The MASSIVE Changes Facebook’s Making To Their Platform Advertisers Need To Know To Win!

What’s up, guys?!

Corbitt Chandler here… Founder and CEO of Apex Current.

Recently, I was provided a summary of some major changes taking place on Facebook’s platform by someone I highly trust and respect. These changes were announced at F8, Facebook’s annual conference (anybody else bother to apply for F8, get accepted and pay for their credentials only to not attend like me?? smh), which takes place in June, so in the world of technology this news is relatively old.

I received the information a few weeks ago and after recently having one of my Business Manager accounts shutdown by Facebook (it’s okay, I have multiple), I wanted to share this info so other agencies, ad buyers, consultants, etc. out there could avoid being in the same type of situation.

With that in mind, I don’t have the original source for this info. If you happen to stumble across this post and know the F8 attendee who crafted this, please provide their name in the comments section so I can credit them in the post (also, if you know them personally, please tell them thank you).

Introduction - A few important housekeeping items of note:

Before diving in, I want to make clear that I have amended what was provided ever so slightly so that it speaks to paid advertisers on the platform. I’ve also reorganized the original info just a bit so that there’s a more of a natural flow, as what I was provided looked to be notes that were taken on the fly at the conference.

Last, but not least, I’ve siloed everything into two parts; the first section revolves around changes in regards to posts and/or ads and a second section that focuses on Facebook Groups, which is what they’ve noted “as the future” of the platform.

Alright, with all of that out of the way, let’s dive in! You’ll have to forgive any typos. My brain has a tendency to move well in advance of my fingers… Plus, the “E” key on my MacBook Pro is broken right now because if you ask my wife apparently I like to make the most obnoxiously loud noise as possible when I type on my keyboard! 💪

Part 1 - Changes to how the algorithm views & optimizes all content (posts, ads, etc.):

The content we post on Facebook is supposed to create meaningful interactions. If it doesn’t, your post is less likely to be seen and suppressed by the algorithm. This extends to ads and why Facebook has removed “Relevance Score” and added the 3 new metrics for advertisers to be able to gauge ad quality as it relates to their targeted audience.

Contests, giveaways, and any posts or ads with language around the word “free” is starting to be suppressed by Facebook. If you are saying “get this free” or “enter this giveaway,” those will be suppressed by the algorithm. This goes back to creating meaningful interactions.

Newsfeed is shrinking. Stories are merging with the newsfeed. Messenger is being favored. Take the time to look through all the available options in Messenger. Messenger is soon going to be separated from the desktop, meaning it will be its own entity. WhatsApp and Messenger will be contained and can be used for direct selling. As mentioned, Facebook is saying that what they’re focused on moving to and the future of the platform revolves around “privacy.”

You CANNOT tell users how to react. In other words, you can’t say things like “Love this post and...” or “Comment below and…” Those phrases will suppress your reach because they are considered engagement baiting. What you should say is something like, “Leave me a heart and…” Engagement baiting includes words like COMMENT, VOTE, REACT, SHARE, TAG.

Teach users (e.g. prospects / clients) to leave a reaction, not a LIKE. Liking a post means nothing to the Facebook algorithm. It does not qualify as an engagement. Users need to LOVE it, react with SHOCK, or use the LAUGHING reaction. This shows positive user experience and will help your organic reach. Comments also boost your reach and GIF’s give you the highest ranking in the algorithm.

Ads are targeting new avenues. You can no longer have a small budget for Facebook ads and expect it to be successful. You need to understand targeting or you’ll be wasting money. Start testing ads in other ways that are not on the newsfeed.

Going LIVE is no longer on Facebook’s radar as an ORGANIC algorithm piece. If you didn’t go live often before, this is good news for you. If you are one who utilized it a lot, you’ll need to find other ways to boost organic reach. However, if your live video creates meaningful engagement, it will boost in algorithm ranking (with the reduction of the algorithm’s organic favoring given to FB Live videos, you may have seen a user or brand - that was aware of this ‘preferential treatment’ - posting a high volume of FB Live videos & with these new changes, has reduced or completely abandoned those efforts entirely).

Links in posts or ads can be determined as click-bait, or something that flags what’s called the “Click Gap Signal.” The Click Gap Signal is a measuring of inbound and outbound link patterns of a site that is being linked out from Facebook. Facebook will reduce the reach if the number of clicks from Facebook is higher than it is in other areas of the internet. In other words, if more people are going to your website via Facebook versus an organic Google search, your post will be considered click-bait or spam. Facebook will suppress it and/or shut down your ad account. While that might not be true, that’s what the algorithm will see (true story - as I mentioned in the intro, recently I had an entire Business Manager account shutdown. Every asset within that account is gone, goodbye, thanks for playing…).

This isn’t necessarily news to any decent ad buyer, but Facebook is tracking the link clicked to the funnel. This means Facebook will follow where the link is going. This could also trigger the Click Gap Signal.

Don’t limit yourself to one platform. Stories, Groups, Messenger, etc. are where you need to be on Facebook, but you should also be on other platforms. Move users away from Facebook to other areas. Spread out your reach. You shouldn’t build your entire business on one platform that you have no control over.

Sharing is not caring. Sharing from your page to your timeline/newsfeed is against the Terms of Service. By dropping your page link in a Sharing is Caring post, you are putting yourself at risk to have your account shut down. Sharing sale posts made on a page you are the admin of is also a no-no. Facebook wants page content to stay on the page. Selling is not allowed on your personal timeline. However, if a user (a non-admin of your page) shares a post from your page, the complete opposite happens. This boosts your ranking in the algorithm. Facebook views this as positive content because a user cared enough about the post to share it. If someone comments on that users shared post, you get an even higher boost.

Understand Facebook’s Community Standards and know that it’s a bot screening your content. It’s important to work within those rules in order to be present on social media. Understanding and following these standards will help boost your ad in the algorithm and help with your ad approvals.

Part 2 - Facebook’s new focus on Groups as the future of the platform’s growth:PART 2 - FACEBOOK’S NEW FOCUS ON GROUPS AS THE FUTURE OF THE PLATFORM:

Facebook is focusing on privacy and making the user experience more intimate. That’s what the algorithms is going to start catering to. If you don’t have a group strategy, getting one going might be a good route. Here are some items to be aware of if you’re the Admin of a group or are implementing a Facebook Group strategy:

Group Admins are responsible for all group activities. If content is posted in a group that goes against Facebook’s Terms of Service (TOS) or Community Standards, admins are at risk to lose their personal profile, their business page, and their group. Admins can be shut down with no recourse.

Negative ratings reflect poorly on the admin team. Negative ratings are the angry face, the sad face, member reported content, and the number of people who block you. These things also reflect poor ratings on groups and suppress reach. Facebook wants the user experience to be positive. Sad or angry face reactions tells Facebook that the user is having a bad experience, therefore diminishing your organic reach.

Post approval process is a responsibility. Admins should have post approval turned on in groups to protect themselves from negative ratings. Questions should be asked for new joins. It’s the admins responsibility to monitor and know who they are allowing in their group.

When members leave the group, they have the choice to take all of their content with them. This applies to admins as well. So if you had an admin that posted great content and then they leave the group, they have the ability to take their posts out of the group.

Sales posts on your page and in your group should be less than 20%. Facebook doesn’t want an abundance of “buy my (insert product / service)” posts because they don’t create meaningful interactions.

Admins should reduce takeovers or change how they are phrased. The word TAKEOVER is being suppressed. Instead, have a PARTY, an AUTHOR GATHERING, or EVENING ENTERTAINMENT.

Reduce the number of admins in the group. Again, this goes back to admin responsibility. The group admins should be you and only one or two other trusted sources.

Create Group Rules within Facebook (not just pinned in the announcements or written in the ‘about’ section of the group). They set the tone for the group and gives you something to point to if someone is not following the rules. It is your responsibility to make sure everyone is on the same page, or you risk losing your account with no recourse.

Link your group to your page. Facebook is going to be coming out with features that are specific to business pages that have groups.

Be a conversation starter in groups. Earn the badge. It shows you are creating meaningful conversations. Users are like you. If you like to see something on Facebook, chances are that they will like it too.

Groups deemed harmful on Facebook will be shut down. As per the statement put out by Facebook “…we identify and remove harmful groups, whether they are public, closed or secret. We can now proactively detect many types of violating content posted in groups before anyone reports them and sometimes before few people, if any, even see them.”

Conclusion - Don’t stand still, we all have to continually evolve:

Take advantage of these updates and changes! If they scare you a little (or a lot), that’s okay! What’s not okay is to stand in the same place doing the same old thing until your ads don’t produce any notable results oor worse. Anything you may see listed above that conflicts with your current strategy is only an opportunity in disguise. Don’t miss the importance of focusing on your groups given that’s where Facebook has decided to move their focus.

Digital marketers and ad buyers evolve everyday. This is just another element we have to evolve with to continue staying on top of our game! It might not be easy because for some of us this might change a great deal of what we’re used to as an effective strategy. As it goes with anything worth doing, the cream will always rise to the top!

Remember, Facebook’s number one product is UX (user experience) and they’re attempting to improve it so that more users spend time on the platform and engaging. Facebook’s number one source of revenue (currently) comes from advertisers so I highly doubt they’re planning to throw the baby out with the bath water. Evolve your strategy and figure out what it takes to win given these new standards (whether that’s for your clients or your business) and you’ll be rewarded for those efforts.

Ultimately, when you do figure out the recipe for success for your business or clients I strongly believe this “meaningful interaction” element Facebook is focusing on will be a game changer in many ways! In the long haul, it will create an environment where prospects who interact with your ads will have higher intent and improve the overall performance of your paid advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Good luck and Godspeed!

Corbitt

Need Impactful Results From Your Digital Ads?

“What’s up?! I’m Corbitt Chandler. My passion is growing businesses through effective digital marketing strategies. We’d love to help you!”

Corbitt Chandler consults with LinkedIn’s Head of Product for Campaign Manager

Corbitt Chandler Interviewed the Wealth Without Wall Street Podcast

Become A Facebook Ads Pro with My Digital Marketing Academy Kit Bundle!

Discounted For A Very Limited-Time Only!

---

More Articles from the Apex Current Blog

• Apex Current
• Audience Data
• BBJ
• Birmingham
• Birmingham Business Journal
• Breakout Games
• Business Support
• CEO Awards
• Chrome
• Clients
• Corbitt Chandler
• Dan Kennedy
• DesignRush
• Direct-Response Marketing
• Donald Trump
• Economic Development Partnership of Alabama
• Facebook
• Facebook Marketing
• Facebook Marketing Expert Program
• Google
• How To
• Medjet
• Medjet Assist
• MotionMobs
• Pages
• President of the United States
• Small Business Awards
• Social Media
• Yahoo Finance Article

---

Become A Facebook Marketing Pro with My Digital Marketing Academy Kit Bundle!

Here’s what you get with this offer:

• My Facebook Digital Marketing Intro Guide For Running Effective Ads That Drive Results.

• Unlimited Access to my Digital Marketing Academy Video Portal with Over 50 Videos Teaching You From Soup To Nuts How To Run Your Own Successful Paid Digital Campaigns.

• Exclusive Access to My Private Facebook Group Where You Can Get Ongoing Coaching, Learn From Myself and Others and Continue Refining Your Skills As A Digital Marketer.

• 30-Day Money Back Guarantee, if for any reason you’re not happy with your purchase - and you can keep my Facebook Marketing Guide for Free!

Discounted For A Very Limited-Time Only!

---

MOre APEX CURRENT VIDEOS

2019 DesignRush Award Highlight Video Reel

Apex Current Ad Intensive w/ Biz Owners (Assorted Clips)

Apex Current founder & CEO discusses Ad Relevance Score

YH Films - CEO’s Story: From a Deathbed in ICU to Success

How To Grow Your Mobile App Or Business Through Digital Paid Advertising In 2019

Prepare yourself... We’re about to dive into the intricacies of driving phenomenal user growth for your mobile app or increasing sales and leads for your business through paid digital advertising. This isn't just the deep end of the pool we're jumping into. This is more akin to plunging into the middle of the Pacific Ocean... at night... from a helicopter… Brace yourself. If you're not ready for a challenging swim, it's time to turn back.

3, 2, 1…

Here we go!

The Mobile App Marketing Landscape

There are numerous strategies to expand your mobile app's user base. However, if you have a dedicated marketing budget, none is more potent than paid digital advertising. That's not an exaggeration, it's an established FACT. Forecasts show that mobile app advertisers will allocate 42% of their overall marketing budget solely to digital ads in 2019 (Source: BusinessInsider).

Global advertising expenditure on digital platforms for mobile apps is projected to reach nearly $24 billion out of the $57 billion that will be spent on mobile apps (Source: App Annie Retrospective). This trend owes its traction to a straightforward reason: it works. Digital advertising grows user bases in a way that's scalable and trackable for your app. I would even go as far as suggesting that traditional marketing channels might dwindle to minimal, even non-existent, spends in the coming years. The traditional advertising approach is gradually fading away as new media takes over.

This transition has been underway for a while, but it appears to be accelerating for platforms like mobile apps due to several reasons: 1) the clear connection between digital ad platforms and mobile apps, 2) the fact that consumers spend most of their time (24/7/365) on their mobile devices and online, and lastly, 3) because paid digital advertising is algorithm-driven.

Built into every ad-serving platform—whether you're exploring Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Native Content, etc.—are algorithms. Platforms like Facebook™ Business Manager and Google™ Ads (formerly Adwords) employ these algorithms, which are critical to the success of digital ads as they learn and improve based on actions taken by individuals in the marketplace.

Take this example: several new users download the same mobile app over a 7-day window through a Facebook™ ad. Each platform varies in the volume of actions required to be completed within a specific timeframe, but when this happens, the algorithm optimizes (learns) to find new potential users for similar goals.

Essentially, this provides these ad servers with the necessary resources based on the data they're receiving. That data is then used by the algorithm to find more prospects in the marketplace that, based on a combination of factors (demographics, buying propensities, geography, gender, etc.), are most likely to repeat the same action.

However, that's not to say that just anyone can throw up a clip art-based ad with a few lines of copy, target their perceived ideal user, and witness this optimization magic. Regrettably, it doesn't work that way.

Even the most adept digital media buyers undergo a process of continuous refinement to hit that sweet spot. To illustrate why this is not readily achievable, I like to reference Dan Kennedy’s marketing triangle. It focuses on three factors: Message, Media, and Market. The Message is your ad, which includes the copy and creative aspects. Media refers to the marketing channel you're using for your ad, like Facebook, Google, Youtube, etc. The Market refers to your target audience or ideal user prospect.

Dan Kennedy’s Marketing Triangle

What It Takes…

If it were easy, anyone could do it. If it were that straightforward, you'd see more large ad firms venturing into performance-driven digital. This is our specialty at Apex Current. At our core, we focus on conversion marketing, meaning we drive tangible results for businesses. For example, we facilitate app installs for mobile app products, online product sales for direct-to-consumer companies, and quality leads for service-based businesses.

The Dan Kennedy triangle I mentioned earlier relates to one of the most, if not the most, critical factors when advertising your mobile app product (or anything, for that matter). The message—i.e., your actual ad—must include copy and creative aspects that appeal to the user base you're trying to attract. The market, or audience, is the user base you're targeting. It's imperative that both message and market align, so you're addressing the perceived needs/desires of that particular audience. Finally, the media is the channel you're leveraging to advertise your mobile app. Essentially, this should be a platform where your target audience spends considerable time, such as Facebook™, Google™, etc.

View fullsize

There’s not much more to a winning formula than what the above image displays (click to enlarge).

Step 1 - Start By Defining Your Market

Who is your ideal end user? Again, it’s important to note that this part of the process is more important than anything else you’ll do. If your mobile app product is an established business and/or there are established businesses that’s a good place start. For any business or product that is already established in the marketplace, utilize the data of your current user base or buyer audience to find more like-minded buyer prospects.

One of the best opportunities out there would be utilizing Facebook™’s LTV Lookalike Audience feature. What you’ll do is go to Business Manager (which is where you buy and place paid media or ads on Facebook™ and through Facebook™’s Ad Network) and go to Audiences. While inside the Audiences tab, you’ll upload a custom audience. Custom Audiences is a feature Facebook allows businesses and brands to take advantage of where you upload either your actual lead list or buyer list to the platform to utilize for advertising. What you need is a CSV file (Excel and Google™ Sheets both allow you to export a CSV file) with your buyer information on it.

There are two different types of Lookalike audiences. There are general Lookalike audiences which are audiences that look like your buyer audience, but aren’t. Facebook uses their information like email and a phone number to reconcile that data to their personal Facebook™ account and find similar potential buyers based upon that information. You can create these audiences based upon a differential of 1 - 10% meaning a 1% Lookalike audience is 99% similar to the audience you uploaded.

The difference here is that we’re going to use an LTV Lookalike not just a general one. The additional factor needed in this scenario is the price point they purchased your product or service at. That additional data set will allow Facebook™ to find similar lookalike buyers who also have either purchased products at that price point or are able to purchase products at that price point. You’ll then run your ads to this audience you’ve created.

Pictured above is where you’ll upload your LTV Audiences. Where to find: go to Business Manager / Menu / Assets / Audiences / Create Audience / Custom Audience

What if your Mobile App or business isn’t established?

We’re okay here. While I believe LTV Audiences are pretty amazing, they’re certainly not the end all, be all. Everything you do you have to test. LTV Audiences may not work in your circumstances for any number of reasons. If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to look to other brands or businesses who either A) serve that specific audience or B) have a similar mobile app product or business model to yours. You can do this by going into the Audience Insights section while in Business Manager.

View fullsize

Facebook™’s Audience Insights

You’ll be able to look at the demographic information for specific interests that are inline with the audiences for your product or service. From there, create a list of these interest-types. You’ll use those to target individuals with your ads and see which ones perform best. Something you’ll want to do is test multiple interest types when you’re targeting. So, instead of just throwing them all together and targeting mutually, you’ll want to break them up into separate groups and test separately. Whether that’s literally one interest at a time or you group them together is up to you. Doing this will hedge your bets and give you multiple data points to look at. You’ll target your selected audiences with a small portion of your ad budget to see which ones are responding to your ad.

View fullsize

Specific Interests displayed based off the likes of a page you’re connected to.

This same methodology goes for running ads across Google™’s platforms whether it’s Search Ads, Youtube™ Ads, Display, etc. When creating your Campaign you’ll define your audience(s) and use different information which will be divided into three categories including: demographics, in-market and remarketing. Under the demographics tab you’ll dial this information in (see below).

Pictured above is where you set up your targeting for your Google™ Ads Campaign. Search Engine Marketing through Google™ Ads is an awesome option for the majority of companies looking to target prospects searching for their product or services.

Google™ Ads also has an almost identical feature to Facebook™’s Lookalike audiences called ‘Similar Audiences.’ In this section you’ll go through the same type of process to create your similar audiences based upon your list of leads, users or buyers.

Last, but not least, if for whatever reason these aren’t options for you then do your best to define avatar(s) for who your ideal user or audience is. A great way to do this is by really defining everything about that individual. For example, ask questions like:

• How old are they?

• Are they predominantly male or female?

• What magazines do they read?

• What’s their income level?

• Do they own a home or not?

• Where do they work?

• What kind of car do they drive?

• What do they do for fun?

• What blogs do they read or podcasts do they listen to?

• etc…

Let’s take a break for a second. I told you when we started we were going to be in deep waters. Hopefully, you’re taking some notes. Maybe it’s a good time to go splash some water on your face and put a pin in this for a minute. Seriously, get up and stretch or something because we’ve got a significant way to go.

Step 2 - Deciding Where Your Prospect Spends Their Time?

Running paid social media advertising through Facebook™ and/or search engine marketing through Google™ Ads are both more than likely going to be viable options for you, but what if they’re not? The Media (which is the channel or digital platform you’re going connect with your audience on) is obviously very important. Your ideal user or buyer will help guide your decision-making process as to where your ads need to be.

Depending on your mobile app, product or service-type, search ads via Google™ are probably always an option as it is the number 1 search engine in the world. Does it make sense for all business models out there? Maybe not… It really will come down to your budget and where that specific platform fits in.

Facebook™, on the other hand, has something like 1/3 of the world’s population tracking as monthly users. Odds are it will be a pretty solid bet as well, but here in the U.S. it seems to skew a little bit older than social media platforms like Snapchat™. If what you’re advertising is intended for an audience 13 - 21 or so, Snapchat™ could be a good option for you. The ad buying experience is similar to that of Facebook™ except one crucial difference - Snapchat’s Geofencing is far superior in my humble opinion. You can really narrow down the specific locations you’re targeting, while on Facebook the most they allow is a 1 mile radius or zip code (without some “ninja tricks”). With Snapchat, you can target a specific venue like a building, convention center or stadium serving ads to that audience where they are, when they’re at that location.

Maybe your mobile app product is for streamlining business services, in that case, LinkedIn™ might be a great option. In the B2B space, their platform is a great option. The one thing we’ve found is that when running paid ads on the platform, the frontend costs are exceedingly high when compared to other platforms out there like the ones I’ve referenced. This means that you’ll have a low CTR (click thru rate - which is a percentage based on the amount of clicks you’re getting verses the number of impressions) and high CPC (cost per click - which refers to how much it’s costing for someone to click your ad based on your budget). With that in mind, when a prospect you’ve targeted does engage with your ad, we’ve found that buyer intent is typically high meaning they’re highly likely to take the action that you’re driving them to e.g. downloading your mobile app, buying your product or inquiring to learn more about your service.

The point is, go where your market is spending the majority of their time. Depending on your resources, maybe you’re testing multiple platforms, but the majority of what you allocate should be the one that makes the most sense for your business because that’s the one your audience is using most.

Step 3 - How To Craft Your Messaging

Your messaging should speak to your audience directly wherever and whenever possible. This is how you get their attention and you’ll typically do so on social media platforms. I heard the example once that if you walked into a crowded area and yelled, “Hey, everybody!” You’d certainly get some weird looks, but everyone would turn around looking confused and then more than likely pass you off unless there was some sort of dire situation at hand. In turn, if you walked into a room and said, “Hey, fisherman!” anyone who’s into fishing would definitely be intrigued.

The reason being is that you’re speaking directly to that specific isolated group within the masses. So, if your mobile app product is something to make a mom’s life easier, you’ll want to get their attention with something in in the first line of your copy like FOR MOM’S ONLY. Now, it’s important to note that this won’t work on all platforms or even be allowed in certain scenarios on the platforms you are able to use this tactic on. This is typically a solid route for Facebook™ ads, but it’s hit or miss on what’s allowed and what’s not.

You don’t have to be as blatantly obvious as my above example. It really depends on the market you’re targeting. The ad example shown here is a retargeting ad that we run to individuals who are looking for Mobile App Advertising services that have visited our website, but not completed our desired goal.

View fullsize

An example of an Apex Current FB ad for mobile app marketing services.

Standing out is a challenge these days. We are all inundated with information to the nth degree. Another little factoid that I found somewhere is that the human attention span is at like 7 seconds so time is limited. Separately, this means that we’ve surpassed the common gold fish with an attention span that’s a whole two seconds shorter.

Next up, dig into the pain a bit. My mentor always said that pain converts over pleasure and the stat is something like 80% of the time. What does your mobile app product or business solve for your prospect? What solution are you bringing to the table to enhance their everyday life? Maybe this doesn’t work in every scenario, but it works in a great deal of them. The idea here is that you’re holding their attention or keeping the conversation going as it were, to see what you have to offer. Again, the clock is ticking.

A great tactic on this point is to ask them a question. There’s a whole myriad of ways to do this, but examples of how you could start your question would be the following:

• Are you tired of…

• Do you want to…

• Are you ready for…

• Did you know that…

• etc…

Speak to something that’s close to home for that individual that you’re calling out and you’ll keep their attention.

At that point, you can get into the benefits (not features) of your mobile app, product or service. Benefit-driven statements will create action over featured-based statements 9 times out of 10. This, again, has to do with the fact that you’re speaking directly to them, their needs and how you’re solving those needs. Everyone deep down wants to feel special and accepted and doing this might just make their day as well as create the action of them downloading your app or buying your product.

It’s also important to humanize your ad as well as the page it clicks to as much as possible. Depending on what your ad’s for, do your best to show imagery with people in the images and/or video. People relate to people so this will make a difference in how they engage with your ad. As part of this, you want to show people’s faces whenever you can. A person’s face conveys trust and you want your prospect to trust you enough that they take the desired action for your advertisement.

Search Engine Marketing will require a little bit of a different approach. Search ads are served to individuals who are searching for products or services that are relevant to their search (this is called search intent) and the keywords or phrases you’ve selected for your campaign. The more closely aligned your ads are to these keywords or phrases the better it will perform. In an ideal scenario, your search ads literally include whatever those may be as well as wherever that prospect lands after clicking your ad (website, sales funnel, etc.). This is called your Quality Score.

Search ads on Google™ being shown are based mainly on 4 factors including daily spend & your quality score between your ads and your keywords:

1. Your daily ad spend or the budget allocated to campaigns.

2. The expected CTR of the type of ad you’re running.

3. How relevant your ad is to what the audience you’re targeting is searching for.

4. The experience those individuals have on the page they land on after clicking your ad.

The good news is that you don’t have to have the largest budget in the world to improve your ad’s performance.

A quality score of one of Apex Current’s search ads.

If you’re targeting the same audience with the same type of offering that a competitor with deeper pockets might be, and you can beat them on the other factors mentioned, your ad will be shown before their’s is shown. We at Apex Current actually have proof of performance here running search ads through Google™ that outperform companies like; Facebook™, Inc. (yes, Facebook™ runs Search Ads), Taboola™ and the competitors that are targeting the same audience as we are targeting.

You can see a few of our ads in our ad gallery by clicking here.

Okay, you’re doing great. We’re almost finished and I’m so proud of you for making it this far. There’s one last component I’m going to discuss in this writeup that’s critical to the success of running digital paid media. After that, we’ll go dry off and get on with our lives.

Step 4 - Creating Conversion-Based Ads

The last step I’m going to discuss revolves around how to create conversion-based ads. These are ads that achieve conversion goals which can be anything from a mobile app download to the selling of a product.

View fullsize

In Business Manager, you’ll head to Events Manager / Custom Conversions or App Events.

The algorithm will optimize around the specific goal you set for your, ad and there are a great deal of options which vary depending on the platform you’re using. Here are a few examples; conversions or app events (no brainer), post engagements, traffic (or clicks), brand awareness, reach, etc.

Types of actions ads can be optimized for between ad types and custom conversions…

1. App Events: your prospect downloading or installing your mobile app product

2. Conversions: your prospect taking an action like initiating checkout, making a purchase, opting in to learn more, downloading your free guide, etc.

3. Post Engagement: Your prospects engaging with your ad by liking, commenting or sharing it.

4. Traffic: Your prospects traveling to your website to have a look.

5. Brand Awareness: Based on Ad Recall Lift which means the likelihood your prospect will remember your ad after seeing it.

6. Reach: Spray and pray… Basically, hits your targeted audience as quickly as possible based upon your budget and the size of the audience targeted.

7. Walk Ins: These are ads there are optimized for in-store walk ins.

8. Schedule: Optimizing for a prospect to schedule a consultation or meeting with your business.

9. Complete Registration: Registering for an event or conference.

10. Etc., etc…

We want to create ads that optimize for either app events or conversions if we’re looking to achieve tangible results like a mobile app install, selling a product, lead, etc. For this, you’ll need to make sure you have the specific tracking code for whichever platform you’re using installed where you’re sending your prospect to take action. For Facebook™ this is called a Pixel, Google™ a Conversion Ad Tracking code, LinkedIn is an Insights Tag, etc.

View fullsize

In Business Manager, you’ll head to Events Manager / Custom Conversions.

View fullsize

In Business Manager, you’ll head to Events Manager / Data Sources to set up App Events.

You’ll optimize to the conversion point (the place you want your prospect to go AFTER they make they take action - think ‘thank you page’). You can only optimize one layer down which is important. If a direct-to-consumer company is running ads to their website homepage that are optimized for purchases, they won’t work. This is because typically someone would have to find the product, add the product to their cart, initiate checkout and after the checkout page would be the thank you page for their product. So, there’s multiple layers there the prospect must travel through.

So, in that scenario or any similar scenario you only optimize to the next point in the journey the prospect is able to travel to. From there, you use retargeting ads and abandoned cart strategies to bring them back, optimizing for those next actions which, unfortunately, we don’t have time to get into today.

For mobile apps specifically wanting to advertise on Facebook™ another route to go to make things simple is by installing the SDK (Software Development Kit) Facebook™ provides into the infrastructure of your app. From what I understand from my developer friends this isn’t a super time intensive or costly addition to any mobile app that’s already built. That said, I’m not a developer and it could be a case-by-case scenario. This not only allows for optimization of your ads, but a seamless experience for your end user since they don’t have to enter their basic information that Facebook already has as part of their account when they install / log in. You’ll optimize for App Events which is completed simply enough by connecting your app to your desktop once the SDK is installed.

Last, but not least, it’s important to note that your ad won’t be shown to the entire audience you’ve selected for targeting. The algorithm optimizes based on the goal you’ve set up and the likelihood that goal will be achieved. This means that if you select an audience sampling across the U.S. of 2MM prospects (side note: that’s a solid audience size for national ads depending on your budget) you believe could be your ideal users and/or buyers that only a portion of them will actually ever see your ad. This is due to the historical actions taken by the individuals in this audience (which includes piles upon piles of data), the algorithm can confidently predict who should see your ad.

View fullsize

Targeted audience vs the goal of your ad. Click to enlarge image.

Let’s Dry Off And Get Some Rest… Then, the real work starts!

I wish I could get into every nook and cranny of buying and placing digital media. Unfortunately, it’s a rabbit hole that goes deep, but what I’ve discussed here should help you find your way. There are plenty of resources out there that you can leverage to help you level up and have successful digital campaigns. Youtube™ certainly has plenty of videos on these topics and we offer a paid online course with over 50 tutorial videos which we’re constantly adding to that you can learn about if interested by clicking here. For local residents or if your business has any interest of traveling to us, we offer a 1-day full digital advertising intensive teaching all of our intellectual property which you can learn more about by clicking here. They’re both great options if you’re wanting to really dive in with the resources to run successful digital campaigns.

I hope this helps you drive amazing results for what you’re doing! Best of luck in your digital marketing journey! If you’re interested in talking to us about becoming an Apex Current client and us running performance-driven digital campaigns for your mobile app or business, click on the button below.

Let’s Chat! Interested in a Free Consultation? Click the button below to schedule with us.

Did You Know?

We are recognized as a top Ad Agency on DesignRush? Click here to learn more about DesignRush and what they do.

About The Author

Corbitt Chandler was recently honored as one of Birmingham’s Top CEO’s as well as was recognized for leading his business, Apex Current, to being a Small Business of the Year Finalist, both awards being peer nominated and selected by a panel of judges through the Birmingham Business Journal.

Corbitt’s areas of expertise are founded in him being an elite-level Facebook campaign strategist, Clickfunnels specialist and Infusionsoft CRM technician. He has collaborated with numerous multi-million dollar brands and businesses across the globe building effective digital campaign strategies and pipelines utilizing performance-driven advertising. He is the Founder and CEO of Apex Current as well as its subsidiary companies, CoolStream and WaveFlow.

A Unique Solution: Building An Integration Between Eventbrite and Ticketmaster

We’ve gotten the opportunity to do some pretty unique things here at Apex Current, but one of the most unique was building a bridge (or integration) between Eventbrite and Ticketmaster. From the outset, you might thing two things: 1) Why would anyone what to do that? and 2) What’s the big deal?

So, as far as #1 goes, I’ll go into more detail below, but to answer #2 it’s a big deal mainly because these are two competitors. They’re not supposed to play nice because they’re competing platforms used for event tickets. It posed an interesting challenge that we were game to tackle.

Our client the EDPA (Economic Development Partnership of Alabama) hosts an event called imerge every year. We were brought on for our specialty as conversion marketers to drive ticket sales for the event (I’m happy to report we ended up with over 1,000 tickets secured by attendees for the event).

One promotion that the executive staff wanted us to be able to take advantage of to increase sales was an alignment they had with Sloss Fest - a large weekend concert festival hosted here in Birmingham each year - for 50% off weekend passes if you purchased imerge 2018 tickets. The issue was that imerge tickets were being sold through Eventbrite and Sloss Fest tickets were being sold through Ticketmaster.

We were tasked with coming up with a solution to create a seamless experience for the user so that we could use the offer as a carrot to dangle in front of them to increase sales. This could have been something that ended up pretty clunky and we went through a number of scenarios. Even having our team or someone from EDPA’s team manually send an email to the ticket recipient with a promo code for Sloss Fest with each purchase. This obviously wasn’t ideal and would have created a great deal of unnecessary work.

Thankfully, our experience runs pretty deep at this point and we had already built a unique bridge for our client at Breakout Games that needed a similar solution. In this instance, we wanted to track unique purchases through our funnel so we integrated with their merchant services provider Stripe. But, we needed to provide a discount code that was part of our offer. So, we utilized a third-party integration platform called Integromat. This is based off logic and commands that we build through Infusionsoft - our CRM partner - to pull a unique promo code that would be embedded in an auto-generated email to the buyer after they complete their purchase.

We knew in theory this scenario would logically work the same way with the EDPA. We worked with the team at Ticketmaster to create a number of unique promo codes that would provide the 50% discount when someone purchased a Sloss Fest ticket. The key here is that each code is unique. If they weren’t it would make things significantly easier, but the obvious problem is that buyers could pass that code around to their friends. With a unique promo code, the user can only use the code one time and then it can’t be used again. This protects the promotion and doesn’t allow for repeat usage.

After building an integration with Infusionsoft and Evenbrite, we used logic through Integromat to automate scenarios so that these promo codes would fire off after each imerge ticket purchase. The command would pull the unique one-time code and send it to the imerge ticket purchaser using merge fields (information fields that pull into a formatted email unique information for that buyer).

This logic would also account for multiple imerge tickets purchased and the buyer receiving multiple discount codes for Sloss Fest. So, if the buyer purchased two tickets to imerge they would receive 2 x 50% discount promo codes to Sloss Fest and so on. By and large, this integration between Eventbrite and Ticketmaster performed without issue. There was about a 12-hour time period where one of the integrations we utilized went through some system updates that caused a lag, but other than that it performed beautifully.

When we find wins like this one we try to do whatever we can to leverage these key learnings for other opportunities. This custom solution is an anomaly, but it’s something we’ve found success in and built in the ability to replicate when needed for our client partners.

If you or someone you know needs an integration built between Eventbrite and Ticketmaster or if you have some other unique integration you need help with, reach out to us at support@apexcurrent.com. We’d love to discuss with you how we can help!

The Greatest Marketing Flaw

I hear these two little potentially damning words all the time from clients sizes no matter the company's size or specific industry. In corporate America where I spent over a decade, these two words were more than commonplace from the executive staff. 

These words are not just isolated to marketing campaigns. It can really form in any ideation process and the reality is unless you're talking about your flavor of ice cream, style of clothing, etc. they shouldn't be used. Certainly, not as Gospel...

The sentence always starts or ends or has somewhere in between two words that can be damning to any ad campaign and those two words are, “I like.” 

“I like this color on this section of the page.”

“I like the way this (insert whatever here) looks.”

“THIS is what I like.”

I guess from the outset it doesn’t sound like such a bad thing, right? The client should be able to express to you their preferences and to that I would say, "you're absolutely correct!" But, often times when “I like” or whatever that really subjective personal preference is trumps what matters, that's where we get into trouble. 

So, what is it that truly matters over our client's preferences or our own? What is it that truly matters when creating your campaign? It seems like in many situations almost the antithesis of “I like” is “what works.” What works is objective because it’s based on data and historical evidence of key learnings. Specifically, key learnings that are proven, time tested and drive campaign results.

These tactics and methodologies drive results not because, we at Apex or any marketer worth their salt wants it a certain way, but because it’s tested based on the marketplace. Those many rounds of testing lead to refinement that create these key learnings. 

You see we live in a free market economy here in the US (as well as any many other countries today) and that free market votes with their hard-earned dollars. 

As the marketplace makes certain decisions they, in essence, vote by either saying "yes" and taking the action or completing the goal you've set for your campaign (leads, sales, app installs, downloads, etc.) or saying "no" not completing the goal. As they vote up or down we iterate each campaign and it is improved upon to find what works. 

This is not some sort of blanket-type where one refined campaign for product/service-type A will translate over to product/service-type B. Each one is certainly unique as the offer, product/service and/or marketplace changes.

Dan Kennedy's marketing triangle displays this idea quite perfectly. Changing one of these three factors creates a new iteration process. But, you can take those historical key learnings and refined processes to the table which overtime lead to better decision making processes out the gates.

The emotional attachment to what a client likes based on their arbitrary preferences doesn’t matter at the end of the day and can prove detrimental to any campaign... Especially if those likes or preferences are not allowed to be iterated upon properly. 

As marketers and specifically on the performance-driven side of things where Apex lives, we have the responsibility to steer our clients to whatever has been seen to produce results as quickly as possible.

If not, a few different scenarios will play out:

1. The client’s campaign performance will suffer...

2. The client's campaign results will likely not be as positive as they could have been...

3. At the very worst, the client will be lost and 9 times out of 10 the blame will fall on the agency's shoulders. Even though, at the end of the day, you were just trying to serve them by implementing their preferences. It truly is a lose-lose situation.

Now, sometimes, though rare, your client’s personal preferences will perform well or the client understands this landscape enough that those preferences come from a place of proven data. 

But, again, even those situations are few and far between. The first situation would be similar to hitting a home run your first at bat. The latter is probably not likely going to be the case given they hired you because whatever they’re doing hasn’t been working.

It is our responsibility to guide our clients sometimes even more firmly than we would like to the best decisions possible even IF they feel strongly one way or another.

How to Create a Facebook Page

Yoooo!

Corbitt here... CEO and Founder of Apex Current Digital Marketing.

It looks like there's a significant amount of traffic coming to the site because you want to know how to create a Facebook page.

No problemo. I aim to please...

It's super simple so chillax. We'll get you through it one step at a time.

Step 1 - Login to your personal Facebook account at www.facebook.com.

Step 2 - While on your newsfeed, go to Pages under Explore next to that red arrow pictured below and click on it. (Side note, how cute is my daughter, Phoebe?!)

Step 3 - That will bring up all of the Pages you have liked and then hiding in the top right corner you'll see where it says "More." Click there and toggle to "Create Page." You can also simply click here to navigate to that section, but I'm all about, "teaching a man to fish."

Step 4 - Select the type of Page you are wanting to create... You can change this later if you need to so it doesn't have to be exact.

Step 5 - Once you decide the type of page you want to create, Facebook will ask you for the Category. For example, if you're a shoe company, it's going to ask you to select shoes and then what the name of your business is and you'll type that in.

After that, it really can't get any easier. Facebook will literally walk you through the process and information you need to provide.

I would go ahead and have the following information ready to make your life a lot easier and this process super simple.

- Business Name

- Profile Picture (Sized 800 x 800)

- Cover Photo (Sized 820 x 312) ... Canva.com is a great resource for sizing images and creating designs.

- Business Address

- Business Phone

- Business Email

- Business About Us / Mission Statement

- Hours of Operation

That's the basic stuff. Just to be clear, you don't need any of it. Facebook will let you proceed without it, but I would just gather it all now. An empty page, looks like your business is struggling or not professional.

On that note, I would start inviting all of your friends and family to like the page and get active posting 1 - 3 times per day. These days you have to promote posts, but that's a topic for a different time. Even putting just $1 behind a post will make a big difference in it's reach.

Alright, guys, hope this helps!

Be EPIC!
Corbitt