Is your aesthetic practice interested in running Facebook or Instagram ads? Or have you run them in the past without much luck? Chances are you’re not following the best practices or the basic do’s and don’ts of running ads on these social networks.
We’ve collaborated with our CMO, Chris Moore, a #1 Best Selling Author on Amazon.com on the subject of Facebook Marketing to help compile this list. Keep in mind that in this article we’re using the term “Facebook” to include both Facebook and Instagram, as Facebook owns Instagram.
Do’s – Best Practices that Every Plastic Surgery, Med Spa, Or Dermatology Practice Should Follow
- Always establish the main objective of running ads of Facebook
- Why are you running this ad?
- Is it to book appointments online?
- Boost the number of followers on FB for warm targeting in the future?
- Cross-promote your Instagram page?
- To drive traffic to a specific page on your website with the purpose of lead generation?
- Without establishing WHY you are running the ad, you will likely accomplish very little and have ZERO direction on how to get started and how to predict a successful outcome.
- Have a plan
- The quickest way to fail is to jump into Facebook ads without a plan.
- Here is a quick Facebook Ad Worksheet you can use:
- What is the main objective of running this ad?
- What action would the FB user have to take for your objective to be accomplished?
- Who are you interested in targeting?
- How old are they?
- Gender?
- Geographic area?
- Special Interests or Common Interests?
- Are these people currently connected to you on FB?
- What’s in it for the FB user?
- Think about this…
- WHY would they take action.
- What does the FB user get, earn, accomplish, have to gain… from clicking your ad, giving you their information, request a consultation, enter your contest… etc…
- Lastly, you need to determine if Facebook IS the right platform for this ad.
- Sometimes you will go into this exercise and determine that what you are looking to advertise or accomplish just isn’t feasible with the Facebook platform. In those cases, try Google PPC or seek professional marketing advice from a paid media specialist.
- Remember that there is little to no active search intent on FB.
- Unlike Google, users do not visit Facebook in search of doing business with you or to research specific treatments or procedures. Facebook is working on trying to change this by beefing up their search capabilities and algorithms, but we are not there yet.
- But what does this mean??? Make sure you have your expectations set accordingly. The leads that you receive from FB are often of lower quality than Google organic or PPC leads. This is simply because these FB users didn’t actively search out your offer like they do in Google, instead this opportunity or idea was dangled in front of them. FB leads are often more off of impulse and curiosity, and less triggered by problem & solution and active intent.
- Remember where you are advertising and WHY people spend so much time on FB.
- Your prospective patients aren’t on FB to buy things from you. They are not there to see what services you are offering (most of the time). People use FB to procrastinate, to browse yard sale style items in the marketplace, to watch funny cat videos, and to keep eyes on old boyfriends and girlfriends…
- Run contests, promotions, and giveaways
- Facebook users, just like virtually everyone, love to win!
- Consider spinning your ad strategy to using a contest or giveaway. Often you can achieve the same objective by using this route and have MUCH higher engagement.
- For example… If your main objective is to cross-market your Instagram page or gain more likes and followers on your Facebook Business page — a contest or giveaway is a great way to reach new people and get people excited about connecting with you online.
- Add scarcity and a reason to act now
- It is human nature to internally panic a bit and take action quickly when we know something is scarce…
- Scarcity in advertising is usually used by using terms like “Limited Spots Available” or “While Supplies Last”…
- ALTHOUGH when marketing for Aesthetic Practices like yours, we usually tie scarcity to a time constraint for a specific special offer
- Give users a recent to act fast and act now
- Try adding additional 5-10% off the treatment price for those who take action 1 week before the offer expiration date.
- This gives people incentive to not put off taking you up on your offer, instead, this triggers
Don’t’s – What Every Plastic Surgery, Med Spa, Or Dermatology Practice Should Avoid with Facebook Ads
- Don’t set it and forget it
- This is a very important lesson that will only take one experience for you to learn…
- While you are in the early stages of running and experimenting with Facebook ads, keep a close eye on what you are spending and the output you are seeing.
- It is very easy to set a $1000 budget for 30 days and come back to check how it did.
- The great thing about FB ads is that you can turn them off whenever you’d like. There is no reason to waste money on something that is obviously not working.
- Don’t have unrealistic expectations
- Just like with any advertisement, having realistic expectations is crucial.
- If you go into your advertisement expecting to make a fortune, expecting to have zero hiccups, with no learning curve… Be ready to get disappointed.
- To get truly great results and consistent success with Facebook ads, you must study, test, train and implement dozens of ads. Just like many other things in life, success doesn’t come easy.
- Don’t assume that a specific strategy that worked last year will work this again this year
- There is only one constant in Facebook: Change.
- Facebook is constantly changing.
- The user interface gets updated constantly
- The behind the scenes algorithm changes almost daily (how FB determines what content or posts to show to which users)
- User behavior changes all the time as well. An ad or offer that users are responding well to won’t last forever… You may try the same ad 2 months in a row and achieve a completely different outcome.
- When you run into a wall recycling your old FB ad strategies and they prove to no longer be effective, try something new or hire a professional Facebook marketer to step in and take over.
- Don’t choose the wrong “Facebook Objective”
- This is the most common error in Facebook marketing.
- First, most amateur or DIY FB marketers do not even understand the differences between Facebook’s marketing objectives.
- There is a major difference both functionally and strategically between each objective.
- Below I have added a brief description and explanation for the most popular objectives for Aesthetic Practice Marketing:
- Traffic – this is specifically for driving traffic to a specific page on your website. When using this objective, the FB algorithm will train itself to find people who are most likely to click your ad and land on your website.
- Conversions – This is the best objective when using a marketing funnel. The conversion objective identifies a step or multiple steps a user would have to take for you to accomplish your goal.
- For example – you are running a lead generation campaign. You are driving traffic to a specific page on your website or a funnel landing page. The NEXT page in the sequence is the conversion page. After filling out your web form or funnel page, the user will then be directed to a “Thank You Page”. The Facebook algorithm is counting that page visit as a conversion. The algorithm will then train itself to go find more people who are most likely to fill out your form within your detailed targeting constraints.
- Engagement – This is an alternative to “Boost”-ing a post. You choose an existing post on your page and push it out to additional people using detailed targeting. The objective focuses the algorithm on finding people who are most likely to engage with your post.
- Engaging meaning liking, commenting or sharing your post.
- Lead Generation – This is Facebook’s own native lead generation platform. This is growing in popularity, yet I am not a big fan. The benefit of using this option is the enhanced user experience for the FB user and how easy it is to “opt-in”…
- Facebook auto-fills the FB users name, email, and phone number into the lead form automatically. This makes “opting-in” much easier, faster and removes resistance.
- BUT – the drawback is that from our extensive research and trial and error with this objective, we have found that many users don’t even remember filling out the form. The effort and time it takes to fill out a form or “opt-in” says a lot about the user’s intent level leading into the interaction. Often, less effort leads to a very unqualified lead.
- Don’t hesitate to hire a professional to handle your Facebook Marketing
- You can waste a lot of money advertising on Facebook if you do not know what you are doing.
- Instead of wasting tons of money on Facebook and experiencing the frustration that comes along with it… Consider hiring a professional Facebook Marketing agency that specializes in marketing YOUR business.
- We would love to have an open conversation with you and determine if we are a good fit to work together. If you would like to speak with the pro’s about the best practices then schedule a time to chat with our Chief Growth Officer, Clayton Joyner, here or give us a call at 877-673-7096 x2.
