In this Episode: Nick Kusmich was an expert at Facebook Ads without the intention of becoming an expert at Facebook Ads. He’s done tons of A/B testing, found out what he can accomplish with the interface, and is now getting huge results for big brands. Nick discusses some of the great findings he happened upon, why Facebook Ads is such a huge opportunity for brands to get more specific with their targeting than ever before, […]
In this Episode:
Nick Kusmich was an expert at Facebook Ads without the intention of becoming an expert at Facebook Ads. He’s done tons of A/B testing, found out what he can accomplish with the interface, and is now getting huge results for big brands. Nick discusses some of the great findings he happened upon, why Facebook Ads is such a huge opportunity for brands to get more specific with their targeting than ever before, and what kind of investment they should be making in testing. He goes over in detail the type of audiences you should be ideally trying to get at, and those that might be a little more of an effort to acquire.
Nick thinks that even if you aren’t looking to do Facebook marketing right now, there are some things you should be doing right now on Facebook and on your site that will give you valuable insight into your demographics and their motivations – even if you never do a Facebook ad campaign. Some of the hot topics we delve into:
- “he who pixels the most sites wins”
- the 4 types of Facebook audiences
- how to find where your demographic “is hanging out”
- the one Facebook tool that allows you to gather information about your ideal demographic for free
- how to work off of your competitors’ fanbases instead of spending time developing your own.
Here’s what I learned:
Not everyone knows how to Facebook market
- Nicholas didn't plan on becoming a Facebook Ads experts
- had tried the information marketing space, and found minor success.
- went to an event, but found that he was one of the only ones who was getting good results with Facebook Ads
- too late to get into the Adwords game in a big way
- he began doing A/B testing in what is working
- decided to become a Facebook ads strategist
- started talking to some high-profile marketers who don't have Facebook Ads on lock
- many use tactics from magazine marketing or infomercials
- some are using tactics that simply don't fit in the context of Facebook
Contextual congruency
- understand the platform you are marketing in, and then stay loyal and not disruptive in that context
- you're at a family barbecue when a man jumps the fence, starts eating your food, and then tries to sell you a vacuum - how do you feel? So uncomfortable and irritated. Why?
- they were not invited
- they are trying to sell you something you do not need
- this is not the time nor the place
- it's the same with advertisers and Facebook
- nobody goes onto Facebook credit card in hand, ready to purchase
- when an advertiser tries to sell on a platform that is not designed for that, there's an automatic disconnect
- what do you like to do on Facebook
- what do you like to read?
- what do you hate to see?
- what can you not stand?
- what do you like to click on?
- you're at a family barbecue when a man jumps the fence, starts eating your food, and then tries to sell you a vacuum - how do you feel? So uncomfortable and irritated. Why?
- spread really good content
- a lead generation mechanism
- if you can bring value to them in exchange of a name and email address
- you can put them into your platform so I can build greater relationships
- then, eventually make an offer for something I'm trying to sell
- these customers will be more eager, there's much less resistance, you're already built as a credible and trustworthy person in your marketplace
- create a blog post or a free pdf with some great content for audience
- then, drop a retargeting pixel
- you can then advertise to that visitor in the future with an offer for another freebie
- then, perhaps sell them something that costs nearly nothing, free plus shipping and handling
- train them to spend money with you
- a science of "add value first, build the rapport/relationship, then eventually ask for the order
Facebook is targeting on steroids
- email lists
- an email list of either previous leads, previous buyers, whatever relationship you have with them
- upload this to Facebook as a custom list
- these are the lowest hanging fruit and probably the least effort
- these are already know you, who like and trust you, they are used to getting content from you
- high profitability that they're going to take some sort of action, or whatever action you're requiring from them
- retargeting audiences
- i'm putting something on a blog somewhere, teaching people some great stuff, I run paid advertising that, or even if I have a retargeting pixel in my site proper
- collecting a bucket of people who've come to my website, I can turn around and market to them on Facebook using that audience
- this is the next best thing to email lists
- combination lookalike audience
- you have a list from an email campaign or retargeting, then you take that to Facebook and upload that list and say "I want you to find me people just like this"
- Facebook will go out and take 20-30 minutes and they'll come up with several hundred thousand, several million people who fit in a certain category with very similar characteristics to the uploaded or retargeted list
- it's a great list in itself to start targeting ads
- cold intros
- people who know nothing about you, don't fit in a particular demographic
- least desirable option
- using popular influencers to find your audience
- someone such as Tony Robbins, has credibility in the marketplace, very influential, over 2 million followers on Facebook
- I can either build a fanbase myself, or work off of Tony's
- if I am also in the personal development space, there might be a chance that fans of his work may like my work
- However, don't go too broad
- There are those who are fans of Tony's but not fans of personal development in general
- better to target them based on more specific audiences of the big name
- Oprah's Super Sole Sunday, for example, instead of Oprah
- then, cross check this demographic with your own lookalike audience to target a lookalike audience further to your preferences.
- budget suggestions
- do a test run for a day
- split test between 2 thought leaders that your demographics would be interested in
- the more split testing you can do, the best
- each is going to take around $20/day to test
- then, you should do at least one split test between 2 separate ads for each thought leader
- that's 4 ads total, $80 each
- reminder that this is only for 2 days
- worst case scenario, you only lose $160
- if you can spend more on testing, you'll get back a huge wealth of knowledge of what works
- after the tests are done, you simply cancel the ads that are the losers
- you spend less money with wasted time with campaigns that don't work as well
- split test between 2 thought leaders that your demographics would be interested in
He/she who pixels the most sites, wins!
- on every single web property that you own
- you're going to build this list of people to target
- even put a pixel on a competitor's site
- either a joint venture partner
- or you pay a competitor $20 and say it will simply help you understand demographics more
- more info on conversion pixel
- a little piece of code that you put on a page that lets Facebook know the person took the action that you asked them to
- but, make sure it is on the right page
- should be on the page after the action has happened
- really make use of the thank you page
- offer a link or download to the free item here (but also to their email)
- don't make them dig through their email
- you have their full attention here
- why not have a video that shows them how to use your materials
- using Facebook Graph Search for market research
- great copywriting won't matter if you don't get your message to the right people
- Facebook algorithm is housed in graph search bar
- can search "books liked by people who like Tony Robbins" and Facebook will spit out results
- great for coming up with content ideas and targeting ideas
- and it's completely free
Links Mentioned In this Episode:
In Conclusion:
I'm working with Nick Kusmich in my own Facebook Ads campaign in the upcoming future and I couldn't be more excited about it. As you can tell, Nick is doing some really exciting things with Facebook's tools that don't even require a lot of funds or a lot of effort, but are bringing fascinating insight into your ideal demographic. Check out his work at nicholaskusmich.com, and take some time to learn how Facebook ads could kickstart your lead generation or engagement goals.