Facebook advertising is tough to begin with; iOS14 and ever-evolving consumers have made successfully running ads on Facebook and Instagram even more challenging.

One week results look good; the next, you’re scratching your head, trying to figure out what happened and what you can do about it. This resource will provide five actionable tips to implement today.

SOCIAL PROOFING 

Creative is arguably the most important lever advertisers have. Take existing creative to the next level with Social Proofing. Social Proof isn’t just a trendy buzzword in the advertising industry. It’s a core psychological principle of persuasion, and one that Robert Cialdini, famed psychologist and international best-selling author, writes about in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. 

For this post, I’ll define Social Proof as taking an existing ad ID and carrying that exact ad ID over to a new audience. When an ad is social proofed, it retains the existing likes, comments, shares, and compounds in a new ad. When you simply duplicate (dupe) an ad, the ad is starting over from scratch. Don’t dupe it when you can proof it! Think about your own in-platform experience: are you more inclined to engage with an ad with 1,000 likes, 200+ comments and 160+ shares? Or an ad that has one or two likes and no comments?

DYNAMIC CREATIVE

Lean into the machine! Machine learning, that is, with Dynamic Creative Ads. Facebook gives advertisers the opportunity to upload multiple creative elements like images or videos, headlines, and primary text fields to a single ad unit. It then uses machine learning to serve the best combination of assets to the user.  

This can be especially effective for a top-of-funnel test and learn approach, when you are looking to learn what type of creative is resonating with your audience. It can also be a powerful tool for remarketing campaigns at the bottom-of-funnel when frequency is a consideration. Too many times when we audit accounts, we see frequencies that are well into the double digits! If a user has seen your ad 10+ times and still hasn’t converted, it’s time to switch it up. Lean into dynamic creative to provide fresh ad combinations and reduce ad fatigue.

When comparing a dynamic creative campaign vs. non-dynamic creative for a client, we saw a 38% decrease in CPC and a 700% increase in transactions—all while CPA decreased by 91%.  

DIVERSIFY CREATIVE WITH IMAGES/VIDEOS/UGC

Creative diversity is critical for success on Facebook and Instagram. I’m not here to tell you that there’s a silver creative bullet; there are simply too many factors that go into performance. Here’s what we do know: a good, balanced creative output will help you achieve the best possible results.

If your brand is only running static image ads, and hasn’t ventured into the video scene yet, this is the moment to start. Don’t let high production value costs scare you away from video. Some of the top performing video ads are lo-fi, user generated content shot on an iPhone.

Conversely, if you’re only running video, sprinkle some static imagery into the creative mix. Evaluate your most important KPIs and set up a test to understand what’s really driving performance and resonating with your target audience.

When testing new creative, make sure it is vastly different than what you’ve run before. This will not only provide more meaningful data, but it will also help you reach additional users in your target audience.

Here’s a little more inspiration right from Facebook on Direct Response Creative.

TEST MORE AD COPY

 “The ad image may get their attention. But the ad copy closes ‘em.” – Joanna Wiebe, Copy Hackers. At Stella Rising, we agree 100% with that quote! While attention should be the first objective of a Facebook or Instagram ad, if you’re looking to drive meaningful results, you cannot afford to neglect ad copy. Too often in our audits, we see ad copy brushed off or overlooked, and very seldom tested. Here are a few immediately actionable ideas to implement into ad copy.

• • Don’t be afraid to tell a story with longer form ad copy. Good ad copy on social doesn’t necessarily have a word count. This can help qualify the user and ensure that users who click through are more engaged on site. 
  • Use customer reviews and testimonials. There is a wealth of reviews for nearly every product today, whether on a DTC site, Amazon, or Google. Utilize a variety of different customer quotes to help connect with new customers. Also check out your brand on Twitter to see what people are saying about it—we constantly find hidden gems for our clients on Twitter.
  • Use emojis, but don’t overdo it! 😎 It is social media after all, and you want the ad copy to feel native to the platform. Emojis should complement the ad copy, not detract from it.

PRODUCT TAGGING

Giving consumers as many seamless opportunities to purchase product at the moment of inspiration is important for sustained success. Enter Product Tagging from Facebook and Instagram, where you can tag a product that is featured in an ad, and give users the opportunity to shop and buy all without leaving the comfort of the app.

To product tag, advertisers must create a Shop and connect it to their website. Once that’s done, try running an A/B test of the top performing ads with a version that is Product Tagged vs. not tagged.

Here’s what it looks like—a small but mighty addition to ads. In the photo below, the shop icon on the bottom left will open a new window within the app that lets users go directly to that product on Facebook/Instagram Shops. They also have the option to view the entire shop.

Early studies have shown that adding product tags help drive purchase behavior.

Facebook’s Marketing Science Team recently ran a test which resulted in 33% reduced cost on incremental purchases, and 2.5% reduction in cost per incremental add to cart. Now is a great time to implement product tagging and see if you can drive similar results.

CONCLUSION

A one size fits all approach will not work with Facebook and Instagram advertising. We recommend intentionality around testing, including when and what. Don’t throw everything from this post into a testing strategy all at once; rather, select your favorite concept, test that, and then move down the line.

Share this with your friends and colleagues and happy testing! Connect with us for a free consultation, if we can help.