Depesh Mandalia is in the house to share his secrets to Facebook ads. After a long stint as a programmer, Depesh got involved in e-commerce in 2005 as a project manager with no experience in e-commerce. Little did he know at the time, this move would ignite a passion for learning everything he could about the user experience and marketing psychology in the social media realm. Once he understood how Facebook algorithms work, he was able to take one brand from $800k a year to over $26.5 million in just 18 months. It was such an impressive achievement that Facebook actually flew him out to meet with their engineers to discuss his strategies to help improve their own. This achievement skyrocketed his career and in this episode, he shares with us the lessons that can only come from building dynamic brands.
Depesh asks: "What is the barrier of entry to becoming a Facebook advertiser?" A page, a post, and a budget. That's it. But, there is so much more to it than just posting. What's the number one problem small-time advertisers have? Scaling their campaigns would seem a logical answer, right? You start at $100 and want to get to $1,000. But, Depesh points out, that is not the biggest problem you will face. So what is?
The truth is: You probably don't understand marketing. But, don't hire an agency! Seriously, it's a waste of time and money, especially for those just breaking into the Facebook market. Instead, Depesh recommends four main points to consider as you begin to build up your brand before you even think about scaling:
Focusing on the user experience not only benefits you and your customers, but Facebook essentially demands these things be right from the start.
The initial flood of lower quality dropshippers really forced the industry to up their game for online marketing experiences. Poor service combined with customer-gouging in a circular pattern of abuse that Facebook really took notice of. Facebook, by association, became swept up in this cycle of horrible experiences, so it became obvious that they needed to do something to curtail the unethical practices.
To reiterate: Facebook places an emphasis on user experience. Provide a great experience, and your campaigns will run much smoother. Provide a bad experience, and your campaigns will not be as successful as they could be.
You've checked all the boxes. You have an amazing store set up, great pictures of your products, Facebook is ready to bring customers your way. But, how do you connect specific products to the customers that want or need them? That is your marketing strategy comes in. Focus on these aspects of your campaign:
Depesh explains that by focusing on those two aspects above all else, you will see real interest expressed in your products, as opposed to paying for people who are only casually interested or curious.
Depesh believes Facebook ads are here to stay for the foreseeable future. But, the biggest problem is the platform instability. He points out that at no point in the many years he has been doing Facebook marketing, he has never seen it as unstable as it is right now.
It appears as though Facebook is trying to shake out the smaller, lower quality advertisers in favor of the big fish. If you're spending around $2,000 - $5,000 a day, you're going to be less impacted by all of the things that are happening to the lower level advertisers.
The reason, he believes, is because the Facebook advertising business model can only thrive on data. That is where Facebook finds value more than the cash you are spending. If you're not creating much value because of low engagement, you will be penalized with diminishing returns on your investment.
The challenge is getting yourself stable and scale up as quickly as possible. So, before you start this journey, be prepared with a solid plan for scaling. Build your campaigns to truly resonate and connect on a deeper level with your customers.
