If you want results from your Facebook ads, you need a great image and well crafted and effective text. Strong and effective copywriting has the power to persuade your audience to stop and click on your ad and take some action.
Good copy is the difference between telling and selling. We can tell our audience what it is that we do, but at the end of the day, we have to sell ourselves. Good copy is the difference between saying, “I sell this product,” and saying, “Here’s how this product will serve you” or “Here’s how this product can benefit you,” etc.
With Facebook ads people are using very attention-grabbing images to get you to stop scrolling and look at their ads. They’ve got everything from pictures of their family to videos of glass breaking to just grab your attention. But even if you’re able to grab someone’s attention with a great image or a compelling video, if you don’t have good copy, it’s not going to translate to clicks, conversions and sales.
A well worded Facebook ad can persuade, excite and entertain the audience. It makes connections, cuts out excess information and makes the choice to proceed seem obvious. Along with your image or video, it’s an essential part of a successful ad. To help you fine tune your copy and get you more click throughs, read my top 10 tips on writing the best Facebook ads.
1. Always start with a question
A great way to grab your audience’s attention is to start with a bold question. Questions work really well because they compel the reader to answer your question in their head. And if you phrase the question in such a way that their answer is “Yes” then you’ve instantly put them in a positive frame of mind and got them nodding their head.
This can be as simple as writing the word “Want,” followed by the benefit that your product delivers. “Do you want to get fitter?” Yes I do.
2. Answer your question
So you’ve asked a question in your first line of copy. Now answer that question immediately in the very next line. It’s a quick and easy way to write an extremely effective ad. This is a really common technique right now as it works so well. Question: Want to get stronger? Answer: Download the top 10 best strength exercises The second sentence instantly gives you a way to get the benefit that was promised in the question.
Always think, “How will I solve this problem?” You want to say “How do I solve this problem?” not, “What solution do I have?” You need to be able to clearly communicate that what you have to offer is a solution. Again, that starts with the problem, and it starts with how you solve that problem.
Look at Jenny Craig – they say, “Lose your first 20 pounds for $20 plus the cost of food.” They’re talking about the result, losing 20 pounds, when people join them and take action. We want to focus on a result, not on a solution. They don’t say, “Follow the Jenny Craig eating plan and you’ll get results.” They say, “Get results by following our plan.” It’s important that you get clear that you’re talking about solutions to a problem.
3. Make sure the copy matches your audience and your image
If you are targeting Mums then make sure you use language that resonates with them. If you want to appeal to body builders, then use words they can relate to. In your copy, make it clear to your audience that you feel their pains and don’t be afraid to mention their job title or role within your text. This is a great way to stand out in the News Feed and have your audiences thinking, “Hey, that’s me!”
Also check your copy matches your image. If the copy and the image don’t line up, people will wonder what the ad is actually advertising. They’ll be confused, unlikely to click, and your ad will be wasted. So if you are targeting seniors, make sure your image and copy are in sync with a mature audience. Targeting teens? Then your image should show young people training.
4. Pretend you are writing for one person
Targeting a specific audience helps keep your writing honed, focused, pointed and deeply relevant for the reader. When you pretend you’re speaking to one person, you increase all that. Their concerns, needs, hopes soon become immediate. You’re not talking to an auditorium full of people whose faces you can’t see; imagine you’re sitting across from someone and making eye contact. The difference is huge and it matters for writing ad copy that truly stands out.
5. Use powerful words!!
You can’t stop readers in their tracks by using a bunch of weak, watered-down words. Whenever possible, you want to use powerful and evocative words such as:
- Discover
- Reveal
- Astonishing
- Secret
- Shocking
- Free
- Instant
- New
- YOU
These words will make your reader look twice at your Facebook ads.
6. Use [brackets]
One of the limitations of Facebook ads is that you can’t really format the text at all. That means we can’t rely on any of those formatting tricks that make key phrases stand out to the reader (like increasing the font size or using bold or italics). But we can use symbols. Using symbols (such as brackets) helps to catch the eye as people are scrolling through their newsfeed. Most of the posts they see contain only text, so when they scroll past something set off in brackets like [FREE TRIAL!] – it stands out from the others.
7. Think about UPPERCASE!
You need to use some caution when writing in all caps. After all, YOU DON’T WANT TO SHOUT AT PEOPLE!! But when done sparingly, capitalisation can be a great way to make certain words stand out in the newsfeed.
If there’s a power word in your ad that you really want to emphasise, go ahead and capitalise it. And an extra tip, one of the best words to capitalise in your copy is FREE. Everyone loves something for nothing so make sure that word is big and bold.
8. Keep it short and simple
Your number one priority should be writing a Facebook ad that’s easy to understand—for anyone, even a 5th grader. When someone sees your ad, they should immediately understand:
- What you’re offering
- How it benefits them
- What to do next
That’s why you need to keep your copy as short and simple as possible. Copy that is tightly written, with no unnecessary words, and focusing on the benefits for your reader, will do a much better job of grabbing your prospect’s attention than a waffling ad which pushes the features of your offer.
9. It’s all about YOU
When you’re writing your ad copy, it’s easy to fall into the pattern of using the word “I”. We fall into the pattern of me, me, me – back to me. Instead of writing for the audience, we end up telling the audience how great we are and how amazing our offer is. As a result, your ad is going to going to bomb out. Reframe your Facebook ad copy and flip it around so you’re focusing on your audience. You want to use lots of words such as “you” and “we”. Tell the reader what they get, why they need your offer, and how much better their life will be afterwards.
No one (except maybe you) cares how great you think your fitness business is. People care about what’s in it for them, and how it will benefit them. The best way to do that is to say something like: “If you want to do X, Y, and Z then you’re going to love this checklist. It will give you the exact tools you need to make sure that you do A, B, and C every single time.”
Make it all about the reader rather than about you.
10. Have a call to action
Always include a call-to-action with your ads. Always. You need to tell the customer what to do with the information you’re giving them. You have to direct them, let them know where to go from here. Just make sure your call-to-action is simple and direct. It should also match up with your headline.
Also mention what happens if they don’t take action? What happens if people don’t take action on your ad? Do they stay stuck? Do they lack results? You want to be clear on what they lose out on because this is just as powerful as the results you create.
You want to be able to communicate to your customer, “Hey, you don’t want to stay stuck where you’re at right now.” Sometimes this is referred to as pain points, but the big thing here is, “What if they don’t take action?” If we continue this example, they don’t lose weight. They are not happy. They don’t fit into their clothes. They have less energy. You don’t have to say these things explicitly, but you want to communicate them.
When running ads, keep the image and headline the same and look at changing the copy to test what works best. When you know which ad works best, run with that combination to maximise results. Copywriting is such an important skill to have.