Amazon Ads and Facebook Ads Optimization Workflow

Hey,

When I first started running Ads (both Facebook and Amazon), I was tinkering with things every single day; I just couldn't resist it.

Now, the results from this tinkering weren't detrimental, but since I've resisted the urge to tinker every day, I can say with 100% certainty that the performance of my Ads has dramatically improved.

I also knew that working on the Ads every day wasn't sustainable; there were other tasks that needed to be done in the business, that were, just as, if not, more important.

I changed my schedule and workflow.

If I'm honest with myself as to why I was working on the Ads every day (sometimes for multiple hours at a time), the real reason was that I was in-secure about them. I figured that they'd just perform better the more I work on them.

That's what society has taught us, right? The harder you work, the more successful you become.

And that's what I believed at the time.

Nowadays, I believe in working smarter not harder. Working on the 20% of activities that bring 80% of the results.

Hard as it was, I decided to set aside 2 hours per week to work on Ads:

– 1 hour for Amazon Ads

– 1 hour for Facebook Ads

The rest of the week, no tinkering.

This was a challenge and a half, I can tell you!

My systems needed to change too.

Simply reducing the time I spent on the Ads was definitely a positive step in the right direction, but to support that, I needed to update the systems I was using as well.

Truth be told, in the beginning, I didn't have any sort of systems in place; I was winging it, flying by the seat of my pants.

If I was going to be spending just 1 hour per week on each Ads platform, I needed to be confident that I was following the 80/20 rule; working on the 20% that was driving the 80%.

So, that's what I set out to do. Here's what that looked like:

Amazon Ads

– Finding the top-performing keywords and ASINs and doubling-down on them

– Leaning more heavily on Amazon's algorithm

– Spending less time on keyword research

– Testing only the most relevant of keywords, ASINs and categories

– Scaling up brand keywords and ASINs

Facebook Ads

– Identifying the biggest levers I could pull - Ad Creative and Audiences

– Testing a variety of ad creative ideas and identifying trends in the results

– Understanding which metrics I really needed to pay attention to

– Leaning more heavily on Facebook's algorithm

– Doubling down on the top performing ad creative and audiences

The other MASSIVE lesson I learnt was not to look at Amazon Ads and Facebook Ads inside a vacuum, and to always look at the bigger picture.

I also started to look at performance (i.e. Ad Spend vs Royalties) not on a day-to-day level, but over an extended period of time (30 days).

What does my schedule and workflow looks like now?

Today, my schedule and workflow for managing Ads is very different to how it was in the beginning - which is a good thing by the way; it shows evolution and progress.

I now work on:

– Optimizing Facebook Ads for 30-60 minutes per week (Monday morning)

– Tracking the Facebook Ads for 10 minutes per week (Tuesday morning)

– Optimizing Amazon Ads for 30-60 minutes per week (Wednesday morning)

Outside of these core optimization sessions, I review each Ads dashboard for 5 minutes per day, just to keep an eye on overall performance and look out for any red flags that need my attention there and then.

This schedule looks a whole lot more manageable and sustainable than it did in the beginning, where I would spend anywhere from 2-6 hours per day working on Ads! And yet, results now have never been better.

It just goes to show that letting things be and trusting the algorithms of these advertising platforms, works.

If you're interested in reducing the amount of time you spend on managing your Ads, my Amazon Ads and Facebook Ads courses can help; inside, I lay out the exact systems I use to run Ads on these platforms, week in, week out.

Don't let managing your Ads stop you from writing.  

To Your Success
– Matt