035: Facebook Ads: Ultimate Copy, Offer and Audience Strategy with Neil Shoney
by April Buencamino-dyNeil’s career kicked off when he created the SFN Expo and used just online marketing to bring thousands of consumers through the door every year. In 2016 he took all he learnt building that business and turned it into an agency that over the last four years has helped thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide create crazy-converting Facebook Ads that create game-changing sales.
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His beginnings with Facebook Ads
According to Neil, he got into Facebook Ads out of necessity. He was forced to learn marketing quickly to save and expand the business he started, and eventually sold 5 years later.
He says that when done correctly, you can almost expect the results you will get from Facebook Ads, and replicate these on a regular basis.
Key Advertising Audiences: 3 Groups to Target
1) First time buyers
- A mix of warm and cold audiences who have not purchased before
- Present an irresistible offer to get them to take that first step and buy for the first time
2) People who have bought recently
- Can be defined based on what would typically be the timeframe a customer will return
- Encourage satisfied customers to purchase again with increased spend
3) People who have purchased before, but have not come back within the expected period
- Win back customers and make them active consumers again by putting out more great offers
Top Tips for Facebook Ads Copy
Step 1: Offer First
- Think about the offer first, before creating the campaign
Step 2: The Hook
- The first thing people are going to read, which is that first line and a half of copy before the “See More” button
- Maybe a direct hook (specifically stating the offer) or an indirect one (such as leading to the offer by way of a question)
Step 3: The Body
- Depending on the product being promoted and the hook, should contain any of these 3 things: Logic, Offer or Benefit Stacking, or Proof
Step 4: Call to Action
- Needs to be specific as this will affect the amount of people who will click through
Step 5: Link
- Include a link to go through on the ad itself
Step 6: The Headline
- The piece of copy beside the button where you tell your audience what to do, which has a huge effect if people are going to click through or not
Step 7: The Button Text
- Not editable, but based on experience, the “Learn More” button converts to more click throughs
Step 8: Testing more than one piece of copy in a single campaign
- Direct vs. Indirect copy
- Long vs. Short copy
Insider Tips
If we’ve inspired someone to take their first step with Email Marketing – what do they need to know to give themselves the best chance of success?
Neil’s best advice is to test broadly. Facebook will be able to provide you the results you want if you give it enough to work with. Follow the steps above and create a campaign, which is the 1-1-1 formula (one campaign to one audience using one advert).
Replicate this campaign with varying audiences and adverts by clicking on the duplicate button, and applying the 1-5-5 method (one campaign, 5 audiences, 5 adverts).
This gives Facebook a better chance of finding the audience that will give you the best results and the advert that’s bringing in the most audiences.
Once you’ve started of course you’ve got to ‘keep optimising’! So what’s your favourite way to improve email marketing performance?
Same as his last tip, the secret to great Facebook Ads is testing broadly from the start, then monitoring and optimizing whatever’s working.
If someone listening wants to learn more about Facebook Ads is there one cheap/free resource you’d recommend?
Neil says the best freebie source is YouTube. You may also visit his YouTube channel for a lot of valuable content.
Crystal ball time – what’s coming up in the next 6-12 months that we should be getting ready for in email marketing?
He is expecting the cost of running Facebook Ads to go down around 20%, which will be great for everybody using or intending to use the platform.
Interview Links
Neil on Social media:
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