Facebook Ads DO Work. A How- To Guide By Liv & Co.

**EDIT:  Due to all the emails I've been receiving regarding the bodysuit in the photo and the headband.  The "Glitter is my signature color" bodysuit can be found HERE.  The headband in the photo can be found HERE.

Moving along...

I hear it all the time, "Facebook likes on boosted posts are fake. They are ghost accounts that Facebook has in place just to suck your money out of you."

This is FALSE.

You can go to my page HERE and look at the comments in my photo threads. They are completely legit. I respond to people, they respond back. They message me to order or go to my website. There's nothing fake about it. You'll hear that from people that don't know what they're doing. You have to really know your target market and not be afraid to narrow it down & exclude the groups that aren't most likely to buy from you and yes, you have to run them with frequency.  You've got to boost the post as it's "taking off", so to speak.  You have to spend money to make money. 

You also have to gear those ads to your target audience. See "How To Define Your Target Audience" HERE. Most people select to gear their ads towards the people that like their page only. Why do that when you can land your ad in front of people that you know WANT to see it? Facebook Ads are part of an algorithm, like a song,  if you will.  While it's playing everyone is dancing. When it stops, people stop dancing, but if you play another song directly afterwards, they'll keep dancing. You keep the rhythm going. You have to keep the rhythm going on your page. You cannot expect to boost 1 post and see a drastic change. 

I like to test my waters with which ads will work the best.  When I see a post taking off I like to boost it for $5 for 3 days to see how it goes.  If it takes off, I edit the boost for longer and for more money.  If it doesn't go as well as I like, I move on to the next.

If it doesn't do anything you aren't doing it right. Do you run boosted posts several times a week? It is not a once in a while type of thing. There's a flow called an algorithm. You have to keep up with the pace of it. When one post does well, you should boost it (within whatever your budget is) and keep going from there, boosting something new every couple of days to stimulate post engagement. Once you do, you'll notice a higher number of organic engagement on other posts that are not boosted as well. This is because Facebook has picked up on the "flow" of your page. Not running any ads is kind of like having a dead page, in Facebook's eyes. They move right over you to the people that are paying.

You can run ads on any budget. To be in business, you must have an advertising budget for yourself. Spending more doesn't mean you're going to get more. You don't just boost any post. You boost the ones that seem to be getting more traffic than others (Facebook will kindly let you know which ones are doing better than others. See photo below.), then you run a boost from there.  On top of having consistent, awesome sales, my business page also went from 5k likes to 9k in a week and a half from 1 single picture. People see that picture, then go like you're page, etc. It starts a chain reaction. Soon after that, you'll notice likes on older posts as newcomers come to your feed to see what you're all about.

Some have asked, "Ya, but what did you have to pay for that ad?", sarcastically. I paid $5 for that ad when I originally boosted it after seeing it take off. I've spent a total of $14 on it and it's around 26k and still climbing. I attribute that completely, to knowing my target audience.

To start on Facebook & not having any paid ads, but expect to grow is a dead end. It is possible for very few people & even if it happened, you'll never get big that way.  By big, I mean $6,000- $12,000/ month profits or more. You'll only reach a small fraction of people that have liked your page & it is a very long and exhausting climb. Why do that when you can pay a very small fee for such an amazing service?  I hear people all the time that blow Facebook Ads off and say, "I am not going to pay to advertise my page" in a huff and puff sort of way.  Here's my response to that:  Just 20 years ago you'd have had to go door to door handing out flyers & calling people all day, hoping to stumble upon someone that is interested in your product. Now you can pay Facebook to put the data they work hard to collect, to work, and land yourself directly in front of your target audience ALL OVER THE WORLD. You've got to expect to spend money to make money and you've got to allow that into your budget. Set a monthly advertising budget, plan out how much you can spend per week, base your ads and ad cost around that.  For instance, if you want to boost a post every other day for $5 on Facebook and you want each one to run for 3 days, you need to budget $15-$20/ week, choose your photos/posts & the dates you want to boost them and plan accordingly.

Well, that's all I've got for today!  Check out our other small business posts HERE for tips to running your small business effectively.

How do you boost your posts?  What works best for you?  Tell us in the comments below!

Want to advertise your small business on the right column of the Liv & Co. blog?  Click HERE.

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Shop Liv & Co. HERE.

Looking for the "Glitter is my signature color" bodysuit and shirt?  Click HERE.  Looking for the headband?  Click HERE.

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