In this new article, we are talking lead generation and more specifically how you can generate leads through Facebook advertising.
Let’s get started
Why Facebook Ads For Lead Generation?
Is Facebook even still relevant as a social media platform in 2020 and onwards?
Isn’t it a declining platform and only popular with older demographics?
Let’s see at the data:
- During Q4 of 2019, Facebook has 1.66 billion users that use the platform daily, and 2.5 billion monthly active users.
- The effectiveness of Facebook ads is improving. Ad impressions had increased by 37% in Q3 of 2019, while at the same time the average price per ad placement had decreased by 6%
- The potential reach of Facebook ads is 1.9 million people, with the largest audience (19%) being men between 25 and 34. 15% are men between 18 and 24, and 13% are women between 24 and 35. Also, 10% of them are women between 18 and 24.
- Facebook ads can reach a more diverse age group. 84% of millennials use Facebook and 74% of Gen Z are on the platform. On the other hand, more people in their 50s to mid-70s (boomers) and the elderly have also adopted Facebook between 2015 and 2019.
- The average CPC of Facebook ads across all industries is $1.72, which is pretty reasonable.
In customer acquisition or lead generation through PPC ads, there are two main options: Google Ads (previously Adwords) and Facebook Ads.
The thing is, Google Ads can be (extremely) expensive, but on the other hand, Facebook (and Facebook-owned platforms like Instagram) are not places where people come to buy things.
So, Google Ads’ conversion is usually higher but are much more expensive than Facebook Ads.
With that being said, if we can maximize our lead generation on Facebook Ads, the ROI will be much higher.
What Are Facebook Lead Ads?
Facebook lead ads are, in a nutshell, are promoted opt-in forms.
Facebook Lead Ads essentially offer something valuable and opportunities for the target audience, such as free-trial registrations, newsletters subscriptions, downloadable content, and so on, where the audience can get these offers by submitting their contact information.
Obviously this is not something that is unique to Facebook Lead Ad, as we can see a similar practice from any lead magnet initiatives.
However, a unique thing is that when a Facebook user clicks on a Lead Ad, the form is already pre-populated with information from their Facebook profile and so the rest can be completed in just a few easy steps.
Fewer steps in forms (or at least, broken-down forms), will translate into more conversions.
So, this can help in maximizing conversions and help generate leads through Facebook.
Another important attribute of Facebook Lead Ads is that they are really optimized for mobile devices, which is very important for forms.
It typically takes 40% longer to complete a form on mobile devices as compared to desktops, so mobile optimization is very important here.
Also, 96% of Facebook users access the platform via mobile devices.
Last but not least, another important feature of Facebook Lead Ads is the fact that we can download the captured information as a CSV file.
Also, depending on your CRM system, you might be able to sync it directly.
This is a very important feature that helps marketers follow up more efficiently.
Why You Should Use Facebook Lead Ads
A key advantage of using Facebook Lead Ads is how visitors can skip the need of visiting your website or landing page (which is typically a necessary step in lead generation strategy).
As a result, Lead Ads allows a shorter and easier process of filing forms for prospects, which translates into higher conversion rates.
To summarize, there are also several unique benefits of using Facebook Lead Ads, namely:
- Fewer drop-offs: since Facebook Lead Ads are simple with just very few steps involved, more people are likely to finish and submit the forms. As a result of this, you’ll get more captured leads and also more people to retarget.
- Pre-populated: the forms in Facebook Lead Ads are pre-populated with the user’s information pulled from their Facebook profiles. This allows prospects to fill forms even when they are mobile. With more people using their mobile devices more frequently, this will be a very significant advantage from Lead Ads.
- Hyper targeting: not exactly the benefit of FLAs but Facebook Ads in general. Facebook’s massive user-base allows very targeted ads to a very impressive number of audiences.
- Customizable forms: you can customize the form to request specific information relative to your business. You can streamline your sales process dramatically to allow us to easily identify high-quality leads.
- Retargeting opportunities: Facebook Ads are known for their powerful retargeting capabilities, and Lead Ads allow us to capture highly qualified prospects that are very important for future retargeting since they have the highest potential towards conversion.
- CRM integration: you can easily convert information captured by the Lead Ads to CSV or sync the Ads to your CRM software for faster follow-up.
- Other benefits: since the Lead Ads are highly customizable, then we can use the format for purposes other than lead capture like event registrations, call-backs, content promotion, and so on.
How To Create Facebook Lead Ads Campaign
Creating a Facebook Lead generation ads is fairly simple:
1/ Go to your Facebook Ads manager
2/ Click Create, and then choose Lead Generation as your ad’s objective
3/ Choose the Page you plan to use for the lead ad campaign. You’d need to click on View Terms and then agree to Facebook’s terms and conditions (make sure to read them).
4/ A very important step: choose your target audience, budget, ad placement, and schedule. You cannot target Lead Ads to people under 18 at the moment.
5/ Select your format between a single image, carousel, video, or slideshow.
6/ Create your ad (headline, body content, CTA), you can preview your ad on the window on the right.
7/ Click Contact Form. Here is where you can create your lead capture form, which includes the following:
- Intro: this should be as attractive as possible. Explain as clearly as possible why people should fill this capture form.
- Questions: you can choose between two different question types: standard questions (job title, gender, name, etc. ) and custom questions. You can include questions that are specific to your business and in total, you can include up to 15 questions.
- Form type: you can select between “more volume” and “higher intent”. If your objective is to get more people completing the form, then click “more volume”. If your objective is to get more conversions, then you can select “higher intent”.
- Privacy policy: Facebook lead ads would need you to put a link to your company’s privacy policy. Make sure to create this page on your website.
- Thank you screen: pretty self-explanatory, you can also include a CTA or link here.
8/ Make sure to click Settings under the name of the form and check on the box that says you would like to collect organic leads.
9/ Click Finish, review the ad from Ads Manager and then you can click Confirm.
Generate Leads Through Facebook Best – Practices
Here are our tips on how you can optimize your Facebook lead generation ads for better conversions:
Give people a reason to click and fill your form
People simply won’t give you their valuable personal information if they don’t get anything.
So, your Facebook Lead Ads’ performance is only as strong as what you offer.
The more valuable your offer is (or at least, the more valuable your audience perceive your offer is), the more leads you’ll get.
It’s very important to think about this factor before you develop your ad campaign.
Think of something valuable you can offer with as little cost as possible.
The more specific the offer is for your business, the better,
Know your objective
Yes, the objective of your Facebook lead generation ads should be to gather contact information from your target audience.
However, it’s very important to know specifically what information you really require, since you shouldn’t request too much information.
Asking for too much information can be time-consuming where you’ll include too many fields, and might cause leads not to finish filling the forms.
Focus on asking the information you really require to meet your objective and nothing else to maximize conversions.
Although Facebook does offer a lot of fields to request for data, it doesn’t really mean you have to use all of them.
Targeting the right audience
As with any online advertising, targeting the right people is extremely important.
There are various ways you can use to figure out your most ideal target audience from conducting intensive market research, developing a buyer persona, and so on.
You can also use Facebook’s Lookalike Audience feature where you can upload your lead database and then create a lookalike of this database by taking advantage of Facebook’s massive database.
You can also target people who have engaged with your business (visit your website, Facebook Pages, liked your Instagram Posts), etc.
Context does matter
In Facebook Lead Ads, you are asking people to take action almost immediately, unlike more traditional ad types.
After the first click, the customer will be greeted with the form.
So, not only you’d need a strong copy and valuable offer, where and when you offer the ad will be extremely important.
Keep your prospects informed
Be transparent. Let people know when and how you’ll contact them and deliver on this promise.
This will be even more important when your offer is something like a free quote or free consultation.
Failure in following up means you are wasting your money invested on this ad, and also can hurt your credibility.
Strong copy is very important
Consider the specific audience you are targeting with each lead ad.
What sort of information would they find valuable?
What kinds of tone and language would attract them?
You shouldn’t reuse the same copy every time you make a new lead campaign, and try to be as personal as possible.
Customize your thank you page
Facebook offers the opportunity to customize the thank you page of your Lead Ad, and you should take advantage of this.
The thank-you page can be a great opportunity to stay engaged with the business after they’ve submitted the form (and so you’ve successfully captured them as leads).
There’s an option to add a headline, and you should use this opportunity to promote brand awareness.
Also, you can add a call-to-action (CTA ) button to attract new leads such as:
- Get an offer: you can allow people to download a gated content or even coupons
- View website: very important if you want to direct people to your website
- Call: encourage your audience to call your business right away to get more information
Disadvantages and Concerns About Facebook Lead Ads
As with any ad forms dedicated to generating leads, Facebook Lead Ads is by no means a perfect platform.
Although it’s a very good ad form with various advantages—as discussed above—, there are also some concerns that you have to take into considerations:
-
Lead Quality
Due to the massive amount of Facebook’s user base, we can’t avoid getting poor leads in the mix.
Targeting the right audiences do help, but getting poor leads is something you can’t avoid with Facebook Ads in general.
The fact that it’s very easy to fill the form with auto-filling is a double-edged sword in this aspect: the bad leads will also have an easier time signing up and so we don’t really have a “filter” to qualify leads.
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No landing pages
The main idea of using the Facebook Lead Ads is so that we can avoid directing users to a landing page or a website, and if we decide to include a landing page, we are going to sacrifice the native functionality of the Lead Ads.
However, landing pages can be very valuable in generating more qualified leads that are interested in your product or service (with a higher chance of conversions.
So, again, this will mean that you’ll get poorer quality leads with Facebook Lead Ads.
How to Generate Leads Through Facebook Advertising – Takeaways
Facebook Lead Ads can be a very effective platform if you want to generate leads through Facebook advertising in 2020.
The main advantage is that due to its simplicity, it can produce a significantly higher conversion rate, especially when combined with Facebook’s huge user base.
However, this will also mean you might get leads that might not be really qualified for your brands.
So, proper targeting and communicating the right message through your ad copy, design, and what you offer with the ad will be extremely important.
Related Articles
Facebook Marketing Guide 2020
The Facebook Habit And How To Break It
- How to Generate Leads Through Facebook Advertising - April 25, 2020
Moss Clement
Hi Mike,
Facebook is and will always be relevant. No matter how many people chose to leave the platform for one reason or the other, Facebook will continue to grow in user base and asset. That makes it a top contender in digital marketing social media advertising.
I like the way you introduce the Facebook Lead Ads to your readers, from the “what, why, and particularly how to create Facebook ads.”
Thanks for sharing!
Moss Clement recently posted…13 Technical Writing Jobs That Will Pay You Big Bucks
Ban sharma
Excellent tips Mike,
I always add manual questions that provide me good results, otherwise, some users submit the form by mistake and when you reach out to those then you will know that they accidentally clicked on submitting button. It’s better to add manual questions so that only interested users fill it who actually shows interest in your product & services.
Sudhir Gaonkar
Nice blog post about generating leads from Facebook as we know Facebook is very useful social media platform but we can also use it for marketing purpose and can get leads from it.