thank You” page.
Facebook will measure it, but how will we know how many actually received the discount coupon, or whatever you are asking for them to claim?In part by what how we’ve set up the Ad Campaign. But the “Standard Event” pixel is how Facebook does the tracking. After choosing the standard events, you will be then prompted to copy or email a “pixel code”. For now, just copy it and put it in a document you can save.
Pixels are really cool and somewhat advanced.A pixel is simply some code that Facebook uses to track where people are on the internet such as specific pages on your website or Landing Pages. If you want to know how many people have claimed your offer, you will need to put the Pixel code on the “Thank You” page that they will land on after accepting your offer.You can link Thank You pages to a landing page from within the Landing Page program you are using or by coding a special page on your website.
Facebook will track how many people landed on the thank you page, thus you know how many people actually claimed and received your offer.
What is very cool, and very advanced, is you can create an audience later of people who have received your thank you page. In other words, you could actually run ads in the future to people who have claimed an ad in the past.
Ever wonder why after viewing something online, you start seeing ads for that product everywhere?This is it.You could now do the same.
But given this is a simple ad, we are going to be simple at this point with the pixel. For now, just copy and save. We will use it next week.
Now we are at the “Ad Set Level,” or where we begin selecting our audience. This means who will actually see our ads.
This is what is so good about Facebook. You can select exactly who you want to see your ads.
Here is where I would put in zip codes or a radius (i.e. 5 miles from the address). I usually use zip codes. I get the zip codes where my customers live from the self storage operating program. Usually, three to four are where over 80% are. Those are the ones I use.
First I suggest creating an “audience” of people who live in those zip codes. Then name the audience for future use. I recommend using the facility name and something like zip codes, or area, so you’re sure to recognize it in the future.
Now you have created an audience of people who live in these area codes and use Facebook to view your ad.
But you can create more.
After I finish this ad, I will duplicate the ad and create a new audience. Let’s say people who live in the city where the facility is and are also “likely to move”, or “renters.” There are many “behavioral interest” in this portion of creating audiences in Facebooks Ad Manager.
My strong suggestion is to create an audience with only one “behavioral interest.” Why? Because you can then track and see which one performs better. If “renter” performs better than “likely to move” for this campaign, drop “likely to move” and create a new one to run next to “renters” and see if that one is better.
This is where your creativity and some real thinking will pay off. I would run the same ad to three or four audiences and watch the performance. Let’s say to the area (i.e. zip codes, town or city), then to a few “Interest” either in the selected area or in the town the facility is in.
You are getting close now to having your ad ready.
Next is “Placements.” This means where you want the ads to be seen: in the news feed, on the right-hand side, in Instagram (owned by Facebook)?
Always hit “Automatic Placement (recommended)”. Facebook’s algorithm is good and they can figure out the best place to show your ad for your desired results.
The next area in the Ad Manager is “Budget and Schedule”. I always start small on my budget. $5 per day per Adset (audience) is the minimum (you can have multiple ads per Adset). I am going to create three or four copies of the same ads, with the only difference being the audience to start, then the image or something later.
Once I find one getting what I think are good results, or one of the ads is getting better results than all the others, then I may scale it up. My suggestion is never to increase it from $5.00 to $50.00. Justslowly begin to increase it. If you start at $20 per day, then go to $30, $40, and so on. You can increase your results while also keeping your ad costs down this way.
I almost always pick an end date, usually tied around the special I am running.
Now we are at the fun part the ad.
Tie your ad to your company page or your facility page.
Now under “Format”, there are a lot of choices. If you get into Facebook advertising, try different ad formats, and really explore video ads. There are many different types of video you can run. This is for more detailed training.
For now, lets run a simple image ad.
I hate stock photos, although I have used them. I recommend if possible, have a real picture of your facility, your manager, or something that highlights your facility. Remember, you are also going to most likely use that image on your landing page.
So select “Single Image”
Then upload the image you want to use.
The next item is called “Destination Website”. This is where you want the traffic to go from your ad. It is the URL of your landing page. Put that URL in this field.
(For now, let’s leave Facebook Messenger alone)
Now comes the fun but difficult part: writing the copy and headline for your ad.
There are entire courses, books, and training on how to write ad copy. I do not consider myself an expert at all. I’m not sure if I am even any good at it, so I will not attempt to teach it. Here is what I strive to do:
The headline has one job, to have the reader go to the first sentence of the text.
The first sentence of the text has one job, have the reader go to the 2nd sentence of the text.
And so on.
The text has one and only one job, have the reader take the desired action. In this case it’s to click on hte link and go to the landing page.
You can decide of you want the landing page URL displayed in the text. Forget offline tracking and ….
YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR FACEBOOK AD.
Now I know this is a lot to take in all at once. The good news is you don’t have to be perfect at this to get results. And you don’t have to be perfect at it to get a return on your expenditure of time and money to advertise.
The only thing I can say is experiment. Try different ads, text, headlines, images, etc. Do it in a way that it will be clear which ones are getting results and then scale them.
So this is where we are:
Step One: You have an offer (or offers).
Step Two: You a Call to Action.
Step Three: You have a Facebook Ad.
Have fun experimenting and remember, you don’t have to be perfect.
After you experiment and run an ad campaign, you will no longer be 100% at the mercy of an “expert”. You may still use them, but you will be in a much better position to talk to them, evaluate their performance, and even have some input as to what they can do.
Remember, at the end of the day, you are 100% responsible for your success. No matter what you think about online marketing, it is here to stay.
I would appreciate any comments you have about this type of training I am offering and if you find it helpful or not.
Also, keep me posted with your success and your challenges as you get in or grow your self storage business.
