SSA #049: Shaking Up Your Facebook Ads

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

As is an outside perspective of someone else looking at your Facebook Ads.

We can get so stuck in our ways, that it becomes impossible to read the label when we're stuck inside the jar. Strange analogy, I know.

Something my Facebook Ads coach pointed out recently was a "mistake" I made for months and months.

This "mistake" inevitably led to more than one occasion of our Facebook Ads results dwindling.

And today, I'm going to share what that "mistake" was and how to avoid it.

I say "mistake", because for a while, this "mistake" generated a lot of sales and page reads for us.

Let's cut right to the chase. The mistake was:

Using the same image again and again.

Here's an example of what I mean:

These images all look so similar. Same color tones, same background image, etc. Different wording, yes, and for some, slightly different compositions, but in essence, they are the exact same image.

When I look at these images, an Einstein quote comes to mind...

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, and expecting different results."

Remember where these images are being seen...

On the Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, etc.

People are often doom-scrolling on social media; an Ad really has to jump out at them to catch their eye. If it doesn't, they'll scroll right on past.

Testing the same image (virtually) again and again with such minor tweaks, especially if you're struggling to get traction with your Facebook Ads, will only lead to disappointment.

I believe 80% of your success with Facebook Ads comes down to the image or video you use.

If you can't catch someone's attention as they scroll their feed with a stand-out image or video, nothing else in the Ad matters, as it's never going to get a look-in.

I was wasting time and money testing the Headlines and Primary Text of my Facebook Ads, which have such little impact on performance compared to the image or video.

Whereas, what I should have been focusing on was testing new images and videos.

Yes, these images were working great, but I was rapidly boring our audience with them. People were getting fed up with repeatedly seeing the same images.

I needed fresh ideas, more creativity, something new, something different.

So, today, that's what I do...

As you can see, these images are all very different. Some work, some don't, and I'm ok with that. I'm not expecting every image or video I test to be a home run; never going to happen.

Sure, there are similarities, there's a theme of sorts, and they all tie into the brand, but they are all different in their own right.

When I'm testing new image and video ideas each week, I'm putting more out into the world and getting more feedback and data on what works and what doesn't.

Sure, I continue to test Headlines and Primary Text, but the image or video is where I put the most focus on because if I can't get people to stop scrolling their feed, the Headlines and Primary Text aren't going to get a look in.

Wrapping Up

If you've been struggling to get much traction with your Facebook Ads recently, I encourage you to shake things up a bit.

Introduce some fresh, new ideas into your Ads and see what resonates with your readers.

It just takes one new Facebook Ad to scale up, spend more, and reach hundreds of thousands, even millions of new readers day in, day out.

That's going to wrap things up for today. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

To Your Success
– Matt