1 00:00:09,220 --> 00:00:17,650 I am so sick and tired of hearing people online talk about Facebook ads the way that they do. 2 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:19,970 They're the devil. They're the answer to your prayers. 3 00:00:19,970 --> 00:00:21,290 Which is it? 4 00:00:21,290 --> 00:00:25,810 Luckily for you, I am breaking it all down in this episode of On Your Terms. 5 00:00:26,050 --> 00:00:32,350 Before we get into this week's episode, I want to read you one of the latest reviews of my podcast, On Your Terms, on Apple Podcasts. 6 00:00:32,380 --> 00:00:38,170 Carly Lana says, "Sam Vander Wielen's Podcast On Your Terms is an absolute must for all entrepreneurs. 7 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:45,190 The episodes are not only interesting and inspiring, but you'll walk away with a step-by-step on what you need to know to operate as a small business owner or entrepreneur. 8 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:51,400 This podcast and Sam's Ultimate Bundle takes all the guesswork and stress away from protecting your online business. 9 00:00:51,430 --> 00:00:58,420 This podcast is a total game-changer for anyone looking to start, grow or scale a business in 2022." Thank you so much, Carly. 10 00:00:58,420 --> 00:01:02,200 I really appreciate leaving that review of On Your Terms on Apple Podcasts. 11 00:01:02,230 --> 00:01:07,310 If you want to be featured on a future episode of On Your Terms, head on over to Apple Podcasts. 12 00:01:07,330 --> 00:01:14,950 Leave a review. Send me a screenshot on Instagram @samvanderweilen and let me know, and I'll be happy to give you a shout-out on a future episode. 13 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:20,140 Until then, let's get into this week's episode all about what is the deal with Facebook ads. 14 00:01:20,140 --> 00:01:28,930 And so, I want to go over all of your questions today about Facebook ads and what the purpose is of Facebook ads I think, like some of the pros and cons. 15 00:01:28,930 --> 00:01:31,500 I'm going to bust up some of the myths that you might have heard. 16 00:01:31,510 --> 00:01:41,290 If you've heard all these, like, horror stories before about this person lost all this money or this was a total, like, tank for this person, I'm going to break some of those situations 17 00:01:41,290 --> 00:01:50,020 down, and I'm hoping that you'll leave today's episode with a bit more clarity on maybe why you've seen or heard some of these horror stories before. 18 00:01:50,050 --> 00:01:59,860 And, I'm also going to give you nine concrete tips and things that I would put into place if you ever want to run Facebook ads, whether it's tomorrow, a year from now, three years from 19 00:01:59,860 --> 00:02:01,330 now, it doesn't matter. 20 00:02:01,540 --> 00:02:11,470 I'm also hoping to just, like, make you feel a little bit better about whatever decision you make in your business in general, really about anything but in particular about Facebook 21 00:02:11,470 --> 00:02:15,270 ads today. Yet, there is no one way to do this, right? 22 00:02:15,270 --> 00:02:18,050 I call this podcast On Your Terms for a reason. 23 00:02:18,070 --> 00:02:20,100 I really strongly believe in this. 24 00:02:20,110 --> 00:02:21,640 It's like the ethos of my business. 25 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:23,890 And so, there are so many ways to do this. 26 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:32,260 I break down my own personal journey with Facebook ads, what's been great about it, what's been really hard about it, and how I got into it. 27 00:02:32,260 --> 00:02:38,220 And, I also share with you how I waited years and years before I got into Facebook Adland, right? 28 00:02:38,230 --> 00:02:43,080 And if I were to do it all over again, I would do every single thing that I tell you in this episode. 29 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,460 I have learned a lot of things the hard way. 30 00:02:45,460 --> 00:02:50,080 I like to think that I've spent the money to help you figure stuff out and be more efficient with it. 31 00:02:50,110 --> 00:02:57,730 And so, today's episode is going to be really helpful for you, if you're just curious about Facebook ads, if you run them now, if you're thinking about it in the future. 32 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,270 So with that, let's get into this episode of On Your Terms. 33 00:03:04,540 --> 00:03:13,270 So if I had a dollar for every time that somebody told me, like, "My business isn't working really well or I wish I was making more sales, I'm not working with enough people. 34 00:03:13,300 --> 00:03:14,420 You know, what I think I'll do? 35 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:20,960 I'm going to start Facebook ads." Well, then I could take all those dollars and I could put them towards my own Facebook ads. 36 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:22,630 I'll be here all week. All right. 37 00:03:22,660 --> 00:03:32,410 So, anyway, I can't tell you how many times I have heard from people, and you probably have to and maybe even thought this because I used to think this too, that if something's not 38 00:03:32,410 --> 00:03:37,960 working in your business, then the answer to your little business prayers might be Facebook ads, right? 39 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,300 If something's not selling enough, you throw Facebook ads at it. 40 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,650 If you want to create a passive product, you think, "How am I going to sell this? 41 00:03:45,020 --> 00:03:48,580 Oh, well, I'll just start Facebook ads," and then, like, somehow it'll magically sell. 42 00:03:49,330 --> 00:03:58,630 It's really similar to the logic that we all use when we start our businesses and we, you know, pop up our websites for the first time, and then we're like, "Okay, I hit publish on this blog post. 43 00:03:58,630 --> 00:04:01,720 Like, why aren't all the inquiries rolling in? 44 00:04:01,750 --> 00:04:03,910 Why has the New York Times not calling me for a quote? 45 00:04:03,910 --> 00:04:06,160 I don't understand. I hit publish on my website." 46 00:04:06,310 --> 00:04:08,080 I think there's just so much of this. 47 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:18,040 Like, we don't - we sometimes think that the product that we create, and I don't mean like just the literal product that you sell but like your website or the actual product or a piece of 48 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:24,760 content, will just somehow magnetically and naturally attract people to it. 49 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:34,240 And we don't realize that creating that thing, whatever that end thing is, is really just the beginning of this process of figuring out even more steps of how to 50 00:04:34,450 --> 00:04:39,460 bring people to it, how to lead people naturally to the water to get them to drink. 51 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,450 But we don't just put a glass of water out and everybody just starts drinking out of it. 52 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:52,570 So, I see that a lot with Facebook ads in terms of people expecting it to just naturally attract people in or naturally work or something like this. 53 00:04:53,170 --> 00:05:02,080 And I also think that people think that even once they've got a successful business that you can just, like, turn on Facebook ads, right? 54 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:10,420 So, maybe you've already started working with clients, you're already coaching people and you're like, "I don't feel like having to talk about this stuff on Instagram anymore. 55 00:05:10,450 --> 00:05:15,700 I'll just start Facebook ads and then everything will just happen naturally." No more sales, right? 56 00:05:15,700 --> 00:05:17,770 Or I don't have to be present in my business. 57 00:05:17,770 --> 00:05:19,360 I can take my foot off the gas. 58 00:05:19,570 --> 00:05:24,130 I'm so excited to have this conversation with you today because I feel like I've thought all of these things in the past. 59 00:05:24,130 --> 00:05:29,740 I've gone through all of these myself, and I've seen so many other people go through it too. 60 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:34,330 I think overall when it comes to Facebook ads, there's just, like, two things going on. 61 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:40,810 One is that people are throwing a lot of splashy things at you on Instagram, both from the ad side, right? 62 00:05:40,810 --> 00:05:42,880 Admittedly, people will be like, "Ads are the answer. 63 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:52,880 The ads are amazing." And then, also from - I see it more, I guess, in the business coaching side where people use kind of like an anti-Facebook 64 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,080 ads approach to get you to buy their thing instead. 65 00:05:56,530 --> 00:06:06,460 That's something that you see a lot in the online business industry in general, is this like don't - you don't need a website, buy my business coaching package, or like you don't need Facebook ads, buy a funnel thing. 66 00:06:06,460 --> 00:06:11,290 Like, it always seems people are always shitting on one thing in order to get you to buy their thing. 67 00:06:11,290 --> 00:06:20,590 And I just want you to keep that in mind when you're kind of consuming content of like, are they pooh-poohing one way of doing something just so that I get to buy 68 00:06:21,010 --> 00:06:23,600 their thing? Like, I think that's something that's helpful. 69 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,190 Because the truth is that a lot of this stuff is helpful. 70 00:06:26,190 --> 00:06:29,780 Like, you need a website and it's great to run Facebook ads if you can, if you want to. 71 00:06:29,780 --> 00:06:31,030 We'll go over that today. 72 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:34,850 You know, it's great to run a funnel or not run a funnel. 73 00:06:34,850 --> 00:06:37,630 Like, there's just not one way to do this stuff. 74 00:06:37,630 --> 00:06:47,330 It's not so black and white, and these things can't be discussed in such a vacuum, the way that they are on social media, and it just annoys the crap out of me, honestly. 75 00:06:47,350 --> 00:06:52,480 So, I think there's just like a lot of black and white thinking, either people are, like, hardcore against them. 76 00:06:52,990 --> 00:06:58,380 And then, you also see - you know, sometimes I see people being a little too flippant about it, right? 77 00:06:58,420 --> 00:07:01,070 And, there are a lot of people just being like, "Yeah, you just got to try. 78 00:07:01,090 --> 00:07:02,230 It's got to start somewhere. 79 00:07:02,230 --> 00:07:04,030 Like, just start running ads and we'll see how it goes. 80 00:07:04,030 --> 00:07:08,380 If it doesn't work, you can pause them." I don't think that's good advice either, right? 81 00:07:08,530 --> 00:07:18,430 And, I think when people are against them too, like - they again are kind of using it as somehow to draw you in to something that they're advertising for themselves. 82 00:07:19,750 --> 00:07:21,740 Can we all just take a moment by the way? 83 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:24,380 I always talk to Ryan about this, my husband, Ryan. 84 00:07:24,380 --> 00:07:34,000 I always talked to him about this that, like, I find it so funny when I see so many people in the online business industry, shitting on Facebook ads because I'm like, "You guys realize, like, every 85 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:41,260 business advertises, right?" Like, advertising is a normal way of running a business, right? 86 00:07:41,380 --> 00:07:43,230 Target runs commercials. 87 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,010 Nordstrom runs commercials. 88 00:07:45,460 --> 00:07:46,750 We were in the Hamptons this summer. 89 00:07:46,750 --> 00:07:56,650 There was an entire bus, like a bus that people could take, I don't know, from somewhere, and Nordstrom had wrapped the entire bus in an advertisement to bring people to the Hamptons. 90 00:07:56,650 --> 00:07:59,770 And, you know, I'm just looking around that we're constantly hit with advertisements. 91 00:08:00,460 --> 00:08:07,910 Facebook ads are just one form of advertisement, and I don't understand, I've said this in previous episodes, like I don't understand. 92 00:08:07,930 --> 00:08:14,290 Sometimes I feel like the online business industry shoots itself in the foot of, like, why - we want to be taken seriously. 93 00:08:14,290 --> 00:08:22,870 We fight to, like, with our families or friends or former coworkers or something like this to be seen and felt as legitimate in their eyes. 94 00:08:22,870 --> 00:08:27,400 And then, we do stuff like this, where we're like crapping on Facebook, and I just don't get it. 95 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:28,730 I'm like, "Why? It's advertising. 96 00:08:28,730 --> 00:08:30,130 What's so wrong about it?" 97 00:08:30,370 --> 00:08:36,850 Now we can put aside all the issues on Facebook and, you know, watching the social network and people's addiction to social media. 98 00:08:36,850 --> 00:08:40,570 And, like, that would be 100 new podcast episodes for a different day. 99 00:08:40,570 --> 00:08:46,000 But I'm just saying in terms of advertising, I don't understand what the big deal is. 100 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:48,430 If you don't want to run them, don't run them. 101 00:08:48,430 --> 00:08:50,200 If you want to run them, run them. 102 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,710 So, I'm not here to tell you today that you should. 103 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:54,010 I'm not here to tell you you shouldn't. 104 00:08:54,040 --> 00:09:02,140 I just wanted to kind of have a more open discussion as to, like, what really, you know, should be going on in your business in order to run them successfully. 105 00:09:02,380 --> 00:09:12,310 I've seen some real nightmare situations, so I'm going to share some of those with you today of just a little bit about my experience with Facebook ads and what I've seen in the industry, and I'm hoping that this 106 00:09:12,310 --> 00:09:22,180 episode will just kind of like cut through some of the noise and some of the motivated reasoning, to be honest, that's thrown your way to tell you to invest or not invest in 107 00:09:22,180 --> 00:09:23,470 them either way. 108 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:32,340 So, basically, what we're going to be talking about today is that there are so many different ways and reasons to run Facebook ads. 109 00:09:32,350 --> 00:09:42,250 And what I'm hoping is that, in today's episode, that you'll, first of all, see, maybe get a little bit more clarity as to whether or not you even want them, whether it would be helpful to your business, but 110 00:09:42,250 --> 00:09:50,620 also if it is something that you're interested in, then what things do you need to have in place in your business in order to successfully run Facebook ads? 111 00:09:50,650 --> 00:09:52,730 There are many, many different ways to do this. 112 00:09:52,750 --> 00:10:00,340 You can run Facebook ads for anything, from things like awareness of your business, your brand, or your products. 113 00:10:00,340 --> 00:10:03,070 Familiarity. I can never say that word. 114 00:10:03,580 --> 00:10:10,560 So, to become aware of your brand and for people to be familiar with you and to hear about it constantly. 115 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:14,180 Really, that top of mind sales situation. 116 00:10:14,180 --> 00:10:15,420 Also, to make sales, right? 117 00:10:15,420 --> 00:10:17,950 People just run Facebook ads to run sales all the time. 118 00:10:17,950 --> 00:10:19,390 And for things like opt-ins, right? 119 00:10:19,390 --> 00:10:27,020 Getting people to opt into your freebies, to listen to your podcast, to watch your webinar, whatever, and to nurture your audience, last but not least. 120 00:10:27,020 --> 00:10:31,080 But nurturing your audience is an important part of running Facebook ads. 121 00:10:31,090 --> 00:10:35,770 It's not a part that I hear a lot of people talking about, so I'll be really excited to chat with you about this today. 122 00:10:35,770 --> 00:10:39,790 So, there's also the all-of-the-above combined approach, which is the one that I take. 123 00:10:40,030 --> 00:10:49,990 So, I'll share openly throughout this episode about, you know, kind of what I do, what I have done to get things in place in terms of running ads because I've been running ads for now, like, for a year and a 124 00:10:49,990 --> 00:10:54,940 half-ish. So, basically ads need - Facebook ads need a pathway, right? 125 00:10:54,940 --> 00:11:04,600 They need a funnel. In my opinion, the main reason that Facebook ads don't work or the reason that you or haven't worked for certain people is that 126 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,200 people don't run them with intention and they don't run them through a pathway. 127 00:11:09,430 --> 00:11:16,560 People think that if they just put these ads up, the people will come, kind of what I was talking about at the beginning of this episode. 128 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:19,540 And, ads really need a pathway. 129 00:11:19,570 --> 00:11:24,400 For example, I had a friend years ago who, I mean, this was like a long time ago . 130 00:11:24,750 --> 00:11:30,480 She invested in Facebook ads to run Facebook ads to her free discovery calls. 131 00:11:30,550 --> 00:11:39,190 She was a coach. She would get on a sales call with someone, and then they would buy her program, and she just ran ads directly to the sales call. 132 00:11:39,220 --> 00:11:45,970 Now, imagine you being on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, you get hit with an ad from somebody you don't know. 133 00:11:46,060 --> 00:11:47,920 Right? It might be a picture of them. 134 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,020 I mean, it depends on what they're using for creative. 135 00:11:50,260 --> 00:11:57,820 And this copy in the post is just like directing you to book a call and you're like, for what, about what? 136 00:11:57,820 --> 00:11:58,830 Why? Is this me? 137 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:00,310 I don't even know. I don't know who you are. 138 00:12:00,310 --> 00:12:03,070 I don't know what you do. Why would I want to get on the phone with you? 139 00:12:03,370 --> 00:12:11,030 Not to mention the fact that running an ad to a free call is like a surefire way to get on free calls with a lot of people who are just seeking free calls. 140 00:12:11,030 --> 00:12:17,290 It shouldn't be that easy to get on the phone with you, and you can go back and listen to my sales call episode. 141 00:12:17,500 --> 00:12:20,260 Those are episodes 20 and 21 of On Your Terms. 142 00:12:20,260 --> 00:12:24,490 I talked about sales calls, but we don't want to just end up on the phone with just anybody, right? 143 00:12:24,490 --> 00:12:31,630 That's like a surefire way to waste your time and to not make very many sales and to not be able to grow your business because you're always on the phone with the wrong people. 144 00:12:31,750 --> 00:12:35,980 So we don't want to do that right, and we want to run Facebook ads with intention. 145 00:12:36,690 --> 00:12:40,300 So that's an example of where I saw that where it's just like it didn't really make sense. 146 00:12:40,390 --> 00:12:49,580 I had another friend, though, on the flip side, who already had a very successful business, so she wasn't - the first friend I was talking about was running this because she wanted to generate more sales. 147 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,240 She wasn't happy with the amount of sales she was making. 148 00:12:52,750 --> 00:13:02,490 I had another friend, though, during that same time period who already was making a lot of money in her business, and she was like, "You know, I just don't feel like having to 149 00:13:02,500 --> 00:13:09,610 do all the work, to get people into my program all the time, so I'm just going to run ads to purchase this program." Right? 150 00:13:09,610 --> 00:13:10,780 And it was a total flop. 151 00:13:10,810 --> 00:13:11,930 The ads didn't work. 152 00:13:11,950 --> 00:13:13,460 Her program is super successful. 153 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:14,530 She's an amazing coach. 154 00:13:14,530 --> 00:13:16,130 All of that stuff stayed the same. 155 00:13:16,150 --> 00:13:17,500 It's just that the ads don't work. 156 00:13:17,500 --> 00:13:24,320 And then, that's why you end up hearing all of these horror stories from people about like, "Oh, this person lost 20 grand. 157 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:28,180 This person lost 10 grand." Like, it's throwing money down the toilet. 158 00:13:28,300 --> 00:13:35,410 That's why you hear all of these stories because these stories all have a reason behind why the ads didn't work. 159 00:13:35,590 --> 00:13:44,710 It's not that ads don't work, it's that their ads didn't have any purpose or intention, or there was something off, right, something in their funnel wasn't working. 160 00:13:45,340 --> 00:13:48,200 Something in the product wasn't working. 161 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:54,280 Something in the creative, the ad stuff that you see, the visuals, the copy wasn't working. 162 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,210 It's not usually because ads themselves don't work. 163 00:13:58,390 --> 00:14:00,130 Any ad expert will tell you that. 164 00:14:00,310 --> 00:14:02,470 So, the list can go on and on. 165 00:14:02,470 --> 00:14:08,530 I can tell you these stories all day long, and you'll hear horror stories left and right about people who've lost so much money with Facebook ads. 166 00:14:08,740 --> 00:14:17,740 I, on the other hand, am somebody who could tell you mostly just success stories from my business's perspective about how incredible ads have been. 167 00:14:18,220 --> 00:14:25,850 And that doesn't mean that my Facebook ads and my experience with Facebook ads has been without any bumps along the road. 168 00:14:25,870 --> 00:14:34,750 So, when I first started running Facebook ads about a year and a half ago, I started out by doing kind of a hybrid approach where I was making the creative myself. 169 00:14:35,590 --> 00:14:45,580 I was writing the copy, and the company that I was working with would at least just review them just to give some pointers and tips of like, "Oh, it's not good to say that in a Facebook ad because some things get rejected." 170 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:51,400 And then, we would run these ads and they would help me to understand the audience and stuff like this. 171 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:57,770 So, when I first started running them, Facebook kept shutting down my ads account because Facebook is just finicky, right? 172 00:14:57,790 --> 00:15:03,400 It's all like run on these, like, AI, you know, algorithm things so they would catch certain words and they would think that it was spam. 173 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:12,340 And they don't allow Facebook ads for MLM-type stuff so if you use money-like terminology, sometimes that can get to be an issue. 174 00:15:12,370 --> 00:15:18,420 There are all kinds of things, and I remember immediately being like, "Oh, my God, this is why I never wanted to do this. 175 00:15:18,430 --> 00:15:20,190 Everyone was right. Facebook ads are horrible. 176 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:21,550 This was a terrible mistake. 177 00:15:21,550 --> 00:15:28,000 I've wasted all of this money." And, I spiraled and went into all the mindset drama about it. 178 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:34,690 Over the next couple of weeks, I would say like a month or two, into running the Facebook ads, everything, we kind of got that stuff all ironed out. 179 00:15:34,870 --> 00:15:37,240 I understood what words I couldn't say. 180 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:38,680 I understood how to phrase things. 181 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:45,940 I started to learn some of the - more like visual trends at that time, which are not even trends anymore. 182 00:15:46,060 --> 00:15:49,570 And, I got my feet under me with Facebook ads. 183 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:59,230 Pretty quickly, because I already had a funnel in place that was selling really, really well, organically, pretty quickly, the ads worked. 184 00:15:59,230 --> 00:16:03,160 So, I was somebody who, like, I don't think you have to do this like me. 185 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:04,510 You don't have to wait so long. 186 00:16:04,510 --> 00:16:08,320 But I was so scared and so resistant to it that I did wait a long time. 187 00:16:08,590 --> 00:16:15,580 But I think that because I did, my ads team tells me this all the time, my funnel was so, like, ironed out. 188 00:16:15,610 --> 00:16:16,900 It was successful. 189 00:16:16,900 --> 00:16:18,010 We knew it converted. 190 00:16:18,010 --> 00:16:21,370 We knew people loved the products, my Ultimate Bundle. 191 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,730 And we also knew that the webinar was really good. 192 00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:26,800 That was the freebie that was kind of leading them in. 193 00:16:26,830 --> 00:16:28,800 We knew that it was good. We knew it converted. 194 00:16:28,810 --> 00:16:38,020 We knew that we hit people's questions and objections and all of these things, and we just had everything really well in place. 195 00:16:38,050 --> 00:16:47,700 So, for me, going into Facebook Adland was really like pouring gasoline on an already roaring fire, but it just kind of made it like, 196 00:16:47,710 --> 00:16:49,190 whoosh, go up, right? 197 00:16:49,210 --> 00:16:50,500 It was a lot. 198 00:16:50,500 --> 00:16:53,980 So, it has definitely amplified, I would say. 199 00:16:53,980 --> 00:16:57,130 And it grows more and more and more over time. 200 00:16:57,130 --> 00:17:03,880 And then, the algorithm gets better and you, like, you start to learn more about audiences and, like, all of these things. 201 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:13,540 And, I would say that the more I've done Facebook ads, I've also realized that how much about it is about creative, so about the visuals, the video, the photos that you see, and then also the 202 00:17:13,540 --> 00:17:14,640 copy that you see. 203 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:18,580 Because you have to remember this is being shown to people who have no idea who you are. 204 00:17:19,090 --> 00:17:26,740 It's also being shown intentionally to people who do know who you are or at least, like, follow you or on your email list or something like this. 205 00:17:26,740 --> 00:17:29,800 So, you have a lot of work to do with ads. 206 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:39,670 I think that's why it's - that's why people are wrong when they think that it's just like slap up an ad and everything works out because there's a lot of - there's a lot 207 00:17:39,670 --> 00:17:40,690 to it, there's a lot to it. 208 00:17:40,690 --> 00:17:42,070 It's very complicated, right? 209 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,670 So, ads have been great for me. 210 00:17:46,270 --> 00:17:51,520 They have also been a pain in the ass because you get nasty comments on your ads. 211 00:17:53,350 --> 00:17:54,370 And it's worth it. 212 00:17:54,370 --> 00:17:58,030 But it's just, I'm just being honest about some of the downsides. 213 00:17:58,540 --> 00:18:01,060 And it definitely increases the volume of your business. 214 00:18:01,060 --> 00:18:11,040 So, I think, like, I could also see a disaster for somebody who, you know, if I had done them any earlier, I don't think I would have had the infrastructure in place in 215 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:18,730 my business on the back end, like the systems, the processes, the people, the team members to be able to deal with this level of volume. 216 00:18:18,750 --> 00:18:27,320 Now, of course, if you're starting out, you haven't and, you know, your funnel's maybe a little smaller, like my funnel already had sold thousands of products and stuff by the time I started selling ads. 217 00:18:27,330 --> 00:18:29,340 Again, you don't have to wait that long, but I did. 218 00:18:29,370 --> 00:18:33,770 So, I think the amplification was only going to be more because I had already sold it a lot. 219 00:18:33,780 --> 00:18:37,140 But if I had started it earlier, I think it would have been more of a drip situation. 220 00:18:38,070 --> 00:18:42,090 So, you might not have the volume problem for a while, right? 221 00:18:42,090 --> 00:18:43,500 But that's hopefully the goal. 222 00:18:43,950 --> 00:18:52,140 And so, as it grew, I definitely needed to have things tight on my end in order to deal with all the stuff that came from this. 223 00:18:52,410 --> 00:18:54,870 There are also times when things have changed. 224 00:18:54,870 --> 00:18:56,640 Like, algorithms have changed. 225 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,960 All the privacy stuff has changed. 226 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:01,170 The iOS changes. 227 00:19:01,170 --> 00:19:02,630 You know, there are - all of these things have changed. 228 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:09,090 It's definitely an arena to go into if you're okay with things changing and with, like, being on your toes. 229 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:10,230 I really like that. 230 00:19:10,230 --> 00:19:12,450 I really like evolving and pivoting. 231 00:19:12,450 --> 00:19:13,840 It doesn't bother me at all. 232 00:19:13,860 --> 00:19:20,540 But if you're somebody who's like, I need everything to be the same for the next three years in order to feel comfortable, this is not for you. 233 00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:22,470 So, it's exciting to me. 234 00:19:22,470 --> 00:19:23,690 I love the innovation. 235 00:19:23,690 --> 00:19:28,670 I love, like, getting to problem solve with the team all the time about this and to come up with ideas. 236 00:19:28,670 --> 00:19:30,070 I feel really creative about it. 237 00:19:30,090 --> 00:19:32,820 I have a lot of fun filming the ads. 238 00:19:32,820 --> 00:19:34,560 So, that's kind of been my experience, both good and bad. 239 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:35,910 It's helped the business a lot. 240 00:19:35,940 --> 00:19:37,680 There's definitely a lot to it, though. 241 00:19:37,770 --> 00:19:39,750 It's expensive, you know, yada yada. 242 00:19:39,750 --> 00:19:43,080 But the return is great, and so I deal with it. 243 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,060 Again, it's a form of advertising. 244 00:19:45,060 --> 00:19:47,460 It's part of my advertising budget for the business. 245 00:19:47,490 --> 00:19:50,700 That's how I advertise because that's where my people are hanging out. 246 00:19:51,180 --> 00:19:53,580 I don't need a billboard on the highway, right? 247 00:19:53,580 --> 00:19:55,260 That wouldn't be very helpful for me. 248 00:19:55,410 --> 00:19:57,830 I don't need a commercial on TV. 249 00:19:57,830 --> 00:19:59,350 That's not going to be very helpful for me. 250 00:19:59,370 --> 00:20:07,440 So, that's, again, why I don't really understand why people freak out about this because I'm like, "We're just advertising to our people, where our people hang out." I don't know. 251 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:08,670 It doesn't seem that crazy to me. 252 00:20:08,790 --> 00:20:18,450 So, with that all in mind, I would love to give you some of my best tips for how to approach Facebook ads, how to 253 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:25,280 get certain things in place in your business if you want to run them, or maybe you're running them already, but you're not really seeing the results that you want. 254 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,210 I think you would take a lot away from this. 255 00:20:27,330 --> 00:20:33,180 So, first and foremost, let's remember what the purpose is of Facebook ads. 256 00:20:33,870 --> 00:20:36,840 The purpose of Facebook ads, in my - this is just my opinion. 257 00:20:37,500 --> 00:20:42,070 So, in my opinion, the purpose of Facebook ads is to stay top of mind, right? 258 00:20:42,150 --> 00:20:52,150 This kind of omnipresent top-of-mind marketing strategy where we have to remember that people are not only inundated with your quote-unquote competitors or I 259 00:20:52,150 --> 00:20:54,240 guess there are other people who do what you do. 260 00:20:54,240 --> 00:21:02,350 But they're also just inundated with a billion other thoughts in their mind, let alone images and messages on social media. 261 00:21:02,370 --> 00:21:12,090 Right? So, right after they see your latest post, they're getting hit with an ad from Olipop and then, you know, one for Branch Furniture and then another 262 00:21:12,090 --> 00:21:13,920 one for Grove Collaborative. 263 00:21:13,940 --> 00:21:16,500 Like, they're seeing so much. 264 00:21:16,500 --> 00:21:26,400 And, I think when we think about our businesses, you know, they're very big in our minds, but then we kind of forget how little it is in everybody else's mind because you're carrying 265 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:31,880 this around. It's like your baby, or maybe you're your non-human baby if you have human babies. 266 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,820 So, you know, you're carrying this around and you - it's very top of mind for you. 267 00:21:36,210 --> 00:21:42,840 And I think sometimes it can be hard to remember that you're not necessarily top of mind for everybody else, naturally. 268 00:21:42,870 --> 00:21:50,940 So, Facebook ads are just one way to kind of like basically reshuffle yourself back to the top of someone's inbox, right? 269 00:21:50,940 --> 00:21:59,080 You're kind of bumping your business all the time to the back of somebody or to the top of somebody's inbox and you're getting to the top of their mind, right? 270 00:21:59,130 --> 00:22:00,750 So, they're seeing your ads. 271 00:22:00,780 --> 00:22:02,100 It's repetitive. 272 00:22:02,100 --> 00:22:08,910 We know that things that are repetitive become more normal and accepted, right, and familiar. 273 00:22:08,910 --> 00:22:11,040 So, this person's name becomes familiar. 274 00:22:11,490 --> 00:22:15,510 Maybe the name of your product or your program becomes like second nature to them. 275 00:22:16,770 --> 00:22:17,960 They know who you are. 276 00:22:18,060 --> 00:22:19,350 Your name is synonymous. 277 00:22:19,350 --> 00:22:20,610 I've talked about this a lot, too. 278 00:22:20,610 --> 00:22:28,440 Like, getting to that place where your name is synonymous with the thing that you do is a really, really helpful thing in online business. 279 00:22:28,470 --> 00:22:31,920 So, one way we can do that is through Facebook ads. 280 00:22:31,950 --> 00:22:41,500 I also think they can be attention-grabbing because I always think about how we're targeting people with ads who may follow us already and maybe have some level. 281 00:22:41,500 --> 00:22:47,940 Like, they're a little bit familiar with us, but we also are landing in front of people who have never heard of you before at all. 282 00:22:48,030 --> 00:22:53,400 And, I always think about this, like with what I do in particular, because it's, you know, I get it. 283 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,060 It's not like - it's boring and it's dry, right, typically speaking. 284 00:22:57,060 --> 00:23:00,990 I think I tried to make it as interesting as humanly possible. 285 00:23:01,410 --> 00:23:08,180 But, with something that I do, people might not want to follow somebody like me on social media. 286 00:23:08,180 --> 00:23:11,380 They might think I just want to get my contract and be done with it. 287 00:23:11,380 --> 00:23:15,030 Like, I don't need to hear about this, right, or, like, who wants to follow a lawyer? 288 00:23:15,330 --> 00:23:22,510 I've heard that one before. So, I think, you know, depending on what you do, you might face that kind of attitude from somebody. 289 00:23:22,530 --> 00:23:26,280 But I sometimes think that ads are a nice way that we can break those barriers. 290 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:35,910 So, I very intentionally, and this is like hat tip right here, I very intentionally use playful and casual and fun ads as a way of getting 291 00:23:35,910 --> 00:23:41,790 people's attention, but also in breaking down that barrier because that is such a core part of my business anyway, right? 292 00:23:41,810 --> 00:23:46,740 It's such a core part of my business for people to realize like, "Oh, I thought you were going to be this like stuffy lawyer. 293 00:23:46,740 --> 00:23:52,270 And in fact, you're like pretty down to earth and you can break things down in a casual way." "Yeah, that's me. 294 00:23:52,270 --> 00:23:58,940 That's my brand. That's my actual product." That's what your experience is going to be like if you buy the Ultimate Bundle. 295 00:23:58,950 --> 00:24:02,450 You don't, like, all of a sudden come into and face the stuffy lawyer like you're with me. 296 00:24:02,460 --> 00:24:08,010 So, I think, I always think of the ads are kind of like the first time we meet at a party. 297 00:24:08,010 --> 00:24:09,570 And, you're like, "Oh, she's not that bad. 298 00:24:09,570 --> 00:24:13,360 I was kind of, you know, I came in with some, maybe some judgments and some preconceived notions. 299 00:24:13,380 --> 00:24:15,650 It's not that bad." So, that's one thing. 300 00:24:15,660 --> 00:24:21,540 The other thing is that you can grab their attention with maybe something that they didn't know or weren't aware of. 301 00:24:21,570 --> 00:24:29,650 Oftentimes, I think one of the best ways to grab somebody's attention is either by busting a myth or by telling them something that they didn't know they didn't even know, right? 302 00:24:29,670 --> 00:24:37,110 So, particularly in my industry, it can be really helpful to be like, "Hey, did you know that you even have to do this?" Or like, "Have you been having these thoughts? 303 00:24:37,470 --> 00:24:42,460 But you weren't sure where, you know, you could go to get them solved, like where to get your contract. 304 00:24:42,460 --> 00:24:50,130 I can help." So, just kind of, I think, breaking down some of those barriers can be a great way through Facebook ads to get their attention. 305 00:24:51,030 --> 00:24:53,790 I would also say that we can build new awareness. 306 00:24:53,790 --> 00:24:59,850 So, there might not be - there might be people on Instagram or Facebook who might not even know that someone like you exists. 307 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:09,510 So, one thing that I hear a lot from people who get served with my ads, they'll send me a message and be like, you know, I had all of these questions, but I had no idea that somebody like you even 308 00:25:09,510 --> 00:25:16,380 existed, or I had all these questions, and I wasn't sure if there was somebody who specifically focused on online business. 309 00:25:16,380 --> 00:25:18,980 And then, boom, there you were in my Instagram feed. 310 00:25:18,990 --> 00:25:24,930 So, there can just be this like new awareness and that people didn't even know they needed to know about or that you existed. 311 00:25:24,930 --> 00:25:32,220 And that's great. I also think the Facebook ads, one of the other lost purposes that I'll share with you, is that I think Facebook ads can be the closer. 312 00:25:32,610 --> 00:25:36,270 So, Facebook ads, I think, can also help you to close the deal. 313 00:25:36,300 --> 00:25:43,380 When people have been following you, they have been checking out your product or program for a million years and then now they're like, "You know what? 314 00:25:43,380 --> 00:25:53,280 I hear about this thing all the time." You hit them at the right moment when they actually need something, right, or when whatever it becomes available, or it's like, now's the time that works for them to need your product and 315 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:54,780 they get served with your ad, and boom. 316 00:25:54,780 --> 00:25:59,240 Or maybe it's something's on sale or there's a promotion, and they see it at the right time. 317 00:25:59,250 --> 00:26:04,200 So, I think that those, to me, are the main purposes of running Facebook ads. 318 00:26:09,220 --> 00:26:13,820 Have you ever felt lost about where to begin with the legal side of protecting your online business? 319 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,380 Some people say you can just wing it at the beginning and get officially set up later. 320 00:26:18,010 --> 00:26:20,010 Not a good idea, by the way. 321 00:26:20,010 --> 00:26:29,710 Whether you're afraid to even start working with clients because you don't want to do something wrong legally and then get in trouble, or your business is growing and you sort of forgot to take care of the legal 322 00:26:29,710 --> 00:26:31,510 pieces, I've got you. 323 00:26:31,540 --> 00:26:41,320 I don't want you to live in fear of the internet police coming after you and your business, but you do have to do certain things and get certain things in place in order to legally and safely run your business 324 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:48,430 online. As much as it just feels like an unregulated Wild Wild West online, that is very much not the case. 325 00:26:48,430 --> 00:26:53,810 As an attorney-turned entrepreneur and former corporate litigator, I can assure you that there are rules. 326 00:26:53,810 --> 00:26:58,720 There are real steps that everybody who runs or starts an online business needs to take. 327 00:26:58,990 --> 00:27:00,820 And, you're not behind at all. 328 00:27:00,820 --> 00:27:03,240 We can get you set up in following the rules right away. 329 00:27:03,250 --> 00:27:05,110 In fact, we can even do it today. 330 00:27:05,140 --> 00:27:10,330 I want to teach you the five very simple steps to take to legally protect and grow your online business. 331 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:19,600 You don't need an MBA to be a successful entrepreneur and stay out of legal hot water, but you do need to dot your legal i's and cross your t's in a few key areas that can't be skipped. 332 00:27:19,630 --> 00:27:26,050 That's exactly what I'll teach you in my free one-hour legal workshop called Five Steps To Legally Protect And Grow Your Online Business. 333 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:34,360 Just head to mylegalworkshop.com, drop in your email address, pick the time, and I'll send you a link to watch the workshop video whenever you have time. 334 00:27:34,630 --> 00:27:44,380 This is the best place to begin if you're just getting started legally legitimizing your business, so head on over to mylegalworkshop.com and sign up to watch Five Steps To Legally Protect And Grow Your 335 00:27:44,380 --> 00:27:45,610 Online Business now. 336 00:27:49,180 --> 00:27:52,830 So, when can Facebook ads be helpful in your business? 337 00:27:52,830 --> 00:28:02,800 In my opinion, controversial opinion alert, I think the Facebook ads are really only helpful to somebody once their business or product and program if they're running ads to 338 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:04,240 it is proven. 339 00:28:04,810 --> 00:28:14,540 So, I think that you have to have created a product, sold that product, actually have, like, social feedback about that product, right? 340 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:15,730 Have some social proof. 341 00:28:16,390 --> 00:28:26,350 And then, there has to be a pathway to that product other than you just directly selling it one-off because there's going to have to be, if you want to run ads, they're going to have to be additional 342 00:28:26,350 --> 00:28:28,410 steps. You're not just going to run ads to someone. 343 00:28:28,410 --> 00:28:38,410 They're going to be like, "Oh, I'll buy that." That really only works in the true e-commerce business, in my opinion, of somebody selling, you know, a shirt or a mug or whatever, and they 344 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:45,100 hit you with the right ad and you're like, I always wanted this thing or you were talking about it and your phone was listening to you, and then they serve you with an ad about it. 345 00:28:45,130 --> 00:28:47,650 So, I think that works really well for them. 346 00:28:48,100 --> 00:28:54,670 I think for most of you, you're probably in the service industry and so I don't think it works very well for the service industries. 347 00:28:55,300 --> 00:29:05,020 So, with that, I would say a business or product that is proven a funnel or pathway that's been built to that product that's already converting, it's already working. 348 00:29:05,020 --> 00:29:08,380 And then, Facebook ads would basically just pour gasoline on it. 349 00:29:08,830 --> 00:29:18,790 I think that another great time if you're somebody who has that, if you have the product or program that's proven now, another great time to run Facebook ads, in my opinion, 350 00:29:18,790 --> 00:29:23,490 is when you don't want to be so ever-present on social media. 351 00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:27,100 But, please don't mistake me that by saying. 352 00:29:27,100 --> 00:29:33,130 Look, I am not saying that you do not need to be on social media once you run Facebook ads, it's just that it's not as bad. 353 00:29:33,130 --> 00:29:34,420 Let's just put it that way. 354 00:29:34,630 --> 00:29:44,010 So, it went from, for me, at least having to do kind of like a daily training on Instagram, you know daily posting, Facebook groups, Facebook Lives, 355 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:54,310 Instagram, I was like, "Oh, my gosh, so much content." And that was like what I would call fast content, like content that goes down the toilet, like things that disappear, like stories. 356 00:29:55,030 --> 00:29:57,010 And so, it was a lot of that. 357 00:29:57,010 --> 00:30:02,370 And, I think what was really cool is seeing that Facebook ads took some of that pressure off. 358 00:30:02,380 --> 00:30:08,620 But hang in there and listen to the rest of this episode because there's a really big but to this one that you need to know about that's very, very crucial. 359 00:30:09,370 --> 00:30:11,190 And, you do not want to make this mistake. 360 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,990 I have learned this, and so I'm going to share it with you in a couple of minutes. 361 00:30:14,290 --> 00:30:19,750 But, please don't misunderstand me that I'm saying you don't have to be on Facebook or on social media. 362 00:30:19,780 --> 00:30:26,650 It's just that you don't have to be quite as present and always on the app as you might be right now if you're not running ads. 363 00:30:27,070 --> 00:30:34,410 Okay. So, what things then do you need to have in place in order to successfully run Facebook ads now or in the future? 364 00:30:34,410 --> 00:30:44,110 So, even if you're not in the place right now to run Facebook ads, these are the things that I would be working on, if I were you, to do them in the future even if you don't end up doing it. 365 00:30:44,110 --> 00:30:46,750 None of these things are going to hurt you, so I would just do them anyway. 366 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,710 But if you want to run Facebook ads, I would really do this. 367 00:30:51,040 --> 00:31:00,580 Okay. So, the first thing to have in place, like I just mentioned, is a proven product or program, which sounds really like, a very simple thing to do but in fact it's very 368 00:31:00,580 --> 00:31:05,570 complicated. And, I broke this all down for you in episodes 13 and 14 of On Your Terms. 369 00:31:05,590 --> 00:31:08,710 So, I would definitely go back and listen to those episodes. 370 00:31:08,710 --> 00:31:18,710 But the gist of it is that you have to have a product or program that is actually helpful to people that people really like, that they get tangible results from, that 371 00:31:18,710 --> 00:31:26,170 you get social proof from, and that will be so clear to the right person that it will be helpful to them. 372 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:35,860 So, I want you to go back and listen to episodes 13 and 14, if you haven't already, so you can learn more about creating that proven product or program because I teach you how in those 373 00:31:35,860 --> 00:31:38,890 episodes. But that is definitely the first thing. 374 00:31:39,100 --> 00:31:48,040 The second thing you have to have in place is that you have to have some sort of process in place of getting people to then buy that product or program. 375 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:53,600 If you don't have that yet, if it's just like you're just going on social media and say, "Hey, buy my product. 376 00:31:53,600 --> 00:32:03,460 Hey, buy my program," And, that is, you know, kind of a little bit of a system, but there should be probably a few steps before that, like some sort of freebie that leads to some sort of nurturing 377 00:32:03,460 --> 00:32:13,330 that then pitches your product and program automatically so that your job actually becomes about promoting the freebie all the time and getting as many people into that top of funnel freebie, and then letting 378 00:32:13,330 --> 00:32:16,120 them float through and purchase your product automatically. 379 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:17,730 Because that's what you're going to run ads to. 380 00:32:17,730 --> 00:32:19,220 You're going to run ads to the freebie. 381 00:32:19,220 --> 00:32:23,640 You're not going to run ads to the product until they've watched the freebie. 382 00:32:23,650 --> 00:32:25,980 So, it's like ad to the freebie. 383 00:32:25,990 --> 00:32:29,440 Someone watches the freebie or reads the freebie, engages with the freebie. 384 00:32:29,470 --> 00:32:36,400 Then, you serve them with what's called a sales ad, which is then when you say, hey, buy this product, only once they've been introduced to it through your freebie. 385 00:32:36,910 --> 00:32:40,450 Right? So, that's why it's really important to get this process down. 386 00:32:40,780 --> 00:32:42,100 So, you want to work on that. 387 00:32:42,100 --> 00:32:49,900 If it's a sales call, then you definitely want to download my free email templates from my Pre-Qualify Before They Buy freebie. 388 00:32:49,900 --> 00:32:51,920 I'll drop the link below in the description. 389 00:32:52,490 --> 00:33:01,430 That's a three email template series that I created for you for free that gets people on your sales call for the right reasons and gets the wrong ones to cancel or reschedule. 390 00:33:01,430 --> 00:33:08,780 Because you want to make sure that you're only getting on sales calls with people who you can actually help and who actually need and want your product or program. 391 00:33:09,500 --> 00:33:19,460 And if you're ever going to run Facebook ads to it, you definitely need this in place because you want to make sure you're not just booking a bunch of people who want a free 30 minutes or a pick-your-brain session. 392 00:33:20,180 --> 00:33:28,490 The third thing that you need in place is a free opt-in that starts to automate the purchases of that product or program that you have. 393 00:33:28,940 --> 00:33:36,520 Again, I'll refer you to episodes 13 and 14 of my podcast because it does help you to learn how to create that little baby funnel. 394 00:33:36,530 --> 00:33:38,300 This does not need to be complicated. 395 00:33:38,870 --> 00:33:40,550 Yes, my funnel is very complicated. 396 00:33:40,550 --> 00:33:42,330 It was not complicated when it started. 397 00:33:42,330 --> 00:33:45,380 So, you have to start somewhere and it can be very simple in the beginning. 398 00:33:45,470 --> 00:33:55,250 So, you want some sort of free opt-in, whether that's a webinar or a downloadable thing, a video series, whatever it is, it doesn't really matter, except that it has to be really 399 00:33:55,250 --> 00:33:57,920 highly valuable and highly convertible. 400 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:04,820 So, it has to do a lot of very specific things, which I talk about in episodes 13 and 14, so you want to listen to that. 401 00:34:04,820 --> 00:34:09,950 But essentially, you want to start working on that before the product item. 402 00:34:09,950 --> 00:34:13,640 So, what is going to be the thing that we're going to lead people to through these ads? 403 00:34:14,060 --> 00:34:18,500 The fourth thing that you need is clear messaging and brand identity. 404 00:34:19,010 --> 00:34:23,810 This is essential for any business to do well no matter, whether you ever want to run Facebook ads or not. 405 00:34:23,930 --> 00:34:33,710 But if you want to run Facebook ads, this is going to become - like, if you don't have this down now, it's going to be one of those things that's going to be really obvious once you start to run Facebook 406 00:34:33,710 --> 00:34:39,750 ads. Because, first of all, a lot of people run Facebook ads and you're going to be competing with a lot of other different ads. 407 00:34:39,750 --> 00:34:47,510 But you're also going to get served to a lot of people who don't need what you're talking about and you're also going to get served to people who do need it. 408 00:34:47,900 --> 00:34:54,410 And so, your messaging and your brand identity has to be so clear that people can immediately, like, self-select essentially. 409 00:34:54,410 --> 00:35:04,040 It would be like, "Oh, that's for me," or "Oh, that's definitely not for me," because otherwise, you're going to get a ton of opt-ins to your stuff, and then they're not going to actually buy because it's not going to be for 410 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:11,240 them, or you're not going to have opt-ins at all because people aren't going to understand whether or not what you have to offer is for them. 411 00:35:11,390 --> 00:35:13,370 So, it's really important that you get this down. 412 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:23,180 The other reason is that because when you start running ads, a lot of people are going to move over to your pages, your Instagram account, your Facebook page, and 413 00:35:23,180 --> 00:35:27,130 they need to be able to see what you're all about when they land there. 414 00:35:27,140 --> 00:35:36,220 And people have the attention span, I don't even know if it's fair to goldfish anymore to, like, say that people have the attention span of goldfish because I don't even think it's that long, but it's pretty short. 415 00:35:36,230 --> 00:35:43,560 And so, if they end up over on your page and they're like, "What is she talking about?" "She's talking about this and that and the other thing." It needs to be very clear. 416 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:53,330 You need to have a clear bio on Instagram, a clear link to get to your freebie, a clear - you know, I like to see kind of like quickly what people stand for, what they don't stand for, 417 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,390 that kind of stuff. So, you want to be really clear with this. 418 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:05,420 The fifth thing that you have to have in place is a consistent social media strategy because remember you're using social media to run ads. 419 00:36:05,420 --> 00:36:11,560 So, remember earlier when I said don't get it twisted, you cannot just stop doing stuff on social media just because you're running ads. 420 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:13,980 Ads are not an out for you to be on social media. 421 00:36:13,980 --> 00:36:16,610 You're literally using social media to run ads. 422 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:26,430 So, when we run Facebook ads or Instagram ads, in particular, you know, people are seeing this Instagram ad and then they're just tapping on your profile and they're going over to your profile. 423 00:36:26,430 --> 00:36:29,770 I notice I get consistent follower growth when our ads are running really well. 424 00:36:29,780 --> 00:36:38,780 That's always a good signal to me that I'm doing something right on social media, too, because they're not only getting served with my ad, but then they're clicking over and they're saying, like, "Oh, I see the content that she's 425 00:36:38,780 --> 00:36:41,840 sharing. I get what she stands for," going back to number four. 426 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,800 They see my messaging. They see my identity and they want to follow. 427 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:55,700 So, being consistent on social media is really important because you want to make sure that as people are getting served with these ads on social media that they're then getting 428 00:36:55,700 --> 00:36:58,970 brought over to an active and engaged place. 429 00:36:58,970 --> 00:37:00,050 They see that you're active. 430 00:37:00,050 --> 00:37:01,250 It's not an old account. 431 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,110 They can see what you've been up to. 432 00:37:03,410 --> 00:37:11,750 I like to have something always in stories so that people can kind of feel connected right away with, like, what's going on right now, not a post that you've made three months ago. 433 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:20,090 So, that's kind of my general approach to this in terms of making sure I have a consistent social media strategy. 434 00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:30,230 You also have to start thinking of your social media strategy as more of like a nurturing place because people are going to get served with your ads and they are going to click over 435 00:37:30,230 --> 00:37:36,100 to your profile and your ads are going to be constantly going out to all these new and different people. 436 00:37:36,100 --> 00:37:42,200 It might even go out to the same person a couple of times who hasn't decided to follow or hasn't decided to opt-in to your funnel. 437 00:37:42,350 --> 00:37:47,360 And, I like to think of my social media strategy as being the second piece. 438 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:57,030 It's like the second layer that steps in and nurtures them so that when they do click over, they see all this different stuff that's going on in my world, whether it's podcast episodes 439 00:37:57,030 --> 00:37:59,980 or a live legal workshop, or something like that. 440 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,210 So, it's really important for number five to have that consistent social media strategy. 441 00:38:04,820 --> 00:38:07,960 Number six is that it is crucial. 442 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:16,000 If you ever want to be successful with Facebook ads, that you invest in creatives and visuals and good copy for the ads themselves. 443 00:38:16,010 --> 00:38:23,600 So, This is not something that I would necessarily recommend doing yourself and the copy, in particular, I would not recommend writing yourself. 444 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:28,790 A lot of copywriters will write Facebook ad copy so you can ask them if that's a service that they offer. 445 00:38:28,850 --> 00:38:38,120 But it's really, really helpful because the language is so like - the amount of copy is so short most of the time that you really need to get to the point. 446 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:45,270 Like, we even run short ads and then long-form ads because sometimes people are just reading the first line or second line. 447 00:38:45,290 --> 00:38:47,160 Sometimes it's just like a little quick hit. 448 00:38:47,180 --> 00:38:49,300 Other times it's like we want to tell them a story. 449 00:38:49,310 --> 00:38:52,450 So, there's a lot of strategy behind all of this. 450 00:38:52,460 --> 00:38:56,000 It's not random. Nothing that you see is random, at least in my business. 451 00:38:56,030 --> 00:39:05,780 And so, it's really important that you have somebody who understands that nuance and can really, like, pack a punch with their words, even if it's only in a few sentences. 452 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,970 The other part of that is the creatives and the visuals. 453 00:39:08,990 --> 00:39:15,260 That's where it's - I think a lot of people try to DIY this, and that tends to be where it goes a little bit wrong. 454 00:39:15,710 --> 00:39:25,490 So, first of all, at least in my opinion and in my business, videos are performing better overall than things like a static 455 00:39:25,490 --> 00:39:35,150 image, right? So, I think for any of us who have been in online business for a little while, we were kind of used to the Canva era of just creating, you know, a 456 00:39:35,690 --> 00:39:41,120 tile-looking thing that's just like free workshop, five steps to legally protecting and growing on them. 457 00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:42,600 Like, it was just kind of flat, right? 458 00:39:42,620 --> 00:39:52,130 And, I think that now we're really - we have been experimenting for a long time now with a bit more playful strategy, video, music, like all different kinds of stuff, 459 00:39:52,580 --> 00:39:54,980 moving - things that are moving, attention-grabbing. 460 00:39:55,160 --> 00:40:04,850 Refer back to everything I've said in this entire episode about not only people's attention span being not that amazing, but also to them getting hit with all these different ads, 461 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:08,130 having a million things on their mind, you know global pandemics. 462 00:40:08,130 --> 00:40:09,500 There's just a lot going on. 463 00:40:09,500 --> 00:40:13,580 So, we have to do what we can to stand out but to also show parts of our personality. 464 00:40:14,420 --> 00:40:24,140 So, again, I like to show that you might pre-judge me as thinking I'm like dorky and stuffy, and I'm, you know, relatively dorky, but I can actually throw it out. 465 00:40:24,170 --> 00:40:31,310 So, I think that, you know, it's important to show the parts of your personality through the ads and show people what you're about. 466 00:40:31,340 --> 00:40:39,170 Maybe break some of those stereotypes about your industry, about your business, about who you are, or whatever, and just show a little bit of your uniqueness. 467 00:40:39,170 --> 00:40:43,940 And I think you can do that, in particular, in the creatives and the visuals. 468 00:40:44,060 --> 00:40:45,120 Number seven. 469 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:50,330 Have a clear vision in mind of what you are here to use ads for. 470 00:40:50,330 --> 00:40:54,140 So, it's really important that you are clear about what your ads are for. 471 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,490 So, I talked a little bit earlier about the different kinds of ads and the reasons that you can run ads. 472 00:40:58,490 --> 00:41:02,660 But are you doing this for visibility, for nurturing your current audience? 473 00:41:02,660 --> 00:41:06,020 Are you trying to build up opt-ins or are you trying to build your email list? 474 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,280 Are you trying to make more sales? 475 00:41:08,300 --> 00:41:12,290 Are you trying to just grow your audience for some other reason? 476 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:22,130 I think it's really important to get very clear in any good Facebook ads team or manager that you speak with is going to, like, spend most of their time getting really, really clear on your goals and your vision 477 00:41:22,130 --> 00:41:25,340 first and before creating any sorts of campaigns. 478 00:41:25,340 --> 00:41:28,580 But that is, for sure, a very important part of this process. 479 00:41:29,570 --> 00:41:35,590 Number eight. I highly recommend, when you can, to work with a professional, a Facebook ads expert. 480 00:41:35,590 --> 00:41:44,750 Because, first of all, I hope that they would help you with copy and visuals if they have more of an agency or a team, but also because the landscape of Facebook ads is 481 00:41:44,750 --> 00:41:47,210 constantly changing and evolving. 482 00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:48,890 Again, I don't mind this so much. 483 00:41:48,890 --> 00:41:55,460 I like things being kind of, like, diverse and fun and, like, switching things up, and I feel like I'm always on my toes with ads. 484 00:41:55,460 --> 00:41:56,690 That doesn't really bother me. 485 00:41:56,690 --> 00:41:57,770 Don't get me wrong. 486 00:41:57,770 --> 00:41:59,930 I have my days where I complain to all my friends. 487 00:41:59,930 --> 00:42:05,880 But overall, I think that's why if you tried to DIY this yourself, I would be a little nervous. 488 00:42:05,900 --> 00:42:11,750 I'm also very nervous in general in our line of work of, like, you're just trying to be too many things at once, right? 489 00:42:11,990 --> 00:42:14,440 You're already going to be a million things at once. 490 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:21,500 You're going to be your copywriter and your part-time web designer and you're, like, you're the coach, right, or you're the creative. 491 00:42:21,500 --> 00:42:24,530 And so, you're already so many different things. 492 00:42:24,530 --> 00:42:30,470 I get worried about you trying to be your own lawyer and your own accountant and your own Facebook ad specialist and your own this and that and the other thing. 493 00:42:30,890 --> 00:42:37,160 It's a lot, right, especially with something that's constantly changing, something that's highly specialized. 494 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:41,720 And there are people who spend their whole day and their whole careers doing this. 495 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:45,670 And so, I get that that is a luxury and a privilege. 496 00:42:45,670 --> 00:42:48,410 It is not one that I could have swung for a very long time. 497 00:42:48,410 --> 00:42:50,080 And so, that was another reason why I waited. 498 00:42:50,090 --> 00:42:52,490 I never wanted to do it myself. 499 00:42:52,940 --> 00:42:59,800 I didn't want to take on learning how to do Facebook ads because I knew if I did, I would never stop because it would be so interesting to me. 500 00:42:59,810 --> 00:43:01,690 But I can't do that, right? 501 00:43:01,690 --> 00:43:07,030 As a CEO, I have to work on my products and I have to serve my customers and I have to be the marketing person. 502 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:12,110 So, it's really important that, you know, you remember this and that. 503 00:43:12,110 --> 00:43:17,000 If that means that you wait and do it right, in my opinion, it would be worth it. 504 00:43:17,270 --> 00:43:21,020 That's what I did. I waited until I could. 505 00:43:21,020 --> 00:43:26,560 Now, I just want to give you one little note about that, because I remembered this as I was saying it. 506 00:43:26,570 --> 00:43:33,540 I did not start running Facebook ads when I was, like, super jazzed about throwing thousands of dollars out the window. 507 00:43:33,540 --> 00:43:38,870 That was never - I don't know that I still am but, you know - or taking a gamble . 508 00:43:38,930 --> 00:43:40,680 I felt like it was a gamble at that point. 509 00:43:40,700 --> 00:43:44,240 And so, one of the reasons that I waited, this is actually a very important point. 510 00:43:44,750 --> 00:43:46,190 Very important. Okay, listen up. 511 00:43:46,220 --> 00:43:48,170 Let's listen up. Okay. 512 00:43:48,170 --> 00:43:53,570 You want to invest in Facebook ads when it's an experiment that you can afford to experiment in. 513 00:43:53,720 --> 00:43:56,110 It is not going to sink your business. 514 00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,850 It's not going to harm you financially. 515 00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:01,100 Will it be a hit if you lost the money? 516 00:44:01,100 --> 00:44:06,870 Of course, I'm not - no, I mean, like, who's at - and other than like Apple, I don't know who's that like a place that no one cares about that. 517 00:44:06,890 --> 00:44:16,360 So, of course, I thought about when I was investing a few thousand dollars in the beginning, I was like, "Oh man, this would hurt." It also wouldn't have derailed me one little moment. 518 00:44:16,370 --> 00:44:17,390 I would have kept going. 519 00:44:17,570 --> 00:44:19,520 So, it would have been like, that sucks. 520 00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:20,690 I would have shed some tears. 521 00:44:20,690 --> 00:44:21,800 I would have complained about it. 522 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:22,970 I would have been upset. 523 00:44:22,970 --> 00:44:25,160 But it would not have impacted my business. 524 00:44:25,190 --> 00:44:27,410 I would have been able to continue operating. 525 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:29,450 I did not dip into operating expenses. 526 00:44:29,450 --> 00:44:30,920 I was able to pay my taxes. 527 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,640 I was able to pay my team members. 528 00:44:32,660 --> 00:44:34,940 So, like, all those things were true. 529 00:44:34,940 --> 00:44:44,120 And I think that's a really important thing to remember because a lot of times these horror stories that you do hear about people, it's 530 00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:50,270 because they kind of took a bet on Facebook ads and lost. 531 00:44:50,300 --> 00:44:55,340 And so, you don't want to go to the casino with your last dollar and hope to turn it into a million, right? 532 00:44:55,340 --> 00:44:57,230 So, that's not a strategy. 533 00:44:58,160 --> 00:44:59,420 That's desperation. 534 00:44:59,420 --> 00:45:00,820 And so, we don't want to be there. 535 00:45:00,820 --> 00:45:10,370 If that is the place that you're at where, like, this would crush your business or it would really financially harm your business, we want to work on strengthening the foundation of your business 536 00:45:10,370 --> 00:45:13,700 first. Then, you're not in a place for Facebook ads yet, which is okay. 537 00:45:14,090 --> 00:45:21,500 I also just want to normalize this more that I waited, I don't know what, four, almost four years to invest in Facebook ads. 538 00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:24,170 So, and again, it was a choice. 539 00:45:24,170 --> 00:45:25,400 It's not mandatory. 540 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,400 It's like I just decided because I was interested. 541 00:45:29,150 --> 00:45:31,130 I knew my funnel was working really well. 542 00:45:31,130 --> 00:45:34,300 And so I thought, I guess I could get this to more people, right? 543 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:39,380 Like, Facebook can get this to more people than I could, standing here on Instagram every day. 544 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:46,460 My dad was also sick and I was half the time in the hospital with him and sitting there with him at chemo. 545 00:45:46,460 --> 00:45:55,640 And I was like, I don't feel like, you know, having to be like, "Hey, guys, here are three things you need to know about your website policies every single day." I wanted to do that. 546 00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,700 I love what I do, and I love talking about what I teach about. 547 00:45:58,730 --> 00:46:00,500 But it wasn't possible for me. 548 00:46:00,500 --> 00:46:03,140 It still is not possible for me to do that every day. 549 00:46:03,150 --> 00:46:04,490 I'm not in the mood half the time. 550 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:10,940 So, I wanted to see if Facebook ads could help alleviate some of that, and that is exactly what it did for me. 551 00:46:11,030 --> 00:46:12,550 But it's a choice. 552 00:46:12,550 --> 00:46:14,140 It's just a form of advertisement. 553 00:46:14,140 --> 00:46:16,820 Like, I kind of want to take away some of the power from all of this. 554 00:46:16,820 --> 00:46:17,900 You know, it's a choice. 555 00:46:17,960 --> 00:46:19,250 It's an experiment. 556 00:46:19,250 --> 00:46:21,770 And it's okay. 557 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:22,970 It's going to be okay. 558 00:46:23,540 --> 00:46:25,850 If you don't do it, you're still going to be okay. 559 00:46:25,850 --> 00:46:27,290 It's okay. Right? 560 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:33,050 So, last but not least, the very end, this kind of goes to what I'm - what I was just saying. 561 00:46:33,230 --> 00:46:38,160 The ninth thing that you need to have in place, last but not least, is a scientist attitude. 562 00:46:38,180 --> 00:46:39,800 I talk about this so often. 563 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:45,380 I think having a scientist attitude as an online business person, in general, is so important. 564 00:46:45,530 --> 00:46:54,830 But having a scientist attitude is essential if you ever want to run Facebook ads or are running Facebook ads because this shit is going to be 565 00:46:54,830 --> 00:46:56,820 experimental, my friend. 566 00:46:56,820 --> 00:46:58,640 It's experimental. 567 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:06,350 Ads take time. Sometimes they don't work great in the beginning, but then they start to work great, sometimes they work great, and then they slow down and then they work great again. 568 00:47:07,550 --> 00:47:09,740 There are bumps along the way, right? 569 00:47:10,370 --> 00:47:11,870 And it's okay. It's okay. 570 00:47:11,870 --> 00:47:14,540 It's all an experiment, and it's also an optional experiment. 571 00:47:14,540 --> 00:47:17,490 You don't need to. If the stress of doing this doesn't work for you, don't do it. 572 00:47:17,570 --> 00:47:19,970 Build up your business in another way. 573 00:47:19,970 --> 00:47:29,630 You know, build up your SEO, build up the foundation of your business, build up your SEO, have an SEO-driven, evergreen-driven content strategy, and work on your funnel. 574 00:47:29,660 --> 00:47:33,650 I mean, I could have been very happy just running my business the way that I was. 575 00:47:34,220 --> 00:47:35,390 I was making plenty. 576 00:47:35,390 --> 00:47:36,440 I was very comfortable. 577 00:47:36,470 --> 00:47:37,820 Things were very simple. 578 00:47:38,180 --> 00:47:39,280 It was fine, right? 579 00:47:39,290 --> 00:47:42,470 I just have, like, really large ambition for this business. 580 00:47:42,470 --> 00:47:46,400 That's not totally possible with me just screaming about it every day on Instagram. 581 00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:49,880 So, that was why I went into it. 582 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,070 I waited until it wasn't going to wreck my business. 583 00:47:52,070 --> 00:47:53,250 I'm so glad that I did. 584 00:47:53,270 --> 00:47:55,970 I have had this experimental attitude the whole way. 585 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:58,190 And, I think it served me really well. 586 00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:05,490 So, those are the nine things that I would have in place if I were to run Facebook ads now or in the future. 587 00:48:05,700 --> 00:48:08,060 I'm so curious what you took away from this episode. 588 00:48:08,070 --> 00:48:14,160 I'm curious if, like, I changed your mind about something, if I brought something to your attention that you hadn't thought of before. 589 00:48:14,580 --> 00:48:24,010 Maybe if you even came to some sort of decision in this episode, I hope you'll send me a DM on Instagram, @samvanderwielen on Instagram, and you'll let me know what that was. 590 00:48:24,030 --> 00:48:27,960 I would love to know what your takeaway was from this episode. 591 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:32,400 But until then, until I hear from you and my DMs, I will chat with you next week. 592 00:48:32,580 --> 00:48:35,670 Thank you so much for listening to this episode of On Your Terms. 593 00:48:39,470 --> 00:48:42,240 Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms Podcast. 594 00:48:42,260 --> 00:48:46,910 Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. 595 00:48:46,940 --> 00:48:53,940 You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more at samvanderwielen.com/podcast. 596 00:48:53,960 --> 00:49:00,950 You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal workshop, Five Steps To Legally Protect And Grow Your Online Business, at samvanderwielen.com. 597 00:49:02,810 --> 00:49:08,480 And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram, @samvanderwielen, and send me a DM to say hi.