How are your Facebook ads? Just so-so? We introduce clever strategies to make your ads more creative and engaging.
How to Make Facebook Ads that Sell in 10 Steps
There are Facebook ads, and then there are Facebook ads that sell. On social media platforms, the point of ads is to educate audiences about your brand, raise awareness, and, ultimately, sell products and services. Facebook is one of the most effective advertising spaces on the planet to help businesses achieve just that—assuming you know what you’re doing!
In this post, our experts share tips and insights for how to make Facebook ads that sell by building a stronger brand voice and taking full advantage of advanced marketing tools.
1. Lead With Your Brand
Consumers are now looking past products to focus on brands. Thanks to the internet, it’s not very difficult to find a product or service you need, so the question now has become “whom do I want to support?”
That’s why it’s essential to stand out as a brand and become a company that consumers can relate to, admire, and trust. We suggest leading your ads with a strong storyline that ties back to your brand to captivate and interest audiences enough to click. A great way to start is by thinking about the following:
- Differentiators – Showcase how your brand is different from others. Maybe you use sustainable materials in your products, offer an enormous variety of products, or have unique incentives when your services are used.
- Emotions – Think about how you want your consumers to feel when they see your branding. Do you want to incite excitement, tug on their heartstrings, or stroke some egos and encourage confidence?
- Your Story – Create an effective ad campaign with storytelling techniques. You can consider how your business was first created, ways your products can benefit others, or create a “hero” for consumers to support.
2. Don’t be Salesy
When learning how to make Facebook ads that sell, you have to think outside the box. While this may sound counterintuitive, try the following: don’t actually try to sell. Yep, that’s right. Direct selling isn’t a great strategy for social media.
Social media users tend to ignore obvious, pushy ads. Instead, level with your audience and create more meaningful ads that people would simply enjoy looking at. This is where your brand story really comes into play. It can help to develop a narrative that will resonate with your consumers where they can see themselves as part of that story.
3. Get Specific with CTAs
We’ve all seen the “Shop Now” or “Buy Now” call-to-action. These are overused, generic, and frankly, boring!
We suggest using CTAs that are much more in line with your brand to stand out and drive conversions. Here are some fun, industry and brand-specific CTAs we love:
- VRBO – Discover your escape
- Headspace – Get some Headspace
- Khan Academy – Learners, start here
- Huemore – Launch (do not press)
- Madewell – Take me there
4. Use Negative Space
Visual elements are incredibly important for when figuring out how to make Facebook ads that sell. Colors, fonts, graphics, and other design elements are the first things that consumers will take note of before they read and comprehend your copy.
Ensuring that your ad uses negative space as opposed to overwhelming users with clutter and noise can do wonders for your conversions. A modern, clean look is not only easier to comprehend, but is also trending, so it’s best to consider some minimalist designs when making your ads.
5. Prioritize People
While product-only photos can do well in certain circumstances, pictures of people are what your audience really wants to see. People like people!
Adding more lifestyle, model-focused images will show who your brand is meant for and will attract those types of people. For example, photos of young women using a product will help to target other young women and lets them know your product was designed for them. That same young woman, however, probably doesn’t belong in an ad targeting older men, who would rather see someone more like themselves to make relating more likely.
6. Target and Retarget
Engaging with audiences that are already familiar with your brand is much more effective than attempting to connect with cold audiences who have never heard of you. You get to skip the first step of educating about your brand and what it stands for and move on to offering specific products. This method is called retargeting, which is different from targeting. Retargeting makes a big difference in how to make Facebook ads that sell!
Simply put, retargeting ads engage people who have already seen your site or interacted with your page, while targeting is when you search for audiences who have yet to meet your brand. While retargeting is more effective, sometimes customer signals aren’t super clear, so general targeting is still necessary. Find audiences based on data like income, parental status, and location to discover new consumers who might find use of your product or service.
7. Leverage Lookalike Audiences
The Facebook Ads Manager offers a feature that creates lookalike audiences, which is an audience of new people who share similar characteristics to your existing consumers and are likely to be interested in your brand.
Facebook does this by looking at things like demographics and interests from current audiences you’ve created in the ads manager to find similar people. This is a clever tool in improving the results of a campaign since you’re reaching out to potential consumers who are already interested in products or services like yours.
8. Make the Most of Videos
If you’re on social media regularly, you’ve probably noticed that Facebook has been prioritizing video content – and for good reason. Around 500 million users watch Facebook videos daily, making it an excellent avenue for acquiring new prospects.
But what should your video entail? It’s best to craft a video ad demonstrating your product or service. For example, if you sell hiking backpacks you could record a model packing each pocket, utilizing any special features, and taking it on a hike with beautiful scenery. This would prove to be a more interesting and compelling piece of content since we can see your product in action, as opposed to a static photo of the backpack.
9. Keep Copy Brief and Simple
Most social posts are viewed only for a few seconds before the user scrolls to the next. So it makes sense for your copy to be short, sweet, and to the point. Learning how to use punchy, engaging copy with your ads and even some emojis if they make sense with your brand is all part of understanding how to make Facebook ads that sell creatively!
The type of language you use also affects how your audience will receive your message. Not everyone will be as familiar with your product, so avoid complex words or jargon in the copy.
10. Test It Out
You may not know what your audience wants just yet, and that’s totally fine. A great way to discover the best type of ads for your consumers? Testing!
Switch up the imagery, copy, and even the schedule of your Facebook ads in order to see which works best. Facebook Ads Manager makes this process a whole lot easier by letting you create multivariate A/B testing with detailed results, which we advise every business to take advantage of.
Want Results? Work with Marketing Experts
Successfully advertising on social media is no easy feat. We understand that. At Social Ktchn, we’re the experts on how to make Facebook ads that sell better!
Social Ktchn is a full-service digital marketing company with deep experience creating successful social media campaigns. As the mom-and-pop shop of paid social media ads, we work closely with every client to determine goals and provide real results. Let’s work together!