Are Facebook ads a surefire path to success for your business? Or a great way to get ripped off and lose a ton of money? 

Many of the business owners I work with have never tried Facebook ads before, or have dabbled in them without really getting the results they wanted. 

And when we first talk, they all ask me the same questions. 

Chances are, you want to know the answers too. 

1 How do I know my customers are really on Facebook?

They ARE on Facebook. Because practically everyone is on Facebook. 

There are a whopping 53.6 million Facebook users in the UK alone. Globally, it is the most-used social media platform by a very wide margin – with 2.8 billion monthly active users worldwide.

And Facebook is used more than once a day by 45% of UK internet users. 

What’s more, 30 million UK residents are on Instagram – and Facebook ads allow you to reach people on both platforms. So if you suspect some of your customers spend more time on Instagram than on Facebook, that’s really not a problem as your Facebook ads will find them there.

Better still, Facebook’s sophisticated targeting techniques allow you to specify who amongst those many millions are YOUR ideal customers. and hone in on them.

So the short answer is definitely yes. They’re there. 

(Source: statistica.com)

2 How do I know I’ll make a profit from Facebook ads?

You don’t. There are no guarantees. But think about the alternatives: if you advertise on local radio, on billboards or in a magazine, you have no guarantee that you’ll make money from those either. 

Plus you’ll pay upfront – and it won’t be cheap. It’s a sunk cost – if the ad doesn’t work for you, your money is long gone.

In comparison, Facebook ads are all about testing. You pay as you go along, increasing and decreasing your budget as necessary. 

If an ad is a real winner, you can put more money behind it to reach even more people. 

On Facebook, you can improve the success of your ads over time, trying different images, changing headlines, tweaking your targeting – you can experiment and build on your success. 

Plus you can quickly ditch any ads that don’t earn their keep, so your money isn’t wasted.

3 How will I know my ads are working?

This is another brilliant difference about Facebook ads compared with more traditional advertising. 

Facebook reports in a huge amount of detail – so you can see how many purchases or leads came from a specific ad, what the cost per result was, how many people clicked through to your website from it and much, much more. 

It will tell you your return on ad spend – how many pounds earned per pound spent – and how much you have spent in total. 

This level of detail gives you huge insights into what’s working best for your target audience and how you can spend your money wisely. 

4 How much budget will I need?

This really is the $60 million dollar question. And there’s no straight answer. 

It depends on so many factors such as what your goal is and what the competition for ads is like in your field. 

You need to look at your average order value, or how much a good quality lead is worth to you, as well as the lifetime value of a customer, to make a realistic assessment of how much you can afford to spend. 

It’s perfectly possible to get results on Facebook with a budget starting from £10 per day, but you don’t need me to tell you that realistically this won’t be enough if you are selling £10,000 holidays.

As a rough rule of thumb, £600 pcm is a good place to start for many established products and services, while £1k pcm will allow quicker testing and learning, and is a sensible amount for a new launch. 

If you’re promoting something which requires a lot more consideration – a coaching course or that £10,000 holiday – you’ll need to educate your target customers with a series of ads (known as an ads funnel). This will take at least £1500 pcm.

The key is to spend the amount you need to get the results you want – and an experienced ads manager will be able to advise you on that.

5 It sounds so complicated! How on earth do I get started?

One step at a time! 

Work out how much a customer acquisition or a new lead is worth to you and how much you are willing to spend on ads.

Make sure your website is performing smoothly and you have the Facebook pixel installed. (The pixel is a piece of code that enables Facebook to track the success of your ads and enables you to retarget your customers.) 

You’ll also need to have your website verified with Facebook and install a few other bits of code. This is a very quick and easy job for a web developer, so it shouldn’t cost a lot of money.

Then, if you want to run ads yourself, set up your Ads account on Facebook and practice creating some audiences and some ads. 

You’ll find lots of information on how to get started at www.facebook.com/business. If you’d prefer to have some expert help, you know who to ask!

Need more help?

So, did my top five Facebook ads questions tell you what you need to know? Or is there something else you need to ask? For any questions regarding Facebook ads and the services I offer please contact me today on hello@sharpesocial.com