Move over, YouTube. Facebook video is now the top platform for video ads and is sustaining unprecedented engagement rates.

Actually, it’s not even a competition anymore.

Comparing the number of monthly shares on Facebook versus YouTube videos, one study found that Facebook videos outperformed YouTube by 478%, and another one proved that Facebook native videos have up to 86% higher reach!

Facebook videos present an enormous opportunity to get your brand front and center of a highly targeted audience and drive reach, engagement, and conversion much further than other forms of promotion.

That’s why you need to master them!

Here’s your total guide to Facebook Video and to how to increase your reach, results, and revenue using Facebook video ads.

Let us point it out once again (just in case you didn’t notice yet ? ): Facebook is focusing aggressively on a Video first approach for the platform, ultimately competing in the digital streaming television space alongside Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and YouTube.

So, savvy marketers (like you ? ) need to gear up for establishing their video content marketing strategy and video ad strategy. But most businesses struggle to properly integrate, optimize and monetize videos in their content marketing efforts.

It’s not YOUR case, because we collected all the info you need for generating more leads and sales using video on Facebook.

Here’s what you will find in this guide:

• Why you should use Facebook video ads
• How to choose an audience for your Facebook video ads
• How to get your content to the right people
• How to implement highly successful Facebook videos
• Give your Facebook video a clear purpose
• 6 advanced tips for Facebook video ads

And now let’s dive in!

Why You Should Use Facebook Video Ads

Videos are deeply embedded in the Facebook experience and the social platform is continually getting smarter at equipping marketers with data (such as users profile details as well as previous engagement) to help businesses create video content that is most likely to appeal to their specific audience.

But why Facebook Video Ads are so important for your marketing efforts? Here’re the Top 3 reasons.

Reason #1: Facebook users are hooked on video

An estimated 2.27 billion monthly users happily interact with Facebook on an active and recurring basis. On a daily basis, Facebook videos receive 8 billion video views, amounting to 100 million hours watched per day.

At the root of it, videos are an easy way to get emotional engagement–especially on Facebook.

This is clear just from the amount of engagement we see with Facebook video ads.

Quintly found that Facebook videos get a lot more interactions than the same content on YouTube. It’s the social network, after all. People sign on intending to engage–even with marketing content.

And, as Mari Smith ( Facebook’s queen and the top expert in Facebook Marketing) explains in this exclusive AdEspresso webinar, Facebook has heavily invested in making video a core part of the Facebook experience by pushing episodic content that keeps users watching video after video.

Reason #2: Audiences respond better to video content

Consumers better recall content that they’ve watched in a video vs. what they’ve read. Multiple surveys and studies have found that the majority of people would much rather watch a video about something than read about it (including 59% of executives according to surveys from 2016).

Consider how Nike uses Facebook video to engage its audience.

There’s more to Nike than just athletic apparel. Nike, which has a popular Facebook page with nearly 32 million likes, claims its products are made to “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

The videos they post aren’t any different, they inspire and innovate.

Wouldn’t you agree that using one of the most popular (and loved) Russian children’s song “What Are Little Girls Made Of”, and tweaking the text to make it more empowering for women is an inspiring innovation?

This video, which hit 1.2 million views and over 11,000 Facebook shares, the young girl singing about top female athletes as they enter the stage one-by-one has become an inspiration not only for Russian kids.

Others video ads show marathon runners breaking world records and a young boy that joins in on sports teams ranging from basketball to baseball. Each creatively illustrates athletes performing in their individual sport and most feature athletes of many different disciplines within the same video.

Nike’s video ad strategy works because the video content does not overtly promote Nike or its products. Instead, they elicit emotion and construct a narrative. For the audience, it’s more about the feelings associated with the video than about the product itself.

Another great example is Red Bull.

The energy drink company is known for something other than “giving you wings.” Red Bull is also a prevalent sponsor of extreme sports, like racing, skydiving, as well as its annual Flugtag event, which is an air show where participants create their own flying machines.

Red Bull drives engagement by producing thrilling video content that captivates the audience.

For instance, “Hanging on” (the Facebook video you can see above), shows a hang glider breaking a record in Chile, another follows the man who recently jumped from space, and an additional video presents cliff diving from an Instagram perspective.

This type of content compels people to like or share the content, exponentially driving reach.

Reason #3: Video content drives more organic traffic

In terms of total number of shares, videos outperformed text and static images by 1200% and drove 135% more organic traffic in 2017.

For marketing, this is the holy grail. Organic reach and word of mouth are among the most authentic and effective ways to promote your brand and get closer to virality.

While word of mouth (WOM) and organic shares can drive exponential increases to increase brand awareness, leads, and ultimately conversion, these are among some of the hardest marketing outcomes to achieve because you can only do so much to compel people to share your brand with friends.

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How to Choose the Right Audience for your Facebook Video Ads

Your audience is as important as the content itself. As Mari Smith explains, it’s not uncommon for great content to receive minimal traction due to a poor reach strategy.

For your Facebook videos to generate the most impact, you need to specifically target warm leads.

Warm leads are individuals who already expressed a vested interest in your product or company based on specific user behaviors. They might have watched a video you posted, started (but not finished) a sign-up form, or read a post on your blog.

To identify these individuals and specifically target them through your ad campaigns, you’ll use custom audiences, a feature within Facebook that lets you tailor your audience for certain criteria. Here’s how to do it.

1. Find your warm leads

One of the best aspects of Facebook video ads is the custom audience retargeting feature.

Even if you target specific demographics or interests, not everyone is going to fully pay attention to your ad. Sure, some people are seeing it–they are scrolling through their Newsfeed and maybe see the first couple of seconds as it autoplay on their phone or computer.

But some people are actually watching it. They’ll view the whole thing–or even click your call-to-action. They’ll be so interested in your value proposition or hooked by your content that they’ll want to go to your site.

These are your warm leads.

If you log onto Facebook Ads Manager, you’ll see a breakdown of who viewed your video and who completed your video. To count as “viewed,” a customer needs to see at least 3 seconds of your video. To count as “completed,” they need to have seen at least 95%.

People who viewed the videos are pretty interested in your product. Even though ads autoplay, customers have to be a little bit interested to watch more than 3 seconds. But customers who completed your Facebook video are very interested. You had a lot of chances to lose them–and they stuck with the video! That makes them much warmer leads than people who simply watched part of it.

By creating a custom audience from these groups, you can show your next ad to just these people. You’ll get more bang for your buck by advertising this event to people who watched all of the video than people who just breezed past it.

Take for example, this Facebook video ad from Target. It shows a young girl in a princess costume dancing around the house, excited for Halloween. By creating a custom audience of people who completed the video, Target has the ability to create an audience chock-full of warm leads.

Warm leads might be more responsive to this event than if Target promoted through another ad. Customers who watched all of the first video might have young kids, or be interested in Target for Halloween-related materials. This “Spooktacular Kids Event” will resonate more with them, and therefore have a higher payoff for Target.

What’s more, video custom audiences are now dynamically updating every day, instead of not being created until a few days after a lifetime budget campaign is completed. You can easily tell who’s responding to your ad–in real time.

2. Build custom audiences

Facebook allows you to identify specific people, or groups of people, you would like to engage through your video.

This can be done manually by uploading a data set containing information such as names or email addresses. It can also be done through an API to automatically update your target audience based on the natural ebbs and flows of leads through your funnel.

You can further customize your target audience by making certain lead events trigger an ad. For instance, Madison Reed, an at-home hair color startup, sends a targeted video ad to leads once they complete an online style quiz.

After creating your custom audiences, your next step is to identify additional ad targeting criteria to further ensure your content is engaging with the right people. These might include:

• A specific target location, which could be a particular community, or a certain country.
• Demographical information, such as gender, age range, relationship status, education.
• Facebook likes and interests, which combines data listed on user profiles as well as pages and groups that individuals actively “like” on Facebook.
• Facebook activity, such as purchase history.

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How to get your content to the right people

Ad targeting isn’t just about building out custom audiences. Your funnel, and where leads are within it, is just as important.

You need to make sure that your content reaches the right audience at the right time and in the right way. In this respect, Facebook video really is an art form.

Done correctly, you can automatically qualify leads for specific content based on where they are in the lead journey as well as sequence videos to space out your campaign over a series of videos to drive better engagement and conversion.

1. Create Funnel-Specific Content

This is the number-one most important thing that should be doing.

You’ve probably seen Facebook video ads that introduce you to a product that you’ve subscribed to for three years, as well as video ads trying to upsell you for services you’ve never heard of. Both of these are equally pointless because you are not the right audience for where that content is in the funnel.

To explain why this approach is ineffective, let’s take an offline example.

If you walk into a store where you’re a regular, the salesperson who knows you will greet you accordingly. You might hear “Hey, we got more of those organic pancake mixes in that you like!” If you were a new customer, on the other hand, the salesperson would greet you and ask what they can help you with, and if they have any questions about the business.

If you’re targeting cold traffic, you should be doing the same thing.

First, create videos that introduce customers to your brand in thirty seconds or less, and run the campaign under the brand awareness or video view objectives.

Then, you can show more detailed, CTA-driven videos to the users who watched the majority if that video. (To do this, create a custom audience of Facebook engagement -> video views -> views of the video ad.)

You can–and should– use your custom audiences to send videos of new products, upselling, or complementary services to customers who have already purchased from you.

For example, ThirdLove, a startup disrupting the lingerie industry, deploys targeted Facebook video ads after you complete an online fit questionnaire. In this case, the custom audience is defined by whether you complete a specific action on the company’s website.

2. Sequence your videos to guide customers through the funnel

It’s no secret that more exposure makes your ads more effective. And even though it’s cost-effective to show the same ads over and over again, it doesn’t lead to a lot of conversions. You need to sequence your ads.

Sequencing ads is a way to slowly introduce customers to your brand. It creates a series of different ads that walk customers down the sales funnel.

And, it’s hugely effective. This study from Facebook shows that the retail site Refinery29 had a much more successful campaign when they slowly introduced customers to their brand through sequencing. They showed all the ads to high-value customers. But even though they had a good pool, their ads were more effective when they used sequencing. Here are Refinery29’s sequenced ads:

Sequenced ad A: Introduces customers to Refinery29 to help them build an emotional connection with the brand. (Shown to customers on days 1-4).

Sequenced ad B: Builds on that connection, and suggests how customers might interact with Refinery29. (Shown to customers on days 5-8).

Sequenced ad C: Strongly suggests users click the call-to-action. (Shown to customers on days 9-12).

Here’s what they found:

• Sequenced ads resulted in more click-through; 87% of users exposed to sequenced ads visited the associated landing page.
• There was a clear relationship between sequenced ads and subscriptions. Subscriptions soared by 56% in response to the sequenced ad campaign.
• In terms of conversion, the ads worked best in combination with each other. The majority of conversions were among people exposed to all three parts of the sequenced ad campaign.

Facebook’s study concluded that sequencing works because it tells a story–it makes customers feel an emotional connection to your brand before asking anything of them. Sometimes it takes a lot of ads to create that connection, especially if you don’t have a lot of brand recognition.

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How to implement highly successful Facebook videos

1. Keep videos simple

When it comes to online videos, attention span is fleeting. At best, you can expect to capture about 60-seconds of your audience’s attention. The introduction of autoplay means that people will have a longer attention span for your ad–no matter what the quality is.

When auto-play videos started rolling out, it was only available to big-name movies, who already had the video content to make a Facebook ad. Shots from Mad Max and Divergent popped up on screens. It was high-quality, blockbuster stuff. But the tool isn’t limited to Hollywood production houses.

One misconception is that video quality is a huge barrier to producing Facebook video ads. This should not deter you. Rather, understanding what kind of content is on Facebook should encourage you to create your own. Most content is curated by people posting terrible home videos.

If your ad is on someone’s newsfeed, it’s competing with their high school acquaintances’ flood of status updates and their sister-in-law’s bad vacation photos. Your ad is sure to stand out–even if it’s not Hollywood quality.

2. Think like a screenwriter

Even though your Facebook video promotes your brand and product, it should not feel like that to the audience. As Mari explains in her webinar, great video ads be:

• Engage from the first frame
• Be authentic
• Be entertaining
• Play on emotion
• Be relatable
• Be useful

Chatbooks provides a great example for what an outstanding video ad looks like. Baths and photo books have little to do with each other, but the ad is expertly crafted to draw you in, make you laugh, and even surprise you without overtly trying to sell you on a product. With nearly half a million shares, the engagement reflects the importance of video quality.

Facebook video is an incredible medium for storytelling, so be sure to use it. Storytelling will make your business and memorable, while also making you seem more trustworthy to new customers.

With music, colors, and dynamic expressions, you can really capture the emotions of what you’re saying, make it easy to turn a quick line of marketing copy into an engaging narrative.

3. Plan for Your Video Ad To Be Played Without Sound

This is a big one. Since Facebook video ads are shown on auto-play on both Facebook and Instagram, you know that your videos will start playing with no sound as a user scrolls past. Not only does this mean that you can’t use sound to grab attention, it means that users may not enable sound to play at all– even if they watch for the full duration of the video.

When it comes to Facebook video ads, 85% are played without sound according to 2016 research. This trend is expected to still be the case today.

And we’re not talking “85% are played soundlessly, and the 15% are the ones that we’re watched.” These are the videos watched for more than three seconds (the length of time it takes to be considered a “view” on Facebook).

This means that you need to plan ahead and know that your video will be played, in its entirety, without sound by at least half of the people watching it even if they’re genuinely interested.

Use textual clues, and add captions if there’s voice-over narration or someone speaking within the video. You should also dive into the action immediately so you grab users’ interest visually.

4. Always Include a Text CTA

You want people to act. You want them to fill out a lead form, or to head to your site to subscribe, or to purchase. You want them to do something. Go ahead and tell them exactly what that is, in the video and in the video’s description.

Remember, almost nine out of ten videos are played without any sound. This means that the incredible CTA at your end means nothing if you haven’t backed it up with text. Having an end-screen in your video with a “Visit our site to learn more” or “Purchase Your Toothbrush 500 Now!” can help guide your audience to the next step of your campaign, whether that entails visiting a landing page, subscribing to your newsletter, or making a purchase.

The visual of your CTA–even if it’s featured in your description–can make a difference in the number of viewers who actually convert. If they got to the end of your video, after all, they’re interested in what you have to say–don’t waste that opportunity.

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Give Your Facebook Video a Clear Purpose

The best Facebook videos fulfill a specific purpose that ultimately makes it more valuable to its audience. It’s your job to make sure the content delivers on this purpose. For example, your video might be promotional, instructional, conversational, or aspirational. We’ll go into each of these individually.

Purpose #1: Promotional

If you’ve ever created a commercial for TV or even an online video ad you’ve got a valuable media asset on your hands. Don’t be afraid to share promotional videos on your Facebook Page!

A promotional video can help push new buyers to make a purchase or remind old buyers why they love your company so much.

Big companies like GEICO use this type of video on Facebook all the time, like in this ad.

Purpose #2: Instructional

Many B2B products and services come with a set of instructions (as do some B2C products). But flipping through a user manual is so dull and can leave room for user error if your customer skips over a line or two in the guide. Videos can be a more engaging way to help users “figure it out.”

Clash of Clans by Supercell produces video tutorials to engage their audience in a helpful way that generates thousands of unique likes, shares, and comments.

As Mari explains, you know you’ve nailed your content when you can encourage dialogue on your video post. Invoking conversations among highly engaged users is much more valuable for building your brand than desperately generating more leads.

Purpose #3: Conversational

Conversational videos are some of the best kinds to share on Facebook because they can be lighthearted, don’t have to be super salesy and are usually fun to watch.

These videos can feature brand ambassadors like in this Nike video, which shows professional baskelball player Draymond Green. It can simply feature an employee, executive team member or customer talking to the camera in a conversational manner about almost anything!

Talk to your customers about your future vision, special projects you’re working on, new features, fun employee outings, or anything else. The goal of your conversational videos is to humanize your company and show that you’re not super corporate and out of touch.

Purpose #4: Aspirational

Aspirational videos are great for B2C companies, especially those that sell lifestyle products. The point of an aspirational video is to share content that makes people in your Facebook audience really, really want your product because they are envious of others who have it. This GoPro video ad is a great example of aspirational video content.

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6 advanced tips for Facebook video ads

Engaging videos are great. Engaging videos with a clear CTA that tie to a product launch? Even better.

If you’re a content overachiever who wants your videos to perform above and beyond, you need to think strategically and holistically.

Even if the video doesn’t overtly sell your product or brand, the purpose of the video should be clear. You’ll also need to rigorously analyze video performance to identify what worked and what didn’t to highlight areas to improve future campaigns.

Advanced tip #1: Make your video ads as short as humanly possible

Obviously , people’s attention spans are short. Some say they’ve shrunk to 8 seconds; others think we have become more spacey than goldfish.

Although the current format for Facebook and Instagram video ads is 60 seconds or less, for a lot of people that’s still too long.

According to Wistia, people stop watching online videos just seconds into it. Longer videos lose people faster, but no video is immune. A large portion of people will generally stop watching your video halfway through or drop off even sooner.

No matter how high quality your content might be, people are going to drop like flies when they start watching your video ads.

So how do you get your message across in time?

First, put the good stuff into the first 5-10 seconds. As the chart above highlights, viewership begins dropping with each additional second that passes after this. Whatever you want the maximum number of viewers to see should go into the very beginning of your video.

Then, make sure the entire video remains specific — that each shot is meaningful. You can’t afford to waste a single frame. You can see both of these lessons in this video ad from Velocity Black, advertising its new members’ app.

Velocity Black immediately hooks you — in this case, transporting the viewer to “the edge of space.” The visuals are stunning; the mood is epic. In case you’re tempted to scroll past, Velocity rapidly shifts to its next adventure scene, swimming with orcas in Norway, followed by a heli ski trip over volcanoes. The scenes absorb the viewer in adventure before you’re able to look away.

The entire clip clocks in at just about five seconds. If you notice it in your Instagram feed, you’re likely to stop and watch the whole thing. They knew it would be tough to keep your attention–and they decided to work with that, by making it almost impossible to stop watching.

Advanced tip #2: Think like a silent film artist

When you tap a video on Facebook, it will now automatically play with sound. It was a controversial choice, and one that has many users scrolling their feeds with their phones or computers on mute.

While you always had to think about how your videos worked without audio, that is especially pertinent today. In 2016, nearly 85 percent of video views happened in silent mode and this trend is expected to still be the case today.

For advertisers, without the automatic opportunity to cue a friendly voice or striking tune, how do you get viewers to want to turn your sound on? Or, alternatively, how do you create silent clips that still stick?

First, try catchy colors. Red, for example, is proven to strike a particular chord, along with other primary colors, like blue and yellow. MailChimp is great at this, often building entire shots from these bold hues.

The visceral colors keep us engaged above video’s narrative, piquing curiosity as to what story MailChimp is telling.

Another way to get your message across without sound is to employ text in bold, dynamic forms.

The recent ad for the movie, I, Tonya, does this with flair.

The white, bold words from the AM New York review stand out in stark contrast with the black background. Their alternating sizes help draw the eye down the text in dramatic fashion. Paired with actress Margot Robbie’s frightening, determined gaze; the viewer can’t help but internalize the intensity she brings to the film, and the urgency with which it demands your attention.

The point is this: instead of being an obstacle, sound-off videos can play to your advantage. Bold colors and dynamic text can capture people’s attention in the first few seconds — and spur them to turn up the volume later on.

Advanced tip #3: Incorporate design to make your ads look highly-produced

A bit of design goes a very long way when it comes to Facebook and Instagram video ads. You don’t need a professional video studio to produce a commercial that looks professional, given the various simple video editing tools out there. And adding even basic effects is one of the best ways to increase the conversions and engagement on the videos that you make.

For example, the video below, from Brooklyn-based business Baked–at first glance, a simple shot of coffee being poured:

But as this GIF suggests, the video just does not end.

The coffee goes on for quite some time, the slow motion bringing the whole video to a new level of luxury and decadence.

With the pro-looking title slide –which reads “Slow Moving Monday”–the whole thing looks more like an amateur short film than a simple coffee shot.

Natural lighting and a tilted lens keep it hypnotic and enticing.

Another, shorter work from Baked incorporates a unique viewing angle, some geometrical shapes, and another well-timed title slide.

Before Baked got in touch with Facebook Creative Hub and started making videos like this, they were uploading the same shots of coffee and pastries over and over again. After the video above, they saw a 40% increase in Thanksgiving pie purchases–proving to everyone that putting a little extra effort into the design of your video can have a big impact and drive a big return.

Using DIY design techniques can help you naturally integrate into your viewers’ streams, keeping it in line with much of the content they experience every day and making your brand feel more friendly and accessible, resulting in more customers.

Advanced tip #4: Pair your Instagram or Facebook ad campaign with a specific product launch.

Using video ads in unique ways can be a great method for catching viewers’ attention ahead of a new product launch.

Wistia used some playful, behind-the-scenes footage in a video to drum up anticipation for their Enterprise plan:

Wistia’s decision to use @jeffvincent in a penguin suit helps build the mystery behind what’s “coming to [viewers] tomorrow.” Those who follow Wistia on Instagram feel “in” on this company secret.

Releasing teasers like Wistia’s is a great way to make your social media followers feel like they are a part of something exclusive, which can help build customer loyalty.

Building an air of mystery, hype, and/or privilege around a new product or service with creative video ads can be instrumental in elevating sales on the launch.

Advanced tip #5: Be smart about how you A/B test

With all of the new options for creating Facebook and Instagram video ads, split testing remains as essential as ever.

Even the best pieces can become dull if you stop paying close attention to your metrics.

Here are three tips to help you run effective split tests.

A/B test tip #1: Wait a few days before evaluating your results.

Although you might be eager to see if your ideas (e.g. a new video title or color scheme) catch on, Facebook recommends waiting between three and 14 days to both capture sufficient data and stay within the constraints of your budget.

Of course, this depends on the audience you’re testing. For example, if you’re running a test for site traffic, and you sense that people generally visit your page on the weekends, you’d likely want to cover a full seven-day period.

Overall, less than three days could result in a sample of results that are too few and/or scattered to really mean anything on a larger scale. More than 14 days could result in a lower ROI since most A/B split test winners can be determined before this two-week period is up.

A/B test tip #2: Wait to confirm your results until you have at least 95% statistical significance.

In addition, while one test may yield a higher conversion rate than another, it’s important to confirm that this improvement is significant (i.e. not up to random chance).

Using an A/B significant test, like Kissmetrics‘ can be valuable to verify your findings. Here, users begin by inputting their overall page visits, along with conversions.

In addition to delivering conversion rates for each test to its users, Kissmetrics determines the certainty with which one version of the advertisement is more successful than the other.

Here, Kissmetrics is 99% certain that variation “B” will convert users at a higher rate than variation “A”. Kissmetrics deems any certainty rate below 95% not to be significant (i.e. users should not move forward with the campaign).

Using an A/B significance test can help boost confidence in a new campaign and avoid costly errors by using the wrong video ad variation.

A/B test tip #3: Stick to testing one variable at a time.

While you might be tempted to test a ton of ideas at once (e.g. different video titles or color schemes), it’s important to focus in on one factor for each test.

For example, if your current audience is men in their twenties and thirties on the East coast of the United States, but you’d like to see if the same demographic will engage with your content on the West coast — test the new location but keep the gender and age range constant.

While multivariate tests do exist, they are more complicated and come at a higher price. The value of single factor A/B tests is understanding exactly what variable you can credit for your results prior to moving forward.

Advanced tip #6: Utilize Facebook Lead Ads

Increasing amounts of Facebook’s video ad revenue (and ad revenue in general) comes from mobile users; last year mobile actually made up 87% of Facebook’s revenue. Because of this, you want to make sure that your ads are optimized to do as well as possible on mobile. Facebook’s lead ads are a great way to do this.

Facebook lead ads are now available for desktop usage, but were designed for mobile. When viewers click on the CTA, a small lead form will pop up with as much information as possible automatically filled out. This makes it exceptionally easy for mobile users, in particular, to send you their lead information, especially if you have a pretty great lead offer as a reward for them.

Source: Facebook Business

Lead Ads allow you to get the most important information you need from users to help you nurture them into clients.

They’re most effective when audiences are already somewhat familiar with you, so test different custom audiences of non-customers and see what works best for you. This may be site visitors who didn’t purchase or users who viewed your brand awareness video.

Attach a video with a strong CTA and a tempting offer to this ad type, and you’ll see new leads come flowing in.

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Wrapping it up

Master Facebook video and you’ll engage a highly targeted audience!

Facebook trends are always changing–it can be hard for advertisers to keep up. But it’s clear that video is here to stay. In fact, the next trend will be to take video to the next level.

Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions, says Facebook has become “synonymous with mobile.” She says, “I think that the next frontier is becoming synonymous with mobile video.”

Of the 8 billion video views per day on Facebook, 65% are on mobile. Mobile video is on the rise–which means that making video is even more important than ever.

Facebook is always changing how it interfaces with users and marketers. But video ads aren’t going anywhere.

If anything, they’re becoming more and more important to Facebook–and Facebook users.

Get the most out of your advertising budget–and get a headstart on the mobile video trend–by making your first video today.

For your convenience, here’s a recap of the main sections of this guide:

• Why you should use Facebook video ads
• How to choose an audience for your Facebook video ads
• How to get your content to the right people
• How to implement highly successful Facebook videos
• Give your Facebook video a clear purpose
• 6 advanced tips for Facebook video ads

What do you think? Did we answer all your questions? Are you ready to add Facebook video ads to your marketing strategy? Which of our tips and best practices will you implement? Share your thought, and success stories, in the comments!

Source: AdEspresso

Mobile doesn’t just dominate traffic, but it’s also beginning to consume ad spend, too.

For advertisers, that means big change.

Mobile advertising isn’t the same as desktop advertising and it shouldn’t be treated that way.

But this doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch or scrap your entire keyword list.

It just requires tweaking of existing setups.

Here are five ways to increase your Google Ads mobile conversion rates fast.

Running standard Google ads campaigns targeted at desktop users and producing carbon-copies for mobile won’t produce the same impact.

As much as we’d all like it to, conversion rates won’t carry over just because it worked on desktop.

You’ll likely see your conversion rates tank if you tried that strategy.

Mobile is fundamentally different in user experience and behavior, thus requiring different tactics.

Here are the ones we would suggest to those of you who want to improve their Google ads mobile strategy and start seeing results right now!

1. Increase Your Mobile Pagespeed To 3 Seconds or Less

Nobody likes a slow website, whether it’s on desktop or on a mobile device.

But mobile is heavily skewed in favor of fast websites.

Meanwhile, Google benchmark data shows time and time again that mobile sites are loading too slow:

(Image Source)

The best practice from Google is just three measly seconds. But most of us are near the seven-second mark.

Ouch!

So, why is this happening?

It is likely many factors working against you. But chances are, it’s because your site is designed with desktop at the forefront and mobile as the backburner.

You might have extremely high-res images that aren’t compressed.

Or you might have page elements like carousels that add to your page size, causing reductions in speed:

(Image Source)

Whatever the case may be, speed is an issue on mobile and page weight is a main factor.

Longer load time = less conversions:

(Image Source)

This is especially troubling in PPC campaigns on Google Ads where you are paying for clicks.

Letting them go down the drain due to speed isn’t a (viable) option.

So, what do you do?

You have two distinct options here:

1. Improve your pagespeed by testing it with a tool like Test My Site, and follow the suggestions they provide based on scanning your site elements.
2. Adopt a mobile-first design

I recommend starting with easy wins on Test My Site. This involves cleaning up JS and CSS, compressing images, removing page elements, etc.

It’s a great jumping off point that can get your pagespeed low.

Adopting a mobile-first design will take longer and cost more, but results speak for themselves.

2. Remarket Your Mobile Visitors by Their Site Search History

Remarketing options on Google Ads can produce good results.

But going off Google Ads and creating audiences on Google Analytics can produce better results.

The fact is: most people are using basic remarketing lists on Google Ads. And we all know what basic efforts get you: basic results.

Instead, you can leverage easy wins in Analytics and turn them into audiences.

For instance, on-site search.

On-site search is essentially free keyword data in the world of no keyword data.

On-site search in Analytics shows you all of the keywords that users are searching for directly on your website.

Why is it important? Because it shows you exactly what your audience is looking for. No more guessing at ad creative because you have it right there.

Sort this data by mobile device and you have specific keywords that mobile visitors are looking for on your site.

To turn this goldmine into a new remarketing list for Google Ads, you just need a few different steps.

In your admin section of Google Analytics, find the Audience Definitions tab:

From here, create a new audience definition based on all of your website traffic data.

Next, you have two easy steps:

1. First, navigate to the conditions section under Advanced. Here, create a filter based on site search category. Now reference your on-site search data and input one specific (or multiple very closely related) keyword.
2. Next, click “And” to add a second filter. Select “Device Category contains mobile.” This ensures you are targeting only mobile searchers.

Save this audience and link it to your Google Ads account:

Now you can use this directly in Google Ads as a remarketing list to target your mobile searchers by on-site search data.

Deliver exactly what they are looking for in your ads based on their search and watch your conversions explode.

Specificity wins on Google Ads. And it doesn’t get more specific than this.

3. Run Mobile-Friendly Ad Types (But Prepare in Advance)

Google has some amazing ad types for mobile device targeting that you can take advantage of.

For instance, call-only ads:

This ad type showcases your business phone number directly on SERPs without forcing a user to browse your site.

This can be a stellar option for those without premium mobile sites designed for conversions.

If your website is slow or clunky and uses forms as the number one converter (with little to no success), ditch it.

Focus on call-only ads.

Call-only ads can be created directly from the search network campaign type by selecting “Get phone calls” as your setup goal:

Call-only ads might not be feasible for everyone, though.

A big mistake is running these mobile-friendly ad types without the proper setup in place to handle it.

Do you have people to answer potentially dozens of calls per day? Do you have a phone system that won’t put people on hold in case multiple users call at once? Do you have proper conversion tracking established? Are calls set to only display during business hours?

A ton of people run call-only campaigns to find out that they had none of that setup, leaving tons of calls unanswered, money wasted, and few conversions that they could actually credit to Google Ads calls.

Attribution on offline events is hard, but there are plenty of call tracking software on the market. If you are serious about generating results with mobile ads like call-only, they are worth the minimal upfront investment and many have free trials.

Another option for mobile-friendly ad types is simply running a search network campaign with a dedicated, mobile-first landing page.

A big mistake is running search network campaigns and expecting mobile to convert on your desktop designed landing page.

You know, that clunky page with a huge form and way too many page elements that takes 100 swipes to reach the bottom of the page? Oh and then it forces you to scroll back up to convert?

Yeah, that ain’t gonna fly.

(Gif Source)

An example that I recently saw blew me away. Lyft’s landing pages on mobile, search network ads:

That’s it. Literally. You can’t scroll down further.

They simplify the process dramatically. All you gotta do it type in your phone number to convert, and chances are, your phones auto-suggest features will do it for you.

That’s essentially a zero-step conversion process.

And because the page is so small (due to lack of elements and images), it loads within a second of clicking.

Want more info? Expand the driver or riders tab. Don’t want it? Just convert.

If you don’t want to do call-only ads or don’t have the infrastructure yet, you can run search network ads too. But to increase mobile conversions, you need to produce landing pages that were specifically designed for mobile, not desktop.

Meaning your “responsive design” isn’t enough. Just because your forms shrink to fit a small screen doesn’t magically trick mobile users into thinking it’s not a long, tedious form that’s annoying to fill out on a tiny device.

If you use a landing page builder, build on the mobile tab, not the desktop tab. If you have a developer, put ’em to work on mobile-first pages.

But how do you target only mobile sites on the search network?? Isn’t that only a feature on the display network?

Yes and no….

4. Combine Mobile-Friendly Ads With Mobile Bid Modifiers

If you have ever run a campaign on the display network, you have the handy option of tweaking device campaign settings to fit your goals:

Simple, easy, clean.

But then you go to run a search network campaign and you can’t find those settings anymore.

Gotta love it, right?

On search network ads, you can’t select device targeting specifically yet. This is pretty annoying if are looking to fire up a search network campaign with mobile-first landing pages.

You quickly run into the problem of designing for mobile but getting desktop searches in the mix.

It’s not good.

Thankfully, with a little workaround bidding strategy you can target only mobile devices.

This works by adjusting bidding modifiers on your device settings tab in a given search network campaign.

Within the devices tab, you will see three options:

1. Computers (aka desktop)
2. Mobile
3. Tablet

If you want to run just mobile device campaigns, you obviously don’t want computer and tablet traffic clicking to your site.

To eliminate bidding on computers and tablets, click on the “Bid adj.” column for each and set the bidding adjustment to decrease your bids by 100%.

Type in the new bid adjustment and Google Ads says:

“Example: a $10.00 bid will become $0.00.
To remove a bid adjustment, leave this field blank.”

That’s what you want to see. This means that when a user is searching for your keyword but browsing on desktop and tablet devices, you will bid zero dollars to get their clicks, resulting in no ads showing for them.

Conversely, when mobile users search, your bids will run like normal, grabbing only mobile browsers.

5. Align Your Ad Extensions With Each Ad’s Goal

Google Ads extensions are freakin’ awesome. With ad text limits, you can expand on them tenfold with useful info.

But this benefit also opens the door for serious downsides.

People just use ad extensions to use them because they “work” and “increase results.”

Cause they do. Duh.

But the truth is: most people have no clue why they are using them.

Don’t believe me? Conduct a random search for a keyword and see what ad extensions they are using relative to:

• Keyword funnel stage
• Keyword intent
• Offer
• Call to action

Does it match? Probably not in most cases:

Yeah, that’s a company telling you to call for $50 bucks off but not providing a single way to do so, and instead using two forms of extensions that don’t relate to intent or CTA.

With ad extensions, don’t be like Oprah. Not everyone gets ad extensions like it’s their birthday.

For mobile especially, ad extensions fit specific goals and intent based on what keywords you target.

Here are some general guidelines to follow:

Sitelink extensions: these are great for targeting broad, top of the funnel, content and research based keywords. For instance, “SEO tool.” This broad term could mean dozens of different things, giving sitelinks the chance to shine by providing very similar products under the overarching umbrella of an “SEO tool.”

Call extensions: call extensions have one simple goal: generate calls. If you aren’t able to take them or don’t have infrastructure for them, or they simply don’t match your goals, don’t put them on.

Location extensions: are you a local business? Even if you are, that doesn’t mean location extensions fit your specific ad. If you want local visits, use it. If you don’t, don’t. Because everytime someone clicks that address you are paying, whether they visit or not. So if your goal is to generate calls, don’t provide a location extension.

You get the point. When using any extensions on mobile ads, remember, you have to take these factors into account:

• Keyword funnel stage and intent: do they want research options or are they looking to buy? This could be the difference between sitelinks and promotional codes, polar opposites that will surely impact conversion rates.
• Offer: Is your offer specific to calling? You need call extensions. Is it local? Display your address. Match the offer with the extension, always.

• Call to action: What are you telling them to do? Visit your site for more? Call for more? This will determine what extension fits the goal.

Conclusion

With mobile traffic dominating, mobile advertising is seeing a boost.

But traditional desktop tactics don’t play well on mobile. Big landing pages and forms don’t convert as easy. Even bidding styles can make an impact.

For low-hanging fruit, start by improving your website speed.

This is a plaguing factor as to why conversion rates are low despite having high CTR.

Remarket your mobile visits with Google Analytics audiences.

Run more mobile-specific ad types. They are mobile-specific for a reason!

Align your ad extensions for mobile users and directly with your goals.

Lastly, use mobile bid modifiers, they have been proven to increase conversion rates.

Mobile is different, so start treating it differently.

Source: AdEspresso

Instagram Hashtags are an essential part of users’ discovery journey on the platform, allowing brands to gain exposure to niche groups and specific areas of interest.

Today, hashtags are possibly even more important to Instagram marketing than Twitter marketing (where they first appeared on August 23, 2007), especially with all these new capabilities and very different character counts.

They can help you increase your reach, connect with your target audience, and even build brand awareness.

In this post, we’re going to talk about how to get the most out of your #Instagood marketing with Instagram hashtags best practices.

We’ll look at everything from how to research and select your hashtags to how to use them for maximum impact.

When I first got Instagram, I groaned when I realized I was supposed to add hashtags to the posts.

I wasn’t a Twitter fan, and I was a little tired of seeing #FOMO slapped on too many posts. I remember doing some research and then thinking “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Todo.”

The first thing that I learned is that Twitter and Instagram hashtags might use the exact same terms in some instances and have the same basic function, but hashtag usage is very different between the two sites.

This is even more valid now than it was then; users have the ability to follow hashtags, and UGC campaigns are used more frequently on Instagram than Twitter, and then clickable hashtags in a bio can send users right to feeds filled with user-created content.

We know that finding the best Instagram hashtags for your business is a challenging task, no matter how savvy you are with social media. And there’s a lot of confusing information out there.

That’s why, combining everything we’ve learned about the best (and worst) practices, we selected these 8 Golden Rules to help you use Instagram hashtags to boosts and accurately represents your brand.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #1: Do Your Research

Research, research, research. You want to have a good idea of which hashtags you should use or you could end up using a whole bunch of terms that don’t do much for you.

I recommend breaking hashtag research into the following stages:

• Market research. Look at the terms that your audience and industry peers are using in their posts. You’ll likely be able to see some common trends and get ideas for hashtags that you’ll want to use. Click on the hashtags you like to see if they seem to be active or relevant to what you want to do.
• Competitor research. This will be part of the market research, but it focuses exclusively on your competitors. What hashtags are they using? Look for commonalities and any new terms that you think could appeal to your target audience.
• Use hashtag research tools. My favorite is easily Hashtagify, which shows you the popularity of each individual hashtag and related terms. This can help you identify high-performing, high-visibility hashtags that you can use to increase reach and gain new followers.

Pro Tip: Create your hashtags lists.
When doing hashtag research, compile the terms you’re collecting into organized lists. Break them down by type of hashtag. Is it a niche interest for Game of Thrones followers? Are they targeting users in certain locations? Keep them all in a document or program that lets you organize hashtags by category so you can pull them up when needed. Trust me- this will save you so much time and energy.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #2: Create a Branded Hashtag & Share It Constantly

A branded hashtag will help you to establish brand awareness, and it will also be an important part of most contests and user-generated content campaigns.

It’s an excellent way to get users to find feeds of content created by you and about you, and it makes it easy for you to hunt down UGC people are sharing about your brand, too.

Tieks, my favorite shoes, has an enormous amount of UGC on Instagram; when you search their branded hashtag, user-generated content will almost always be the first thing to appear. It’s what convinced me to buy my first pair, so it is an effective strategy.

Branded hashtags should be unique to you.

They often include the name of your brand like #adespresso or #hootsuite, but they may also just be relevant to your business or campaign (think #allabouttheads).

Make sure that they’re simple so that they’re easy to type and use.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #3: Mix It Up

You want to switch up the hashtags you’re using, with the exception of your branded hashtag.

By keeping things diverse, you’ll have the best chance of reaching as many audience members as possible.

Treat them like keywords-– you want to shoot for as many as you possibly can.

To make this easier, I like to schedule my content ahead of time for clients.

I’ll create a content calendar with different types of posts and then copy and paste different relevant hashtags to each one, so that they all contain different phrases and will appear in different searches.

This is the easiest way to do this, and you can do so through social scheduling software like Hootsuite on mobile or desktop.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #4: Place Hashtags Below Your Main Caption

Your hashtags will be most effective in your actual caption, but that doesn’t mean you want to overwhelm users right away.

I always put at least one line of separation between the main post and the bulk of the hashtags.

This makes it easier for users to read the actual caption, and makes them more likely to do so, but it doesn’t hinder your reach.

This best practice may change slightly.

Instagram is currently testing a post format that would allow brands to list their hashtags in a designated block that’s entirely separate from the caption.

A change like this may improve aesthetics without compromising reach, but we’ll need to see more to know more.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #5: Use Hashtags Your Audience Is Searching For

Hashtags can work a little like SEO. It doesn’t matter if you’re ranking first for a keyword that absolutely no one is searching for.

Sometimes, finding your audience can be difficult.

But let’s say you want to connect with a local food blogger to promote your restaurant, and to see what food-related hashtags you’re using. My go-to is to type out “food blogger” (this could be swapped with “health blogger,” “life coach,” “world traveler,” “tech junkie,” and so on).

People who self-identify this way will often use these hashtags, and then you can see what other hashtags they’re using to talk about their interests.

Check out the people currently following your profile, too, if possible.

Look at their posts, and look at their hashtags. They’ll likely reflect the sorts of phrases you can use to connect with other individuals like them and give you insight there.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #6: Test The 10/10/10 Strategy

There’s some minority conflicting information out there about the ideal number of hashtags to use for maximum engagement.

Right now, the evidence all kind of converges and averages out around 11 hashtags.

Engagement piques up to that point and then falls after.

Shooting for 11 hashtags is a great strategy, but another strong one is to use the 10/10/10 approach. You’re allowed to use thirty hashtags per post, after all.

Some brands will use 10 location-focused hashtags, 10 general appeal hashtags, and 10 niche interest hashtags in order to reach as many potential members of their audience as possible.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #7: Put the Most Valuable Hashtags First

You’ve got a nice-sized block of hashtags that you want to use. Excellent! You’ll now want to strategically choose which hashtags you want to list first.

Users aren’t likely to read through all of your hashtags, whether you’re choosing only 8 or to go for all 30. If there are hashtags that you want them to read- like #bestcustomersever or #shareyourthoughts- make sure that you list them first.

This goes for entertainment-oriented hashtags, too, will increase the likelihood that users actually read them.

If there’s one hashtag that’s vitally important for users to read, you can include it in your main caption.

This could include a branded hashtag with a call for UGC, or an entertainment-focused hashtag that’s meant to add to brand voice.

Instagram Hashtags Rule #8: Don’t Keep Them Just to Feed Posts

Hashtags are powerful, and you don’t want to restrict that potential impact just to your in-feed posts.

Use the hashtag sticker to include branded hashtags in your Stories.

This will establish brand awareness, and when coupled with a user-generated content campaign, it can act as a clickable CTA that will take users to feeds of other UGC that’s already been shared.

When users see feeds of excited customers sharing their experience with your business publicly, they’ll be more inclined to trust you, purchase from you, and even create UGC of their own.

You should also add your branded hashtag to your profile bio. As long you add the # sign in front of the text, it will become a clickable hashtag.

The same principle applies here; this builds brand awareness, increases UGC (especially if placed next to a specific call for it), and can send users right to a gallery of posts all about you.

Conclusion

Instagram hashtags are an important part of Instagram marketing as a whole, so you need to be using them correctly.

This includes researching hashtags so you can choose the right ones and using them strategically to increase exposure and even drive certain actions from your followers.

When using hashtags, you can always test out different strategies to see what works.

Use social media analytics tools like Hootsuite to create a calendar full of posts with diverse hashtags and then track the results after they’ve gone live.

It will be hard to track the impact of specific hashtags by looking at a few posts, but by testing different strategies, you can get some insight into what works and why.

What do you think? How do you use Instagram hashtags to improve your marketing campaigns? Which strategies have worked for you? How do you find your best-performing hashtags? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!

Source: AdEspresso

On average, Google Ads advertisers generate two dollars for every one dollar spent.

That means the average advertiser can expect to double their money on the platform.

And while that’s compelling, there are also cases of people blowing thousands or millions of dollars in the process.

If you haven’t dived into PPC on Google Ads, it’s incredibly daunting.

Essentially, it’s gambling. It’s hoping that your investment is going to pay off rather than produce zero dollars in profit.

But the truth is:

There is no minimum budget on Google Ads!

You don’t need to risk a big budget on Google Ads to drive sales. In fact, low budget campaigns can dominate your results.

Here is how to run a successful one.

Set Your Maximum Daily Budget and Project Results

Before immediately diving into campaign creation for your low-budget PPC campaign, you should project your results in advance to build realistic expectations.

This is a low-budget campaign. While “low-budget” is relative, low-budget ain’t a cash cow.

So expecting $5,000 in profit overnight is likely to lead you to cancelling or jumping the gun on ad spend.

To start, enter the maximum of your low-budget spend that you are comfortable with spending in a single day:

If you aren’t sure, simply ask yourself what you can spend in a month and calculate from there.

If you can spend $150 per month max, that would be around $5 per day.

Enter that into your average daily budget.

Now, take a look at common data-based averages on CPC to get an idea of what clicks will cost and see if your daily budget aligns:

(Image Source)

Is your daily budget too small? Think about it this way: skip your iced unicorn frappuccino for the next month and you can afford a $5 minimum daily budget.

In quarter one of 2018, average CPCs on Google Ads were $2.76.

That’s not bad. And you can actually get it lower than that. Let me show you how.

Start With a Specific Single Keyword

Low-budget campaigns on PPC aren’t new. They aren’t some hot trend or hip growth hack (Also, can we please stop using the term growth hack??).

But most people get low-budget campaigns wrong. They take the same approach as any other campaign and just expect a scaled-down version of the results.

Wrong!

When running low-budget campaigns you literally cannot pay for multiple keywords and get results.

if your budget is $5 a day, why are you bidding on ten keywords costing that amount for a single click?

The biggest mistake I’ve seen in years of PPC work is spreading yourself too thin. Bidding on too many keywords and creating too many ad groups.

When it comes to low-budget campaigns, you only need one good keyword.

(Meme Source)

And this keyword should be as specific as possible. You shouldn’t be targeting head terms like “SEO.”

Someone searching “SEO” has no freaking idea what they want. Meaning they’ll click on your PPC ad, browse for a second, and then leave you in the dust.

Specificity is key on Google Ads for both ad rank and quality score.

The more specific you are, the cheaper your costs, allowing you to produce more from less.

So, what type of keyword do you need?

Look for a medium volume (traffic) keyword with low competition and scout the search results to match intent.

Intent simply means: what the searcher likely expects to accomplish with the search.

If the search is “get a plumber near me” they clearly want a plumber. But if the search is “best CRM,” they probably want an article ranking different CRMs, not your product claiming to be the best.

To scout keywords, I recommend using the Google Ads Keyword Tool. It gives you valuable data like bidding estimates for top page and top spot bids in relation to competitors.

Remember: limit yourself to a single, great keyword. Bidding on multiple keywords that cost multiple dollars per click is going to spread your results too thin. Plus, it requires longer setup times and additional unique landing pages, raising your time, effort, and costs.

Create a Single Keyword Ad Group

Once you have found your keyword of choice, it’s time to develop a single keyword ad group, also known as a SKAG.

SKAGs are exactly what they sound like: ad groups on your campaign that feature just one keyword, rather than multiple, like Google often suggests.

SKAGs look like this on your Google Ads campaign:

SKAGs take your single keyword and modify it with three specific match-types:

• Broad match modifier: +keyword
• Phrase match: “keyword”
• Exact match: [keyword]

SKAGs work by producing specificity. When you have dozens of keywords in a single ad group, you run into the problem of writing ads that can’t possibly cater to all these searches:

(Image Source)

AdEspresso also found interesting data on this, showing that increasing your quality and relevance score increases your CTR and decreases costs. Nice!

(Image Source)

Still not convinced? Look at how the quality score factor is broken down in Google Ads:

“Quality score is an estimate of how relevant your ads, keywords, and landing pages are…”

Do you think it’s possible to deliver a relevant ad and landing page experience when you target 20 keywords to a single ad?

I didn’t think so.

The more specific you are on Google Ads, the better your results will be both in total performance and decreases costs.

Clicteq proved this, increasing their quality score from five to nearly eight with SKAGs. This increase in QS resulted in a 37.5% decrease in cost per lead and a 28% CTR increase.

Now that’s maximizing a low-budget.

On low-budget campaigns, you need to generate the highest CTR combined with a high conversion rate to have cheap costs.

And SKAGs are the easiest way to do it.

To set up SKAGs, create a single ad group on your new campaign and utilize the three keyword modifiers I listed earlier for your selected keyword:

• Broad match modifier: +keyword
• Phrase match: “keyword”
• Exact match: [keyword]

Save it and let’s move onto the bidding!

Utilize ECPC Bidding

On Google Ads, there are ten different types of bidding style to choose from.

Most people will see bidding types like “maximize conversions” or “maximize clicks” and immediately flock to them.

And for good reason: they sound like the most effective choice, especially on a low-budget campaign where your goal is to turn small cash into big conversions.

But the one we want to focus on today is called ECPC, otherwise known as Enhanced Cost Per Click.

How does it work?

ECPC is a smart bidding type where Google can implement machine learning and automation to increase or decrease bids on a given search on behalf of you.

Taking into account keywords, funnel stage, competitors, and relevance, Google will determine whether to bid higher or lower for you.

This results in Google increasing your bids when your ad is the best fit and decreasing when your competitor is surely to win.

This helps you prevent wasted clicks where a user might click on your ad, find that it’s not relevant, and click back to the SERPs to a competitor.

Skipping that step, you save money on clicks and maximize efforts.

A recent experiment with Google Ads bidding strategies put “Maximize Clicks” in a head-to-head battle with ECPC to see which would perform best.

While maximize clicks did exactly what it was supposed to do (maximize the clicks), it resulted in less conversions, a lower click-through rate, and a cost per lead that was $124.94 more expensive.

(Image Source)

Maximize clicks was the winner on impressions, clicks, and cost per click, but the overall loser in conversions and cost per lead.

Maximize clicks can be great for producing brand-awareness oriented results, but when it comes to real sales and people paying you, it’s no match for ECPC.

What about Maximize Conversions? Maximize conversions is an automated bidding type where Google attempts to get you the cheapest conversions possible and maximize the amount that you get from bidding.

Sounds awesome, right? It sounds like the perfect type for a low-budget campaign.

It’s a good bidding type, but studies show that it takes Google at least two weeks to learn proper optimization for your campaign.

If you have two weeks to spare for your budget and possible low performance, this could be a great bidding type.

If you can’t, ECPC is a proven results machine.

Create a SKAG Landing Page That Converts

Typical landing pages in most PPC campaigns are to blame for the lack of conversions.

Driving clicks on your ad is relatively easy. Especially if you follow the idea of specificity and creating SKAGs.

You are thereby honing in on specific terms and offers that your audience is directly looking for.

But when you look at landing page conversion rates for PPC, you see a massive disconnect.

How can we drive such big CTR and almost no conversions?

Message match.

Message match, as defined by Unbounce is:

“A measure of how well your landing page copy matches the phrasing of the ad or link that brought the visitor there. For PPC marketers, this means matching your ad copy to your landing page headline. Strong message match increases conversions because it reassures people they’ve come to the right place.”

More specifically, message match also caters to intent.

If your keyword target is “best CRM” and your ad promises a comparison of CRMs, like the keyword intent would suggest, but your landing page is just a sales page, that’s a huge disconnect.

Rightfully so, users are going to bounce from your page without buying.

Using message match, I was able to increase conversion rates for a client by 212.74%.

Running PPC ads, we created SKAG style landing pages directed at specific market segments for the client.

For instance, directly targeting attorneys searching for disability insurance quotes.

And physicians or dentists looking for disability income insurance:

With unique landing pages and specificity, we provided the perfect message match from search to click to landing page.

Not only was the copy matching from the ad copy to landing page, but the offer was matching intent.

Unless you are selling ecommerce products on Google Shopping, people aren’t ready to give you money yet.

They likely want a consultation, a quote, or more information. So don’t ask them anything. Instead, offer them a quote, consultation, or more information in exchange for their contact.

Once you have developed your new SKAG-style landing page, head to the ad you created for your new campaign and SKAG and place it as the final URL:

If you want improved optimization, I suggest installing UTM tags at the account-level.

With low-budget campaigns, everything needs to be perfect, and these small differences along the way can cause tension and lost conversions.

Let’s recap a bit:

• Use message match by keeping your copy, keywords, and offer the same from your ad to your landing page.
• Start with a low-risk offer, don’t immediately jump to a sale (unless it’s an ecommerce campaign or local marketing)
• Customize the landing page for specific market segments you target

Congrats! Now let your campaigns run for the next few weeks and make adjustments along the way based on performance.

Conclusion

Google Ads can produce a serious return on investment. But oftentimes, it takes a serious upfront investment to make that happen.

Sadly, tons of potential advertisers get turned away from Google Ads in fear of losing their marketing budget.

But just like any marketing tactic, you aren’t guaranteed results. If you are, run for your life, because guaranteed results are not possible in digital marketing.

Thankfully on Google Ads, you can run low-budget campaigns that drive big results.

Start by setting your daily maximum budget to project what you can reasonably expect.

Next, start with a single, specific keyword. The biggest mistake people make is spreading themselves too thin.

Develop SKAGs and combine it with ECPC bidding for maximized impact. Lastly, create a SKAG landing page to ensure that you capitalize on traffic.

With a low-budget campaign, you won’t generate 10,000 leads overnight. But they sure as heck will be cheap.

Source: AdEspresso