When we decided to write this blog, we didn’t realise that we may be staring down the barrel of one of the most uncertain financial times that humanity has known in the past 100 years but what we wanted to talk to you about seems even more relevant now than ever.
We wanted to let you know that if your ads aren’t translating to conversions [right now or before we entered this new reality we’re all discovering] that’s a-ok. For some brands, that’s even expected.
Facebook advertising has given us such *amazing* clarity over our return on investment. We absolutely LOVE this about the platform as you can understand how your investment is impacting your bottom line. We’d even go so far as saying that it’s one of the best things about the platform but [and it’s a big but, HA!] we also worry this has led some to believe that any budget is going to see instant sales like that little marketing silver bullet we’ve all been dreaming of.
Sadly, this isn’t the case for most brands. It does happen, we’ve been lucky enough to see it [and dance a little happy dance as a result] but for most businesses it takes time and real strategy to start seeing those conversions begin piling up.
It’s hard to make generalisations about Facebook advertising because there’s always going to be an exception to every rule but what we see more often than not is that it’s the brands with engaged communities that see the highest volumes of conversions.
If you’re building those relationships elsewhere with your target audiences then FAB, it could be through all of that time and effort you’ve been pouring into your organic socials, the killer EDMs you’ve been sending, your super entertaining or interesting blogs or even in-store for all the bricks and mortars out there, but if you’re not, you’re probably going to need to invest in this consideration activity before you can even think about getting those conversions happening.
Now this for some is hard to hear [because we all wanna see those dollar dollar bills raining down from day dot] but please believe us when we tell you that this activity is also valuable and arguably even MORE valuable when you think about building future success.
On the path to getting those conversions happening, chances are you’re going to need to spend some money on awareness and consideration along the way.
You’re also going to need to make sure that every step of the customer experience is supporting the customer to easily purchase, from shipping price to quality of imagery on your website. Every little bit counts when you can potentially lose your audience in the blink of an eye.
When you see those 80x ROAS, $600k in sales conversions results on our Insty, chances are, these brands have invested not just in conversions but in meaningfully connecting with and engaging their audience online.
Those people may not convert today or tomorrow but down the line they’ll be the ones who remember who you are and what you do and they’ll be the ones to keep that conversions game strong!
So as we enter a time that might see conversions drop off for some brands, we choose to see this not as a time to give up on your Facebook advertising [#nosir] we see this as a time more important than ever to invest smartly – in relationship building, community, and endearment that’s going to help you win the long game. Another of our favourite things about FB ads is that there’s always something new you can try.
The sales will come but if you’re not seeing them right now, don’t give up! We’ll all be spending lots of time on our devices, many of us will be looking for social connection more than ever before and while we might not be spending as freely right now, sometime in the future we will be again – and that’s where the brands who meaningfully engage their tribes are going to set themselves apart.