Lead Generation Facebook Ads: The Basics

Can’t figure out why your prospective customers aren’t converting?

For Facebook advertisers there are many different challenges to creating valuable lead generation and ROI. A great resource to find the best ways to utilize Facebook ads are the webinars by Facebook Blueprint. They help cut through the confusion to create advertisements with greater ease.

Recently Facebook Blueprint hosted a webinar called, “How to Convert Prospective Customers on Facebook & Instagram” that discusses the ways you can maximize your use of lead-ads.

Here’s what we learned.

Mobile First Is Causing Drop Off

As mobile technology advances, a great deal of advertising is shifting to the mobile first method. This poses challenges for advertisers looking to generate leads because filling out forms can take up to 40% longer on mobile, and if a form is too complicated people will choose to leave the page instead of filling it out.

Related: How to Rock Mobile Marketing in 2017 [Webinar]

Facebook is rolling out a nifty solution to this problem with advertisements that auto-populate user information on forms, saving consumers time and generating more leads for advertisers. This type of ad is a lead-generation ad and I’m going to walk you through how you can use this type of ad to maximize your leads.

Lead Generation Facebook Ads

When a user clicks on your ad to sign up, Facebook automatically populates their information within the form with data that the users already has on their profile.  This means that people can essentially sign up in two clicks: one to open the ad and one to submit the form. Users can modify their information before submitting the form, and Facebook will not send out their information until the user clicks submit.

This type of ad is also available on Instagram but Facebook recommends using Automatic Placements based on what audience is more likely to be engaged with your advertisement.

Related: Facebook Releases In-Stream Video Advertising Placement

In our experience, we have found that opting into Automatic Placements has its pros and cons.  Tip: Be sure to keep an eye on the Placement breakdown in your Ads Manager if you’re opting into Automatic Placements. Look at where most of your amount spent is going to (most times it would be Audience Network) and determine if you need to opt out of a specific placement.

 

Customization Is Key

Lead ads can be customized to ensure you are finding people who are interested in your business. You can add multiple choice or open-ended questions, but just keep in mind that these do not auto-populate and the more a user is required to fill out information themselves the more likely they are to drop off. Focus on asking questions that will indicate whether these leads are viable for your business.

For your convenience, lead-ads can be synced with CRM solutions from one of Facebook’s integrated marketing systems. This allows you to collect the leads in real-time, allowing you to reach out to them in a timely manner through automated-response emails.

Now that you have the leads, what’s next?

It doesn’t end with getting the leads. You must make sure to follow-up properly in order to see the leads convert into customers. Once you have the lead, nurture them. Make sure to follow-up while you’re still fresh in their minds, keep them updated about what is going on with your business in a timely manner and continue to give them updates.

Related: Facebook Traffic and the Buyer’s Cycle – Best Practices

Personalize the way that you reach out to them and make sure to communicate frequently. Personalization as simple as adding their name to an e-mail can make a huge difference. You don’t want them to feel like another person receiving a boring blanket e-mail. Once you reach the right people, you need to continue to build on it.

Not sure how you feel about lead ads? Check just a few success stories (provided by Facebook) that will speak to the power of lead-ads. When done properly lead-ads result in powerful lead generation, positive ROI and some seriously impressive results.