How to Write an Effective Facebook Ad Copy

facebook ad copy 1

In this post, you’ll discover how to write an effective Facebook ad copy that converts well.

1.09 people are active on Facebook every day.

Facebook and Instagram Users Highly Engaged on Daily Basis

Even though people claim that Facebook usage is on the decline, the opposite is true.

According to Pew Research Center, 70 percent of Facebook users in the United States log in daily, compared to 59 percent on Instagram, 38 percent on Twitter, 27 percent on Pinterest, and 22 percent on LinkedIn.

This means that if you’re a business owner, being on this platform makes complete sense.

And even though facebook organic reach sucks the big one, you can use Facebook ads to target your ideal customer.

But getting your prospect’s attention is the first hurdle.

How can you capture the attention of the right audience at the right time so that they want to stop scrolling (or whatever they are doing) and pay attention to your ad?

That’s the reason for this post.

How effective is Facebook advertising?

One of the first questions that may arise is whether I should continue to use Facebook and run ads on the platform.

After all, you can see the increasing competition on this platform among businesses, so you may believe it is no longer worthwhile.

Brands all try to target the same audience as you, and people are tired of hearing the same dull messages over and over.

Moving away, on the other hand, is not an option. You’d be insane!

  • Just because organic reach is decreasing doesn’t mean it’s gone! And, with the right ads, you can ensure that your content is seen by more people.
  • Facebook (and its other properties) are the most popular social networks, which means that all of your customers are there as well.
  • Running effective ads with the appropriate Facebook Call-To-Action (CTA) buttons will assist you in achieving specific objectives.
  • The targeting options are more specific than anywhere else on the internet.
  • You can target previous customers, website visitors, demographics, and interests.
  • Using their retargeting ads, you can reintroduce people who had previously lost contact with your company.
  • You can increase your audience’s touchpoints, raise awareness, and attribute everything to future conversions for tracking.

As you can see, the advantages are numerous.

You can double, triple, or quadruple your business growth with Facebook, and because you can set a daily or lifetime budget and increase and decrease it at any time, you have complete control over your destiny.

What are Facebooks Ads?

When you first sign up for Facebook, you begin sharing information about yourself with the social network.

This information is used by Facebook to create a profile of who you are, what you like, what you’re interested in, and so on, and this profile is then used to serve advertising in places like your newsfeed.

After all, the product is free for everyone to use, but Facebook, like everyone else, must pay its bills at the end of the day.

Brands and marketers who use Facebook primarily use it to reach and communicate with their customers, and just like in the “old” days, advertising is a part of their communication strategy.

The most important thing to remember, however, if you are a brand or a marketer for a brand, is that advertisement is often perceived as an interruption in the life of the person you are attempting to reach.

The life of someone more interested in what their friends, families, and other network members are posting, liking, sharing, or commenting on the network.

If you want to ensure that your content is “thumb-stopping” to your target audience, you must ensure that the ad outperforms all other items in their newsfeed.

How to write Facebook ads copy that converts well

When we ask you about the best Facebook Ads practices.

What is the first thing that comes to mind?

Visuals and finding the right targeting audience are most likely the top two items on your list of Facebook Ad success.

But what good is a perfect visual that is targeted to the ideal customer if there is no great copy to entice them further into your funnel?

Many consider David Ogilvy to be the original “Mad Man,” and he understood the importance of writing a good headline.

After all, it is the first thing a reader sees after the visual, and it will determine whether or not they are interested in reading more.

So, how can you create a great Facebook ad copy that’ll blow your competitors out of the water?

1. Ensure your copy fits with your image

Let’s start with a look at the visual.

Although the ad copy is what will drive your advertisement home.

People must first stop scrolling to read the advertisement.

Most businesses, regardless of size, do not always have excellent images at their disposal.

This is true for the images that accompany their blog posts, but it is also true for the images that appear in their advertisements.

Finding or creating great visuals is one thing; finding or creating great visuals that complement your ad copy is quite another.

People will begin to wonder what you’re trying to advertise if the copy of your ad does not match the visual.

They’re unlikely to click on your ad, and the time and effort you put into it will be for naught (plus money if you were only looking for impressions with an awareness campaign).

If you’re just getting started on Facebook or with your marketing and don’t yet have a dedicated team in place to assist you with the creation of your visuals, check out tools like Canva.

2. Ensure your copy matches your campaign objective

Not every company is at the same stage of its online marketing journey as another.

That means there will be different types of ads for you and your business depending on how well your (potential) customers already know you.

For example, if you’re just getting started with your Facebook presence, you should probably start with a brand awareness campaign.

If you’ve been running Facebook ads for a while, people will have gotten to know you; you may want to switch them over to traffic generation ads or page likes (part of the Engagement objective).

When you begin creating ads in Facebook Business Manager, you will select one of the following objectives:

Facebook Business Manager Marketing Objective

And, just as your visual must correspond to the copy that you’re writing, the context of your copy must be adapted to the goal that you’re setting.

Consider this: would you approach someone with the same copy if you wanted to drive more app installs or store visits as you would if you simply want more traffic to your website?

Obviously not.

Different objectives necessitate different visuals and ad copy. You’ll be well on your way if you start by addressing those first two points.

3. Smaller audience = more effective ads

One of the most appealing aspects of Facebook ads in comparison to “traditional” advertising? You can narrow down your target audience to the exact specifications that you desire.

Consider this: your prospects come to you for a variety of reasons; why would you use the same ad? Because Facebook’s strength is its ability to target, don’t treat your ad as if it were a billboard.

This means that once you’ve narrowed down your target audience, you can tailor your copy to be just right for that ideal customer.

It is normal to write as if you are speaking at a conference when creating content online, as we do in this blog post. Although we address you specifically, the message is broad enough to appeal to a larger audience.

However, if you want to create effective ad copy, make sure to keep the audience you’re targeting as small as possible. You can write as if you’re speaking to a single person when you do this. It is easier to persuade someone if you talk to them one at a time.

So, where to begin?

You can start by developing your Buyer Persona (or ideal customer).

Although it is one of those fancy marketing terms, it sounds more complicated than it is.

If you take the time, you should be able to answer questions about your target audience such as:

  • What are their ages?
  • What is a typical day like in their life?
  • Where do they call home?
  • What is it that keeps them awake at night?
  • What do they care about?

4. Use simple language

Working in any industry for an extended time means becoming completely immersed in all of the jargon that is used in that industry.

And while these fancy, big words may be cool in the office, when it comes to writing for a large number of people, this type of copy is difficult to understand.

As a result, your copy may be unclear.

People are ignoring your ad and continuing to scroll through their newsfeed.

After all of the changes you’ve made to your ad copy up to this point, this one should be your top priority.

Writing a Facebook ad that anyone, even a third-grader, can understand.

Do you want to pique the reader’s interest, let alone generate conversions?

  • What you’re offering, and what problem are you attempting to solve?
  • What is your solution, and how does it benefit the reader?
  • Their next step of action

5. Use social proof

Trust is hard to come by.

When done correctly, it can make people feel comfortable enough to hand over their hard-earned money, personal information, or anything else that appears valuable to them in an instant.

But how can you earn that trust quickly if there is no trust yet if they’ve never heard of you? Earn trust in just one advertisement?

Most people look for “signs” that build trust to make something trustworthy.

As a result, the actions of others can cast a negative light on your company, product, or service.

This is the essence of social proof.

There are numerous methods for obtaining social proof.

Consider how many social shares, comments, and other forms of engagement people can have with your ads.

What about including testimonials from current customers or clients in your ads and copy?

6. Make it emotional

When writing ad copy, one thing that is easy to overlook is the power of emotions.

According to a study conducted by Hamish Pringle and Peter Field in their book “Brand Immortality: How Brands Can Live Long and Prosper,” emotional advertisements work best.

They examined 1,400 successful ad campaign case studies and discovered that campaigns with purely emotional content outperformed campaigns with only rational content by about twice as much (31 percent versus 16 percent to be exact).

Following that, Trend Hunter Marketing conducted additional research on 37 emotional marketing campaigns. What were the outcomes? The average popularity score was 8.0, which was significantly higher than in other categories.

You can make your target audience click and purchase if you use emotion in your Facebook ad campaigns, and the great thing is that there are many different emotions you can use.

Think of ways to excite, delight, and surprise your audience; what’s holding you back?

The simplest method, and one that you can begin to consider right away, is to use a little drama.

7. Your Facebook ad copy isn’t about you

Most businesses, based on their websites and ad copy, are concerned with themselves.

You are concerned about yourself. Just as much as your mother or spouse cares about you.

The harsh reality is that when people see your advertisement for the first time, they don’t know who you are. They are uninterested in your company.

You most likely do not have people clicking on your ads because they want to learn more about your company.

They are not clicking on your ad because you have been working tirelessly for the past six months to develop a product or service.

Maybe they cared about you once, when you interacted with them a lot and they became fans of your product or service, but before that, they didn’t.

8. Address objections in your Facebook ad copy

In his book Advertising Secrets of the Written Word, legendary advertising copywriter Joseph Superman mentions anticipating and resolving objections as one of the powerful copy elements to successful selling.

If you have a feeling that the reader of your ad will have an objection after reading your copy, an objection that will prevent them from converting, you should raise it yourself.

You must anticipate it to combat it.

The sooner you incorporate this into your copy, the better.

In a normal conversation, you will be able to anticipate the next question, but when you are not conversing with your prospect, when you are not in front of her, you should anticipate this yourself.

If you detect an objection, a reason for not converting, and choose to ignore it, you are effectively ignoring your potential customer. And does that sound like something you’d say in a one-on-one setting?

Certainly not!

9. Don’t forget the headline

After all, the optimization you’ve been doing up to this point has left us with one thing unaddressed: the headline of your ad.

And just because we haven’t discussed it yet doesn’t mean it isn’t important.

Some might argue that it is the most important aspect of any advertisement.

After all, the majority of people do not even read past the headline.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a landing page, a news article, an email subject line, or an ad copy. Because most people don’t read past the headline, you must make your Facebook ad headlines count.

Are you ready to craft your Facebook ad copy?

Effective Facebook ad copy has the potential to propel you and your company forward in ways that were not previously possible. It is one of the most effective advertising platforms available.

If you follow the instructions above, you will be able to write copy for that ad platform and take your business to the next level.

Your Facebook ad copy should be as follows:

  • Fitting with your images
  • Matching your campaign objective
  • Targeted to smaller audiences, so you can have more effective ads
  • Using simple language that even a third-grader can understand
  • Using the power of social proof in your ads
  • Emotional
  • About your customer, not about you
  • Anticipating any objections your (potential customers might have)
  • Have a powerful headline

Remember that the overall goal of your ads is to engage your audience and persuade them to sign up for your offer.

You will be miles ahead of the majority of your competition if you follow these nine steps to write incredible Facebook ad copy.

If we could give you one piece of advice, it would be to never stop testing.

When possible, use the split-testing feature in Facebook Business Manager to test, rewrite, and test again!

You will achieve your goals even faster if you do so.

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Maku Seun is a freelance copywriter and direct response marketer. He helps digital marketers, coaches, and course creators boost sales by writing compelling sales copy which includes long-form sales letters, email copy, and website copy for their products and services. If you want him to write compelling sales copy for your business, click here.