January 22nd Edition

Leveling Up

Welcome back to Leveling Up. Let’s kick things off this week by taking a closer look at SEO disruption, Alex Hormozi’s investment in Skool, and a deep dive into how to maximize your Facebook Ad conversions.

PLUS: in today’s email, you’ll also discover:

• Creating a “Pixar-style” ad quickly using AI

• The best way to defeat imposter syndrome

• And how to hire $100k marketers for $40k

  - Eric Siu :)

Let’s Link

Here are the top 5 most helpful links to check out today:

1. 🆓 Ditch your free plan and use these 3 alternatives instead

2. 🎓 How Max Perzon made $655K in 1 year from Skool

3. 👨‍💻 Starting a $1.2M no-code dev agency at 20

4. 🐦 How Daniel Vassallo built a 100K X audience from scratch

5. 🌐 Throwback from 2005: Mark Zuckerberg

Request a FREE Marketing Plan For Your Brand (Including New CRO Opportunities)

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Podcast Highlights

This Might Disrupt the $2.2B SEO Industry…

Here are the highlights:

• 🤯 Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the new disruptor in the $2.2B SEO industry, changing the game completely.

• 💬 The use of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) can lead to picking up more business by getting recommendations and mentions from AI-powered chat platforms like GPT and Bard.

• 🤖 The shift towards AI in SEO is catching the attention of clients, showing the potential for a disruptive change in the industry.

• 📈 Relevancy and brand mentions are the two big factors in SEO ranking, not just keywords on your own website.

• 🏆 The top spots pretty much take up everything, but in this case, it'll be almost Winner Takes All or something similar.

Deep Dive

Mastering Facebook Ad Copy: 7 Tips to Maximize Conversion Rates

1) Understand Your (Very Segmented) Audience

The first step to writing great copy is having a firm understanding of who your audience is and what their relationship with products or services like yours is. This will make it possible to write highly targeted, very relevant copy that resonates with them.

Let’s say, for example, that I saw an ad featuring grammar-correcting software. I’d immediately think, “I’ve got spellcheck on Google Docs, and the rest of it I know already.”

But great Facebook Ads mean that if I saw an ad for the same tool promising to speed up my output as a writer by eliminating the proofreading portion of my work, it would get my attention.

Customize Messaging for Each Segment

You’ve already identified your audience to fully understand the demographics, interests, and behaviors of your different audience segments. But to really create more targeted and relevant copy, you need to go beyond that and tailor your Facebook ad copy to these different segments. This is crucial for getting those conversions.

• Example for Young Professionals: “Boost Your Career with Advanced Skills”

• Example for Students: “Kickstart Your Future with Affordable Courses”

It is imperative to understand what motivates your audience and why they need a product or service like yours. It can also be helpful to understand interests and niche behaviors. Last week I saw a food delivery ad promising:

“Winter is coming… and so is your pizza.”

They knew that a large portion of their customer base was ready for the Game of Thrones premiere and found a clever way to incentivize purchases.

The more you understand your audience (and in many cases, the more segmented the audience), the better the ad – at least when it comes to Facebook Ad copy.

If you need help creating stunning ads that convert, our Facebook Ads experts can help!👇

2) Write a Compelling Headline

The headline is arguably the most critical part of your Facebook ad copy. It’s the make-or-break element that either captures the audience’s interest or loses it entirely.

Here’s how to create headlines that grab attention and encourage readers to explore further.

Clarity Is Key

Your headline should be crystal clear in its message. Avoid jargon or complex language. The goal is to convey the value of your offering in a simple, straightforward manner. Remember, clarity trumps cleverness.

Example: “Streamline Your Workday with Our Easy-to-Use Task Manager”

Leverage the Power of Emotional Appeal

Emotion drives action. Whether it’s excitement, curiosity or even fear of missing out, incorporating an emotional element can make your headline more compelling. Consider what emotion aligns best with your brand and campaign objectives.

Example: “Find Your Dream Home: Experience Joy in Every Corner”

Include a Value Proposition

Your headline should immediately communicate the benefit of your product or service. What can your audience expect to gain? Whether it’s saving time, reducing costs or enhancing their lifestyle, make sure this value is front and center. Or the value might be a discount, a unique feature or an exclusive offer.

Examples:

• “Elevate Your Everyday: Discover How Our Smart Home System Simplifies Life”

• “Extra 20% Off: What’s for lunch? Paleo salad, delivered! Only $7.99”

Use Urgency and Scarcity

Creating a sense of urgency or scarcity can be highly effective. Phrases like “Limited time offer” or “While supplies last” prompt immediate action. However, use these tactics sparingly and honestly to maintain trust with your audience.

Example: “Hurry! Limited Offer Ends Tonight: Get Your Free E-book Now”

Test and Refine

As with every aspect of ad copy, testing different headlines is vital. Use split testing to see which headlines perform better. Pay attention to metrics like click-through rates to gauge the effectiveness of your headlines.

• Example A: “Transform Your Garden in Days with Our Expert Tips”

• Example B: “Revolutionize Your Gardening: Quick Tips from the Pros”

Write Mobile-Optimized Headlines

Short headlines are an important part of mobile-optimized ads. You can get 52 characters under the current ad formatting before the headline gets chopped off with ellipses, and since the headline plays a major role in ad copy, you don’t want this to happen.

Keep the headlines short and make sure that they’re impactful. Think of this as your chance to create clickbait-worthy titles (but not actual clickbait!) to catch people’s attention.

When it comes to headlines, you can stick to a few simple formulas if you’re feeling stuck and adapt them as necessary. They are:

• Adjective. Adjective. Adjective. (Delicious. Decadent. Still healthy.)

• Are you tired of/frustrated with [pain point]? (Tired of not sleeping well?)

• General call out to customers. (You asked. We delivered.)

• Specific feature statement. (Prevent package theft, as seen in the example below).

3) The Art of Persuasive Body Text

Once your headline has caught the reader’s attention, it’s the body text’s job to keep it. Persuasive text in your Facebook Ads is essential in guiding the reader towards the desired action. Here are key strategies to make your body text compelling.

Focus on Benefits, Not Just Features

Highlighting the benefits makes the product or service relatable and desirable, showing the reader how it solves their problem.

• Feature Example: “Our software has a 256-bit encryption”

• Benefit Example: “Enjoy peace of mind with our highly secure, encrypted software”

Use Storytelling to Connect

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a million times more: Stories in marketing are incredibly powerful.

Stories are emotional, but they’re also memorable and specific and relatable. These are crucial pieces in the advertising puzzle that can set off buying triggers in customers during the research and consideration stages.

And when it comes to storytelling in Facebook Ads, you can stay simple, but the more specific you get, the better. Tell stories about individual customers, explaining how they’ve benefited from your product. Or share what made your company’s founder decide to start the brand

Example: Raddish Kids has a meal subscription box for kids, but this ad (it features a client review, which we’ll discuss shortly) tells the highly specific story of a single parent and their 9-year-old daughter, Ella:

They don’t just say:

“Hey, she cooks.”

They’re talking about how:

“she anxiously awaits the arrival of her Raddish box”

And:

“she has incredible newfound confidence in the kitchen”

Parents can relate to how their kids gain confidence with new skills and see how this could impact their own families.

Stories sell, and even if Facebook users don’t click or convert the first time they see your ad (which, let’s be real, they’re statistically unlikely to do), they’ll remember the story you told and, hopefully, convert in the future.

Keep It Skimmable

Use simple, basic sentence structures that are easy for your readers to follow. This makes your ad “skimmable,” and it prevents the content from looking too overwhelming.

You should keep the subject of the ad simple, too. Give users just enough information to get them to click or convert, but make sure that you don’t have a ton of unnecessary information in there.

Example: In this ad, they just say, “World’s Lightest Frame.” They don’t go on and on about actual qualifications for how they achieved this title.

Example: This is another good example of a short, sweet and to the point Facebook ad campaign.

This does not mean that you should automatically discount long-form copy, which can be effective, but you need to keep that simple, too.

Use Social Proof to Build Trust

Incorporating social proof into your Facebook advertising is a powerful way to build trust and credibility.  It’s not just about telling your audience how great your product is; it’s about showing them through the voices of others.

When potential customers see that others have had positive experiences with your product or service, it significantly lowers their hesitation to engage.

Here are a few ways to use social proof:

• Use Statistics That Speak Volumes. Relevant and impressive statistics can instantly boost your ad’s credibility, showcasing the effectiveness of your offering. Example: “95% of our customers report improved health within the first month.”

• Endorsements Add Authority. If a well-known personality or an expert in your field endorses your product, this can lend significant weight to your ad. An endorsement acts as a powerful form of validation from a trusted source.

• User Reviews and Ratings. Highlighting positive user reviews and high ratings can also be persuasive. They provide a sense of security and reliability, showing that many others have been satisfied with their choice.

Turn a Testimonial into Your Ad Copy

An incredible 97% of consumers say that online reviews will impact their buying decision. Facebook Ads can garner plenty of social proof from happy customers, but why not start strong right off the bat by featuring the testimonial in your ad text?

If you are struggling to get your ads moving, you should create several campaigns dedicated to highlighting real customer reviews. Notice that I stress real. Customers can tell when a review is written by the company itself, no matter how clever you think you’re being.

In this case, I highly recommend split testing several different reviews and see which gets you the most results. In many cases, it will provide valuable insight into a customer’s needs. If one review is talking about how comfortable your clothes are but doesn’t convert as well as the review from a woman overjoyed that you have plus sizing that finally fits her, then you’ve found a big pain point that you should exploit in other ad campaigns.

4) Focus on Pain Points & the Emotions They Cause

Everyone has problems ranging from tiny to monumental.

But with the right emotional messaging in place, even tiny nuisances can feel like enormous, overwhelming disasters that need to be solved immediately (which is how I got an “avocado saver” off a Facebook Ad that doesn’t work any better than the Tupperware I’d been using before).

Make sure that your ad copy focuses on pain points and at least hints at the emotions they cause. Even if the pain points are barely painful, ask yourself what problems you’re solving and what market you’re serving:

Example: Are you selling costume jewelry for cheap prices? Talk about how people can finally get beautiful, decent-quality jewelry at affordable prices, because this will hit home to your target audience who can’t afford to drop a month’s salary on a diamond tennis bracelet.

Example: If you’re trying to advertise your air conditioning services, make sure you talk about the risk of an old unit blowing out and how it always happens on the hottest week of the summer, leaving you to sweat through sleepless nights and wondering if you’ll ever feel cool again.

These are emotional messages and by centering a customer’s pain point, you can then immediately follow up that thought by presenting your product as a solution. This last part is important, and it’s where a lot of advertisers and copywriters make the mistake of forgetting to hammer in the point about how they can fix their customer’s problems.

Emotional ads are pretty much always a good call for B2C ads, though they can work just as well on B2B ads, too.

5) Overcome Objections in Your Ad Copy

Many people will immediately ask themselves “What’s the catch?” as soon as they see your ad. They can’t help it; we’re all naturally skeptical, and consumers have gotten smarter and more discerning over the years, so they’re less inclined to believe you straight away.

This means that overcoming objections in your ad copy is a good call. If your prospects dislike that your competitor’s straight-irons break their hair and cause split ends, mention that your straightener does no damage!

Example: This Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative Facebook Ad does this perfectly – in fact, there’s no other copy except overcoming objections!

The overcoming objections strategy is a great way to put customers’ fears at ease (before they can even ask what the catch is).

6) Call-to-Action: Encouraging Clicks and Conversions

A well-crafted call-to-action (CTA) is the climax of your Facebook ad copy. It’s what turns a reader into a lead or a customer.

Here’s how to make your CTAs irresistible:

Be Clear and Direct. Your CTA should leave no doubt about what you want the reader to do. Use direct, action-oriented language.

Example: “Sign Up Free,” “Get Started Today” or “Order Now”

Create a Sense of Urgency. Encouraging quick action can significantly increase the click-through rate. Phrases that suggest limited time or availability work well.

Example: “Offer Ends Soon – Act Now!” or “Get Offer”

Use Persuasive, Yet Realistic Language. Avoid overhyping. Instead, use language that entices readers without overpromising.

Example: “Discover Your Perfect Match – Browse Our Collection” or “Teach Me How!”

Make It Stand Out. Design your CTA button to be visually striking. Use colors that contrast with the rest of the ad to draw attention.

In one test of CTA colors, the blue button outperformed not only the orange one but also the red one, providing a 9% increase in conversions:

Keep It Consistent with Your Offer. Ensure your CTA is directly related to the offer in the ad for a cohesive message.

Example: If your ad is about a free trial, your CTA should be “Start Your Free Trial.”

The right CTA can dramatically increase your ad’s effectiveness. It’s not just a button or a line of text; it’s an invitation to your audience to take the next step in their journey with your brand.

7) Optimize Your Ad Copy

When I sell advert copy packages to my clients, I typically don’t sell single ads.

Instead, I sell sets of copy, which include multiple headlines and variations of ad text that all align under a single strategy or pain point but use different styles, messaging, stories, and even offers to see which copy formats work best. Some may have bullet points, others may be two lines, and another maybe six paragraphs.

This is valuable because Facebook audiences can be fickle, and the only way to find out what yours wants to see is by testing different strategies, different styles, and different offers on a regular basis.

Here are a few tips to optimize your copy for various target groups.

• Test and Learn. Run small-scale tests with different versions of your ad copy to see which performs best with each audience segment. Adjust your language, tone, and offer based on what appeals to each segment because personalized messaging resonates more deeply with each audience. Use these insights to refine your approach.

• Use Dynamic Creative. Facebook’s dynamic creative feature can automatically optimize your ad components (including copy) based on who is viewing the ad, ensuring personalized experiences.

• Don’t Overlook Split Testing. Even though it’s more of a financial and time investment, it will have a huge impact on your profitability moving forward. You don’t ever want to settle for “good enough,” after all. And Facebook Ads make this easy! You can select the Facebook Ads native split testing option and then choose to test multiple variations of ad copy.

• Continuously Monitor and Adjust. Audience preferences and behaviors can change. Regularly review your ad performance data to keep your copy up-to-date and effective for your target audiences.

By optimizing the copy of your Facebook ad for different audiences, you’ll see higher engagement rates, better conversion rates, and a stronger return on your advertising investment.

Last Word on High-Converting Facebook Ad Copy

When you’re approaching Facebook Ad copy, it’s important to remember that it’s unlike other ad types. Google Ads typically focuses on highlighting the features that are most likely to get Facebook users to click, sometimes without any complete sentences, because users are searching for that product or service instead of just seeing it show up.

You need to consider that your ad is an outbound marketing technique and that it, therefore, needs to captivate users enough to draw them in. The right copy will be engaging enough to grab their attention and persuasive enough to get them to click, and these 8 tips can help you write it.

If you’re ready to run high ROAS Facebook Ads campaigns to give you an edge over the competition, Single Grain’s Facebook Ads experts can help!👇

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✍️ The best way to defeat imposter syndrome

To your growth
- Eric Siu

Ps: We have a ton of free content to help your business grow:

• Listen to our Marketing School podcast for daily marketing news

• Subscribe to the Leveling Up YouTube channel for interviews with key marketers, entrepreneurs, and more

• Apply to join our private network for 7-9 figure founders

• Read the Single Grain blog for actionable marketing tips

• Request a free custom marketing plan if you’re interested in testing our done-for-you services!