Something I just noticed on Facebook and wanted to make you aware of…

Since I manage a few different Facebook pages plus manage a handful of Facebook Ad Campaigns for clients – I’m always checking, tweaking and tracking.

When you manage Facebook Ads you have to pay attention to the various like sources. You’ll want to see where your page likes are coming from. What you do is view your insights and then click on “likes.”

You’ll see how some come from ads, others come from invites, a few from search results.

An hour before writing this I noticed a new one. ( New to me anyway.)

Something called “Facebook Recommendations.” They say it’s “People who liked your page from a Recommended Pages Unit.”

But here’s what’s interesting…

Not all of the pages had this insight. Is Facebook is recommending some pages and not others?

I guess I can dig deeper but I don’t see any other conclusion, do you?

This stuff is always evolving.

The very best way to “Smoke Out” a Fake “Facebook Expert” is to pay attention to how they answer your questions.

If they answer questions about Facebook Marketing as “Definitive” or “Final” they are Fake. Run!

Most answers should start with…

“Let me double check on that.”

“The last time I checked.”

“Recently I found out…”

Anyway – that’s a little “Consumer Education” for you.

Before we discuss the power of Facebook Ads Sponsored Stories let’s quickly give you a simple definition. If you want your eyes to glaze over a little feel free to find Facebook’s definition in their help area.

For your purposes will focus on two types of Facebook Sponsored Stories.

1- The Page Like Story: This one is ideal for building “Social Credibility.” The idea is to target the friends of your pages current “Fans” or “Likes.” A little ad will show up and let the Facebook user know… “Mike Likes Your Business.”

2- The Page Post Story: I bet you thought your current “Fans/Likes” were always seeing your updates, right? Nope! Once they stop interacting with your business Facebook stops putting you in front of them. But you can get to them again. And that’s just one way to use “Page Post Stories.”

With a Page Post Story you are basically paying to have your content displayed and cut through the clutter of the news feed. With this strategy your post will show up on the user’s page. If your post is good enough they’ll interact with you.

A Page Post Story can be used to target three kinds of users: First, we target our existing likes and fans. Next we target their friends, then we can target our ideal prospects.

The key is to only use a post that has gained some traction.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you make a fun time out of announcing something new and you get some “traction.” You take that post and buy a story. Now, your fun announcement advertising your new service/product gets shown to the exact people you want in a very cost-effective way.

If you’re not exploring the power of Facebook Ads you’re really doing yourself a disservice.

If you’re business owner you absolutely must investigate if Facebook Ads are right for you.

Do not get lured by the new “shiny objects of social networking.” Yes, I guess you can’t ignore Pintrest, even though chances are you’ve chosen to somewhat ignore “Google +” (and that’s OK because Google’s happy if all you did was register for an account).

Facebook has the most users and the most data.

And it’s that data that is sold to “Marketers” in the form of Facebook Ads.

Lately, I’ve been generating leads in a really specific vertical market using Facebook Ads. Trust me! If I can find this tiny market on Facebook you have no excuses for not being able to find your best prospects in your local area.

A few tips for Facebook Ads.

If you’re gonna make them “rock” for you – you’ll have to commit.

You must be willing to test and tweak a few different variables.

If you’re familiar with Google’s brand of “Pay Per Click,” Google Adwords, you can walk away for a while because it’s a little “Set it and forget it.”

But not Facebook Ads.

You need to get in their every couple of days. Sometimes you have to get in their daily. Sometimes once a day won’t work!

Changing images. Tweaking copy, adjusting budgets. You need to do all this.

So there’s more genius being demonstrated by Facebook.

And that… Even making their ads platform “Sticky” for Advertisers!

Before we take a quick dive into getting direct response marketing to work for Facebook Ads we have to remind you of what direct response marketing is.

Simple: With Direct Response you are focusing on a call to action to produce a tangible result first. You only care a little bit about making an impact for your “brand.”

One of the best forms of direct response is “Two-Step Direct Response.” It’s great to go for the sale and get it right away. But the reality is you are much better off creating a funnel and making it as deep as possible.

You create your funnel with some sort of information.

You can go explore direct marketing and there’s plenty of information out there for you.

But let’s get back to Facebook Ads.

For you to think you can whip out a Facebook Ad and drive traffic to an external link that either A- Goes for a sale or, B- Asks for an opt-in is crazy. Your results will be bad a best! But, you can get it to work.

The one Secret to getting Direct Response, Lead Generation Marketing to work on Facebook is to target the “Likes” of your page.

If you want some help with Facebook Ad Strategy – reach out.

Here’s a breakdown of 3 simple and effective Facebook Ad strategies…

Strategy 1-

“I want them to Like me”

This is when you set out to increase “Page Likes.”

Now some people complain because they feel they should not have to “buy likes.” Sorry – no way around it after you exhaust everyone in your circle. Unless your some famous celebrity people are just not searching to “like your business.” You have to interrupt them.

Be warned: Increasing page likes comes with the added duty of working your page.

Why would you want to do this? Don’t skip ahead but read Strategy 3 carefully when you get to it.

Strategy 2 -

“Mike Likes It” so should I

This is where you’ll leverage your likes. Think referrals but a lot less powerful for now. These folks are not gonna call you because their Facebook friend likes you. But they will be interested and possibly start following you.

What we do here is a social ad. This shows up on the user’s Facebook page and basically says…

“Mike Dolpies Likes ….”

What we are shooting are the friends of the likes. Chances are they’re similar.

Strategy 3 -

The Real Secret and The MAIN Reason You Are Building Your Likes

Facebook will NOT let you target the “likes” of another page directly. As great as it would be to target the women who like the big gym in your area – you can not get that narrow.

But you can target any set of people who like a page where you are the admin.

Really powerful for several reasons which I can not go into here. But the tip of the iceberg…

1- They are somewhat familiar with you. Call them a captive audience if you want.

2-This is one the only ads types that gives you the most slack for driving people to an external URL.

What I mean is Facebook frowns upon external links in ads. This makes perfect sense because once someone is your fan/like they’ll be more receptive to to going to a page off of Facebook, filling in a form and becoming a lead. After that, it’s up to you to move them down the funnel!

Make no mistake about it. This is NOT some start today and end up with a flood of new business tomorrow type thing. This takes commitment.

If you’d like a complimentary consultation to see if Facebook Ads are right for you visit:

Our Facebook Ads Service Page

Did you know most online activities are very “task” oriented? Meaning.

People go online to find a restaurant or book a trip or search for a local service.

That’s why online lead generation works. Someone is looking for info. They find you. You make them an offer and they say “sure.” Over and done with. You call them and they come in. Or, if you’re selling online they hopefully buy.

But there’s one place on the net that’s not “task oriented.”

In fact it is totally about wandering. About getting lost. About 5 minutes turning into 25 minutes.

You know where that is?

Facebook. Yes – I sometime get lost wandering around and if you’re one of the 800 million Facebook users you know what I’m talking about.

I’ve been doing a lot of Facebook ads recently for both myself and clients.

Here’s what I like about it.

I’m old school!

Believe it or not Facebook ads remind me of direct mail marketing.

Meaning: One way to do direct mail is to a “cold list.” That’s a list you purchase. Done correctly you can get phone calls and generate business. You can also “warm up” the list via multiple steps.

You choose your cold list by demographics and geography. Or, if your pool of prospects are big enough you can get lists of magazine subscribers and many other “selects.”

But here’s what’s great about Facebook Ads…

Yes you can choose a radius around your business (like you would with direct mail). You can select certain demographics” (like you would with direct mail).

Where it gets better is you can dig deeper.

Say you knew that your best prospects were iPhone users. (Yes – you know know stuff like this). Well, you can target them on Facebook.

The message is you really should be exploring Facebook ads for your business. Remember your ad needs to interrupt them. And it’s OK, because they are wandering around. They are expecting to be interrupted.

Now go interrupt some prospects while they are wandering.