If there’s one Facebook ads winner in 2019, it was Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook generated $16.6 Bn in advertising revenue in just one quarter of 2019.

This tells us something very important about Facebook Advertising.

It works. 

But many businesses try running Facebook ads, but just don’t see the results they hoped for.

So they stop, believing that Facebook ads just don’t work for them.

We’ve analysed a lot of Facebook campaigns in 2019 and identified 5 key areas that are vital for profitable Facebook ad campaigns in 2020.

#1 Understand the Facebook Audience

Most people are not on Facebook to buy stuff.

They’re on Facebook to find out what their friends are up to, or watch funny videos of dancing cats.

On Facebook, you’re likely to be targeting people who:

• aren’t necessarily aware of your business

• aren’t looking for the product or service you offer, right at this moment.

Successful Facebook ad campaigns need to grab people’s attention!

This means putting an irresistible offer in front of the right people, that creates enough desire in your target audience to stop scrolling in their newsfeed and take action!

#2 Customer Research

Knowing who your customers are and what makes them buy is key to putting an irresistible offer in front of the right people.

So before creating your Facebook ad campaign, research your customers research in detail.

• Who are my target customers?

• What is their pain point?

• What are their ‘needs, wants and desires’?

• What do they value?

Then, make sure your ad copy and offer speaks directly to the pain point, ‘needs, wants and desires’ and be clear about how your product or service addresses them.

#3 The Irresistible Offer

The success of any Facebook ad campaign is almost entirely down to whether your offer creates enough desire in your target audience to them stop scrolling in their newsfeed and take action.

So, to begin with, don’t spend time worrying about the copy or images when planning your next Facebook campaign.

Instead, focus initially on creating an irresistible offer. 

An irresistible offer is one where the value you’re offering is greater than the price in the mind of your target customer.

There’s a really important number to have in your head when coming up with an irresistible offer:

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

Customer Lifetime Value is the total amount of revenue each customer is worth to your business over the time they remain a customer.

Once you know this number, you can work out how much you are willing to invest to get a new customer.

Take the example of a dental practice where, on average, patients stay with the practice for 3 years and spend £150 each year.

So, the lifetime value of a dental patient is 3 x £150 = £450.

Let’s say the practice decides to run an offer on Facebook for a routine check-up for new patients for £12, where the usual price is £60 (an irresistible offer!).

If each new patient from the campaign cost £10 on Facebook advertising spend, on top of the £48 for the discounted check-up, the total cost to acquire a new customer is £58.

Which means the practice has spent £58 to get £450, the Lifetime Value of the patient, which is a 657% return on investment!

#4 Convert Clicks into Customers

Getting people to click on your Facebook ad is only half the challenge.

Getting them to take action is where the return on investment comes from.

People need to sign up, make a booking or purchase a product to make your ad campaign successful.

So, to move people from kicking tyres to red hot buyers, you need to send your Facebook audience to a ‘Landing Page’.

This is a dedicated page on your website, clearly laying out the offer and the value, it should include:

• Sales copy – how your product or service will solve their problem, and what they will get.

• Testimonials, Social Proof – show them how you’ve solved this problem for others

• Scarcity – give them an incentive to take action now.

• A clear and easy way for them to sign up, book or buy.

#5 Test & Experiment

Successful Facebook ad campaigns evolve as a result of extensive testing.

The chances of creating a profitable ad campaign with one ad, shown to one audience, are very small and, even if you were happy with the results of the campaign, how would you know if it couldn’t perform better?

Allocate a part of your campaign budget to testing different variables, such as your offer, copy, image or audiences to find out what delivers the best result.

As long as you take a structured approach to testing, don’t think of failed experiments as wasting money. Think of it as an investment in finding the winning formula.

Let me know in the comments your tips for successful Facebook campaigns in 2020.