As part of our mission to help you focus more on your passion, we at Taxumo will be inviting various experts here on our blog to guide you on how to grow your business effectively.
Below, digital marketing specialist Julian Cañita shares his expertise on Facebook advertising to help you grow your client’s business.
Are you a freelancer looking to get hired as a Facebook ads specialist?
Welcome to the club!
I’ve been that guy for the past two years, and the thing that’s helped me the most in landing my clients is my pleasing personality.
Just kidding.
When I pitch to clients, I tell them that my expertise is Facebook Ads and what I’ve done. But those are just words. They ask for portfolios.
The thing is, because of technicalities we do not need to get into in this post, I’m not able to show any of my previous work as a Facebook Ads specialist.
What I do instead is to conduct an audit of the potential client’s Facebook ad account. I ask for analyzer’s access, go through the ad account and map out what I plan to do for the business.
If you’re kind of in the same situation as I am and need help converting those prospects into clients, I’ll share with you how I do a quick Facebook Ads Audit.
Facebook Ads Audit: How to Do It in Three Steps
Step 1: Check Key Metrics
By checking certain metrics in Facebook ads manager, you will get an overview of how the campaigns as a whole are running. The ads manager shows all the numbers, but for a quick look, I tend to check 3 key metrics.
These key metrics include:
- Clickthrough rates (CTR)
- Conversion rate
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)
Clickthrough Rates (CTR)
Clickthrough rate (CTR) refers to the number clicks on the ads out of 100 people who see them.
CTRs are indicators of how well-received the ads are with the targeting. Low CTRs tend to show that there is a disconnect between the messaging and the targeting so one or both has to be tweaked.
There is no CTR baseline since it really varies, but my personal benchmark is 1.00%–at least for link click CTR.
Conversion Rate
This refers to the number of conversions from a landing page or a site out of 100 people who visit that page or site.
Conversion Rate is also important because low conversion rates show that there could be a disconnect between the messaging in the ad and the landing page.
Low conversion rates may also signify that there may generally be something wrong with the landing page, whether it’s page load time or a UX problem. So you will want to check the landing page and the site as well, even though improving this may be outside of your scope of work.
Again there is no one baseline for what conversion rate is good. For me though, the benchmark is 20% conversion rate on a landing page with a direct call-to-action (like a webinar sign-up), and at least 1% for a site whose landing page has no direct call-to-action (like an online store.)
Return on ad spend (ROAS)
Finally, I check return on ad spend (ROAS) which is the amount of revenue earned from the ads compared with the amount spent on the ads.
This is computed by subtracting the cost from the revenue and dividing that amount by the total cost. The amount is expressed as a percentage.
For example, if the client spent $200 for ads which brought him $300 in revenue, return on ad spend would be 50%. Note that if revenue is less than the total amount spent, ROAS is expressed as a negative percentage which basically means the client lost money in the campaign.
My personal benchmark for ROAS is up to -20% for customer acquisition campaigns and at least 400% for remarketing campaigns.
Check out these metrics on your prospect’s ad account and take note which you can help improve.
Step 2: Check the Tools
The next thing I check would be the general set-up of the ad campaign. Are the useful tools in place and being used?
I first check if the website has Facebook Pixel installed. This is very important, and it’s the first thing I highlight when I notice its absence.
If pixels are installed, the next thing I check is the event tracker. You can check this on the Pixels tab or the Custom Conversion tab, which are both on the Facebook ads manager menu. This is important because you want to ensure correct tracking of conversions. You can’t measure and improve something you can’t track.
I also check if the ad account is utilizing the ‘Audiences’ function. I check whether the prospect fills out relevant custom audiences and if it creates lookalike audiences.
Step 3: Check The Campaign Set Up
We know that the Facebook ad campaign setups have 3 layers. I dive into each one briefly to take notes for the audit.
I check the ad objectives for the campaign level. Then I compare those objectives with the prospect’s actual business objectives and check whether he or she are using these correctly. I am a big advocate of using conversion campaigns to drive conversions. A lot of times, I will see a lot of boosted posts, which is fine, but nothing to get the audience to convert.
For the ad set level, I tend to check on the targeting.
First, I check whether the targeted audience size is too small or too big for the budget. Then I check on the actual targeting. I basically ask myself if it makes sense.
Sometimes, if the targeting is off, I do my own initial research on better interests to target. Some people don’t like doing this at this stage because the prospect can just take your ideas and not go with you in the end. This is very understandable and is actually a very real concern. I’m fine with it so it’s really up to you.
I also check if remarketing is in place by looking if there are ad sets strategically targeting custom audiences.
Lastly, I check the ads themselves. I just do a quick review to check which elements are doing well and if there are any that aren’t. Some of the things I check include:
- Whether the ad creative makes sense for the messaging
- The ad clearly presents the offer.
- The ad copy is more benefit-focused than feature-focused
- The overall feel of the ad is close to the overall feel of the landing page
Conclusion
After checking these, I collate them all in a format the prospect would prefer. It can be in a PDF file, a Google slide presentation, or whatever messaging platform we’ve been using to communicate.
Again, it’s up to you if you want to include your plans on how you’d want to address these issues you find.
I find that a lot of times, just being able to identify these issues is enough for the prospect to consider me for the position.
One other thought. I use this audit as a tool not to close the agreement but to continue the conversation towards working together. Just something to keep in mind when you use this.
I hope it helps out and I hope you close more clients with the help of this audit.