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

Facebook Reactions are now available on Facebook Page insights.

As a Facebook pages manager I'm always tickled about new features on Facebook because I never know which ones will stick around and which ones won't. Since I have access to so many client Facebook Pages, I usually see the roll-out of new features on one page and not on the others. This is the case with Facebook's latest new feature, "Reactions".

Take a look at this screenshot taken from a client's post insights screen:

This just turned up on one of the more higher reaching posts for the previous week, so I'm not sure how many people have actually had a chance to see that there is a post to react to, but I tracked it down and without disclosing my client (due to privacy issues), here is what it looks like from the timeline:

As you can see, there are no reaction buttons to click so I was unclear how this would look from someone's perspective (not my own).  A quick search on Facebook revealed that users in Ireland and Spain are the only users who will be able to see these reaction buttons. I'll have to check with a former client of mine who is currently in Ireland to see if he can send me a screenshot. :) Stay tuned!

Facebook's information on this can be found here- http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/10/news-feed-fyi-how-the-reactions-test-will-impact-ranking/

The overall feedback on mentions has been nothing short of brutal, with both Mashable and NPR among some of the many reporting on the overall negative reactions of users. Page mangers like myself, however, will find the added input highly enjoyable with a hot cup of coffee in the morning.

The complete list of all the reactions?  Here is a handy image from Facebook: