How to maximize Facebook Ads conversions

Would you like to learn how to get better conversions with Facebook Ads?

What if you could lower the cost of your ads and generate more quality leads in the process?

In this article, I’m going to teach you how to maximize Facebook Ads conversions.

Why run Facebook Ads?

It’s no secret, you can be successful with Facebook Ads.

As a result, this makes them extremely attractive for business owners and marketers who are looking to advertise but don’t have a huge budget to work with.

Where to start with Facebook Ads?

Before you start creating Facebook Ads, you’ll notice there are a lot of types of ads that you can choose from.

It is important to know about the different types of Facebook Ads because these are what you are going to select from when looking at your ads objectives.

This will also impact the images you use in your ads, the amount of text, and the placement of your ads.

Types of Facebook Ads

Here is a breakdown on the different types of Facebook Ads.

As you can see there are a lot to choose from.

  • Page post ads (link, photo, text, and video)
  • App ads (desktop and mobile)
  • Domain ad
  • Event ad
  • Offer ad

As I mentioned, each of these ads also has its own specific purpose.

For example, if your goal is to generate website conversions to generate leads and online sales you would use page post ads.

Once you have selected the type of Facebook Ad you want to run, be sure you also look at the bid types cheatsheet so you know what the different terms mean.

How to maximize Facebook Ads

Now that you have an idea on what types of ads available and the terminology, it’s time to start creating your Facebook Ads.

Here’s a breakdown on the types of ads, the sizes you should use, and the purpose of each ad type.

Continue reading How to maximize Facebook Ads conversions

Facebook Ad bid types cheatsheet – Infographic

Do you know the difference between Facebook ad bid types like CPM, CPC, oCPM and CPA?

Would you like to learn which bid type you should use to best optimize your Facebook ads in the self-serve Facebook Ads tool or Power Editor?

Would you like to lower the costs you are paying for Facebook ads?

In this article, I’m going to cover four Facebook ad bit types and how to select the right one when running Facebook Ads.

Setting objectives

Before you begin to run Facebook Ads, it is important to start with your Facebook ads objectives.

Your objectives are what you want people to do when they see your Facebook ads.

Some examples include getting people to like your Facebook Page and also to get people over to your website.

By knowing your objectives and what you want to achieve, you can be sure you choose the right Facebook ad bid type to best optimize your ads and bring in the right people to your business.

Facebook ad bid types

There are four Facebook ad bid types you need to know.

Each of the Facebook ad bid types has a purpose and can help you with your objectives.

1. Cost per mille (CPM)

If you want to get people to view your ads, this is the best bid type to use.

2. Cost per click (CPC)

If you are looking to get clicks on your Facebook ads, this is the best bid type.

3. Optimized cost per mille (oCPM)

If your objective is to show your ads to people who are most likely going to take action, use oCPM.

An example of this is if you want people to like your Facebook Page or click a link in your ad.

4. Cost per action (CPA)

You would use cost per action (CPA) is your goal is to get people to take an action on your ad or to convert.

For example, if you want someone to like your Facebook Page or click on a link, you can specify a bid amount when an action occurs.

Let’s take a closer look at each of the Facebook ad bid types in more detail.

  • What they mean
  • What the goal of each ad bid type is
  • When the best time is to use them for Facebook Ads

How to choose the right Facebook ad bid types

Continue reading Facebook Ad bid types cheatsheet – Infographic

10+ Facebook Groups questions and answers

Are you trying to decide if you should use Facebook Groups or a Facebook Page for your business?

Do  you want to know if you can charge someone to join your Facebook Group without violating Facebook’s terms of service?

These are just some of the questions I get asked about for Facebook Groups.

This article covers some of the common questions and answers about Facebook Groups.

Facebook Groups questions

Continue reading 10+ Facebook Groups questions and answers

Cleaning up Power Editor: How to delete a Facebook unpublished post or dark post

Did you create too many Facebook unpublished posts in Power Editor?

Do you find it difficult to locate ads in Facebook Power Editor?

In this article I’ll show you how to delete a Facebook unpublished post or dark post.

This way you can spend more time creating Facebook Ads instead of scrolling through ones you no longer need!

How to delete a Facebook unpublished post

Continue reading Cleaning up Power Editor: How to delete a Facebook unpublished post or dark post

Facebook Image Size Cheat Sheet: Pages and Ads

Social media is always changing. This can be great for keeping technology up to date and keeping users engaged, but it can make things challenging for marketers who constantly need to change how they run their campaigns.

Facebook, for example, frequently changes the image dimensions required for their posts – often without notice. In May of 2014, just four months ago, I posted this guide to social media dimensions. A new guide is already necessary.

Check out the following information to make sure you always use the right Facebook image dimensions when posting to your page, uploading videos, and creating images for Facebook Ads.

Facebook Image Size Cheat Sheet

Continue reading Facebook Image Size Cheat Sheet: Pages and Ads

How to unblock Facebook Pages and rebuild the relationship with a brand

Was there a Facebook Page you blocked because they were posting too much?

Maybe they were spamming your Facebook Page with unnecessary comments.

The good news is that if you ever have a change of heart, you can unblock Facebook Pages.

In this article you’ll learn how to unblock Facebook Pages so you can start interacting with a Facebook Page again through the news feed, wall posts, comments, and messages.

Why unblock a Facebook Page?

A lot of times, we block Facebook Pages because we are receiving unwanted comments, messages, or wall posts.

For some pages, you absolutely need to block them because they are out to cause your page harm.

This can include:

  • Spamming your page with unnecessary links
  • Posting inappropriate comments
  • Sending too many messages

Other times, you may come across a situation where you need to temporarily block a Facebook Page.

This typically happens if you have a page that may not understand the rules of engagement on Facebook.

If this happens, you may want to temporarily block them and then reach out to the owner of the page through their Facebook Profile.

This way you can go over the situation with them and in most cases, give them a warning.

A good way to do this is to let them know while you appreciate their interactions on your Facebook Page, you will unblock them if they tone things down.

I recommend setting the expectations for them and provide examples of what you would like them to tone down.

This way you can feel comfortable knowing they know what they need to do in order for you to unblock their Facebook Page.

If you have reached this point with a Facebook Page where you want to unblock them, follow these instructions.

How to unblock Facebook Pages

Continue reading How to unblock Facebook Pages and rebuild the relationship with a brand

How to block Facebook Pages to limit engagement

Is there a Facebook Page you need to block because they post too much?

Maybe they are engaging in a negative manner through comments?

In this article you’ll learn how to block Facebook Pages so that they can’t interact with your Facebook Profile anymore.

Why block a Facebook Page

One of the main reasons to block a page is because the Facebook Page is being abusive with their posting.

This could be due to sharing unwanted posts, posting excessive commenting, and so on.

Sometimes you also come across a Facebook Page that won’t stop messaging you.

Previously, you spent time removing these unnecessary conversations or messages.

While this only took a short amount of time to do, it adds up quickly.

What gets blocked on a Facebook Page

When you block Facebook Pages, the Facebook Page will not be able to:

  • Interact with your posts

  • Like or reply to your comments

  • Send your page messages

It is important to note that when you block a Facebook Page, you will be unable to post to their Facebook Page or message them.

When you block a Facebook Page, you automatically unlike and unfollow their page.

To learn how to block a Facebook Page, follow these instructions.

How to block Facebook Pages

Continue reading How to block Facebook Pages to limit engagement

3 CEOs share their best alternative to using a Facebook like-gate

Facebook recently announced they were banning the use of like-gating on Facebook Pages starting November 5, 2014.

This was a shock for a lot of businesses that have a Facebook Page because it meant they needed to make changes to their Facebook marketing strategy and find new ways to get people to like their Facebook Page.

While this affected businesses that manage a Facebook Page, how did it affect companies that specialize in tools to help you create Facebook landing pages?

I put together a list of alternatives to using a like-gate to attract new likes on your Facebook Page.

But I wanted to hear from the companies that create Facebook landing page tools to find out what changes they would make to help attract new likes or fans to their Facebook Pages.

To help you understand their approach to like-gating on Facebook, I gathered three of the top companies and asked them what they would do differently now that you won’t be allowed to use like-gating on Facebook landing pages.

Moving away from like-gating

While the announcement that like-gating was dead may come as a bit of a shock to businesses, this didn’t come as a surprise to many of the landing page companies.

Many of them were already moving beyond just offering tools to create Facebook landing pages.

For example, Shortstack recently launched a new campaign builder to help you go beyond just creating landing pages on Facebook.

They now allow you to build campaigns to use anywhere that can help you grow your fanbase.

Why like-gating isn’t a big deal

Earlier this year, Facebook launched a redesign of Facebook Pages.

When this initially launched, Facebook landing pages were initially removed from the new redesign and re-added later.

This was a clear indicator that Facebook might be making further changes to landing pages.

Couple that with the fact that Facebook has been making subtle changes such as removing the ability to set a default landing page over the past few years and you can clearly see that like-gating was bound to go away sooner or later.

So what are the CEO’s who create social media tools to help you create Facebook landing pages, contests, and promotions doing instead of using a like-gate? Let’s find out.

3 CEO’s share their best Facebook like-gate advice

Continue reading 3 CEOs share their best alternative to using a Facebook like-gate

Facebook bans like-gating – Try these 5 Facebook like-gate alternatives instead

Have you heard the news? As of November 5, 2014, Facebook like-gates are dead. If you blinked, you probably missed it because it was buried at the bottom of their latest list of changes to their API and SDKs. The statement went something like this:

You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. It remains acceptable to incentivize people to login to your app, checkin at a place or enter a promotion on your app’s Page. To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.

Because the changes made to like-gates affects your Facebook marketing, I put together a list of Facebook like-gate alternatives to help you continue to grow your Facebook Page likes without like-gates.

What is like-gating or fan-gating?

If you use tools like Shortstack, Tabsite, or Heyo or other landing page alternatives to show different types of content to fans and non-fans on your Facebook Page, you were using a feature known as a like-gate (or a fan-gate).

Examples of like-gating

Some examples of like-gates include:

  • Liking a Facebook Page to enter a contest
  • Providing coupons or promo codes once someone likes your Facebook Page
  • Liking a Facebook Page in order to watch a video
  • Liking a Facebook Page to download a PDF or eBook

If you currently use like-gates on your Facebook Page, they will continue to work until November 5. After that date, if you still have them on your Facebook Page, people will be able to access the content without liking your page. No new landing pages will be allowed to use the like-gate feature.

Why Facebook banned like-gating

So why did Facebook ban like-gating? They explained their reasoning further down the article.

To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.

When you think about it, like-gating on Facebook Pages has been slowly dying. They were popular back in 2010, but we have gotten a lot smarter as marketers. When Facebook launched a Facebook Page redesign earlier this year, landing page tabs were also removed and then re-added at the last minute. For me, this signaled that Facebook was putting less of an emphasis on landing pages.

Why like-gates don’t matter

While like-gates helped grow your Facebook Page likes, they really didn’t matter. This was because a lot of Facebook Pages were not growing them the right way. Previously, when you used a like-gate to have someone like your Facebook Page to enter a contest, a lot of times you were not bringing in the right types of fans on your page. In most cases, people liked your page just so they could enter a contest or win a prize. They were not interested in the content your page was going to share. By eliminating these gimmicks, this should help improve your Facebook experience in the following ways:

  • Users will see more of the content they want to see in their news feed
  • Advertisers can use Facebook Ads to improve their targeting
  • Businesses can improve the focus of their Facebook Pages

Now that you know about changes to like-gates and how they will affect your Facebook marketing tactics, I wanted to share a list of Facebook like-gate alternatives to help you bring in more quality Facebook Page likes.

5 Facebook like-gate alternatives

Continue reading Facebook bans like-gating – Try these 5 Facebook like-gate alternatives instead

How Feedly can help create a better Facebook news feed organizer

[Update: As of June 23, 2015 Facebook has deprecated its RSS service. For the time being, there is no available RSS feed from Facebook. If anything changes, I’ll be sure to update this blog post with any new developments.]

Do you find yourself missing updates in your Facebook news feed?

Instead of a limited view, how would you like to organize your news feed and have convenient sharing options for other social networks?

Did you know you can create a Facebook news feed organizer using Feedly to help organize your news feed better.

An unorganized news feed

One of the biggest complaints about using Facebook is that you don’t always see all of the updates from friends or Facebook Pages you like.

How many times have you missed out on a conversation on Facebook because you didn’t see it until a few days later?

This can make using Facebook unreliable not to mention frustrating.

While it isn’t a perfect system, there are steps you can take to organize your news feed.

Organizing Facebook using add interest lists

One of the easiest ways to organize your news feed is to use Facebook add interest lists.

This let’s you create customized lists for friends and pages.

Here is an example of add interest lists on a mobile device.

Facebook add interest lists - mobile
Organize your Facebook news feed using add interest lists

While I’m a fan of add interest lists because you can combine profiles and pages and share them publicly, you can’t combine them with other websites you read.

This means you have to manage two different sites to see updates.

Tools to help create a Facebook news feed organizer

Some of my favorite tools for organizing my Facebook news feed used to be Google Reader and Hyper Alerts.

Unfortunately, Google Reader shut down and so did Hyper Alerts.

This meant I needed to find alternative tools to organize my news feed better.

I wrote about some alternatives.

Out of these alternatives, one of the tools I find myself using the most is Feedly.

Here are some of the things Feedly does well:

  • Create a Facebook news feed organizer
  • Pull in content from your favorite websites
  • Feedly for iOS and Android
  • Make it easy to share with other services like Evernote, Pocket, HootsuiteBuffer and more

Today I’m going to show you how you can use your Facebook RSS feed to organize your Facebook news feed with Feedly.

How to organize your Facebook news feed using Feedly

Continue reading How Feedly can help create a better Facebook news feed organizer