Why are your Facebook Ads not performing?
Some people might be telling you how Facebook or Instagram ads will save your business. Well… politely agree to disagree? 🤭
We say: Facebook ads is not the place to start – great marketing is definitely not only about spending money and targeting.
We also strongly suggest that you consider other options for paid ads - both online and offline.
However - if you decide that Facebook ads really is the place for you to be - there are a few things that you need to take care of first. You need to have a place to send people over. Start with the end in mind - you'll work out the technical details once you'll know EXACTLY what you want your campaign to do for your business.
Of course, it can get pretty overwhelming to figure out what are the things you need to do to have ads that ACTUALLY convert into sales. So, we thought we’d share with you four tips on how to get your Facebook Ads to perform and get the outcome you want.
Take a look!
Define the campaign goal
Have a clear vision for your campaign - what do you want people to do?
Leave a message?
Give you their email address?
It's not always about selling. And selling non-stop is a very bad strategy.
Remember that one person at the party, who always talks about himself/herself and tries to convince everyone to buy whatever he/she has to offer? 🙄 Well, social media is a party, not a bulletin board - you have to mingle and talk to people, not shout at them to buy your tomatoes. You're not at your local Sunday market, respect other platform users!
You also need to take into consideration, that the sales campaigns, most probably, will not work for your language school. Here’s the comparison we like to use:
You are NOT selling shoes or diet supplements, usually people cannot simply click to buy!
You ARE selling a lifestyle choice, that more often than not involves your potential students scheduling an intake call (painfully reminding an exam, that’s a topic for another time), choosing the times and dates of the proper course that fits their own calendar, and FINALLY giving you the money.
Therefore in expat language learning the time between someone seeing your ad for the first time and them actually inquiring about the lessons might take up to months!
This is why the smartest type of campaigns that we suggest to our clients are the ones that redirect people to a page with a lead magnet so that they can leave their email address with you. You should also use the power of retargeting your ads, while we still can - Facebook’s abilities to track your customer’s online movements are constantly changing, so we’d suggest you invest in a good lead magnet ASAP.
Never send traffic from an ad to your homepage
Set up a proper landing page with a clear call to action. A good landing page is one that draws a visitor’s attention instantly. Here are a few quick things you should focus on:
The copy (text) you put there must be as easy to read as possible (how about bullet points 😉?) Make sure that you’re using the same language, tone (brand voice) both in the ad and in your copy.
Concentrate on getting visitors to take ONE particular action consistent with your campaign’s goal (booking an intake call, signing up for the lead magnet, etc.).
Maintain your brand - your landing page should be of the same style as the whole of your website – colors, fonts, and general looks of it.
Remove navigation (menu) and other distractions - this is very important, as human brains are easily distracted. You don’t want to give people the ability to click away from your landing page - you’re giving them one task and they should follow through. You can check one of our landing pages as an example.
Get access to our library of free marketing guides, trackers, and templates for expat language schools:
Clean up your website
Your website needs to communicate what your school is all about and make your ideal students connect with it immediately. An outdated or confusing page does not make you an attractive and shiny object of desire! 💎
Your website is your storefront and your virtual business card. People will judge whether you're professional or not based on the way it looks, those are the facts.
Let’s put it into a real-life example:
When your students enter your school - do you want it to look clean, attractive, and smell like success or cluttered, messy, and unorganized?
When they enter your school - do you make them search for the main desk or classroom, or is everything as streamlined as possible?
When they open the door - do you greet them with a smile and a warm welcome, or do you jump on them shouting that they need to buy this X, pulling them to see your newest Y, and demanding that they pull out their phones and check out your social media?
Yep. It’s as easy as that - your website is the reflection of your physical school. Don’t let it get messy, groggy, and uninviting.
Make sure your website is as simple as possible – don’t confuse your potential clients with a whole maze of possibilities. A great rule of thumb is to have up to five main menu pages: home, about, offer, contact, sign up. That’s it! The other pages can hide underneath those.
Take care of your online image
No one wants to be seen/hang out with someone who doesn't take care of their image on the internet.
That’s why you should treat your social media profiles not as a place where you collect likes and follows. For you is more about showing your personality, speaking directly to your ideal customer. You will post different types of content to connect with international lawyers and higher managers than you would if you were talking to stay-at-home expat partners or entrepreneurs. (you can find our articles about niching down and creating a client avatar very useful).
Testimonials and comments on social platforms might make or break your sales. Make sure, that if you've ever gotten into a fight with anyone online - all of your negative responses are wiped out. If you have a negative testimonial - make sure that you’ve reached out publically and tried to resolve the issue.
Your online image is exceptionally important for the success of your Facebook ads, as we’ve discussed - the time between someone seeing your ad and actually enrolling in the course is rather long, and more probably than not they will check your ratings, testimonials, and social channels.
Clean up your online space before you’ll invite new potential clients to shop around. That is just common sense - both in the real world and the online one 😉
Conclusion
Time to face the facts - Facebook/ Instagram ads will not save your business if they invite your potential students into the chaos of your messy online house:
clean up your online presence first
look at other advertising options available to you - Facebook or Instagram ads might not be the best investments for you 🤷♀️
(Read more in this article about different advertising channels available for you)
get clear on why you want to advertise yourself on those platforms (have a goal)
stop selling all the time and get strategic with your ads!
and once you’ve gone through that ist- you can start spending your money on Facebook Instagram ads.
Here’s the last tip you might find useful:
When looking at your online presence - try to think about how YOU are choosing the services.
If you get a leaflet of a new Italian restaurant that you want to try out, but their page is confusing and you can't place the order - will you buy their pizza?
If they argue with clients on their social media - will you buy their lasagna?
If you see another Italian restaurant on Instagram, with far better pictures and really cool copy - which one will you choose?
Good luck with your Facebook and Instagram ads! 💛
Save up to 4 hours a week on content creation and increase student enrollments!
We’ve created a powerful system for helping language school owners, marketers, and language tutors rapidly speed up their social media content creation process without:
creating a full, professional content strategy
facing creative blocks
feeling the need to copy their competitors
So if you want a crystal clear and predictable roadmap to help you get more students, look no further!
