The other night while suffering from extreme jet lag and unable to sleep, I was thinking about the upcoming Facebook Ad program and it hit me that we can learn a lot from the business owners in India.

I spent 8 days in Rishikesh, in the north of India and the self-proclaimed capital of Yoga. There are dozens of yoga training programs offered in Rishikesh.  It’s also a holy city, located on the banks of the Ganges River in the foothills of the Himalayas. The city is teeming with tourists, yogis and spiritual pilgrims, both from the West and from all over India.

There are hundreds of shops selling trinkets, jewelry, souvenirs, clothing, etc., etc. Most of the stuff is similar, if not exactly the same, from shop to shop. So how does one shop standout from another to attract the valuable tourist rupees?

There is a cacophony of advertising EVERYWHERE, and the shop owners frequently stand in the doorway shouting about their wares, engaging with people as they wander by, inviting them to enter their shop where they can move into their masterful sales patter.

Shop owners do not sit in the back of the shop and wait and hope you’ll enter. They actively engage passersby with enticing offers. They have signs and ads and displays right in your face as you walk by.

And it works. A smile, a particularly appealing invitation or beautiful bracelet catches your eye, and you’re in.

The vendors in Rishikesh know they have a lot of competition and they know they are all vying for the same small niche audience. And, they work it, constantly. Their livelihood depends on it.

We, online entrepreneurs, are spoiled. For years we have enjoyed using the free tools of the Web to attract new customers and clients. We rarely felt we had to pay for ads to attract eyeballs on our offers.

But things have changed.

There’s more competition for the same eyeballs. You can no longer sit at the back of your virtual shop and wait for people to notice you, wander in, and buy your programs and products.

It’s time to get more vocal and be proactive about getting in front of your ideal audience. You don’t need to stand on a corner and shout to passersby. You do need get your message and invitations in front of them, though, and on the Web, that’s with ads.

Facebook is one of the best platforms for targeting and reaching your specific niche of buyers.

Facebook recently announced major changes to what your fans will be seeing in their news feed. Mari Smith summed it up:

Note: the overly promotional content people don’t care for in their News Feed tends to be organic posts by Pages. Not ads. In other words, when Pages pay to amplify the reach and visibility of a specific piece of content, users are okay with that. It’s obvious it’s an ad and we’ve come to expect something more commercial in nature, right? A well-targeted ad, for a product or service that you actually need, is a wonderful thing.

According to the people surveyed, these are the traits that make organic posts feel too promotional:

1) Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app.
2) Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context.
3) Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads.

Facebook says, “Pages that post promotional creative should expect their organic distribution to fall significantly over time.”

If you don’t know how to create inexpensive, effective ads, you’re wasting your money.  It’s much better to learn how to create targeted ads and campaigns the right way. It will save you a ton of time, money and lots of grief in the long run. And, you’ll see better results.

It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, either. In fact, for as little as $30 a month, you can create a steady stream of leads for your business. Wouldn’t that be worth it?

• You have to know the 3 best ads for reaching your business.
• You have to know how piggyback on the others’ success to target the right people.
• You have to know how to create a campaign and set a reasonable budget.
• And, you do have to be willing to invest in your business.

I’m hosting Grow Your Business with Facebook Ads with Erin Tillotson, a Facebook ad pro. It’s a 3-part nuts and bolts program, showing you exactly what to do and why. No mystery. No “figure it out for yourself.” It’s practical and you’ll see exactly how to create ads that work and convert to likes, engagement and sales.

In your business, I want for you to be found and seen and hired by the right clients and customers.  Because, when you’re successful, there’s a domino effect that spreads to those you serve and touch. 

If you’re not getting enough clients, then I invite you to come on board and learn how you can put Facebook ads to work for you, without breaking the bank. There’s a huge untapped audience waiting to find you on Facebook. It’s time for you get out there so you can make a positive impact on their lives.

Sounds good, right?

Join us for Grow Your Business with Facebook Ads, starting soon, on December 3 (just in time to create your holiday ads!).

P.S. The next 11 people to join get an invitation to attend a small group coaching Q&A session. That’s extra, personalized help for getting the best out of your ads.

P.P.S. We have also added a private Facebook group for participants, so you can get ongoing, extra support during the program.

Get started here.

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The post What I Learned About Advertising on My Trip to India appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

You know what frustrates me?

When I hear otherwise smart entrepreneurs say things like, “I would never pay for Facebook ads, they don’t work.” And “Why aren’t I getting more leads on Facebook? No one sees my offers!”

Think about it.

You know Facebook has become a “pay to play” network for businesses. You own and run and business. You’ve put a lot of time and energy into building your Facebook page. You know only a small percent of the people who’ve liked your page ever see your content.

So what do you do? Give up?

There is another way and it won’t cost you and arm and a leg. But, you do have to make an investment, like most businesses do in order to reach their ideal audience. Yes, there are a lot of free tools you can use to connect with people, but if your connections are not converting, you’ve got to try something new.

There are two reasons you need to consider Facebook ads:

1. There are over 1,000,000,000 (that’s 1 billion) people using Facebook. 47% of Americans say Facebook is the #1 influencer of their purchases, and 70% of marketers use Facebook ads to get new customers. Why not you, too?
2. Audience targeting. Facebook has the most sophisticated audience targeting options and two types of targeting can make a huge difference on the results you get with your ads: custom audiences and look-alike audiences.

If you’re not getting results with your ads, you’re probably using the random hit and miss method of advertising. I did that for a long time and wondered why the heck nothing much happened. It was pathetic and a waste of money.

Or, you’re not using ads at all.

That’s fine. But, from a business perspective you’re missing a huge opportunity to get in front of the people who need and want what you offer. If you’re not using the powerful features to target new leads, then you’re playing very small and only reaching a minute fraction of the people who could benefit from your message. That’s a fact, not a judgment.

I’ve found that most Facebook Ad training programs are too confusing, complicated and don’t make sense for my solo business. It seems like they are meant for brands and corporations that have big budgets. Have you experienced that too?

That’s why I’ve teamed up with Erin Tillotson and developed a program for people like us: consultants, coaches, authors, speaker and other solo professionals.

Before we developed the program, we asked small business owners what they wanted to know about using Facebook ads. Here’s what they told us:

• What should I realistically expect to spend on ads?
• What’s better, an ad or boost post? What’s the difference?
• What kind of images should I use?
• What are the best calls to action?
• Can I use ads to build my community?
• How do I track my results so I know the ads are working?

Any of those questions resonate with you?

Well, those are the topics we’re going to cover. In real time, shared on screen, you get to see exactly how to plan your ads, which ads work best in specific situations and how to manage your ad budget and not waste your money or spend a fortune.

Now you can learn how to create the right ads for your business. You’ll learn the exact ads to create and how to reach new leads outside of your small sphere of fans (that’s not a criticism, but the truth is that no matter if you have 100 fans or 10,000 fans, there are way more people out there who you can help if they ever see your content!).

We’re going to cover the three types of ads you need to integrate into your marketing that won’t cost you thousands, or even hundreds of dollars. In fact, Erin has a system she uses for some of her clients that only requires a budget of $50 a month! Now, that’s affordable!

You’re curious now, right? You know you need to do something. You know there are more perfect clients out there just waiting to find you. You know there are a billion+ people on Facebook. Now, you can do something about it.

Join us in December (it’s coming up fast!). You’ll be ready to implement some holiday and New Year’s offers at the end of the 3 classes.

If you’ve experimented and been frustrated by your results with Facebook ads, join us for a down to earth, hype-free, easy-to-understand-and-implement program on how to use Facebook ads in your small business. Click here for details and registration.

The post Two Reasons You Need to Invest in Facebook Ads appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

1. How to convert social media followers into quality leads
2. How to get content on their Facebook business page seen by more followers in the newsfeed

I’ve been experimenting with a strategy to conquer both challenges after I received a quick Facebook page “makeover” from Erin Tillotson.

 I was whining mentioning to Erin that I was tired of having to “pay to play” on Facebook. I want the people who voluntarily liked my page to be able to see my content without having to buy ads. Sounds reasonable, right?

So, Erin showed me how to create an Offer (which is considered an ad) without having to pay for it. This is legitimate, no black hat funny stuff.

In the video, you can watch as I show where to create an offer (starts at 07:44 min).

I decided to experiment with a Facebook offer and promote my free Visibility Boost! eCourse. My goal was to make an offer to get the free eCourse which  would direct my followers to provide their email address in order to get the seven free visibility tips delivered over seven days.  You can see the offer embedded below:

You can see some of the results on the offer (at the time of this post’s publication):

• The offer has been shared 12 times
• 101 people have claimed the offer
• 4 comments on the offer

What you can’t see:

• 13,848 saw the post in the newsfeed
• 51 people actually opted in to get the free tips in the first 5 days the offer was live
• 50% conversion from offer claims to eCourse optins
• 32 new Likes on my Page

While these numbers may not be earth shattering, they do bear mention because my experiment has introduced 51 new people into my world. Over time, some of these new people may become customers when I introduce a new Visibility program, and a few may become mentoring clients. And I did not have to spend a dime on ads to get my offer in front of them.    

What you need to prepare before you create an offer

Before you dive in to the ad tool to create an offer, it will go more smoothly if you prepare a few things first. If you’re making an offer with the intention to build your email list, then of course, you need to have something to give away. I suggest you consider an ebook, video course, checklist, webinar, etc. Offering a subscription to a newsletter may not be compelling enough unless you’re really well known and can make a strong case to subscribe.  Here’s what else to prepare:

1. You offer should be on a dedicated page with it’s own URL. Don’t send people to your home page or a blog post and make them work to find your freebie. Send them to a landing page for your gift.
2. Attention-grabbing headline for your offer – 25 characters
3. Description – 90 characters
4. An image that reflects your offer – 560 x 292 pixels
5. URL for the landing page
6. Use the “terms and conditions” to add info about what your prospect will get when they claim your offer

This is what your prospect receives via email when they claim your offer:

The part outlined in red and highlighted in yellow is the copy you can add under Terms and Conditions. Many people don’t include any additional information which I consider a wasted opportunity.

Bonus Tip: After you create your Facebook offer and it’s live on your Page, pin it to the top so it stays visible when new people click through to your page.

There you have it. I’d love to know how you’ve used offers to build your email list. Post your comments below and share your results and experience with Facebook offers.

The post How to Build Your Email List with Facebook Offers appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

As we all know Facebook loves to switch it up on the back end and keep us guessing, or that’s what it feels like. Really they’re trying to keep content that users know, like and trust front and center for them…improving the user experience is their goal.

What does this mean for business owners?

Of course we need to adjust our use of the platform to maintain the highest return for our marketing efforts.

Right now the posts that are flying around like hot cakes on Facebook are ‘link posts.’ These are any posts that you place a link into the post AND keep the preview. Let’s walk through this so your posts stay front and center in your audience’s Facebook news feed.

The Link Post

To get started type in what you have to say about your fabulous link, once your happy go ahead and paste in your link.

You’ll see the preview come up…don’t hit Post yet! This is where we can make all sorts of changes and really bring the post to life!

Customize Your Image

Take a look at the same image here, underneath the image you can see ‘Upload Image.’ You now have the power to change this. So when Facebook decides it is a great idea to pull in your Captcha image for the post you can fix that.

Here’s a few specifics for you, follow these measurements and get the most coverage. To get a full width image on both desktop computers and mobile phones your image needs to be 560 x 292 pixels. This will give you a nice big image on your post and you’ll stand out in the newsfeed!

Customize Your Title and Description

The next piece you can change, if you desire, is the title and description. One important thing to keep in mind is when users are on their mobile device they will only see the title. They will not see your description, so make sure you have awesome titles!

To change these elements all you have to do is click on them and the field will become editable. Your goal here is to peak viewer curiosity, which entices them to click your link!

[Note from Denise] Erin invited me to have a 20 minute Facebook Business Page makeover. We covered this tip during the Hangout and I showed how to do it on my page. The makeover is rich in tips on how to get more engagement on your page.]

There you have it, getting and staying in the Facebook newsfeed of your ideal clients with link posts. Get creative, have fun and stand out in new ways! 

Get Erin Tillotson’s free training, Facebook Rookie to Facebook Rockstar, and set your Facebook Business Page on FIRE!

The post How to Stay In the Facebook News Feed With One Simple Strategy appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

It’s estimated that only about 10% of the people who follow your Facebook page, actually see your content. So you’re left to spend an unreal amount of time posting pictures, videos, polls and links in the hope that your followers will see and engage with your content. Or, you can spend money and advertise your content with promoted posts and offers in an attempt to get attention in the newsfeed.

That’s my strategy. I spend $10-20 per month advertising key posts to my fans. Generally I promote a post with a free offer and use them as lead generation and for list building.

If you’re committed to marketing your business on Facebook (and with over 1 billion users, who isn’t?), the infographic below may help you choose how to engage for the best return on your investment of time.  No surprise here that images get the best engagement. Some of the statistics are astounding.

Source

A couple of questions for you… do you use images on Facebook and what are your thoughts about the challenges of using Facebook for your business?

The post The Challenge of Getting Visibility on Facebook [infographic] appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.