Anyone who has a Facebook account knows it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of posts you see on your news feed from friends and advertisers. As the power of organic reach decreases, the need for paid advertising increases, and Facebook’s advertising platform is one of the most powerful tools available to a marketer – it can reach over 2 billion active users all over the world in the blink of an eye. And every day, Facebook gets smarter about delivering ads to users to make it effective for businesses and consumers alike.
One way Facebook has done this is with Facebook Lead Ads. In 2018, lead ads are going to be an essential player for many advertisers.
Lead Ads Are the New Landing Page
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Lead ads are Facebook’s approach to dealing with users who are apprehensive about leaving Facebook to give away their contact information on another company’s landing pages. Because Facebook wants to keep users on their platform, they’ve made it easy for both advertisers and consumers to fill out a form directly in an advertisement on their mobile device. When a user clicks on a lead ad, most of their information is populated into the form, so they don’t have to spend extra time typing it out, which also reduces the load time of pages on a mobile device. A win-win for you and your prospects! The lead information can then be sent directly to your CRM system, ready for you to make the next connection.
Auto-fill from Facebook includes:
Ninety percent of daily active Facebook users visit on a mobile device, so it’s easy to see why you need to take advantage – even if you’re in the B2B space.
Creating Winning Lead Ads in 2018
By now you should understand why using Facebook Lead ads will set you apart in the digital marketing space. Here are some tips for creating and managing winning lead ads in the new year.
What’s Your Hook?
Without a compelling hook, or call-to-action, you won’t get the lead. If your call-to-action doesn’t match what your ad is offering, you won’t get the lead. Therefore, it’s critical to choose the right call-to-action for your ad. Ask yourself, “If I clicked this button, what would I expect to receive?”
Facebook offers the following options when creating a lead ad:
When thinking of creative ways to incorporate lead ads into your 2018 marketing plan, consider some of these objectives:
The possibilities are endless. Then, after you decide what you want the lead to do, you need to decide how to grab their attention. You can do this with some creativity; Facebook has been rolling out some fun new ways to display and manage your ads, from carousal ads to video. (Click here to read up on the latest creative specs and technical requirements for Facebook ads.)
Connect Your CRM
If you work in the digital space, you need a well-maintained CRM (customer relationship management) system. Manually adding new leads is a pain in the butt – not to mention it can lead to mistakes. Facebook’s new features allow you to connect your lead ads directly to your CRM system. A Harvard Business Review study revealed that your chances of conversion increase 7 times if you follow up with a lead within the first hour of their signing up, and connecting your CRM system allows your sales team to be notified and available to respond to leads as soon as they come in. (Click here to see a detailed list of available CRM integrations for lead ads.)
Tailor to Your Buyer Personas
How well do you know your buyer personas? Consumers expect content tailored to their interests, so look at your Audience Insights tool on Facebook to help you create custom audiences based on your buyer personas and current Facebook followers. Targeting the right audience with the right message is critical; gone are the days of targeting a broad audience with a single message.
Luckily, Facebook has powerful demographic, behavioral, and interest information on all its users. You can access information like:
You should customize the advertising and messaging for each of your personas based on what you know.
Think Critically About What You Ask
Your lead form can have up to 21 questions and up to 15 custom questions. (Although Facebook best practices suggest using only 3 custom questions.) If you’re simply looking for opt-ins to your campaign or newsletter, basic questions work best, like their full name and email. If your intent is to nurture a lead for another conversion, you should consider adding 1 or 2 custom questions to help determine if they’re a marketing qualified lead.
Cold audiences should have fewer and less personal questions. Audiences further in the funnel can have more specific questions to help you nurture and lead them further in their journey.
That Was a Lot … Now What?
Yes, I just hit you with a lot of information on lead ads, and there’s no arguing that it can be time consuming to get the ads set up and running successfully. But now is as good a time as any to get started! If you have any questions or comments, or want help running a campaign, feel free to send me an email at cmotz@leadingresults.com. I’ll be more than happy to assist. Also, check out our Blogging and Social Media Content package to find out how Leading Results can work with your business today.
