3 Things the Most Successful Ads have in Common
This may be an unpopular opinion, but when I am testing out ads and looking for analyzing results. I’m not looking for a single “winner.” It is my hope that multiple ads are performing well. I want some video ads to be converting well, and some image ads to converting well. I would hope that both short copy ads and long copy ads would produce results. This is because the stronger variety of ads you have the more people will resonate with at least one of your ads.
Despite wanting to have a variety of ads performing well. There are some common factors that the most successful ads have in common. In this blog, I am going to share three things the most successful ads share.
1. Social Proof
Social proof helps your ad in two ways. First, it signals to Facebook’s algorithm that your ad is well-liked and pleasant for users of Facebook and Instagram. Second, it signals to a person scrolling buy that this offer is validated and liked by others. By social proof, I mean comments, likes, shares, video views, and saved posts. Social proof is people engaging with your ad. When an ad has a lot of social proof it raises the likelihood of this ad beating out other ads that are targeting the same audience. Successful ads often have a lot of social proof. One of the top ways to get social proof on your ad is to follow the next tip and to create ads that look “native.”
2. Native Style
Native Style ads are ads that look like a post from a family member or a friend, essentially they are ads that do not look like ads. Many successful ads appear native. They are not overly designed or sales in their copy or headlines. One of the best ways to create ads that are native in style is to use past or current client testimonies and pictures. When you ask for your clients to share a testimony of how your product or service impacted your life ask them these three questions. (Which I got from Molly Pitman’s Facebook Training Course)
- What was your life before this product or service?
- What is your life like after using the product or service?
- If you were to recommend this product or service to a friend what would be your exact words?
By asking these three questions you will get a testimony that is more storytelling and natural. Ask your clients to send in photos of them using your product or photos of them experiencing your services. Also photos or videos of their reactions to the results you're able to get them often do well. Essentially native-style ads don’t look like an ad at first glance.
If you are used to using highly produced images or videos and sales-y ad copy then try testing one native ad out in the group and see how it performs next to the others. You never know until you try.
3. High Converting Landing Page
The last thing successful ads have in common is high-quality landing pages. Landing pages are often underestimated in their overall importance with Facebook and Instagram ads. A poor landing page that loads slowly, and doesn’t have a high opt-in rate will decrease your overall results. It doesn’t matter how great your ad is and how many people click on your ad if no one buys or opts-in to your offer on your landing page. A poor converting landing page also impacts your total value score. If the Facebook algorithm sees that not many people are converting on your landing page they will assume that the landing page is not a pleasant experience and therefore will show your ad to fewer people.
If your landing page has a strong opt-in rate meaning people are buying your offer or opting into your email list. Facebook will see this as a pleasant experience and start showing your ad to more people. So in this instance, you have more people seeing your ad and more people converting on your landing page. It’s a win-win! Therefore taking time to think through your landing page and ways to raise the conversion rate will positively impact your entire ad campaign.
These are the three things that some of the most successful ads have in common. They have a lot of social proof, use a native-style, and have a high converting landing page. The number one thing to keep in mind when running Facebook ads is to test different things out. What works for one company may not work for another. There is a lot of testing that goes into finding the best practices in ads for your business.