Michelle L. Evans

Episode 116: The Truth About Facebook Ads in 2020

One question I get asked all the time is “Are Facebook ads even worth it anymore?”.

And my answer is…it depends. 

The short answer is YES Facebook ads are worth it if the following is true: 

  • You have an offer that sells.
  • You have at least two testimonials/success examples.
  • You have a marketing funnel in place to take your audience from cold to ready to buy.
  • You understand your audience and what their pain points and big desires are.
  • You have the budget to test and optimize.
  • You have a variety of content to leverage — video, audio, lead magnets, etc. — or you have the ability to create content quickly.

If you can answer yes to all six of those statements then yes, Facebook ads are probably worth it for you. 

If not, you’re probably not ready. 

You see, Facebook isn’t the inexpensive advertising platform it was just a few years ago. Long gone are the days of $0.10 leads from a single ad for a PDF download. 

It takes more than that to be successful in 2020 and beyond on Facebook, which is GOOD NEWS for you because it’ll weed out the lazy businesses. It leaves more room for you and I who are willing to do the work to dive in, build an audience and become a profitable business leading with value for our audiences. 

In fact, according to Statista — an agency that does research on online advertising trends — there are over SEVEN MILLION active advertisers on Facebook. 

That’s a lot of competition for the same eyeballs. And that means that you’ve got to do the work to stand out, otherwise you’ll get lost in the sea of seven million advertisers! 

If you’re wondering why so many people are advertising through the Facebook network (which includes Facebook and Instagram), it’s because it is STILL one of the best platforms to reach people worldwide. According to Statista, there are projected to be 1.69 billion active users on Facebook in 2020. That’s massive growth from the 1.34 million in 2014, and also explains why advertisers are flocking to the network. 

Facebook is where the people are at! 

Let’s look at three really important trends you should know about as you plan how to stand out from the sea of lazy marketers who aren’t putting in the effort into Facebook ads. 

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Biggest Show Takeaways:

  • Trend #1: Mobile Is (just about) Everything
  • According to Martech, 93% of total advertising revenue came through mobile in 2018. The 2019 numbers aren’t out yet, but I’m guessing that massive share will still hold. When advertising, mobile is everything.
    • What this means: You need to realize how your audience is viewing your ad and their mindset as they’re viewing it. They’re probably on the go and you need to capture their attention. 
    • Headlines and creative copy are critically important, and the call to action needs to be easy to engage with on a mobile platform. I suggest previewing your ads in mobile on your phone and tablets to make sure things are coming through correctly and are interesting/inviting.
  • Trend #2: Video, Video, Video
    • According to Cisco, traffic from online videos is estimated to be over 80% of all consumer internet traffic by 2020. 
    • Plus,  every single day on Facebook about 8 BILLION videos are viewed. Most of those views happen on mobile, so if you want to compete for eyeballs, you have to be creating videos. 
    • You can do videos on your computer with a screen grab. You can do videos on your phone. You can do animated videos. You can hire someone to help you make videos. 
    • Whatever you do, you need to get comfortable with video if you want to advertise on Facebook. 
    • Over the past few months, I’ve found that when we include video in our ad mix, our cost per lead goes down — sometimes dramatically — because we’re able to capture people’s attention a lot faster and hold it longer. 
    • The video can be short, like a 15-20 second clip that would be used in Facebook and Instagram stories, or it could be longer like a 10+ minute mini-training — or somewhere in between. 
      • This is really about knowing at what point in your funnel you’re connecting with your audience and what the best way to do that is. 
    • When you advertise, you need to be ready to do video or you’ll likely see your ad costs going up, up and up some more. 
  • Trend #3: Stories Are Worth Testing
    • When you think of Facebook and Instagram ads, you likely think of the original newsfeed ads — ads where you’re scrolling through your feed and it appears like another post. 
      • Those types of ads have been the standard for a long time in Facebook ad land, but in the past 18ish months Facebook and Instagram stories are growing by leaps and bounds. And it’s time to plan for that in your ad creative. 
    • Facebook and Instagram Stories can either be an image (sized for the story format), a very short video clip of 15 seconds or less, or even a simple Boomerang. 
    • Advertising on Facebook and Instagram is all about showing up with your brand voice and engaging your audience. Having fun with stories can be a great way to break through all the noise from the other seven million advertisers and attract the right people to you, but you’ve got to be willing to test it out and see what works. 

Create Profit Without Worry — one system at a time. I’ll show you how to attract a steady flow of buyers without all the hustle with this free download →  5 Steps To Profit Without Worry.

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