Matthew Berman, Distribution Hacker-In Residence, 500 Startups

1. Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
FACEBOOK ADS
For External Conversions
MATTHEW BERMAN
August 2014
@matthewberman | mberman84@gmail.com

2. WHO AM I?
(Matt)
MATTHEW BERMAN
Distribution Hacker in Residence
Distribution for media companies
Affiliate marketing (shhh)
Distribution for startups
PREVIOUSLY:
Spent lots of $$$ on Facebook
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

3. THE PROBLEM
CONCLUSION
Based on many blog posts by reputable sources, most would think facebook isn’t a good channel to market on….FALSE!
FRAUDULENT CLICKS
NO CONVERSIONS
Click farms, low quality clicks etc Facebook users never buy anything!
Facebook Sucks!!!…NOT.
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

4. FACEBOOK ADS TACTICS
What your ad looks like Who sees your ad General tips and tricks
Creative Targeting
Best
Practices
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

5. CREATIVE
What Your Ads Look Like
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

6. BANNER BLINDNESS
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

7. Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
REDUCING BANNER BLINDNESS
keep your ad images & copy fresh (specifics to come)
blend your ads into the organic content (don’t be misleading)
(exception) you have an extremely well known brand name/logo
(exception) you have a beautiful, physical product to show off

8. VSnewsfeed sidebar
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

9. more inventory, less expensive
not available on mobile
SIDEBAR ADS
lower CTR and conversion performance
around for many years
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

10. less inventory, more expensive
available on mobile & desktop
NEWSFEED ADS
higher CTR and conversion performance
much newer than sidebar ads
newsfeed has had better performance for me in most cases
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

11. IMAGE BEST PRACTICES
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

12. OBVIOUS IMAGES
Easy to understand
Example A Example B
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
what do they sell?
children’s books? food?

13. OBVIOUS IMAGES
Easy to understand
Example A (Bad) Example B (Good)
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
online classes!? food!

14. 5 FOOT TEST
stand 5 feet back from your computer, can you clearly see and understand the image?
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

15. FACES…ON FACEBOOK
don’t use woman eating a salad laughing!! use real photos, not photoshopped
Faces blend into organic content
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
* ask your customers for images or take them yourself

16. COPY
What your ads should say
general structure of your copy should include:
1 or 2 value propositions
price and/or discount
call to action (more than just the button)
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

17. TARGETING
Who Sees Your Ads
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

18. PASSIVE VS INTENT ADVERTISING
VS
Intent Based Advertising - More expensive, higher conversion rates, target people at their intent to do something
Passive Advertising - Less expensive, lower conversion rates, target people who may be your customer
Passive Advertising Intent Advertising
I love my dog! Buy Dog Food
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

19. SEGMENTS TO ALWAYS USE
COUNTRY
Different countries
respond differently to
creative and products
and the prices are
different in each country
GENDER
Males and females
respond differently to
creative and products
AGE
Segment ages into
ranges: 25-35, 36-45
etc.
If you have a mobile
experience, separate
desktop and mobile
DEVICE
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

20. Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
AFTER THAT…IT’S UP TO YOU
school
city/state/zip
3rd party data (acxiom)
language
relationship status
life events
employer
interest keywords
education level
behaviors

21. LOOK ALIKE MODELS
WOW!!
current customers
potential customers
magic
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
segment “current customers” by engagement level (paying customers vs. others)

22. BEST PRACTICES
General Tips & Tricks
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

23. CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE
Campaign
Ad Sets
Ad Ad
campaigns for completely different
tests
ads within an ad set compete against
each other (only test text + images)
ad sets for everything else
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

24. SPLIT TESTING
Isolate Everything
US
18-24
25-30
Male
Female
Male
Female
Img1
Img2
Img1
Img2
Img1
Img2
Img1
Img2
Country
Age
Gender
Creative
isolate each variable
test the most impactful
segmentations first
rigorous testing
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

25. LAST QUICK TIPS
use oCPM bidding - optimize for conversions to
website
refresh your ads frequently - keep frequency under 2
focus on CTR - facebook rewards you with lower
prices
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
sweet spot audience size is around 500k-1.5m

26. RECAP
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

27. RECAP
reduce banner blindness
prioritize using newsfeed ads
use clear, concise images
blend ads into organic content when possible
target country, age, gender, and device first
use look alike models when possible
test all variables separately
Matthew Berman | @matthewberman

28. Matthew Berman | @matthewberman
THANK YOU
MATTHEW BERMAN
@matthewberman | mberman84@gmail.com