A few weeks ago I talked about a biz friend who was recently struggling with her business and one of the things she was struggling with was her Facebook Ads. Well, good news! She messaged me the other day to say she finally has an ad that was working again!
A number of Lounge members have also been having breakthroughs this year after digging into their data using the tools we provide and participating in a content planning intensive workshop we recently held as well.
These aha moments are proving to be so impactful not only for their bottom line but how they approach their business and I felt compelled to share it with you too, just in case what they learned can help you reach an aha moment too!
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How to Improve Your Facebook Ads
First, let’s talk about my biz friend and her Facebook Ads. When she told me she finally got ads to work I, of course, asked what she credited to their success and there were two tweaks she made that turned around their results.
Static Images vs. Video for Ads
First, she went back to using a static image vs. the video she was using previously. It’s a bit surprising, isn’t it; that a static image performed better than a video? How often do you hear about the power of UGC-type videos and how they blow up your ad performance? And that’s not to say that it can’t happen… but interestingly enough according to our resident Facebook Ads strategist and Co-Host of the Lounge, Nicole Diedrich, she finds that static images outperform videos the majority of the time too.
Facebook Ad Audiences
The second tweak she made was broadening her audience. While interest audiences are still an important strategy for smaller ad budgets, lately using a bit of a broader audience has been more successful for many people.
In fact, Nicole initially walked us through her 3-tier ad audience-building system in Facebook Ads for eCommerce. But when she came back on the show to walk us through using Facebook Ads for product launches, she talked about how she’s tweaked her strategy a bit. Now she starts with only one tier of interests and then adjusts her audience as she collects more data.
Continually Test & Improve Your Marketing
And that’s the thing about ads and most marketing. It changes constantly and quickly. One of the worst things you can do as a marketer is to continue to do things a certain way simply because that’s how it’s always been done. You’ve always got to be testing, tweaking, and trying new things. Now that doesn’t mean you jump ship as soon as something doesn’t work, give anything at least 90 days before you throw in the towel – but don’t be surprised if the strategy you have been using successfully for the last 9 months suddenly stops performing at optimal levels.
Content Planning for eCommerce
Another big breakthrough I’ve seen is around content planning, for both social media and email. This was during a 3-week intensive workshop we held exclusively for Lounge Members.
These real-time workshops are something we implemented this year. The Lounge by design is self-paced with an evergrowing library of training and resources. But this year we’re holding a number of workshops Lounge members can opt into where everyone is working on the same thing together with me and Nicole there live to audit your work and give direct feedback.
For the content planning workshop, all the attendees went through the existing training in the Lounge, plus some exclusive bonus resources we provided to workshop members. Once they went through the training they mapped out their content topics according to the GIN method and created their content calendars for me and Nicole to review.
And while each attendee had a completely different business and was at a completely different stage, they all had similar takeaways from the experience.
How to Make Content Planning Fun Again
The first and likely most important was that once they actually sat down and did the work of really understanding what they were trying to accomplish and putting so much intention behind the content they were creating, they started to enjoy the process and have fun with it.
Repurpose Your Content Across Social Media & Email
They also started to see how many opportunities for content cross-over there were between social and email, how impactful being repetitive with their messaging would ultimately be, and how the knowledge they took for granted, or the content they thought would be silly, is actually really valuable for their audience to understand who they are and ultimately inspire them to buy their product.
Promote the Same Products from Different Angles
I think my personal favorite was everyone realizing how much they actually had to say. Not knowing what to say or feeling like they don’t have enough content is by far the number one struggle I hear from eCommerce business owners. But going through this process of aligning their content to their current business goals, it opened their eyes to all the different angles they could take with their content and that they didn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.
Especially because you are the only one who sees 100% of your content. You are the only one who has heard that story or seen that product 100 times or knows how to do that thing you can teach your audience, etc. I promise, no matter how silly or common knowledge you think something is, there is someone out there whose mind is gonna be blown when you share it.
Send More Emails and Make More Money in Your eCommerce Business
One of the workshop attendees had actually messaged me a few weeks prior to let me know that after following what they learned in the Lounge last year they tripled their email revenue YOY and in 2022 they generated over 150 thousand dollars from email alone.
And here’s the real kicker. That was mostly from automation and only sending 1 email per week on average. This year they’re increasing that to 2 per week, and during the workshop, we uncovered that they have room to increase that even more. And as you’ve probably heard me say before… 99.9% of the time, the more email you send, the more money you make.
How to Streamline Your Content Creation Process
This particular business, which runs both online and brick-and-mortar also learned how to better utilize its small but mighty in-store team, having the associates create content for social media. And because they now really understand how to be intentional with the content they’re creating and mapping out their calendars it’s really easy for them to create a punch list of what they need to be created and to articulate to their store team.
Look, I get it. For most of us, planning isn’t sexy. But you know what is? The outcome. More organization, more intentionality, more impact, all with less stress and overwhelm.
Use Data to Drive Your Business Decisions
The last big breakthrough I want to share with you today is the magic of digging in and understanding your numbers. One of our Lounge members who joined in January and just hit the ground running with the Google Analytics training started digging into her site metrics and uncovered that while her overall conversion rate was pretty good, the disparity between her new site visitors and returning visitors was really big. And it was this poor conversion rate of new site visitors that was stunting her business growth.
Optimize Your Website to Convert First-Time Visitors
Once she started looking at her website armed with this new data she realized that she hadn’t really optimized her site for those who didn’t already know and love her business and products. So starting with her best sellers she’s revamping her product pages to attract and convert customers who don’t know her yet. She taking what she’s learned about both SEO and copywriting for eCommerce inside the Lounge and is currently applying it to her product descriptions and the content she creates.
This is a similar realization Megan of Glass Ladder had a couple of years ago in regard to her social media content. When she shifted her social strategy to creating mini-commercials for her products targeted toward potential customers who had no idea who she was, she saw crazy growth in her business.
My previous guest Rishi Rawat also talked about how to use buyer psychology to convert first-time buyers.
Conclusion & Takeaways
- Always be testing and tweaking your approach to improve your results. Just because something works right now, doesn’t mean it will always work.
- Being intentional with your marketing message will simplify the process, make it more enjoyable, and make a bigger impact on your bottom line.
- Understanding your data will give you the power to unlock hidden revenue in your business
- Optimize your website for the potential customer who has no idea who you are
Listen to this Episode
Important Links
91. Facebook Ads for eCommerce
159. Facebook Ads for Product Launches
185. How to Convert First-Time Website Visitors with Rishi Rawat
186. How to Continually Optimize Your Marketing for Business Growth with Megan Tellez
