You Get Exactly What You Ask For

Facebook, huh - yeah!

What is it good for? - Definitely not for your privacy!

To be honest, I forgive him. As a matter of fact, I wholeheartedly support him in his quest to find out what it means to be human!

Joking aside, I really can't blame him. The man's smart; with a phenomenal team, he's built a product which utilises human vanity to the extreme. And now, he's a billionaire. You know, I really wouldn't mind being one of the most disliked people on the planet if the cost was being a billionaire who can do whatever he likes. But maybe that's just me.

"Disliked, you say?" Well, yes - the Facebook business model according to a great majority is simple: take all the possible data in order to send people "relevant" ads. And it can be very... Legally grey at times. Which is why the people behind Facebook are really, really disliked. But, I blame ourselves mostly for just giving in to this data harvesting operation. And the politicians we've elected to "represent us"... But are in fact representing the big corporations.

At the risk of going too far off topic before even presenting the topic, I guess it's time to present it!

We're going to talk about their advertising tool, also known as Facebook Ads Manager. To be honest, it's an impressive tool - at times. And at times... Well, we'll see.

Facebook Ads Manager aka Devious Little Bugger

In Theory...

In theory, it's a fun tool. You can create great campaigns which can cover general audiences all the way to the smallest niches (provided the iOS 14 update didn't cock up your tracking options). The demographic options, their interests and behaviours covered by the tool really are plentiful and provided you have the idea who your target audience is, you can easily target them. There is a good reason why people often say that Facebook knows you better than you know yourself. Because it does.

In Reality...

Not the sharpest tool out in the shed, that Ads Manager. And there is a good reason. A Silicon Valley insider who left Google for Facebook had this to say:

"I was at Google, left for Facebook, and quite frankly the code quality there was horrible. They are not following any code-hygiene standards, not talking between departments to maintain a single codebase despite their monorepo culture, not thinking things through to make them simple rather than sexy. I saw a single small library copied in three places in the repo... and this wasn't the main repo, but one of the dozen or so sub-repos that they still have around. I saw code that hadn't been maintained in three years, over four major revisions, and different teams within one department were using all of them, refusing to coordinate or upgrade. It was hell."

Their apps are commonly referred as bloatware. Remember all the data gathering? Well, I guess you gotta commit some sacrifices here and there. From what I've been told online, their ad hoc implementation of the code leads to oftentimes disastrous results - for the end user. But, at Facebook, they needn't really care too much. They're still too big to fall, and the ad revenue they get means they can go on doing whatever the hell they're doing and without a single care in the world.

Surviving Ads Manager

Barring the influx of the suicidal tendencies which are bound to overwhelm you when opening Ads Manager, there are ways to surviving and maybe even thriving. Oh, who am I kidding... It's a massive grind.

Tip #1 - Just Don't Do It

Leave your marketing role and learn a trade. You'll be much happier and... - Oh, wait, that's not why you're here...? Fineee. Be a marketeer. Your life - your problem!

Tip #2 - Yummy Creatives

Content is King! The content you put out there, the ads - the creatives themselves are the ones which will make or break your campaigns! When I first started playing around in Ads Manager, oh, back in 2016, I didn't really need to do much for my campaigns. Albeit, my goals were very simplistic then. Still, if I did the same today, I'd just be wasting money.

All the social media platforms change their algorithms all the time. Including the Ads Manager. Fun times, eh? Just by the time you get the hang of it - here comes an update!

Nowadays, most successful ads are those which have the organic feel. Make them look like they're user-generated content (UGC) and you're half-way there. Oh, and do make them simple. People nowadays are distracted by the maelstorm of ads and other content. If they need more than a few seconds to figure out what you're selling (or providing), you've lost your prospect.

"Osnove digitalnog marketinga" or when translated "basics of digital marketing" was one of the educational lectures DUMP Association of young programmers organised back in the early 2020, before Covid-19 screwed our plans for pretty much everything. The participants of the lecture had the opportunity to learn about the basics of marketing, and then they were given a rundown of the Ads Manager. Tl;dr: it was a success!

In order to advertise that very lecture, we used a simplistic formula. Blue colour scheme so the people can make the connection immediately, tell them what they'll learn and the info such as the date, time and location. What I always keep saying is: we don't need a master piece. No Giocondas, no Guernicas; we need a quick commercial creative which is simple and eye-catching.

I'm also a big fan of the Von Restorff effect, also known as the "isolation effect". You obviously can't use it all the time, but when you do, it's bound to catch attention.

As for the placement of the creatives? Don't shy away from testing all the options. This means you will need to create more creatives. Well, do it! Most marketeers nowadays can use Canva for such tasks. And might I say, it's a wonderful tool. Suck it, designers!

Tip #3 - The Holy Trinity

Some people just leave their campaigns running and forget about them. I wish it were so simple, but it isn't. Don't do that. You will achieve what you want (for the most part) with the Ads Manager - provided you follow all the right steps.

The problem is, do you know what you really want?

For more clarification on the matter, kindly refer to the title of this article.

I don't know what your product, or service is about. I don't even know whether you have a following, any prior sales, or anything at all! Hell, even if I wrote an example for pretty much every possible scenario out there, it probably will become outdated within two to three months. Nonetheless, we can talk about some basics which almost never change. Almost.

Think of your funnel. And act regularly upon it. Probably more important, which I should have mentioned first: think of your objectives and their goals.

On one project, I wanted to get people on one website and have them do stuff on it. After spending lots of tax-payers' money (best way to spend money, innit?), it was a monumental fail. How? I used traffic as the campaign objective. I got loads of traffic, but they all left within the first minute. What. The. Hell?! I also might have claimed that the website itself was a clunky mess which deterred people. Truth be told, it might have been a half-truth.

Back on topic... Well, I got exactly what I asked for.

I wanted traffic. I got traffic. Loads of traffic. Facebook knows its audiences. They sent me the people who were most likely to click on the given ads. And... That was it. If I wanted people who would have done something on the page, I should have used a different campaign objective.

Conversion is the name of the game. After having learned the hard way, I've become a conversion objective dogmatist. Even if you suggest a better objective, with me, it'll probably fall on deaf ears. But, hey, if you're in E-Commerce, if you do anything besides Conversion with purchase event trigger, then you're doing it wrong! Yes, I'm that cocky.

See this funnel? The description on the site I got it from describes it as: How To Create an Ads Funnel That Drives Sales; I, on the other hand just like to call it Waste Of Money Funnel. Look, if you don't believe me, go online and ask any PPC marketeer what's the deal with it. Or even better, try it yourself (don't; I was being a sarcasting a**hole).

Tip #3 - Tracking Your Every Move

Facebook and Instagram are already tracking their users. No point in you not doing the same.

You must have heard of Pixel by now. Or even used it. Well, there's a new player in town: Conversions API. Pixel and Conversions API can work in tandem now, but eventually, it will all completely change (as always). Times move on, I guess. Some people think that Conversions API is there to help marketeers with tracking post iOS 14 update. It's not.

As of now, the Conversions API helps by improving the data integrity by using client side data, thus helping fill in any gaps that the Pixel may be missing. There is added benefit to using the Conversions API, especially if you have offline data you would like to optimise towards. If you're interested in installing it, here's the guide.

Tip #4 - Let There Be Ads

OK, the ads are now running. What do you do? Nothing! Not at least for three to five days.

People nowadays have that need to check everything, all the damn time. No. Just don't.

Facebook is always learning. If you edit your campaigns every single day, you won't really achieve much. As a matter of fact, the only thing you'll do is sabotage the learning algorithm - to your own detriment.

Therefore, just leave it be. If you don't see results after three to five days, then start working on them. This, I'm talking both from my experience, and from what others have told me. No need for you to do the same cock-up.

Now, you must be thinking: "What if I put my objective to be traffic (cheap traffic, potentially cheap conversions), and then let Facebook learn?"

The only thing Facebook will learn is how to get you more clicks on your website. Remember, with the Ads Manager, you get exactly what you ask for.

Tip #5 - Go Outside

Yeah, that's my final tip. What? You expected more about the Ads Manager? Look, everyone's situation is unique. Without knowing more details about it, I can't really comment about it. I can act as some sort of marketing guru and then go on and talk how digital marketing nowadays is better than television (no s*** Sherlock). Even worse is when fellow marketeers act like it's some sort of revelation. C'mon, every first year, first semester, first week marketing student will know this stuff!

Oh, and being in the nature is far better then withering away on this tool. Trust me.

Final Thoughts

While using the Ads Manager, remember: You Get Exactly What You Ask For. And it's upon you to learn how to ask for it. Only then will you get that sweet ROAS!

That will be all for today. Kindly stay tuned until the next time I decide to move my lazy ass and write another fun article. Sending remote hugs and kisses to all you readers! Byeee!