Why Relying on Social Media Marketing Won’t Scale Your Online Course Business Anymore (and what will)

by Elevate Her Marketing | Apr 17, 2024 | Advertising Strategies

Why Relying on Social Media Marketing Won’t Scale Your Online Course Business Anymore (and what will)

Is the sheer volume of tasks you have to do to sell your online course through social media marketing starting to drive you mad?

No matter what you do, it feels like you’ll always be stuck on a hamster wheel of content creation, and your legs are getting tired AF.

Personally, it exhausts me just thinking of the amount of time I have to spend on content to stay relevant. And social media isn’t even my biggest marketing strategy, although I know it is for most course creators these days.sssss

By the way, Hi! I’m Frannie, founder & CEO of Elevate Her Marketing. We serve female online course creators, helping them scale their businesses and income so they have the power to create the lives that they desire.

Since starting EHM, we’ve generated over 600,000 leads for clients and have helped them bring in over $10 million in profit.

Anyway, despite the hours and complexity of your social media marketing efforts — those daily reels, IG Stories, endless video takes… you’re still not seeing the results you’ve been working so hard towards.

This can feel exhausting, like you’re making all this progress only to go absolutely nowhere.

The type of traction you need to see to consistently sell your course via social used to be fairly simple. But we’ve seen a slow decline over the years and in the last 8-12 months it’s snowballed into a massive issue.

The way we work with our clients, we know everything from their long-term business strategy to the code on the back end of their website…we see their monthly finances and data reports, which allows us to see the marketing strategies that perform best.

We also see what doesn’t work and the trends as they happen, from the inside. This experience has given us a broader perspective of the industry as a whole and insight most people can’t see.

Here’s the problem,

The effectiveness of social media marketing (also known as organic marketing) for selling online courses has experienced a sharp decline.

According to Social Insider, Instagram’s organic reach has declined 32% year over year.

If you don’t take action to adjust to this, you might find your business left in the dust.

Old course marketing strategies just don’t work like they used to. You need to make a shift now if you really want your business to make it for the long haul.

A number of course creators have successfully improvised their strategy with our help. One of our clients, Cristina Galbato, made about $4 million in sales working with us. Other other clients are hitting their first $20k months or making consistent high five-figures every month!

You might feel like that’s an unreachable goal at the moment or wonder “How the HECK is that possible?!”

It is 100% possible, when you adjust your marketing to the current industry, and that’s exactly what you’ll learn in this blog, so keep reading…

Part 1: Why Isn’t Organic Marketing Working Anymore?

There are multiple reasons why organic marketing isn’t delivering results for course creators like it used to. Based on what we’ve seen with our 5, 6, & 7 figure clients, here’s what it boils down to…

Increased competition for attention is making it impossible to see the reach you once could with content (this includes new people finding your business but also your own audience being able to see your posts.)

The Meta algorithm changes have decreased organic reach because as reach goes down, their stock price goes up.

The algorithm pushes fresh, highly-engaging content. This means if you’re not posting high-quality content constantly, in all placements you will struggle to see visibility.

But let’s get into the nitty gritty details of it all….

Increased competition for attention, in more ways than one.

Since 2020, competition in the online course industry has seen a massive spike alongside a significant increase in content production on Instagram.

It’s due to a number of things, including the increasing demand for flexible and accessible education options after the pandemic. This shift has led to a cultural transformation, with people turning to online courses to acquire new skills, further their education, or pursue personal interests.

Plus, with the quick rise of A.I., creating a course is easier than ever. People that previously spent months creating a program can now spend hours putting something together with the help of tools like ChatGPT.

In total, the Online Learning industry is expected to grow to a $687 billion dollar industry by 2030, up from $240 billion in 2022!

The social platforms course creators have traditionally used to market their products have also seen massive growth. The sheer volume of people producing content on Instagram has exploded, it’s grown from 1.5 billion to 2.3 billion users. There’s simply a much larger pool of people trying to have their content seen…

While these people are not all in the online course industry, they are still competing for the same real estate that you are in the Instagram feed.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Okay, Frannie, I get it but there’s also TikTok!”

In 2018 there were only about 340 million people on Tiktok, but by 2027, it’s expected to have 2.2B users. This is almost as many people as Instagram has right now. The growth path of users on TikTok has been ever faster than Facebook & Instagram, which means the problems will be exactly the same as what you’re already facing on Instagram

Plus, if you think the user-base skews young only, you’re wrong! In 2023, 40% are over 35 and an additional 33% are over 25. It’s not just kids on the app now.

Algorithm changes prioritize fresh & paid content

Algorithm changes prioritize fresh & paid content

Another crucial challenge organic marketing faces in promoting online courses is the evolving complexity of algorithms & governing platforms like Meta.

You may wonder what Meta gets out of this evolving approach. First and foremost, it’s good for Meta’s business. As organic reach goes down, Meta’s stock price goes up. Meta is a business with shareholders to answer to and being in that position they have to do what benefits the bottom line. We don’t like it when it impacts what we’re able to do, but it’s the nature of running a business.

The new algorithm(s) is also based on engagement. This means it prioritizes content that comes from accounts that have users regularly engaging.

To see this for your business you have to create high quality content, which can be time-consuming and costly, but you also have to be consistently posting it (in addition to all the other work on your plate.)

You might be spending a lot of time on your content but if it’s not getting immediate engagement, then it’s often wasted effort. It’s almost like you do all that work for the first few minutes of posting and if it doesn’t take off you’ve got to start all over again. It’s tedious and frankly, a massive waste of time.

Creating High-Quality Content is Time Consuming

As the competition on social media grows, so do the skills of people using it. Professionals that were once focused on video production in other areas are now taking their skills to these apps because the earning potential for high-quality content creation is skyrocketing.

But, honestly, brainstorming great ideas and then executing them like a pro is not easy at all. It takes multiple hours of intensive work.

You have to review previous data, strategize for new content, record, edit, possible re-record if needed, write captions, schedule, engage after you post, review insights, and analyze your results…multiple that by the # of posts you need and weeks in a year 😵‍💫

Because of how time-intensive this process is, many course creators unknowingly generate bland or repetitive content and don’t get an organic push by the algorithm. So, all that work was for…nothing?

When you do hit the jackpot and get a post that really resonates and sees a ton of reach, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll see sales or followers from it.

Virality feels cool, but it rarely turns into the results that you’re actually looking for with all the effort you put into your organic social media strategy.

Want to know what bothers me the most? Even after brilliant and hard-working course creators like you put in so much effort into your content, ROI is very uncertain and untrackable with organic content. Sure you can take an educated guess based on when a post does well and if you made sales, but the data is extremely vague.

Difficulty establishing trust and authority

Establishing trust and authority quickly is a challenge in organic marketing. The algorithms of Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok believe that accounts with loyal followers and high-engagement over a long period of time are more authoritative than newer accounts.

Which kind of blows, if you’re someone with a well established business that didn’t focus on social media previously.

Building this authority takes time and effort. The larger accounts you see are getting more traction and meanwhile you’re only getting a handful of comments and a few followers because you can’t compete with their reach.

Part 2: How to Scale Despite Social Media Marketing Challenges

By now you understand that getting to the $10k, $20k, $50k or months you’ve been dreaming about through organic social media marketing, in today’s digital landscape, is a massive challenge.

So what can you do about it?

There are a few options…

Option 1

You become a content creator. Not in the literal sense, but you go all in on creating the high-quality and quantity of content needed to see results with organic social media today.

Remember that visual I showed you earlier about the recommended amount of content to create each month? In total she suggests about 35 posts a week, on average. You can commit to sticking to this cadence (at minimum) and ensuring that the content you create is of the highest quality you can afford (not only in production but strategy as well.)

Don’t forget that it’s more than just content creation as well, you need to be engaging with 70+ accounts daily.

In order to do this you’ll need to research a running list of relevant people you want to interact with, you’re not just going to engage with random people, you’ll need to be strategic.

When you do commit to this strategy, you have to make sure it’s thoughtful & relationship building engagement. None of the “wow amazing post” type of comments. DMs are the same, no sales pitching or blanket messages to 20 people, you have to be thoughtful with each interaction.

All of this is just for Instagram, you can and should also consider branching out to other platforms.

To be honest, even those that LOVE creating content are finding this impossible to keep up with and almost all of the highly successful course creators today are using other marketing strategies to supplement their organic efforts.

…this is all in addition to running the actual business you have.

Option 2

You can use other people’s audiences (the strategy is called OPA.) This means you connect with businesses that have a similar ideal customer to yours and they cross promote your content and products.

In order for this to be successful, you need entrepreneurs with a much larger audience than you and they have to be willing to partner with you.

Many times I find that the larger accounts have already partnered with someone in my niche. But if they haven’t it can be a successful strategy!

The big plus here is that you don’t have to do all the manual work to build a large audience of people that are interested in what you have to share. You “borrow” the work of the business you partner with. A portion of their audience will follow you, join your email list, and even buy from you. You’re lucky to be benefiting from the years of time and resources they’ve put into building their community.

The downfall of this type of strategy is that it rarely turns into a consistent stream of revenue. You might get a large windfall if you do a big one-time launch or a small trickle if you do something ongoing like putting a module in their course, but for the most part it’s not a sustainable strategy that will deliver you reliable & predictable revenue.

Option 3

This next option is something most course creators don’t consider for themselves, they see it as something they’ll graduate to when their business is at a certain size. However, I’ve found, as the online course and social media industries have matured, that every single course creator can benefit from this strategy.

It’s paid social media marketing, specifically Facebook & Instagram ads.

The reason entrepreneurs feel it’s for larger businesses is because of the cost of ads, but if you consider the time and resources you put into other strategies along with the potential results, there’s really NO comparison at all.

Ads generate results for you much faster than other marketing strategies. And, regardless of what strategy you choose, you’re still having to spend time and money, but with ads if you can guarantee visibility, that all your followers will see your content, & generate a consistent return why wouldn’t you invest in THAT strategy?

Plus, the potential for scaling is exponential.

Another reason people don’t think ads are for them is because they feel they can’t do it themselves, but I’m here to tell you my most successful clients almost always start running ads on their own and scale up to a place where they’re ready for the investment of support!

At EHM we’ve helped many clients completely change their businesses and lives with the support of paid advertising.

For example, Sam Vander Wielen, an attorney turned entrepreneur has a course with legal templates for business owners. Sam was exhausted having to show up on social media to see sales of her online course. She also had a family member with health issues that she wanted to spend more time with and she was dying to feel like she could take a vacation without completely stopping her course sales.

Her initial goals were to scale her business with a consistent flow of leads and use the success of her evergreen funnel to convert those leads into buyers. Sam started working with us on a one time strategy session and ran ads herself! She saw such success she hired us to coach her on an ongoing basis and eventually became a full time client after seeing the results she was able to achieve with our strategy and coaching.

When she started as a full time client we were able to help her increase her return on ad spend from 2-3x/month to 5-8x/month. In just one launch, Elevate Her Marketing helpful her turn $10.5K in ad spend into over $158K in profit for her business!

This is just one paid ads case study, EHM has helped numerous clients achieve massive results from running paid Facebook & Instagram ads, we’ll share more stories below.

For now, let’s dive deeper into the specific benefits of this type of marketing strategy for online course creators…

The Endless & Intricate Targeting Capabilities of Paid Advertising

One of the biggest benefits of Facebook & Instagram ads is the targeting possibilities.

First, you can reach people all over the globe with paid ads and you can specify who you want those people to “be” based on data.

For example, you can target your ads to female Europeans that are 33-47 or to men from ages 25 to 55 in all English speaking countries.

That’s not all though, you can also target using filters like certain hobbies, shopping habits, education levels, and more. The specificity of targeting is like nothing the marketing & advertising world has ever seen. Think about television or even hashtags from your organic efforts, with those marketing channels you can define a couple of things, but with Meta ads you’re able to get extremely granular.

With organic social media, if you can even achieve reach, your post may shared to a country where people don’t even speak your language or an age group that can’t afford your product.

The reason you’re able to target so specifically with paid ads is the data that’s been collected from all the actions people take on social media. It helps to categorize people into certain ‘interests’ and from there we can filter down to the type of people we’re looking to target!

Right now we have a client selling educational products to women who want to sell their handmade crafts on etsy. In the last month we generated a return of 2.72x on their ad spend (specifically, they spent about $3,600 on ads and they generated $9,830 in revenue!)

A large part of being able to see this type of result is due to the targeting capabilities that are available inside the ads manager platform. Some of our most successful audiences for this client are:

Women of all ages, living in the following countries: Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. We also narrowed it more by specifying that the women are interested in certain crafts like beadwork, woodworking, cardmaking, crochet, embroidery, and more.

Reach Your Own Audience With 100% Confidence

Another massive benefit of the targeting capabilities of Facebook & Instagram ads is the Meta tracking Pixel! This is a piece of code that’s embedded in your website and funnel softwares. It tracks the actions people take throughout your business’s ecosystem.

…THIS is arguably the most powerful tool in marketing today!

With organic social media today you can’t even confirm that people following your account will see your content, never mind show them specific content based on actions they’ve taken.

The problem with organic reach is BIG, in 2023 if you had:

500 to 2k followers: 37% of your audience saw your posts
2-10k followers: only 17% of them saw your organic content
10-50K followers: about 12% of your audience saw your content
50k+ followers: worst of all, 5% of followers saw your posts

You’ve worked so hard to grow your community, but if you’re only posting organically more than 70-80% of them aren’t seeing your content.

BUT WITH ADS EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT!

You can categorize people based on the level of interaction they’ve had with your business and send them specific ads based on that. Say someone decides to join your email list and watch your webinar, but they don’t sign up for your online course. You can send an ad reminding them of the benefits of buying or that a promotion for the course is ending soon.

You can also use the data that your Pixel collects to create an audience of people that don’t know your business, but “look just like” (in terms of data) your own audience. For example, with our clients we have them create audiences of people that have purchased their product, joined them email list, and engaged with them on Instagram and then we create a similar audience of people that don’t know them but “look just like”(based on data) those highly engaged audiences.

Results are Light Years Faster Than Organic Marketing

With paid ads on social media apps, you won’t have to wait for months or years to see the results. You’ll start seeing impressions, clicks, and leads almost right away!

It can take weeks or sometimes months to optimize a full online course funnel that delivers you consistent sales, but it’s also possible that you will see purchases on the first day! This timeline is very dependent on your specific business and funnel, most of our clients start to see a positive return by month 2 or 3.

When our client Esther Inman, creator of the Virtual Assistant Internship course, started working with us she was running ads and selling around 20 course spots per month. In just a few months we were able to increase that to somewhere between 100-200 per month!

We did this by helping Esther improve her ad messaging so that it was compliant with platform policies. Her ads were getting rejected for marketing products Meta doesn’t allow (she didn’t have this type of product, it was just the messaging in her ads that caused red flags with the algorithm.)

Another messaging shift we made was to focus on what her ideal audience needed to hear to convert (more about how the course would help them achieve their desires vs. the specific details of the course.)

Ads are the fastest way to figure out what works and what doesn’t with your messaging. To truly figure this out you need a significant amount of data, which comes quickly with ads; organically it will take you forever to get enough people to view your content (unless you’re already a large account, but we now know that even then most of your audience won’t even see your content.)

We also researched new audiences to target and in just a few weeks these fresh audiences started delivering over 50% of revenue!

Continuous Growth (Across Your Entire Business)

Ads will grow your leads and course sales but you’ll also see massive growth elsewhere in your business.

Our clients report their Instagram followings grow like crazy with the help of ads. When our client Sam Vander Wielen started working with us, she had around 5,000 followers and ads have helped her grow to over 36,000 followers. [The work and time it would take to gain 31,000 followers organically is astronomical, think years of time and thousands of hours]
You’ll also see more sales in other areas of your business! Another client of ours recently let us know that since starting ads, her IG bio link Stan Store has seen a massive increase in sales since starting to run ads. [This is without doing anything different in her organic marketing, in fact she posted a bit less after starting ads!]
Every client we have that also has a podcast sees their podcast downloads and reviews skyrocket from the traffic ads bring to their shows! [Organically to grow your podcast you’re left marketing it to those that follow you or are on your email list, so increased visibility would take building an entirely new strategy, where with ads it’s simply a byproduct of work you’re already doing.]

When you’re running ads for your online course business, you don’t just see growth with the one thing you’re marketing with ads, but instead your entire business grows. It’s like a 2 for 1 deal but instead more like 7 for 1!

Low Monthly Time Investment Needed to See Results

I’ll be really transparent and tell you that getting your campaign built and set up does take a solid amount of time (a couple weeks), but once ads are running you’ll need about an hour a week, on average, to keep things going.

Weekly you’ll want to review your ad results and make changes to optimize the ads. You’ll also want to track your data in a report so you can better analyze overtime and recognize any patterns.

Monthly you’ll need to create new ads (we like to create a handful of ads so we can launch them throughout the coming weeks) which does take a couple of hours. While we do recommend testing new ad creatives fairly often, we do find that some clients can run the same ads for months and see good results!

You will also have to optimize your funnel (landing pages, lead magnet, emails, etc.) but that’s something you’ll be doing regardless…right?!! 😉

And that’s it! When you’re in your first year or so of running ads, the time commitment really is minimal.

The Bottom Line

While online course creators were able to scale their businesses with organic social media marketing in the past, it’s nearly impossible in today’s competitive landscape. You deeply love educating your audience inside your course & programs, you don’t want to spend all of your time playing puppet to the organic algorithm.

When you embrace the power of paid Facebook & Instagram ads, you can unlock the limitless growth you’ve been working towards. Your business will be seen every single hour of the day by new potential customers, you’ll grow your email list daily, and scale your course sales to heights you truly never thought were possible.

All of this will allow you to focus on living the daily life that you dreamed of when you started your business. Most people don’t do this because they’re scared to invest money, but they don’t realize how much time they’re wasting in the process. Your time and freedom are the most valuable things — you created a business because you understand that & as you grow and scale it, investing to get more of this back is exactly what makes it worth it.

This looks different for everyone but it could be having the ability to only work 20 hours a week so you can spend most of your time with your family…

OR look it could look like hiring a team so you’re no longer a solopreneur and have the space to create all the ideas that you’ve been keeping a running list of, but were too busy to implement.

Maybe, it looks like having the freedom to work from anywhere and traveling somewhere new every few months or living in two different countries!

Whatever your dream is, having an online course business that consistently delivers you profit is what will make that possible for you.

But don’t forget that seeing success with a paid advertising strategy requires a strategic approach. You can google or listen to the gurus telling you there’s just “one trick” that will allow you to see wild ad success, but the truth is you need an honest partner that will support you throughout your journey.

Have a Look at What Course Creators Like You Achieved with Our Help…

In my over 10 years of experience, the clients that see the most long term success are those that start with running ads themselves (with coaching or consulting) and then hand their ads over to someone as they scale. It’s the most economic way to build this strategy to your marketing efforts.

This is where EHM comes in. We’ve helped countless women launch their very first ad campaigns and grow to have advanced strategies that bring in thousands or hundreds-of-thousands a month in profit from ads alone.

I can talk all day about how working with EHM will be a game changer for you. But I think it’ll be more impactful if you hear from someone that’s been where you are right now…

Christina Galbato, Online Educator, Marketer & Investor

“Literally in the first three months of working together, I grew my email list by 10,000 new subscribers and earned a revenue of over $100,000. That’s the first three months.

And then over the next year of working together, my email list is now over 100,000 new subscribers, super-targeted for the audience that I want. And we consistently see a return in our ad spend between two to six just depending on the month. So every single month has been profitable for my business working with Elevate Her Marketing.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Facebook ads are the number one best investment that I’ve made in my business.

They have been completely transformative both in terms of the number of people that I’m able to impact with my online courses, in terms of revenue generation in my business, in terms of my mindset and the security that I have working online, and also just, I don’t know, it’s expanded the realm of what I considered possible for myself and my business.”

Annette Grant, Co-CEO Thanks for Visiting

“Our ads are getting about a 2x ROI on our ad spend! The team is very responsive to questions via Slack, and we appreciate the calls where we go over our ad data together.

Working with EHM feels collaborative, and when it comes to ads, we feel it so important for the ad agency to have a deep understanding of their client’s brand so that everyone can win. We think EHM has a desire to understand who we are as a brand so we can find our ideal customer over and over again!”

Shawn Myner, Business Coach

“Strategy Parties are THE BEST! They truly take out all the guesswork on how to set up and run successful ad campaigns for your courses. I took the strategy Frannie created for me in my first Party and went from making $2k/month from my course to $10k/month, then to $20k/month!

I’ve now had a second Party to get a strategy for scaling even further, and I’m confident that will happen. HUGE thanks to Frannie and the EHM team for taking something seemingly so complicated and making it so doable. My business runs smoothly and easily because of my ad strategy.”

So, what’s next?

That’s where EHM comes in. We offer different levels of support but my personal favorite is having clients start with our Strategy Party (pretty much all of my most successful clients start here!)

This is where we create a customized ad campaign for your unique business, based on information you provide us and our past experience of working with businesses just like yours for the last 10 years.

We provide you with everything you need to know in order to build your first ad campaign and even connect with you for a follow up call a few weeks after you launch your ads to ensure everything is working smoothly!

Don’t worry if you’re not a techy person, we’ll hold your hand through that stuff and provide a number of video resources in case you get stuck!

Wondering how much you’ll need to spend on your first campaign? It really depends on your goals, course price, and a few other things. But it’s very likely you can get started with just $500-$1000/month.

Sign up for the Strategy Party Waitlist:

If you want the support of a team that has been working with online course creators for over 10 years to scale their businesses with Facebook & Instagrams, starting with a Strategy Party is for you.

During the 90-minute session, we will personally analyze your business, audience, and product in order to build you a customized ad campaign roadmap.

This roadmap will tell you everything from exactly how to set up your campaigns, to the budget for each part of it, it’ll also tell you who to target and guide you on how many ad creatives to create and test! It’s truly every single thing you need to launch your campaign.

We’ll also have a follow up call with you after you launch your ads in order to help you optimize them to success!

We open up spots a few times a year, first to anyone on the waitlist

When you reserve your spot on the waitlist you’ll receive a FREE Ad Results Calculator that will show you the type of results you can expect when you launch your first campaign, based on your business numbers!

Hybrid Organic and Paid Social Media Strategy Examples

by Elevate Her Marketing | Aug 3, 2022 | Advertising Strategies

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

Top view of a laptop and the hands of a man and woman whiteboarding (on paper) a digital marketing ecosystem

How to Build a Hybrid Organic and Paid Social Media Strategy

Organic social media posts may be free, but they don’t always have the same impact as paid ones. Paid ads allow you to directly target specific demographics and tailor your message to their interests. They also make it easier to track your results. Regardless of what you decide on, organic or paid, both are important for a successful marketing campaign. In this article, we will go over some different social media strategy examples for organic, paid, or a combination of both.

A hybrid strategy is worth considering for most organizations. However, when considering organic vs paid social media, it can be difficult to find the balance between these two mediums. Here, we will lay out an action plan for a successful blend of organic posts, sponsored posts, and ads.

What Is a Hybrid Organic and Paid Social Media Strategy?

A hybrid strategy uses both organic posts and paid ads. It’s important to develop a plan before deploying a hybrid campaign so you know what percentage of content to dedicate to each channel.

Why Use a Hybrid Organic and Paid Social Media Strategy?

There are a few reasons to use a hybrid strategy. First, it allows you to reach a larger audience with your message. Second, it allows you to target specific demographics with your ads. And third, it has some potential to help you save money on your overall marketing budget.

How to Create a Hybrid Social Media Strategy

Now that you know what a hybrid organic and paid social media strategy is and why you would want to use one, let’s look at how you can build your own.

There are a few things you’ll need to do to roll out a hybrid social media campaign:

1) Decide what your goals are.

The first step is to figure out your goals. Do you want to reach a larger audience? Target specific demographics? Save money on your overall marketing budget? Once you know what your goals are, you can move on to the next step.

2) Decide which platforms you will use.

The next step is to decide which platforms you want to use for your hybrid social media strategy. There are many different options out there, so it’s important to choose the ones that will work best for you. Some factors to consider include:

What are the demographics of your current customers?
What are your current/existing traffic sources?
Which platforms are your customers and prospects on?
Which platforms best support and deliver the types of content you want to publish?
Which platforms provide you with the largest audience and best targeting options?

3) Create a content calendar.

The next step is to create a content calendar. This will help you keep track of what content you need to create and when you need to post it. There are many different ways to do this, so find the one that works best for you. There are several available, like this social media calendar published by SEMRush (just click the “Make a copy” button to get your own copy of the Google doc).

4) Create content for each platform.

Now it’s time to create your content. This can be anything from posts to videos to infographics. The important thing is to create something that will be valuable to your audience and align with your goals.

Once you know which platforms you want to use, it’s time to start creating content for each one. The type of content you create will vary depending on the platform, but there are a few things to keep in mind no matter what:

Make sure your content is high quality.
Keep your audience in mind.
Be consistent.
Plan your content in advance.
Pro tip: Try repurposing. This is when you take a larger piece of content like a blog post or video and break it down into digestible bits for each platform.

Every medium has its own idiosyncrasies: for example, Instagram is very visual, so using powerful images or videos is a must; Facebook is perfect for long-form content, and Twitter is great for quick updates and newsjacking.

Currently, video is the best performing content on every social media platform, so try to include it in your strategy.

5) Publish your organic content.

Now you can publish your content. If you are publishing on multiple platforms, you can store and schedule your content using a scheduling tool like HootSuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, Agorapulse, SocialOomph, or others.

Organic is just one part of the marketing strategy and a good way of managing reputation, interacting with followers, and building a community.

PRO TIP: Try publishing stories as well as posts. Both stories and regular posts have the potential to reach your audience in different ways, and each provides benefits.

6) Set up and launch your paid ads.

The next item on the list is to set up your paid ads. There are many different options for paid ads, so take some time to research which ones will work best for you.

It’s important to know what medium is the best to achieve each of your goals. For example, Facebook ads are able to target certain demographics, while Google Ads can find people who have a specific search intent.

When running a paid ad campaign on social media, it’s important to remember a few key things:

Your ad copy and visuals should be engaging and relevant to your target audience
The call to action must be singular and clear
Track results and make adjustments as necessary based on performance
Have a marketing ecosystem in place to convert visitors who click on your ads

If you want to achieve significant results, you should always include paid ads in your strategy. This can be done through a variety of methods, such as:

Sponsored posts
Lead ads
Image ads
Video ads
Carousel ads
Slideshow ads
Poll ads
Collection ads
Instant experience ads
Influencer marketing
Collaborations

6) Monitor and adjust.

The last step is to monitor and adjust. This is an ongoing process, so don’t expect everything to be perfect from the start. If you stick with it, you’ll eventually find the perfect balance for your hybrid organic and paid social media strategy.

Remember

Use organic posts for the potential to reach a larger audience through viral content
Use paid ads to target specific demographics and encourage specific conversion actions
Use a mix of content types
Be consistent with scheduled posts
Always be on brand, on message, and working toward your goals
Monitor your results and adjust accordingly

With the right planning, you can create a hybrid organic and paid social media strategy that will help you achieve your goals. Be patient, experiment, and track your results.

Examples of Successful Hybrid Social Media Strategies

Some successful hybrid social media strategy examples include Sunski, Kiehl’s, and Dollar Shave Club. AdRoll does a great job of breaking down the posts and ads and why they work.

Conclusion

A hybrid strategy is the best way to leverage your social media marketing efforts. Using a mix of organic and paid techniques, you can reach a larger audience, target specific demographics, build a community, tell your story, and create a more effective overall strategy.

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The Digital Marketing Ecosystem for Course Creators

by Elevate Her Marketing | Jun 22, 2022 | Advertising Strategies

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

No One Told You About This Digital Marketing Ecosystem for Course Creators

Sell Your Course Online Consistently

Do you know why most course creators fail to sell as much as they probably could? It’s because their strategy is hyper-focused on one facet of marketing, while the rest of their marketing channels are ignored, neglected, or eliminated. In order to build a high-converting funnel, it’s important to continue adding the right pieces to your marketing. There are six main parts to a digital marketing ecosystem.

Many times, a course creator will see significant progress using one marketing channel, such as Facebook ads or Instagram Stories. However, a full strategy is more than using just one “in” with leads and potential customers. When you put all your effort, time, and money into one source, you’ll never reach your full profit potential. Actively use the six parts of the marketing ecosystem – which we will outline below – in order to broaden the reach you have in your niche.

That said, in order to master the full digital marketing ecosystem, first learn as much as you can about each of the six components, which are all in-depth systems in their own right. Perfection is not the goal at the start, but instead you want to create a foundation for each system before moving on to the next one. This way, all of the bases will be covered in time. Eventually, you will be able to improve the systems that you have in place until your multi-tiered strategy is selling your course efficiently and consistently.

For now, let’s take a quick look at each of the components that make up the ecosystem. These are listed in the order of recommended implementation, though you should never shut down a system in favor of another. Each marketing system should run concurrently with the others and each should complement the others. Read on for an overview of each, or download our free Digital Marketing Ecosystem ebook now for a more in-depth look.

1. The Traffic System

This is where it all starts. You will need traffic to your website so you can begin to create an audience of interested leads that will eventually purchase your online course. But, how do you gain traffic? Just like a brick & mortar business you’ve got to make people aware of your brand & how it can solve their problems.

A traffic system uses online channels to attract new people to your business. Think of the ways you find new businesses like Google, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and more. You’ll want to start with a traffic channel you like and feel most comfortable with and as you get that working, you can add on other channels.

2. The Acquisition System

While you may have a large following on social media, and you may use these sites to drive traffic, did you ever consider what would happen if one day you lost access to a particular platform? Say for example your account got hacked or the platform itself deleted your account. You would also lose access to your followers and potential leads.

The one audience you have control over in an online business is your email list, so it’s important as you grow your online presence that you also continuously grow your email list.

How can you get your followers to join your email list?

What you offer is up to you, but you have to grab a visitor’s attention with valuable content and strong messaging. The goal is to get people to voluntarily enter your marketing funnel when they land on your website.

We typically find clients see the most success with a free resource, such as an eBook or recorded training in exchange for email addresses (which you can use for further direct marketing in the future).

3. The Engagement System

Now that you have new people finding your business and you are getting them to join your email list, you’ve got to build a relationship with them so they feel you’re the right person to buy from. This is called your engagement system. It’s made up of two parts – the content you share & and the interaction you have with your audience.

It’s important to share valuable content that shows your knowledge on your area of expertise. People want to feel confident they’re getting information & buying from a credible business! You also want to become with them. Ask them what they wish to see in a digital course and tailor your content and products to their needs. Build a solid relationship with them, and they will develop trust in your brand and in you. Download our marketing ecosystem ebook to see a few examples.

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4. The Selling System

Now that you’re forming a relationship with your new audience, you’ve got to start selling your product(s)! Many online course creators feel shy about selling, they’re worried they’ll do it too much or it’ll feel spammy, but it’s totally possible to create a strategy that feels good to you and your audience.

It’s important to remind prospects that your course is worth the time and money that you are asking for it. Try to refrain from spammy sales tactics, but do remind folks why they followed you through your marketing funnel in the first place. The key to a successful sales strategy is finding the right balance in your approach. Just as with the engagement system, our ebook provides some examples of selling systems for you to review.

5. The Tracking System

In order to keep all other systems working as best as they can to sell your online course, you will need a proven tracking system in place.

This should include several different methods of tracking, typically metrics for every social media platform you use and Google Analytics for your website statistics. You can even monitor everything in one place and gain great insights by aggregating data from several sources into a Google Data Studio report. Knowing how the public is reacting to your marketing tactics is critical because you can change or discontinue what isn’t working and invest more time or budget into what is bringing results.

6. The Analyzing System

This marketing system works hand-in-hand with your data tracking. It’s not enough just to track your activity, you have to determine what it means & how you can take action to improve upon your results from the answers you find.

This data gives you the opportunity to tweak your strategies so you can concentrate solely on the tactics that are providing you with the best return on investment while dropping or recalibrating ideas that are not producing the best results.

Conclusion – Digital Marketing Ecosystem

These six systems work in conjunction with one another to build a coordinated marketing ecosystem for course creators. You can learn about each of these systems by doing independent research, or downloading our free Digital Marketing Ecosystem e-book where you’ll find everything in one place.

We spend our days inside 7-figure digital marketing ecosystem for online courses, so as a course creator yourself there’s no better place for you to learn this strategy. Once you have built and connected the components within your funnel, tested, and optimized, your course will practically sell itself!

Need a helping hand with marketing strategy and optimization, starting with your Facebook and Instagram ads? We’ve got you covered.

All the Things – Facebook and Instagram Ads for Course Creators

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5 Expert Secrets for Better-Converting Facebook Ad Copy

by Elevate Her Marketing | May 11, 2022 | Copywriting

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

5 Expert Secrets for Better-Converting Facebook Ad Copy

Writing great Facebook ad copy is an art form. The best ads on Facebook stand out from the crowd. The more compelling your ad copy, the better it will perform.

In this post, we’ll share five secrets behind writing compelling Facebook ad copy.

Secret #1: Use an Opening Question to Get Readers Saying “Yes”

Health and fitness sponsored Facebook post featuring personal trainer Annie Miller

One of the best ways to make sure you’re reaching your target customers is to ask “yes” questions. Questions to which only your ideal audience would respond in the affirmative.

“Yes” questions should be at the top of your ad to draw your audience in. That first line is key! If they read that, the chances that they will read the rest of the ad increase drastically.

This ad is targeting personal trainers who have just started a health and fitness business. The advertiser – Annie Miller – is sympathizing with them about getting bombarded with marketing messages and trying to sort out what to do with them. Her target audience will likely feel a sense of relief that someone out there understands them. Right out of the gate, her ad has them saying “Yes, that’s me!”

What’s next? The solution, of course. “Let’s simplify this and attract your ideal client.” And who is going to help them do that? Annie, because she has the knowledge and the authority: “As a health and fitness biz owner who has been in the game for 7+ years, I want to make that as easy for you as possible.”

Secret #2: Tell Them the Benefits Before the Features

A common mistake in facebook ad copywriting is writing first about the features of a product or service rather than the benefits. While the features may be appealing, they don’t explain why someone should buy a product or subscribe to a service.

An important thing to know about marketing and copywriting is that people are naturally always thinking about themselves, so they want to know right away what the benefit is to them if they pay attention to what you’re saying.

Ultimately, the benefit they will receive is always the real reason behind their buying decision. How will something improve their lives, jobs, status, or relationships? What value will they realize?

For example, when someone is buying a car, they want to know how it will change things for the better. They want to know how they will spend less on gas, how it will save them time, or how it will make their commute more pleasant.

They could be buying a car because it has 7 cup holders or an extra-long moon-roof, but it’s more likely that they’re buying a car because it’s going to improve their life in some way.

The features are what the person is buying. The benefits are why they’re buying it.

One way to ensure that you’re leading with the benefits is to consider each feature one at a time and use the connecting word “so” plus what it will help the customer accomplish. For example:

Join our Facebook group for free so you can get insider tips and have your questions answered by experts
Download this free ebook so you can start experiencing the joy of leaving work on time and seeing your friends and family more

Using “so” ensures that you’re advertising benefits.

People do want to know about the features, but they act on the benefits, so features can come later in the buying process — they also don’t need to be as prominent in your marketing as benefits.

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Everything you need to have ready before investing in Facebook & Instagram Ads

Secret #3: Play the “We Have Things in Common” Card

It’s important to make your ads relevant to your audience. When you run Facebook ads, you’re competing against thousands of other advertisers. Something needs to differentiate you from your competitors in your customer’s mind in order for them to engage with your ads.

Most people will scroll past ads unless they see something they identify with right away. Especially if you’re reaching out to a cold audience, there has to be something relevant for them to latch on to. One of the ways this can be done is to talk about things that you have in common. Some examples:

Share a story about what led to the creation of the product or service
Ask a form of “are you like me” question and describe a common challenge or frustration
Use a quote or compelling line that you know your audience thinks about often

Think about anything you might have in common with your prospects and talk about these things. This will establish familiarity and trust, which are important factors in buying decisions.

Secret #4: Include Data (Numbers) in the Ad Copy

Numbers have a way of getting people’s attention. People are scrolling and skimming, so seeing a number may just entice them to slow down and see what your ad is about.

You might not remember but we used a number in the headline of this blog post! We could have simply said “Expert Secrets for Better-Converting Facebook Ad Copy” but a headline with a number will always do better than the same line without one!

If you want to showcase how you’ve helped other clients, saying “we helped one client generate $1,017,578 in sales” (by the way, we did) is more compelling than “we help clients get more sales.” Don’t round the data to more generic, even numbers. Specific numbers tend to draw and keep attention.

Using numbers in your ad copy is a great way to attract readers’ eyes and increase your clicks.

Secret #5: Use ONE Clear Call to Action

Your CTA is the call to action, or the action that you want a person to take. Rather than using something generic like “click here” or “like us,” clearly state what you want people to do, using strong action words. Here are some examples:

Download your free ebook
Sign up now
Take 50% off today
Reserve your seat

Whatever your CTA is, make sure that it is specific and that there is only one possible action for the visitor to take. Providing more than one CTA (for example, “like our page” and “order now”) can make it unclear what you really want people to do, whereas a single CTA like “reserve your seat” gives them only two choices – do it, or don’t do it. And if we already have them saying “yes” in their minds (see secret #1), we’ve increased the odds that they will.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Facebook offers a standard collection of CTA buttons, so your job is literally to write compelling enough copy to get users to click on the Facebook CTA button you’ve chosen for your ad. It often helps to have a CTA in the ad copy as well – see the first ad (Christina Galbato blogging course) in our Facebook ad examples below.

Bonus Secret #6: Understand the Customer Journey and Find Them at the Right Time

People are not all at the same stage of buying consideration, and they also have different relationships with you and your brand.

Buying Journey

Browsers: Since Facebook ads use a model called interruption marketing (rather than intent marketing), people who aren’t ready to buy will typically search Google because they’re not sure what they want, they’re just giving it some thought. Unless your goal is specifically brand awareness, browsers are less likely to convert and it’s best to target the audiences of shoppers and buyers.
Shoppers: Shoppers have a good idea of what they want, they’re just looking for the best quality, the best service, the best deals – and they may be interested in your offer if you hook them with the right opening question (secret #1) and show them the right benefits (secret # ).
Buyers: Buyers know exactly what they want, and want to know the best business from which to purchase it. Intent marketing – such as Google ads – is great for drawing buyers because they often search for a specific product (like “price of iphone 14 in blue). But Facebook ads are also great for capturing buyers. Most people check their social media accounts several times a day, and if your custom audience includes rabid enthusiasts of whatever the product or service is, you can easily catch people when they are ready to buy.

Relationship to You and Your Brand

Cold audience: Cold traffic means people who have never heard of you before. They’re unlikely to stop scrolling just because they see your brand – they’re not familiar with you at all.
Warm audience: These people have heard of you before, whether it’s via word of mouth, seeing your brand in search results, or seeing your ads often enough that they’ve become familiar – but they haven’t made a purchase yet.
Hot audience: Another way of saying “hot audience” is “customers!” They have made a purchase from your business in the past and have been satisfied or delighted with the experience.

The messaging you deliver to these audiences should match your relationship with them and where they are in the buying journey. If your ad is a new product you want to offer to current or former customers, you can use a more casual and familiar tone. If you’re reaching out to buyers in a cold audience, your ad copy should be more persuasive about the benefits and show more social proof.

How to Write Facebook Ad Copy: Examples

Here are a few examples of Facebook ad copy, along with some notes about why we like them.

Facebook ad featuring Christina Galbato - ad is for a course for new bloggers

The first statement gets the target audience – people starting blogs – saying YES.
The advertiser – Christina Galbato – feels their pain but says hey, I got you with my class that gives you a clear step-by-step plan.
There’s a CTA link (See you in class!) in the ad copy as well as a CTA button (Get Me Started) in the image.

Facebook ad from DoorDash that helps restaurant owners get more customers before buying

Asks a question that gets the right audience answering “yes.”
The benefit is obvious: promote your restaurant for free for 14 days and get customers just for trying it out.
There’s a single CTA: Sign up.

Example of Facebook ad from Slack - what it feels like to sit in 25% fewer meetings

Showcases a pain point and solves it in the same single line: What it feels like to sit in 25% fewer meetings.
The slogan is short and compelling: Make Work Better. Who doesn’t want that?
One thing we don’t love about this: There are two CTA buttons (Like Page and Learn More). But we’ll cut them some…slack. Tip your server, try the prime rib, we’re here all week.

Facebook ad for a hospitality workshop featuring ways to offer sustainably profitable short-term rentals

Poses a “what if” question that AirBnB hosts definitely ask themselves
It’s obvious that the advertiser understands short-term rental host challenges
Promotes the idea that the host is one lost in a sea of many, but it doesn’t have to be that way because they can be part of the few on the inside who know how to work profitably
They will show the hosts how to do this in a free workshop, and they draw more interest by including a short video
What they’re “selling” is free, so it will convert – and then they will have live prospects in the webinar, which means upsell opportunities

Conclusion

While this post includes some great tips on how to write facebook ad copy, it’s still only a starting point. High-converting Facebook ads require continuous monitoring, testing, and tweaking.

You can learn even more about creating the right ad copy for your own audience by booking a Strategy Party, or let us do the hard work for you with our All the Things service.

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How Much Do Facebook Ads Cost? – Elevate Her Marketing

by divihelp | Apr 28, 2022 | Facebook Ad Tips

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

How Much Do Facebook Ads Cost? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Facebook ads costs can vary widely, depending on many factors. This article will explore the cost of Facebook ads themselves and how much you can expect to pay for Facebook ads management by an agency or consultant.

Facebook Ads Are One of the Most Effective Ways to Reach Your Target Audience

Business owners are always looking for ways to reach more potential customers. And if you’re not on Facebook, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. There are over 2 billion active users on Facebook, which means there’s an excellent chance your target audience is using the platform.

Facebook ads are highly effective in reaching people in almost any niche you can imagine. In fact, they’re the most effective form of digital advertising, with an average return on ad spend (ROAS) of $10.68 for every dollar spent.¹

However, as effective as they are, the cost of Facebook ads can add up. The investment varies depending on many factors, including your industry, target audience, and ad objectives. You can expect to pay anywhere from $10 to even $100 or more per day for Facebook ads, but these are estimates, and the actual cost may be higher or lower depending on your specific situation.

The ad spend can be higher depending on your target market and industry. For example, if you’re targeting luxury consumers, you could end up paying $50 per day or more for a single ad. It’s important to consider your COGS (cost of goods and services) and margins when planning a Facebook ad campaign.

The cost of Facebook ads can be different depending on several factors. The factors that affect the cost of Facebook ads are:

1. INDUSTRY: The industry you’re in can have a big impact on the cost of your Facebook ads. For example, businesses in the luxury industry tend to spend more on Facebook advertising than businesses in other industries.You’ll also find that costs will rise when there are a lot of advertisers in competitive industries.

2. TARGET AUDIENCE: The size and demographics of your target audience also play a role in how much you’ll pay for Facebook ads. For example, if you target a large audience in the United States, you can expect to pay more than targeting a smaller audience in a less populous or wealthy country.

3. AD OBJECTIVES: The objective of your ad also affects the cost. For example, if you’re running a brand awareness campaign, you can usually expect to pay less per click than running a conversion-focused campaign.

4. THE AMOUNT YOU’RE WILLING TO SPEND: The amount you’re willing to spend on Facebook ads also plays a role in how much you’ll pay. There are several factors that determine your ad costs – for instance, if you have a large budget, there is more room to run experiments, and if the budget is smaller, you may end up paying more because you have less headroom for optimizations.

Here are the Facebook ad metrics you need to know

1. CPM – cost per thousand impressions – which means that if someone sees your ad 1,000 times, for example, then it will cost $X dollars. This indicator is always a variable and is determined by the relevance of your ads and the competitors in the category. The average CPM for Facebook ads across industries is $11.54². The good news is that CPMs have been steadily declining over the past few years, so this is an approach worth considering.

2. CPC – cost per click – which means that every time someone clicks on your ad, it will cost you $X dollars (or, most of the time, cents). This is probably the best-known measurement for understanding how much Facebook ads cost. The CPC is determined by how much competition there is for the placements you’re bidding on, targeting, and creatives. If you’re bidding on audiences interested in home improvement or auto insurance and there are a lot of advertisers also bidding on the same interest groups, CPC will be higher. If there are fewer advertisers targeting these audiences, CPC will normally be lower.

Woman sitting at a table, smiling and viewing content on a smartphone such as Facebook ads or posts

3. CPA – cost per action – which means that you will pay for every conversion (lead, sale, etc.) that your ad generates. This can be the most expensive type of Facebook ad and is determined by how much you’re willing to pay for each conversion. However, the lifetime value of a newly-acquired customer is higher in certain industries, this type of ad has huge potential for immediate return, and maximizing a campaign for conversions over clicks can make a lot of sense. It’s important to note that only a certain percentage of clicks will result in conversions, so your CPA will be affected by this conversion rate.

4. CPV – cost per view – the amount you will pay for every person who views your video ad. This can be one of the least expensive types of Facebook advertising. For example, if you have a budget of $10 and 1,000 people view your ad, your CPV comes out to $.01.

According to MarketerKnows, CPV for Facebook Ads ranges between 1 cent and 15 cents³. Remember that this is just an average, and your costs may be higher or lower than this figure, depending on the industry you’re in and the targeting you’re doing. Another thing to keep in mind is that any view over 3 seconds is considered a view by Facebook, and that may not be a long enough interaction for your ad to convert.

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Everything you need to have ready before investing in Facebook & Instagram Ads

Facebook Ads Cost: The Final Word

In summary, there are a lot of factors that go into determining how much Facebook ads cost. The most important thing to remember is that it’s always important to set a budget and track your results to optimize your campaigns over time.

When Is It Appropriate to Hire a Facebook Ads Agency?

When it comes to Facebook Ads management, there are two main costs to consider: the cost of the ads themselves and the Facebook ads management pricing.

Facebook ads management pricing varies greatly depending on the agency or consultant you work with. For example, some agencies may charge a flat fee while others may charge a percentage of your ad budget. It’s essential to do your research and compare prices before deciding on an agency or consultant.

If you choose to build and manage campaigns yourself, keep in mind that it is going to take time that you could be dedicating to other important parts of your business, and you will likely still have costs associated with copywriting, design, and video editing. Finding support will depend on the components you need it for, but unlike working with a consultant or agency, you won’t have a central contact for that support.

The right time to outsource to a Facebook Ads agency is when you have a proven offer & clearly understand your overall marketing objectives and are looking for help executing a successful campaign. You should also have a proven offer that’s ready to scale. If you’re looking to generate more leads or sales, an agency can help optimize your campaigns to achieve these goals – and usually faster and better than an advertiser can do on their own. The agency team has the experience, does this every day, and keeps up with industry and platform changes.

If you’re just starting out with Facebook Ads or don’t have a lot of experience, it may be helpful to first learn the basics before outsourcing to an agency.

When hiring an agency or consultant to manage your Facebook ads, you can expect to pay an additional fee on top of the cost of the ads themselves. This is known as the management fee.

An experienced agency or consultant can be a great investment. They’ll help you set up your campaigns, choose the proper targeting, track your results, and make continuous adjustments to optimize performance. They can help you get the most out of your Facebook advertising budget, so it’s worth considering if you want to see the best results for your campaigns.

Facebook Ad Management Pricing

The fees for professional Facebook ads management start around $500/month on the low end (for smaller campaigns) but can exceed $5,000-$10,000/month for more extensive campaigns. When choosing an agency or consultant, look at their case studies and results to get an idea of their experience and success rates. Past performance is a good indicator of the types of results they can achieve on your behalf and you’re more likely to realize a good return on investment if they’ve done it before.

The different types of agency fees:

MONTHLY RETAINERS / FIXED FEES

This service provides an all-inclusive solution for clients who want to outsource their entire Facebook advertising operation. This service is perfect for business owners that want to focus on other aspects of their business and leave the day-to-day management of their Facebook ads to a professional.

The monthly fee for this service will vary depending on the size and scope of your campaign and the experience of the agency or consultant. As mentioned above, fees will vary depending on the agency and your advertising budget, so it helps to do your due diligence and understand everything that’s included.

PERFORMANCE-BASED PRICING

This type of pricing is good for businesses that want more flexibility with their budget or are unsure how much they should spend on Facebook ads.

Under this pricing model, agencies will charge a fee based on the results they generate for your business.

This type of pricing is ideal for businesses with a specific goal in mind for their Facebook advertising campaign, such as increasing website traffic or generating leads.

The fee for this type of service will vary depending on the size and scope of your campaign and the agreement you reach with the agency on the price per conversion, but expect to pay $1,000 per month or more.

Something important to keep in mind with this pricing model: It may be ideal for campaigns just getting off the ground, but 10% of $5,000 in profits is more palatable than 10% of $500,000 in profits. Performance-based pricing can become very expensive when an agency is doing what you hired them to do – getting results!

PERCENTAGE OF AD SPEND

The last model for pricing Facebook ad management is to pay a percentage of your ad spend. Under this model, agencies and consultants will charge a fee based on the amount you spend on Facebook ads each month.

This type of pricing is ideal for businesses that want to keep their advertising budget flexible and want to know that they’re getting the most value for their money.

The cost of this type of service will vary depending on the size and scope of your campaign but typically starts at 10% of your ad spend.

Why Does Facebook Ad Agency Pricing Vary So Much?

Prices for Facebook ad management services can vary significantly from agency to agency. There are a few reasons for this:

EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE

The more experience an agency or consultant has with running Facebook ad campaigns, the more likely it will be for their rates to be higher. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but as a general rule, this can be expected.

SIZE AND SCOPE OF THE CAMPAIGN

The size and scope of your Facebook advertising campaign will also affect the price you pay for management services. A more complex campaign will typically cost more than a smaller, simpler one.

SERVICES INCLUDED IN THE PRICE

Some agencies and consultants include additional services such as creating images or videos for your ads in their pricing, while others charge extra for these services.

LOCATION

Agency prices can also differ depending on where the agency is located. For example, an agency in New York City or Los Angeles will often charge more than an agency in a smaller town.

SERVICE LEVEL

Finally, the price you pay for Facebook ad management services will also depend on the agency’s level of service. Some agencies have larger and more strategic in-house creative teams, whereas others may outsource creatives to companies or contractors that aren’t as familiar with the brands for which they’re developing visuals and ad copy.

Benefits of Having Experts Manage Your Facebook Ads

The benefits of having experts manage your Facebook advertising are:

SAVE TIME

Managing a Facebook ad campaign can be time-consuming. By hiring an agency or consultant, you can free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.

SAVE MONEY

While the initial cost of hiring an agency or consultant may be higher than managing the campaign yourself, you’ll likely save money in the long run by avoiding costly mistakes.

INCREASE ROI

An experienced agency or consultant will know how to maximize your return on investment (ROI) from Facebook advertising.

ACHIEVE BETTER RESULTS

A well-run Facebook advertising campaign can produce excellent results for your business. By hiring an expert to manage your campaign, you can be sure that it will be executed flawlessly and deliver the best possible results.

MONITOR AND OPTIMIZE

Finally, it’s essential to track your results to optimize your campaigns over time. Professional Facebook advertising agencies will always monitor what’s working and what’s not and make necessary changes to improve performance over time.

Conclusion: Facebook Ads Management Pricing

Facebook ads are a great way to reach potential customers at a reasonable cost. By carefully considering your target audience and campaign goals, you can create an effective ad campaign that doesn’t break the bank.

Want to learn more about working with Elevate Her Marketing on your Facebook ads? Check out these options:

Strategy Party

Get a custom strategy to reach a more targeted audience, convert more, and increase revenue.

All the Things

If you are ready to scale your Facebook and Instagram ads to have a bigger impact than you’ve already achieved, and you want a proven partner to build and execute an amplified campaign for you, All the Things is the right option for you.

Email List Elevation

Use Facebook and Instagram ads to grow your email list and generate more leads and sales.

Source:

1 https://www.channelsight.com/blog/roas#:~:text=According%20to%20its%20research%2C%20these,Facebook%20advertising%3A%2010.68

2 https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2021/07/12/facebook-ads-cost

3 https://marketerknows.com/facebook-advertising-cost/#Cost-per-View_CPV

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Facebook and Instagram Marketing Checklist | Online Courses

by divihelp | Mar 9, 2022 | Facebook Ad Tips

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

Laptop on a wooden table with coffee cup next to a paper Facebook and Instagram marketing checklist"

Facebook and Instagram Marketing Checklist for Course Creators

If your course sales have reached a plateau, it’s time to start thinking about how to reach more students. Let’s review a Facebook marketing checklist to explore how you can grow your warm audience for your online course and increase sales. What are some new and creative ways to market it? Consider the type of course you’re selling, your target audience, your goals, and the cost per acquisition you need to meet to be profitable.

There are many strategies for Facebook and Instagram marketing that can help you promote your course. For example, if your course helps students learn how to sell products or services, you may want to use paid advertising campaigns, affiliate programs, or other forms of direct marketing. If you are offering an ebook or another resource to bring potential students into your funnel, setting up an email opt-in and sending a drip campaign may be a better choice.

Creating a successful online course takes more than just writing up a couple of lessons and uploading them to your website. In order to generate consistent sales and grow an audience, you need to create and optimize a sales funnel. Facebook and Instagram provide several different organic and paid advertising options that you can use to reach your target audience and generate new sales. Below, you will find our marketing checklist for course creators.

Organic Facebook and Instagram Marketing Checklist

When it comes to organic marketing options on Facebook and Instagram, there are many choices. Which options are right for your business? The answer depends on a variety of factors. Here are some questions you need to ask before developing an organic social marketing approach:

Who is your target audience?
What is your course’s value proposition?
What is the interest level in the subject matter of your course?
How would you like to guide potential students through your sales funnel?
What will be your return on time and money invested, and can you be profitable?

Strategies for Organic Facebook and Instagram Marketing

Optimize Your Facebook and Instagram Bios. Your social media profiles are sometimes a person’s introduction to you and your business. You want to make a great impression! If you build your bio with your audience in mind and strategic keyword inclusion, you can also increase your chances that your page and bio will be found.
Bio optimization is important for showcasing your brand. Use keywords that can attract the kind of students who are most likely to be interested in your course offerings. Be as precise and concise as possible, especially in cases where there are character limits.
Deliver the same brand experience on all social media platforms. This is vital with Facebook and Instagram since there are several cross-platform experiences that allow the same content to be viewed on either. Are your colors, graphics, and tone of voice consistent everywhere? If you like, you can connect your Facebook and Instagram pages and easily switch back and forth to manage each with tools like Creator Studio.
Also in the bio, be sure to include links to some of your best content that you want to highlight on your website.

Follow Relevant People and Businesses. In the settings for your page, you can review who your current followers are, which includes people who like and follow your page as well as other pages that like yours. It doesn’t hurt to spend some time looking through these and following back. Engage with similar pages and comment on posts, but don’t comment spam! Offer advice or recommendations that provide value to the user communities of those pages. Especially if you are posting as your page, some of those community members are likely to check yours out and even recommend it to friends or colleagues.

Use Motivational or Inspirational Posts. It’s easy to find inspirational quotes that fit almost any subject you want to inspire your audience about, using sites like BrainyQuote. When possible, keep the quotes short. Use bold text that contrasts with the background color or image, and keep that background simple. The focus should be on the quote, which will encourage people to share it if it connects with them in some way. When someone shares your content, it’s free marketing for you because you’ll get in front of their audience as well!

Use Product Posts (Digital Products Count!). Create product posts that evoke certain feelings or emotions about your course. Huge brands do this all the time with great success. What will the prospective student gain from your course? Not just knowledge, but the result of that knowledge. Will they use it to land a better job? Start a business? Become a better debater on a subject? Impress their friends? Make more money?
Use high-quality photos, or even videos if you have them. Add rich, interesting captions, not just the course name and some hashtags. On Instagram, you can even add product stickers that link people to a product page if you are selling a product (such as a mini-course ebook) and adding people to your long-term sales funnel.

Use Informational Posts. Informational posts share educational tidbits or industry news. They offer links to blogs, videos, or other media related to your type of content. Make sure you link to information that is as current as possible. Announcements by peers (not competitors), useful data, or newly-discovered resources are all great items to share in this type of Facebook or Instagram post. You can also share the value in the post itself; there doesn’t always have to be a link to another resource. For example, post an infographic with a short caption.

Entice User-Generated Content (UGC). User-generated content (UGC) can be used for both organic and paid social media campaigns. Some examples of UGC on social media are course reviews, success stories, and images – especially images of great results achieved by using what was learned in your course(s).

Add Polls to Engage Your Audience. Polls are a little different, as they are more effectively shared in groups than on business pages. However, this is actually a good thing. The organic reach of polls is better, as these polls will also be delivered to the newsfeeds of users who are in these groups. Polls can also be used effectively in Instagram Stories. Ask for feedback on a webinar, a how-to video, ideas for new courses or additions to courses, or anything else relevant. Polls are a great way to encourage audience participation and provide you with valuable information about what people want.

Use “Inside Look” Posts to Give Your Audience a Look Behind the Scenes. The power of behind the scenes content is its ability to present the human side of a brand. It can be used to share some of the day-to-day inner workings and show how you go about developing and providing support for your digital offerings. There are several ways to present this kind of content. Some examples could be: Share a story with a photo series or video, post a timeline on your blog about how you arrived at a particular conclusion, or share some inspirational student outcomes.

Add YouTube Video Posts. While YouTube is best for getting people to stick around for longer videos and get your content ranked on Google, Facebook offers more options to drive conversions, such as suggested pages or products. Of course it’s effective to drive conversions with YouTube as well – and when you add a YouTube video to your Facebook or Instagram page, you can combine the calls to action to increase conversion rates.

Use “Join Me Live” Posts to Invite Your Audience to Engage with You in Real-Time. Instagram and Facebook are powerful for live events. According to New York Magazine and LiveStream, 80% of audiences would rather watch a live stream than read a blog post. More than 2/3 of audiences sign up for another event, and purchases during live events almost always outpace purchases from other sources. Check out this guide from Business Insider on how to go live on Instagram.

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Everything you need to have ready before investing in Facebook & Instagram Ads

Instagram-Focused Ideas

Add Personal Images That Showcase Your Work Style and Branding
Use Reposted Images (with Permission) from Larger Accounts
Add Video Shorts as You Have Ideas or Have a Quick Moment to Share
Add Quote Cards to Inspire and Educate Your Audience
Add Polls to Engage Your Audience
Use Instagram Stories

Additional Organic Facebook and Instagram Marketing Ideas

Ask a Virtual Assistant to Find You Guest Spots on Podcasts
Ask a Virtual Assistant to Find You Other Virtual Speaking Engagements
Be Active in Comments in Relevant Facebook Groups
Build a Course Sales Page on Your Website (Sales Funnel)
Create a Pre-Sale for an Upcoming Course Launch (Sales Funnel)
Cross-Promote Courses (If You Have More Than One)
Grow Your Email List
Offer a Free Mini-Course
Offer a Guarantee
Offer an Affiliate Program
Offer an Ebook (Sell or Give Away on Amazon)
Offer Course Bundles
Offer Exclusive Bonuses
Offer Live and On-Demand Webinars
Offer Your Course in Multiple Languages
Optimize Your Facebook Page
Outsource Social Media Posts to a Virtual Assistant
Participate on Quora and Reddit
Partner with Other Businesses or Course Creators to Cross-Promote
Post Related Infographics on Pinterest
Promote Your Course Across Channels (Social, Video, Website/Blog)
Publish Guest Posts on Other Websites
Run a Poll or Survey on Facebook Before Building Your Course
Sales Page with Student Testimonials (Video and Text)
Schedule “Lives” on Multiple Platforms (FB, IG, YouTube)
Sign Up with HARO to Find Opportunities
Solicit Blogger Reviews
Solicit Student Reviews
Start a YouTube Channel and/or Podcast
Start Groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Meetup
Use Keyword Data to Tweak Course Offerings

Paid Facebook and Instagram Marketing Checklist

With 2.9 billion users on Facebook and 1.3 billion on Instagram, and a wide range of demographic data and filtering options, these two platforms are an amazing way to find and connect with your target audience. It’s important to know the types of ads that are available and how to effectively target your content toward the right people. Video ads, image ads, polls, carousels, slideshows – what will resonate with your audience? There’s a lot to learn, but when done right, Facebook and Instagram ads can grow your revenue exponentially. You can become a true expert with guided courses like Elevate Your Ads. While the Facebook marketing checklist below does not cover everything, it provides some ideas you can use to get started.

Strategies for Paid Facebook and Instagram Marketing

Build 2 – 3 ideal customer personas (profiles). Know thy audience. A persona is a generated profile of your ideal customer based on market data and data from your existing client base. It maps out their demographics, desires, and goals. Knowing a buyer persona helps you create a strategy to reach this type of customer and build the right audiences in Business Manager. There are several free tools available for building buyer personas. The HubSpot Make My Persona tool is a great example.
Know your market. Make sure there is proof of demand for the knowledge your course offers. Some ways to gauge market demand are to ask friends or coworkers; check for competition on Amazon, YouTube, or podcasting platforms; and check search volume in Google Keyword Planner.
Offer proof of prior success, if you have it. Have you received written testimonials from students? Case studies? When people are considering an investment in your course, it should also be seen as an investment in themselves, and social proof like this may be the deciding factor in whether or not they click the “buy” button.
Review your margins so you know you will be profitable when bringing a new student on board – or know that the initial purchase is a loss leader and that you have a high-converting, higher-margin upsell available.
Understand that Facebook uses interruption or disruption marketing. People don’t come to Facebook looking for a course to enroll in, but there are people in the Facebook audience who will be interested in what you have to offer. Provide value and a good user experience first.
Establish a sales funnel that works for your business and your customers. In this order, it’s important to find:

Qualified traffic. Are you engaged with the right audiences in relevant groups?
Warm or hot leads. Will your offer generate interest for your ideal students?
Students who will be excited to learn what you’re teaching. How are you bringing prospects into the top of the funnel and keeping them engaged through the sale?

Know your goals so you can plan the appropriate campaign type:

- Awareness (Custom Audiences)
  - Interest-based audiences
  - Lookalike audiences
- List Building (Email in Exchange for a Resource)
  - Guides
  - Cheat Sheets
  - Case Studies
  - Checklists
  - Webinars
  - Small Free Courses (with strategic upsells to paid courses)
  - Retargeting
- Sales
  - Open Enrollment
  - Closing Enrollment (timers can be effective)
  - Exclusive Deal (time-limited)
  - Exclusive Bonuses (value-adds to the course)
  - Free Trials with Limited Content (with upsells)
  - Customer Testimonials (videos and snippets in landing page sales copy)

Additional Paid Facebook, Instagram, and Other Marketing Ideas

Advertise Your Course with Banner Ads on Facebook and Instagram
Advertise Your Course with Facebook and Instagram Sponsored Posts
Ask for Influencer Boosts on Instagram (May Require Payment)
Promote Your Course with Google Ads
Submit Press Releases for New Courses or Promotions

How to Use This Facebook and Instagram Marketing Checklist

When it comes to reaching a wider audience and scaling your online course sales, using a combination of organic social marketing and paid advertising is likely to produce the best results. The ideas that you use from the recommendations in this Facebook marketing checklist will be unique to your business. Choose what makes the most sense for you based on your audience, the data, and “educated gut instinct.” And of course, if you are looking for a knowledgeable partner in your Facebook and Instagram advertising journey, you can chat with us for recommendations tailored to your business.

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Checklist for Facebook and Instagram ads

How to Choose a Facebook Advertising Agency | 10 Key Tips

by divihelp | Feb 9, 2022 | Facebook Ad Tips

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

Woman looking at Facebook Ad Manager on her laptop

How to Choose a Facebook Advertising Agency or Consultant

Knowing how to choose a Facebook advertising agency or consultant that’s best for your business can be challenging. Where does one start?

There are many factors to consider when choosing an advertising agency or consultant, including price, experience with Facebook and Instagram marketing, and knowledge of current trends in the industry. Here are some tips on choosing the right one for your business.

Key Tip #1: Identify What You Want to Accomplish

Know what you want to accomplish before finding the Facebook marketing specialist for your business. Here are some questions you can ask yourself before starting your search:

Are you ready for Facebook ads, or is doubling down on organic strategy your best approach?
Is your goal brand awareness, increased leads, scaling revenue, or some combination of the three?
Do you have a budget set in mind that you’re okay with losing (it’s important to have at least 1-2 months of a testing budget)?
What would you consider a successful outcome in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year?
What ROAS (return on ad spend) would ensure the profitability you require?

Key Tip #2: Consider the Goals: Will This Be a One-Time or Ongoing Project?

Do you need someone to manage your campaign for a single event, or are you wanting to grow your reach over the long term?

If you’re wanting to launch a new product or do a big promotion for one you already have, then you’ll need to look for someone that is willing to work with you on a one time basis. Many FB ad managers & agencies have a few month minimum commitment. You’ll also need to make sure you start looking with enough time in advance of your one-time event because many people are booked up and will need time to build your ads campaign.

If this will be an ongoing campaign, for instance to generate new leads every month, be sure to choose a partner that is equipped to handle all of the necessary work on a monthly basis. You’ll want to find out how long the initial contract is for and what it might look like to cancel if the relationship doesn’t work out. You’ll also want to check in how you’ll communicate over time as well as what type of reports they’ll be sending you and how often you’ll receive them.

Download the Plan Before You Pay Cheatsheet

Everything you need to have ready before investing in Facebook & Instagram Ads

Key Tip #3: Ways to Find a Facebook Advertising Agency or Consultant

A good Facebook advertising agency should provide you with expert advice and make sure your budget allows you to achieve your goals. They should provide you with specific details about the type of results you can expect from your campaign and how much it will cost. You also want someone willing to work closely with you and your company’s marketing team throughout the process. Continued communication is important to make sure everyone is on the same page and working toward your defined goals.

Here are some things that should help you weed through agencies or consultants that are either too expensive or just not the right fit for your business:

Make sure they have experience in paid advertising for your niche (advertising for e-commerce is very different from advertising for online courses, for example)
Ask for references and reviews from past clients
More than just results, look for case studies. You’ll want to see the approach the agency takes when working with clients…are they focused on mastering copy & visuals or just pumping out a ton of ads?
Ask if they have an in-house team or if they outsource, many agencies outsource their team members who have very little stake in ensuring your campaigns are successful
Ask about their onboarding process (what does it look like, how long does it take to get ads up and running) as new campaign creation ca take time
Ask if they’ll be running the ads for you or just supporting you with advice. Also ask if they’ll be creating the ad copy & visuals or if your team needs to manage this. Sometimes it can be financially beneficial to handle some of the work yourself, but you need to make sure you have the proper resources & support to execute it.
Check how often you’ll have contact with them and when they’ll share reporting updates. It’s important to know if you’re going to hear from the agency often or if they’ll leave you in the dark wondering what the heck is going on.

Key Tip #4: It’s Not Just About the Money

Price is an essential factor in knowing how to choose a Facebook advertising agency or consultant, but there are additional considerations when looking for the right consultant for your business.

Look beyond the price tag of any Facebook advertising packages because you need someone to understand your vision, budget and goals. Be sure that whoever you choose understands how Facebook fits into your overall marketing strategy before hiring them. They should highlight past work that shows how they have successfully integrated Facebook or Instagram marketing into other similar campaigns.

Ask for cancellation policies before hiring anyone, so there aren’t any misunderstandings later.

A successful campaign starts with a well-thought-out strategy. Instead of just throwing money at your advertisements, have an idea about what you are trying to accomplish and how you expect it to play out. The more details and definition you can provide to your agency, the better results that can be expected.

Don’t simply choose someone because they have the lowest price or seem like they will do the job quickly. It may sound cliché, but it’s true that you get what you pay for. Look for a partner who can help you achieve the best return on ad spend (ROAS).

Key Tip #5: Use Info from Their Website as a Reference

As an online marketer, you want to know that the people you are working with know about today’s best practices.

Visit their website and blogs for valuable insight into how they do business. It’s also a good idea to see what type of articles they write on their website so you can find out more information about them.

See if it’s clear they understand digital marketing well and that they’re up-to-date on any recent policy or technology changes. In the digital space, things change very fast so it’s important to work with someone that has a grasp on changes as they happen.

Key Tip #6: Pay Attention to the Questions They Ask

The agency should ask plenty of questions before starting work on your account. They should want to know what makes your business unique, how you would like to be perceived by consumers, and your Facebook advertising goals.

They should also be asking for information about your brand, vision, and customer profiles so they can create ad campaigns that resonate with potential clients and market as if they were a part of your business. .

A proper agency should also ensure that you have a proven offer before taking you on. That means asking questions about how much money you’re making already as well as conversion rate numbers. Many agencies will work with anyone that wants to pay them, but if you don’t already have a successful funnel, you’ll be throwing money out the door with Facebook ads.

Key Tip #7: Ask for Recommendations

A successful agency should have a good reputation in the industry. If possible, ask other clients who have used their services if they were happy with their campaigns and what kind of ROAS they realized.

Ask for references and contact information for previous clients so you can call or email them to learn about their experiences working with the agency or consultant. A good Facebook advertising agency will be more than happy to supply this information and provide testimonials when necessary.

Key Tip #8: Request Samples of Previous Work (and Examples of Results)

Request samples from past Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns to get an idea of what your ads may look like.

You want to make sure they will use a variety of copy lengths & styles as well as different visuals, including videos, GIFs, carousels, images, and more.

Since every client is unique, agencies and consultants should take the time to create ads that reflect your company’s personality and image instead of using templates or standard ad designs that don’t stand out.

Many Facebook advertisers outsource their creative work so copy & visuals can be lackluster, you want to make sure the ads you’ll be getting stop your audience’s scroll & compel them to click!

Key Tip #9: Check Their Social Media Pages for Reviews and Comments

Check out their Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts and any other social media accounts they might use to see if there is anything you should be concerned about.

See if you can find anything in their social post comments or if they share any of their work that might help you understand more about their business.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions about what makes their services different from others in the industry. For example, if someone is unfamiliar with Instagram advertising, they might not suit your business. Again, this depends on your audience and goals.

Key Tip #10: Ask How Long They Have Been in Business

If they’ve only been around a few months, that may not be enough time to establish themselves as experts in the field of Facebook advertising and marketing.

There are of course exceptions to this because experienced consultants start Facebook advertising businesses all the time, but it’s important to know what kind of support your agency is going to provide. An agency that has been established for several years is more likely to have streamlined processes in place & provide you with better support

Bonus Tip #1: Ask How They Measure Success

Asking this question will give you a good idea of what to expect from your campaign. The agency should be able to provide you with specifics about what they measure: cost per click, total clicks, conversions such as leads or sales generated from the ads, and anything else that they monitor to help you scale your business.

Bonus Tip #2: Get Everything in Writing

Ensure that all agreements are in writing before work begins on your account. You shouldn’t sign an agreement until you understand precisely what is included, whether that is what is included in the Facebook advertising packages, how the approval process works, or what the timelines are for deliverables like ad copy and creatives.

Bonus Tip #3: Check Their Better Business Bureau Reviews

The BBB can help you screen a business you plan to work with by ensuring they have a good track record with other clients. This is where you can find reviews written by past clients about what it was like working with them.

Additionally, if any complaints are filed against the advertising agency or consultant, this information will be listed as well.

It’s wise to get as much background as possible before deciding whether or not the agency or consultant is the right fit for your business, and the BBB can be a useful reference.

A happy team is also something to consider. Teams like this tend to be more productive and create the best results for their clients. A great place to check out what the staff thinks of their work environment is GlassDoor reviews.

Bonus Tip #4: Decided on a Facebook Advertising Agency? Stay Involved for the Long Term

Once the agency or consultant starts work on your account, it’s good practice for them to remain in touch throughout the process until everything is finished. They should provide regular updates on campaign performance and any questions they might have.

It’s important to give the agency a few months to produce results for you. It’s normal to lose money the first month, break even the second month, and begin to realize profits in month three. Leaving before giving the strategy a chance will only result in starting over and spending more money.

Be sure to choose an agency or consultant that you can trust – one that will align with your vision and provide ongoing recommendations to help you be as successful as possible.

Bonus Tip #5: Check Out These Additional Facebook Advertising Resources

Read our Facebook Ads FAQ
Learn about Facebook advertising on Meta Blueprint
Learn about Facebook Business Manager
Learn how Facebook Ads get approved
Learn how the Facebook ad review process works

Conclusion: How to Choose a Facebook Advertising Agency

Facebook advertising can be a great way to reach out to new customers and scale your revenue. Still, it’s essential to do your research before choosing an agency or consultant. They should take the time to explain what makes their services unique so you know if they are a good fit for your business.

Check the qualifications of any firm you plan to work with on the Better Business Bureau’s website and read reviews from past clients. Make sure you ask for references and get everything in writing, so there are no misunderstandings later on.

If you follow these guidelines, you will know how to choose a Facebook advertising agency that is the right fit for you.

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Everything you need to have ready before investing in Facebook & Instagram Ads

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9 Facebook Advertising Mistakes Course Creators Should Avoid

by divihelp | Dec 22, 2021 | Advertising Strategies

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

9 Facebook Advertising Mistakes Course Creators Should Avoid

Facebook is a powerful marketing tool for all kinds of businesses, including course creators. This article will cover 9 common Facebook advertising mistakes course creators should avoid when using this platform.

1. Not knowing the difference between ads and boosted posts

It is important to know the difference between boosted posts and Facebook ads. A boosted post appears in the timeline of your Facebook page. You’ll tell Facebook who you want to reach, what your maximum budget is, and how long you would like the post to remain boosted.

An ad is created through Facebook Business Manager and offers a wider range of options than a boosted post. While a boosted post is great for brand awareness and engagement, with an ad it’s possible to optimize for website lead conversions, e-commerce sales, video views, app installs, and more. With Facebook ads, there is also a wider spectrum of ad placements available as well as more advanced targeting capabilities.

2. Using too much text in your ad visual

Facebook used to reject any ad that had more than 20% text. They’ve since done away with rejecting the ads, but this is still a good ratio to consider for your ad visuals as Facebook will limit your reach if you have too much text.

Visuals are meant to be just that. The best way to convince your audience to take the action you want them to take via text is in your ad copy and on your landing pages. You can put some text in your visuals but don’t overdo it. We find that visuals with too much text are often poor performers in campaigns.

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3. Not using email follow up after you pay to add someone to your email list

Your subscribers are the key to long-term success in your business, so it is crucial to have an autoresponder set up after you pay to have someone join your email list with Facebook ads.

This should include more information about how you can help your audience get to where they want to be with free content as well as to introduce yourself and share more about why you’re the person to help them get there.

Most people aren’t ready to buy from you when they first find your business, but using email follow up to build a relationship with them will lead to more engagement and eventually, hopefully, a purchase!

4. Not using Facebook’s targeting features

You can target people by placement, interest keyword, and demographics. This is a great way to stay in line with their interests. Facebook ads can target by:

PLACEMENT: Where it shows up on Facebook or Instagram, this could be IG Stories, Facebook Newsfeed, etc..

INTEREST KEYWORD: Their overall interest (business, news, technology).

DEMOGRAPHICS: Segmenting of users based on population data, such as age, gender, income, language, or geography.

TIP: If you don’t have as many Interest Keywords as you would like, enter one word that feels the most related to your audience and use the SUGGESTIONS tool right in the ads manager to find more, relevant ideas!

You’ll find all of this info when you are in the ad set section of building your ads section of the ad.

Remember the Facebook ad structure: campaign -> adset -> ad

The campaign is where you choose the objective (lead, traffic, etc.)
Adset is where you choose demographics and interests
Ad is where you create the real ad, images/video/text.

5. Not creating multiple ad variations

It’s vital to test different ad variations both visuals and with your ad copy. While you’ll build your ad creatives based on information you know about your avatar, you do always want to see, with data, what delivers you the best results (after 7 years running ads, I’m still surprised!)

You can vary your copy by focusing on different marketing hooks or by using different lengths of copy.

When it comes to visuals you can mix up the type of visual by using videos, GIFs, or images. You can also test using your brand colors in different ways or try seeing if something more produced & designed works for your audience or if they prefer something more native like a casual image or a face to camera video.

6. Using a picture that doesn’t match the message of your ad

When crafting your Facebook ads, the image you choose must relate to the message you are trying to convey. Choose something simple yet compelling for your ad copy. This is one of the most common Facebook advertising mistakes, especially if you’re a beginner.

For example, if you’re trying to sell an online course that teaches personal trainers how to grow their business, you don’t want to use a cat picture just to get clicks — sure maybe a lot of people will pay attention but it’ll be for the wrong reason. Make sure your image is somehow related to your business so that you attract only your ideal audience. Doing this will help you save time and money.

7. Not having a high enough daily budget

For the Facebook ads algorithm to properly optimize your campaigns, it needs to see a certain number of conversions each week. If your budget is too small, you won’t get the number you need and unfortunately you won’t see success with ads.

You also want to consider that as you advertise for more high value offers, you’ll need even more budget because they will of course cost more. For example, if you just want people to view a video or click on a blog post, you could get away with spending about $5/day. But if you are hoping to get someone to subscribe to your email list or buy a product you’re going to need to spend significantly more.

8. Not creating promotional content before launching

If you want to sell a course, a good strategy is to create hype about your product and post content to share on your page and email your list to inform those who have previously engaged with your business about your upcoming launch. The people that already know are the most likely to convert, so don’t forget them when it comes time to launch. You want them to become familiar with your course before you launch it so they will hopefully convert to sales as a result!

9. Having no call to action

And finally, to avoid one of the most common Facebook advertising mistakes, make sure that your ad has a clear call-to-action that specifies what customers should do next. This could include a link to check out your product or ‘share’ to enter a giveaway. The best call-to-action has a direct connection to the action you want people to take, so avoid generic ‘visit our website’ or ‘check out this post.’

It might seem obvious what people should do, but every step of the way you want to guide your audience to do exactly what will lead to them converting, so don’t underestimate this simple but effective tactic!

Now let’s create some great ads! Let us know if you need a marketing partner to help you 4x your impact and income.

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6 Unique Facebook Advertising Tactics for Course Creators

by divihelp | Dec 9, 2021 | Advertising Strategies

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

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6 Unique Facebook Advertising Tactics for Course Creators

Marketers have been using Facebook for years to promote their products and services. And while some marketers are still unsure of how Facebook ads work, it’s hard to deny that they’re an essential part of any modern marketer’s toolbox.

In this article, we’ll explore 6 strategic Facebook advertising tactics to promote your courses. Whether you’ve never tried a Facebook ad before or if you want to get more from your current campaigns, you’ll find something in here worth trying out today. Let’s jump in!

Remember: these are not only for beginners!

Refine the buyer persona

If Facebook advertising isn’t working for you, it might be because you need to refine your buyer persona.

A buyer persona, or avatar, is an imaginary person who represents your typical customer. If you have a small business selling home-delivered meal kits, for example, your buyer persona might be a single mom in her 30s with kids. She’s probably working long hours to support her family, which means she needs quick and easy recipes that are healthy but require minimal ingredients.

The great thing about creating a specific buyer persona is that it helps you tailor your ad campaigns to your target demographic. For example, if you’re selling fitness products, you could show ads to users with similar interests, such as people who work out regularly – or if you really want to hyper-target, you could show rowing machine ads to outdoor/rowing enthusiasts when it’s winter in their city.

Have an irresistible offer

Earlier, we talked about how essential buyer personas are to running successful Facebook ads. But no matter how targeted you get with your ads, they’ll never convert if you don’t have an irresistible offer.

An irresistible offer is so good that it can’t be ignored. It doesn’t matter how targeted your buyer persona is or what industry you’re in; every marketer needs a great offer to get conversions.

Think about why people click on ads in the first place: they have an interest or a need, and an opportunity presents itself to fulfill a desire or solve a problem. For example, they may have spent time reading articles about or participating in groups related to health challenges, and an ad for nutritional supplements or intermittent fasting appears in their feed.

No matter what your target market is looking for, you can find a way to solve their problem with an irresistible offer. For example, if you run a course on making extra money as a side business, you could offer a free resource like a worksheet or an infographic.

That way, when people click on your ad, they’re seeing something valuable right away that moves them toward a decision. Even better: if the offer, price, and positioning are good enough, you might end up with a new lead for your email list or a customer who’s willing to spend money on your products.

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Use the customer journey map

A customer journey map is a planning tool that helps you understand where your potential customers are in their buying process. It’s crucial for creating effective Facebook ads because it helps you target your audience based on where they are in their buying cycle.

This information is valuable because you can tailor your ads to match their needs, so they don’t get overwhelmed with messaging that isn’t relevant to them.

For example, if someone just downloaded a freebie, it would be irrelevant for you to show them an ad for a pricing page (when someone finds your business for the first time, they’re typically not ready to buy something from you). But you could show them an ad for your email list so you can build a relationship with them and keep your offer top-of-mind, in case they’re ready to buy someday.

This is why the customer journey map is essential because it helps you avoid wasting money on ads that don’t get results. You can save time and money by only targeting people who are ready to buy. And the best part is, if your offer is good enough, you’ll be able to turn your list of cold leads into hot buyers in no time.

If you already have a customer journey map but aren’t seeing the results you’d like, take a look at the conversion metrics for each step to discover where you could do some tweaking. Sometimes testing new elements on a landing page or removing an unnecessary step in your customer’s journey can drastically increase your profits!

Run retargeting campaigns

Retargeting is when you show ads for your course to someone who visited your landing page but didn’t purchase anything. It helps keep you fresh in their mind and reiterates that the solution they were looking for is still out there.

Retargeting campaigns are especially effective because they show ads to people who already know your brand which means they’re more likely to convert. You’re simply bringing them back to your site, but this time with a clear call-to-action that gets results.

Retargeting campaigns can be very affordable and you can usually still get a high ROI when you run a campaign with a strong offer.

Increase Conversions with Reviews or Testimonials

Another great way to get more conversions on Facebook ads is to include reviews or testimonials. People trust recommendations from others vs. businesses, so if you can include positive testimonials on your Facebook ads, it’ll help convince them to click through.

You can ask your current customers for testimonials by using a Hello Bar or ask in person if they’re willing to give you a testimonial in exchange for some type of reward.

Although buying fake reviews is tempting, it’s not worth the risk. If people can tell your testimonials are fake, it will backfire and you can lose credibility with your audience.

Instead, focus on delivering value to your customers and building credibility over time. Then you’ll gradually earn the right to ask for reviews and testimonials because they’ll be real.

This is one of the best Facebook advertising tips and tricks you can master.

Christina-Galbato-Elevate-Her-Marketing-Testimonial

Use (more) custom audiences

Custom audiences are made up of people that already know your business, you can create a custom audience from any of these sources:

Your email list
Anyone that has DM’d you on Instagram
People that like your Facebook business page
Anyone that has viewed your Instagram REELs
Visitors to your website
People that have purchased products from you
And more!

Custom audiences are valuable for Facebook ads because you can use them for retargeting ads (you might want to send an ad to someone that has engaged with your Instagram page but isn’t on your email list).

You can also use custom audiences to share information with the algorithm about people that have already shown interest in your businesses and then ‘ask’ the algorithm to go out and find more people just like them, that don’t already know your business, by using Lookalike audiences.

Align Facebook Advertising Tactics to Improve Your Long-Term Strategy

Facebook ads are a great way to promote your online course, and knowing how to combine the right tactics is important to the success of any campaign. While it’s tempting to look for quick wins, Facebook marketing requires a long-term strategy including defined goals, knowing the niche and audience, and refining your offer.

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Scale Your Online Course with Facebook Ads

by divihelp | Oct 4, 2021 | Understanding Your Customer

Home » Elevate Her Marketing Blog

Scale Your Online Course with Facebook Ads

You’re using Facebook ads, but you want to know how to scale your online course, right? Here are some of the best strategies to do it:

Create an upsell for your product

You need to create an upsell to increase your return from each customer. You can do this by bundling your product with another one or offering a membership program with different levels. This is a good way to make more money with the same customers, and it also helps you create a list of customers interested in your product, so later you can sell them something else.

Use your current email list

You can create a custom audience of your current subscribers and target them on Facebook. This will help you get more exposure to people that already know about your products or services. You can also use the new merge fields feature to find new potential customers based on their behavior, like if they visited your website recently.

Download the Plan Before You Pay Cheatsheet

Everything you need to have ready before investing in Facebook & Instagram Ads

Stick to your niche

Be as specific as you can when creating a Facebook ad that works for increasing the ROI of your business. It is better to target people interested in what you offer, and it doesn’t matter if they’re from another country, as long as there’s no language barrier between you.

Be patient

You should test your ads first before increasing the budget of your ad campaign. That way, you will see what works best to increase your brand awareness and how much money it takes.

Use Facebook’s lead ads

You can allow people to subscribe to your email list without leaving Facebook by creating a lead ad. This is very useful because you won’t have to spend time building an email list, which means that you will get results faster instead of spending too much time on this one thing.

Don’t stop testing, and keep an eye on the results

Make sure that your ads are relevant and interesting for those who will see them. If you feel like they’re not working, take a break from targeting this group of customers and go back later to revise your campaign. That way, you will be able to get even better results.

Outsource your task

Outsourcing is one of your best friends! You can easily find a Facebook advertising expert to help you out with your task for a reasonable price. Furthermore, if the person does a great job, you can send more work their way and hire them as a freelancer, which will end up saving you money!

Upload your course on different platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, Teachable

To earn more money and scale your online business, you should use different platforms to upload it. This will help you to reach more people and build your audience.

Price your course for different levels of access

To give the customer more flexibility, use different pricing levels for specific audiences. For example, if someone is willing to invest more money, it’s better to offer the premium level of the product with some added features and lifetime access to the course. You can sell your course on Udemy, teachable, Coursera, just to name a few of the most used websites.

Create an affiliate program

An affiliate program is one of the best strategies you can use to promote your courses as it helps you do the marketing for free. For example, you can give a specific discount code to those who will send potential customers your way. Furthermore, you should always encourage your affiliates to promote your courses on social media platforms. And for those who do a great job, don’t forget to give them a special bonus!

Send a gift and special offers

When you have a customer list or create a new audience, try to send and create special offers for them. This will help you build a better relationship with your customers, and it will also increase their loyalty to your brand.

People usually give this information away very easily because they want to be recognized by the company. If you have a Facebook page, don’t forget to create targeted ads to reach people who use the same device and internet browser. That way, you will make more conversions, and you won’t have to pay too much for it. Now you know different tactics to scale your online course!

Bonus tip: Study your competition

If you’re not sure how to do it, study your competition. See what they’re offering, at what price and how it fits into the market. Find out what works best for you, which will help you earn more money with your course!

Study your customers and keep track of their interests

Keep track of your customers and what they’re interested in. If you notice that they’re most interested in a specific topic, make sure to create an ad focused on that specific subject. That way, you will be able to increase your conversions and earn even more money.

Download the Plan Before You Pay Cheatsheet

Everything you need to have ready before investing in Facebook & Instagram Ads

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