Josie Kapetsonis gives us the 411 on social media ad buys.
You’ve seen them, you know what they are, but how do they work? How can they work to promote your evergreen online course?
Read below or listen to find out the basics of social media ad buys from the expert herself!
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From Blogger to Online Course Creator
Being an online entrepreneur for about 10 years, Josie is no stranger to learning how to stand out among the competition on the web. Starting as a blogger, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to blog about, then settled on the topic of helping women save money. She wanted her fan base to have the ability to work from home and be a stay-at-home mom.
“I think you get to a point as a blogger and you’re doing everything to get people to your blog with SEO, and then Google changes their AI.” She started to become fed up with the ever-changing SEO in 2016, so she started exploring Facebook ads as they were able to get her significant results fast.
“I was able to put up an ad in front of the person who would be attracted to the content that I was putting out – and it worked!” At this point, she decided to sell her blog and start helping others get in front of their avatar with Facebook Ads.
When Should You Run Facebook Ads for Your Business?
Before taking on clients for ad buys, Josie screens her customers. First, she finds out how long they have been in business because you need a base of organic traffic before starting an ad buy. Secondly, she finds out if they have a funnel that is converting organically because they need to prove the concept of what the funnel is providing.
“You need to make sure your message is on target and that you’re speaking to your ICA in the right way before you try to put the fuel behind that.” Second, Josie always recommends placing ads behind your funnels. Third, she requires her clients to have a lead magnet in front of cold traffic, which has an email sequence that leads people into a sale.
What You Need to Know Before You Hire an Ad Agency
Josie recommends learning the basics of Facebook ads before you hire an agency.
“You want to have an intelligent conversation with the person who’s running your ads.”
Facebook does a great job of showing you about ad buys. If you Google Facebook ads, you can find the Facebook Ads Manual online.
Apple iOS 14 Updates Changing Up SEO
Apple has said that they care about your privacy, but they care about your privacy, and they want to make sure that you want to share your information. This is a big deal because if people aren’t sharing their information, retargeting is a bit trickier.
So, for example, retargeting allows you to create a campaign that you can put in front of people who have already interacted with something that you’ve put out there. The solution is to keep your potential client on the platform so you can get their information for retargeting.
Using Pinterest and YouTube Ads to Boost Business
“I believe it’s a good business decision to not have your eggs all in one basket.” Josie recommends using a few Pinterest ads to diversify your digital marketing budget.
For YouTube ads,
“You can’t put up a YouTube ad unless you’re good on video. You also have to know how to capture a person’s attention within five seconds.”
Advertising on LinkedIn
LinkedIn ads are typically way more expensive than most clients want to pay.
Unless you’re willing to put in a good chunk of money for LinkedIn ads and know that your ICA or your client avatar is there, you should err on the side of caution when buying ads on LinkedIn.
Selling with Ads on Facebook
“You can’t sell everything with Facebook ads or any platform.” Depending on your product or service, you need to decide which platform best fits what you are selling.
She recommends that you have a product or service that costs more than $500,000 to pick up the phone and call them directly.
There are many factors, such as how long they’ve been in your life and how long you’ve been nurturing your relationship with them.
Three Lead Generating Strategies for Small Business
Lead generation is essential to growing your client base. First, you need to create a lead magnet for visitors to give you their email addresses. When you offer a product of value, consumers are more likely to hop on your marketing list.
Second, evergreen marketing such as webinars is available to watch. You want your webinar funnel to have urgency so people will buy.
Lastly, she recommends an application funnel.
“I think if you’re looking for leads to talk to, an application funnel is great for people who have a proven concept and are able to sell on the phone.”
If selling on the phone isn’t in your wheelhouse, then you can hire an outside salesperson to close your deals. If your pipeline dries up for whatever reason, you want to know how to fill it back up again.
Ask for Referrals Before You Hire an Agency
Josie says that communication and talking to someone face-to-face really help to close the deal. “Obviously you don’t know that until you start working with someone. To be in the best position, before you get into a call with an agency, definitely ask for referrals, seek those people out because ultimately that’s really going to help you.”
Look at their website, and see if they have results. Do they have any case studies? During your consult call, watch out for anyone who says that Facebook ads are the ‘magic bullet.’ “Every business is different. What worked for this business may not work for your business.”
The agency running the ads should be proactive about trying different aspects and types of ad buys.
Data and Pixels in Facebook Ads
“You need to feed the pixel.”
She thinks that it’s beneficial to have the pixel installed on your website. The more people you visit organically feed your pixel, the pixel stores all of that information.
When you are ready to run ads, it has data behind it to know who you should target. Unless you have organic traffic running to your website, the pixel won’t do a good job.