Build A Simple, Lean and Profitable Author Business

Hi, I'm Matt Holmes, and I help self-published authors build a simple and profitable business without the "hustle".

I spend 60-90 minutes per day building my wife’s six-figure author business.

And in my FREE daily(ish) newsletter, I’ll share real-time, real-world, actionable insights to help you do the same.

I'll also send you my FREE Facebook Ads mini-course as soon as you sign up.

SSA #021: This Is How You Run Better Facebook Ads

May 27, 2023

Read Time: 2.5 minutes


If your Facebook Ads account looks something like the screenshot below (of my old Facebook Ads setup), then you're cannibalizing your results by competing against yourself, for one, but also, because you're going to be destroying your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).

 

Before we continue, if you'd like to learn how I'm running Facebook Ads now, in 2023, I've put together a FREE 3-part video series that walks you through exactly that;

Sign up for my FREE weekly newsletter, The Saturday Self-Published Author, and I'll also send you complimentary access to The Facebook Ads For Authors Masterclass.

Join Thousands of Authors Here

In my eyes, simplicity scales, complexity fails.

And although my previous Facebook Ads Strategy worked well, I'll be the first to admit that there were some flaws and quite serious issues with it, due to the complexity of the account structure.

One of the biggest issues of this approach is that it didn't harness the true power of Facebook's algorithm and machine learning.

Another big drawback was that it had the potential to result in a complex account structure that didn't lend itself well to scaling.

And the other, quite serious issue with the strategy was that it caused audience overlap and audience saturation.

Audience overlap, in short, means you're competing against yourself by reaching the same audience again and again across multiple Campaigns and Ad sets, therefore driving up your costs and reducing the effectiveness of your Ads.

Audience saturation means the same people are seeing the same Ads again and again, leading, once more, to your Ads becoming less effective and over time, driving up costs.


The Solution?


This took me a bit of trial and error to identify, but in short, the solution is to strip things right down to the absolute bare necessities:

1 x Campaign (per country, per book)
1 x Ad Set containing your best-performing Ads
1-2 x Ad Sets testing your Ad creative ideas

You'll notice here that I have no audience testing going on; this is by design. I no longer do ANY detailed targeting, because I discovered that by doing so, I was investing in a depreciating asset.

This account structure allows you to focus on the ONE thing that truly moves the needle with Facebook Ads – the Ad Creative itself.

And if you want to see some proof that this approach actually works, here's a screenshot of my Facebook Ads sales and page reads from a recent 30 period: April 21st - May 21st 2023 (Amazon Attribution data, USA only).

 

 

If you can't see the figures in the screenshot above, there were 630 units sold and 206,000 page reads from April 21st - May 21st 2023 (USA only).

That's an average of 21 books sold per day and 6,800 page reads per day.

Doesn't sound much, but we have organic sales on top of that, leading to a total of around 80 units sold per day and 40,000 - 45,000 page reads per day, and this is just the USA.

We have the UK orders and page reads on top of these figures, resulting in a total of 100-120 units sold per day, and 60,000 - 65,000 page reads per day, across the 2 marketplaces.


Wrapping Up...


If you, like me and other authors I've spoken to, have experienced, or are experiencing a decline in your Facebook Ads performance, the answer lies in simplification.

By that, I mean simplifying your account structure, your strategy, as well as harnessing the power of Facebook's machine learning and algorithm.

Less is more.

And if you're interested in diving deeper into my 2023 Facebook Ads strategy, the Facebook Ads Masterclass will do just that:

Sign up for FREE here.

That's it for today!

Thanks for reading. See you next week. 

To Your Success
– Matt

Build A Simple, Profitable and Sustainable Author Business

Hi, I'm Matt Holmes, and I help self-published authors build a simple and profitable business without the "hustle".

I spend 60-90 minutes per day building my wife’s six-figure author business.

And in my FREE daily(ish) newsletter, I’ll share real-time, real-world, actionable insights to help you do the same.

I’ll also send you my FREE Facebook Ads For Authors Masterclass as soon as you sign up.