Why your Facebook Marketing did not work and what to do about it

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”  This saying was famously uttered by John Wanamaker (1838-1922) who was considered to be the pioneer of marketing. It’s not 1900 anymore and in 2017, you have the ability to know EXACTLY which part of your marketing is working and which part is not.

In the “olden days,” it was virtually impossible for a business to gain national and international exposure without an Advertising Agency and a PR agency. Those that tried to go at it alone mostly failed and burnt a lot of money doing it incorrectly.  The small business owner typically could not afford that kind of expense and had to rely on word of mouth and low-scale marketing such as door-to-door pamphlet drops and local community advertising.

Fast forward to the Digital Revolution and now every single business is able to reach not only customers in their neighborhood but people from around the world with very little cost. This is all due to social media and in particular Facebook.

Why does Facebook work so well for marketing your business?

I have answered this question so many times at  SociallyMatters that I realize that it is not so obvious to businesses who have either never tried Facebook Marketing or to those businesses that have tried Facebook Marketing and didn’t get the results they were after.

So here are my top 5 reason why Facebook Marketing works for all types of businesses regardless if the business is big or small, local or international, real-world or e-commerce. Using Facebook CORRECTLY is a real winner.

Oh, and there is also one negative too… so let’s start with that one:

The one negative: It Looks Simple

Facebook has made marketing so simple that it make it seems like anyone can do it. You simply hit the Boost button and follow some prompts, add your credit card and you are ready to show the world your business…then what happens? NOTHING.

You get great metrics showing how many thousands of impressions your ad received and in some cases, you might even get some likes too. So you spend some more to try again and again and then when you didn’t get your earth-shattering results like “EVERYONE” seems to be getting, you are left bitterly disappointed and decide that Facebook is not for you.

Good news is that this is very common. You always hear of those amazing stories of someone who spend $100 and landed a $500 000 client. That is not the norm and what you don’t hear is how much that company spent getting to that point. ie. what they have tested, tried, how much they spent with different videos, graphics, targeting etc. To Facebook’s credit that system is simple, however when you peel back the layers the real complexity of Facebook Marketing unfolds and unless you are highly trained, you will simply donate your money to Facebook and these marketing efforts will be in vain.

When you peel back the layers the real complexity of Facebook Marketing unfolds and unless you are highly trained, you will simply donate your money to Facebook and these marketing efforts will be in vain.

So that is the negative side. It looks like anyone can just do it but it’s more complicated than a simple Wizard of hitting the Next, Next, Next, Finish. However, when you get a superb Facebook Marketer to work with you, then Facebook is a GOLD MINE!

Here is why:

1. Everyone is here 

If you want to catch a fish then fish where the fish are. If you have a product or a service and you want to reach your potential customers, then you need to be seen where your customers are and they are on Facebook. They are hanging out in Facebook Groups, sharing pictures of their kids, funny memes, cat videos, and wishing everyone a happy birthday  – all on Facebook.  With 1.86 billion monthly active users, you ideal customer is amongst those users too!

2. Expose Yourself

Facebook offers 11 marketing objectives that allow your business to be exposed to your customer. Depending on the objectives of the marketing campaign, there are Awareness, Consideration, Conversions types of campaigns which are all scaleable, highly affordable and show a measurable return on investment.

These marketing objectives have one aim in mind which is to get your business maximum attention!

3. No Spray and Pray

Again, in the olden days, you would spend thousands to advertise your business in the local press, radio and if you had a BIG budget you would create a TV commercial.  Then, you would hope and pray that the right person, who was looking for your product or service, would happen to stumble on your advert and be in the right frame of mind to write down your telephone number or website.

Not anymore.

With Facebook, you can reach your Ideal Customer. You can tell Facebook that you want to reach a specific type of person, with specific interest, living in a specific area, earning a specific income and is married with 2 children under the age of 15.

There is also the option to teach Facebook about the type of customer that you would like to sell to by importing your previous customer’s email addresses. Facebook builds an “audience” that is like those email addresses and that audience will have the same tendencies of your previous buying customers! That is powerful.

 4. It’s Instant

Customers who see your ad are able to instantly respond. When a customer sees your incredible offer, they are able to instantly claim it and you are instantly able to communicate with the customer.

Want to know why your product isn’t selling? ASK. Customers are able to complete a quick poll and provide you with valuable feedback. This information can help you dial in your offer until the market simply accepts it and starts to buy.No more waiting on feedback forms or the old suggestion box or focus groups. People are not afraid to share their experiences so you can tap into those and be the knight-in-shining-armor and save the day when you see a post saying “I urgently need a plumber” or “Where can I get XYZ”

5. Customers Mindset

When you send your SPAM…eh…I mean Marketing Emails, you are invading someone’s personal space. There is so much SPAM that people’s immediate reaction to anything is to hit the delete button. However, when people are browsing through Facebook, the mindset is different. The guard is down as people watch those cat memes. So when they see your ad in the timeline, they don’t have the urge to delete it. Your business reaches the customer at a time they are most receptive to consuming information.

Two Types of Businesses:

At SociallyMatters we chat to two types of businesses: Those that have never tried Facebook Marketing and those that have tried it but were disappointed.

1. Never Done it – Those that have never tried Facebook Marketing are happy to invest in their business and as soon as they see actual results, they very quickly add more fuel to the marketing fire. [more info here]
2. Done it but it was sh!t – For those businesses that have tried Facebook Marketing but did not see results, we run through an “Ad Health Check” and as Facebook logs and records everything, we are able to determine exactly why a campaign failed or didn’t perform so well. We make the changes and the flow of customers begins to rain in! [More info here]

As Facebook continues to grow, the platform will become stronger and more effective. The sooner businesses get on board, the more data that Facebook has, the sooner Facebook can learn about the type of audience that you want to attract. Once you have Facebook in your corner then marketing becomes cheaper, more effective and constant. We see this on a daily basis.