Tips for writing Facebook Ad Copy

One of the biggest pet peaves I have on Facebook is when I see a major brand use a Facebook ad and be completely oblivious to the flaws in their copy. Like this one pictured below:

The first thing I do is point out the flaws because as a social media manager who has to constantly monitor what is going out under our flagship, I am keenly aware of how important that feedback is and can rarely keep it to myself, even if that brand is not my client (and they should be).

There are some other things that bother me including the blatant use of emojis in brand ads.

First of all, emojis are used to try and make the post feel more like a fellow user has shared their favorite thing on Facebook. They don't want you to get the sense that it was really written by 20-something brand ad copywriters trying to get you to buy. To me, that is so fake because the second you see the word "sponsored" you know it's an ad. Why hide it? Why try to make your brand in to something you're not?

I've marketed products and services for some of the world's leading health and wellness experts whose main message to their followers is to BE YOU and stop trying to be what others want you to be.

I believe the word is, AUTHENTICITY. And the more authentic you are, the more people trust you but like all real relationships, trust takes time.

Brand ads, or any facebook ads for that matter should be used to build trust in your authentic brand, not trick people into falling for a false sense of authenticity only to find 20 emails from your company in their inbox each day. It's probably going to work for about a week, and then you've lost them for good. Not only that, but they will be wary to click on anything that says "sponsored" again.

Be real, be simple and be mindful of the fact that emojis, excessive use of #hashtags and bad copywriting not only affect the long-term life of your brand, but also the Facebook algorithm that is the deciding factor on whether ads should even be shown to the people you are trying to reach.

The people you are trying to reach may not be paying attention, but the newsfeed algorithm is a computer and never sleeps. It already knows that it's going to be harder to get people to click on posts with excessive emojis and #hashtags so it will charge you more for copy that contains them. This eats in to your client's overall ROI.

Don't be afraid to consult an expert. I'm happy to provide free 30-minute consultations to all new clients. Click here to get started- https://www.lilestyle.com/consultations

Why can't I share a post from a Facebook Group and other tips.

Learn how to find things easily in your Facebook Group, Learn why you may or may not be able to share content from a Facebook Group and other useful tips for beginners.

Did you learn something new? Is there something you wish this video had covered but didn't? Please leave a comment below.

Facebook and Instagram Not Working - March 13, 2019

Once again the internet is thrown in to chaos as users find themselves logged out or unable to comment.

No word yet from Facebook on when the issue will be resolved, but users from around the world are experiencing the problem.

Even though the message reads that it was a maintenance issue, it's hard to believe that Facebook would schedule a maintenance world-wide at such an odd time of day and week, leading many to wonder if it was a hack of some kind.

The blackout is affecting even third party publishing tools such as Buffer, causing scheduled posts to not be published.

Embedded Facebook widgets on websites are also being affected, basically leaving large open spots on any web pages that have them.

New tools and features coming to Facebook Groups in 2018.

February 9, 2018- Facebook recently announced a series of updates regarding Facebook Groups and the tools that are used to manage them.

Facebook is finally taking some time to really work on Group features, recognizing that the community aspect of these groups serve a higher good. Their first big announcement was in regards to a new Facebook Community Leadership Program which will seek to award funds for big ideas that serve unique needs.

They have announced a new, $10 Million Program aimed at increasing the effectiveness of Facebook Communities:  5, $1 million awards to be dedicated to fund ideas that cater to the community and serve unique needs as well as 100, $50,000 awards to leaders of communities that focus on specific, unique initiatives. These awards will also include things such as training, new tools for helping to manage the community, etc.

Interested in these awards? Go to https://communities.fb.com/ for more info.

The second big announcement that Facebook made about Groups was that they would be adding 4 new features for admins:

1. A new Admin Tools Hub which will feature all of the admin tools in one place and an easier way to navigate the ways the group can be administered.

2. Group Announcements which will include several posts in a grouped setting and pinned to the top of the group. You can schedule announcements ahead of time, add photos to them and they will give admins a lot more flexibility in how those announcements look.

3. New personalization features to give your Group an even more dynamic and appealing look. This will include picking out a color that will be shown throughout the group.

4. The best feature by far is the new Rules feature which will give admins a better way to communicate rules to members. They will have their own space, always visible on the group. Incoming members will also be shown the rules when they join. Rules will become a more prominent feature for the community.

Iyanla Vanzant's Super Bowl Tweets are Funnier than a Super Bowl Commercial

I live on social media networks all day long, reading posts and tweets and creating the same. It's pretty rare that I will allow myself to get sidetracked by the details because I have a schedule to keep and let's face it, social media can really suck the time out of your day!

I couldn't help myself though when I noticed one of my favorite tweeters and epic relationship expert, Iyanla Vanzant, and her hilarious Super Bowl Tweets.

If you have ever seen Ms. Iyanla in action on her hit series, Iyanla: Fix My Life (on the Oprah Winfrey Network), then you know she is no-nonsense and a truth-telling Queen. Her mantra is to "call a thing a thing" and when it comes to Super Bowl Sunday, she does just that.

Without further ado, I give you, Iyanla Vanzant's Super Bowl Tweets:

Facebook Custom Audiences for Customer File is showing "Not Available" and affecting Ad Performance

January 31, 2018 (1/31/18) - Facebook custom audiences created using your customer file (or customer list) is showing "Not Available" for many ad managers and could also be affecting ad performance.

My current ad campaign was running at its lower-than-usual performance levels and we were not seeing results.

The below picture was taken after the campaign had been running for 6 Days.

The reach was much lower than we felt it should be, so I checked the target audience and the list and that is when I discovered that my customer list was showing something unusual.

Once the target audience was adjusted to remove the list and the look-alike audience from that list so that the only thing we focused on were his website pixel custom audience and the facebook page engagement custom audience, we saw dramatic increase in performance.

I sent a support request to Facebook and received the following reply:

Thank you for contacting Facebook Ad Support. My name is Collin and I'd be happy to answer this inquiry!

As noted in our advertising principles, we're constantly looking to improve the quality and security of our advertising platforms. After identifying a technical issue with reach estimation for Custom Audiences that could potentially allow misuse of the functionality, we're temporarily removing the ability to see audience sizes or potential reach estimates for newly created or edited Custom Audiences in Ads Manager and Power Editor, followed by the Ads API by December 22.

Specifically, we are removing reach estimates for:

Custom Audiences from a customer file

Offline conversions Custom Audiences

Website and mobile app Custom Audiences if using advanced matching via the API

Website or mobile app Custom Audiences that do not include customer data and engagement Custom Audiences are unaffected by this update.

Please note that you will still be able to create Custom Audiences, as well as ads using any type of Custom Audiences, on our platform. Ads delivery and reporting will remain unaffected by this change.

We understand this solution may affect your campaign planning. To minimize disruption, we are currently investigating solutions to restore these reach estimates in our interfaces.

I have since replied to him and let him know that this change was affecting our campaign and I'll let you know if we receive any word back about this through an UPDATE to this article.

Need help figuring out how to use your customer list for Facebook Ads? Schedule a Free 30-minute Consultation with me.

Facebook Not Working on October 11, 2017 (10/11/17)

Once again the world is standing still as we wait to see what has happened to Facebook. Thousands of users are reporting that nothing happens when they visit the site, both on their computers or on their smart devices.

I tried to use my iphone to post into a group but had no luck.

Many of the outage maps are also reporting that Facebook is down.

There has been no comment so far from Facebook on what is causing this widespread outage but for this Facebook Marketer, I think it means a vacation day.