To boost or not to boost? What’s the alternative?

Those little ‘promote’ and ‘boost’ buttons on your Facebook and Instagram posts look so appealing, don’t they?

A quick, cheap and hassle-free way to get more business? Yes, maybe. Or maybe not.

Here’s the thing. If you're going to spend money boosting posts, you still need to be strategic. You need to know what you want to achieve and how to read the results.

And before you part with any cash you should also weigh up whether you’d actually be better putting your money into ads created through Ads Manager - Facebook’s dedicated ad platform.

But how to decide?

To help you reach the right decision for your business, I’ve put together a list of the pros and cons for both options. And of course, if you need any more help, I’m always here.

(The words ‘boost’ and ‘promote’ are used interchangeably throughout this blog - they mean the same thing.)

Boosting posts - the pros

1 It’s a breeze

Undeniably quick and easy - it won’t take a chunk out of your working day.

You can get more eyes on your business quickly and can attract people to engage with your Facebook page or Instagram profile.

2 A low-cost option

You don’t need to hire a professional and pay their fees. You don’t even need any training; you’ll work it out for yourself in just a few minutes.

If you're nervous about committing budget over an extended period, boosting is a good option. Thirty pounds over six days is a good place to start.

3 You have options

The objectives and targeting choices are much better than they used to be. You can pick from a small range of options (such as asking for people to click on your link or watch your video).

You can also select your audience by location, age range and some interests.

Boosting posts - The cons

1 You can’t promote any post

You need to choose carefully. If a post hasn’t done well organically, Facebook won’t want to show it to more people - even if you are prepared to pay!

Posts with plenty of social proof (likes, comments and shares) get the best results.

2 You might not get what you asked for

Whatever objective you pick, you’re likely to get likes and comments - but not necessarily the action you asked for. Boosted posts often get engagement, but they don’t always create lots of website traffic or sign ups.

3 It’s easy to waste a lot of money!

While boosted posts can get more eyeballs on your business, they don’t bring in the results that strategic, managed advertising can.

You may only be spending a fiver a day, but it all adds up and your investment may not get you the results you want.

It’s surprisingly easy to shell out as much on promoted posts as it is on a short, but much more targeted, ads campaign.

Facebook Ad campaigns - the pros

1 They hit the target (again and again)

The targeting in Facebook Ads manager is far superior to boosting options. You can select your audience by age, location, interests, life stage, level of education and more.

You can ask Facebook to find the people most likely to take the action you want them to - such as watch a video or buy a product - and you can retarget people who have engaged with your brand.

2 You get more bang for your buck

The level of reporting Facebook provides is amazing. This detailed info means you can see what’s working and what not and can improve your ads accordingly.

Ads have so much more potential for profit than a simple boosted post.

 3 You don’t have to do it yourself

This could be the best reason of all!

You can hire an expert Facebook ads strategist to provide a done-for-you service, saving you hours of time and stress.

They’ll get to know your business, build your campaigns and ads, test and adjust to get the best results possible and report back to you without any strange Facebook-speak or jargon.

Facebook Ad campaigns - the cons

1 They’re a tough nut to crack

Getting down and dirty in Facebook Ads Manager is hard work. It’s complicated and you’ll need to put a lot of time in. Ads Manager is by no means the most user-friendly ads platform out there!

It’s wise to invest in training, otherwise you can get out of your depth and waste a lot of money. Alternatively, you can invest in specialist help but this comes at an additional cost.

2 They’re time consuming

Even once you know how to use Ads Manager, it takes time to build campaigns, continually test ads and regularly monitor results. It can be hard to find those hours when you’re busy running a business.

It also takes time for Facebook’s algorithm to find the people you want to turn into customers. It usually takes around 12 weeks to optimise ads and start getting the very best results, although it is possible to get good results sooner.

3 Loads of numbers to crunch

So. Much. Data! There’s a ton of it, and what does it all mean? The numbers are all labelled and it should be straightforward. But there’s so much there that it can be daunting if you don’t understand what you’re dealing with. And it’s often tricky to know what ‘good’ looks like.

So what now?

If reading this has made you think twice about pressing that boost button, or you want to know more about running Facebook and Instagram Ads, I can help.

I offer a range of services from consultancy and troubleshooting to my done-for-you ads takeover service. Email me at rebecca@rebeccaperkins.co.uk if you would like to chat!

The Pinterest keyword secrets that will change how you pin forever

Creating beautiful boards on Pinterest is the fun bit. But you also need to be sure they’ll get seen by the right people.

How do you do that? Keywords, that’s how.

Let’s dive into finding out how keywords work on Pinterest and where to find the best ones for your business.

What are keywords and why do you need them?

Keywords are the words Pinterest users type into the search box to find inspiration or specific items.

By using the right keywords on your pins, you’ll increase the number of people who find your products or posts.

Four ways to find keywords:

●      Pinterest search box

Type a word in your niche into the search box and take a look at the related categories Pinterest shows you

●      Pinterest ads (don’t worry, it won’t cost anything)

Go to Ads at the top of the page, click Create Ad and choose the Create Campaign. On the first page scroll down and click Continue.

On the next page scroll down to the keyword section and type in one of your topline keywords. Pinterest will then show you related keywords

●      trends.pinterest.com

This brilliant tool lets you enter your keyword then shows you related terms. It also shows you the week’s top trends.

●      business.pinterest.com/content/pinterest-predicts/

Want to know where the really cool keywords are hiding? Get ahead of the game by heading into Pinterest Predicts - it’s the platform’s crystal ball into what’s going to be big. Click on a category to see trending search terms. In 2020, Pinterest got 8 out of 10 of its predictions right! 

It’s a great idea to make a long list of keywords that you can add to and use for different types of pins.

For example, if you’re a business coach, you might have some keywords grouped around things like productivity hacks, self-care, and mindset. If you’re a kitchen company, you could include keywords like “kitchen inspiration”, “rustic kitchen” or “pale blue kitchen”.

Where to put keywords on Pinterest

There are lots of places that your keywords are searchable so take advantage of as many as you can:

●      In the text on your image

●      In the pin title

●      In the pin description

●      In the board title

●      In the image alt-text on your website

●      Image names

●      In your Pinterest profile description

Often people use the same wording for their image text and pin title but, as both these spaces are searchable, it’s best to vary them for greater impact. Use your title to give people more information and more reasons to click.

Here are some fab examples from Pinterest where keywords have been used to perfection.

 This bio includes lots of relevant keywords:

And these pins showcase how you can use a few keywords effectively, without making your descriptions unreadable!  

Pinterest stats that will surprise you

71% of Pinterest users are women

‘Holidays’ is the most searched for term on Pinterest

There are around 2 billion searches a month on the platform

85% of people view Pinterest via mobile

77% of weekly users have discovered a new brand or product via the app

For more help with Pinterest contact me via rebecca@rebeccaperkins.co.uk and we can arrange a chat.

How To Succeed With Facebook Ads - Why It's All About Testing

When Facebook ads don’t deliver stellar results quickly, businesses often conclude the platform isn’t for them. But this is rarely the case. Sadly, securing tangible results from ads isn’t as straightforward as choosing an image, drafting an ad, picking a few interests, and watching the money roll in. 

You might get lucky, but usually it takes weeks, if not months, of testing to really optimise campaigns and to get the results you’re looking for, whether that’s sales, leads, donations, or something else. 

So what’s the solution?

It’s a good idea to treat the first couple of months of any campaign as a data-gathering exercise: you’re getting valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t, and these can set you up for consistent returns in the future. As long as you have the Pixel correctly installed, the data you gather can also be used to build audiences that you can retarget in the future.

There are lots of different variables to test: copy, creatives, audiences, campaign objective, placements, the inclusion of call to action buttons, different headlines. Don’t do it all at once! It’s important to have a strategy so that you can disentangle how each variable affects the results. 

How many audiences you can test comes down to your budget. With less budget, it will take you longer to get results. That’s fine, but it’s best not to spread the budget you do have too thinly across lots of different ad sets. It’s a better bet to test audiences concurrently and to draw conclusions that way. 

A testing strategy

So what might a sensible testing strategy look like? Supposing you had a budget of £50 a day, you might want to test five audiences in five different ad sets. Within each of these, you could have three or four different ads. The crucial thing is to just change one thing at a time. So perhaps start by focusing on the creative - maybe testing a video, single image, and carousel - and keeping the copy, headline, and everything else exactly the same across all the ads. 

Once you’ve gathered enough data, you can then optimise where you need to, switch off the ads and audiences that aren’t getting good results, field in more creatives, switch up the copy, or whatever else you decide to test next. 

Analyse the results

Sometimes there’s a clear winner that gets great results across all ad sets, but often the results are surprising. Different creatives appeal to different audiences and sometimes what’s been a surefire success for one account, won’t necessarily translate well to a different sector or product. It’s only by trying things out and analysing the results in a strategic way that you can really optimise your online advertising campaigns. 

Follow me on Instagram for more tips on how to get the most out of your Facebook Ads campaigns.  

Article first published on whatsaytheexperts.com 

How do I find the best keywords?

When it comes to getting found online, keywords are king. Using the right keywords is important for SEO, Google Search Ads (or Adwords as many people know them) and social platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. How you would like to describe your product or service isn’t always the most important thing - it’s often the words your customer would use to search for your offering that matters.  

So what’s the best way to find the right keywords? Research! 

Some of my clients provide a list of relevant words they think their potential customers might use, and that’s a brilliant starting point. But you’d be surprised how many terms you’ll miss if you don’t delve deeper. Here are a few of my favourite keyword research tools:

Google’s Keyword Planner

Keyword Planner is available for free (as long as you have a Google Ads account). It is a great way of getting ideas for keywords and finding out how popular they are. By looking at the historical data on search volumes, you can analyse which keywords have been gaining the most traction and can also spot seasonal trends. 

The ‘People Also Ask’ box in the Google search listings 

Not strictly a tool as such, but another tip is to type in a keyword and look in the ‘People Also Ask’ box that pops up near the top of the Google search listings. This will let you know other popular searches that are closely related to the term you’re searching for. 

If I type in ‘Keyword’ for example, Google says that people also search for ‘What are keyword examples?’, ‘How do I find the best keywords?’ and ‘How do I use keywords?’. These might all be great additions to a Google Ads campaign or could even be used as a blog title!

SEMrush 

SEMrush is one of my favourite tools. It’s great for finding phrases and keywords to complement those suggested by Google’s Keyword Planner. There is a limited free plan but if you’re serious about improving the SEO on your website, or run a lot of Google Ads, I would recommend trialling the paid-for plan for a month or two. It’s definitely an investment but it’s also great for competitor research and now offers a social media toolkit which I have yet to explore. 

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a really intuitive and easy-to-use option created by Neil Patel. You get access to different numbers of keywords depending on which plan you choose. There is a free plan, which gives you lots of ideas and also a handy ‘content ideas’ tabs where you can see how the keyword has been used in popular content on the web. 

Soovle 

I’ve only just discovered Soovle but it’s a really nifty tool! It lets you type in a keyword and then you can see what related terms people searched for across different platforms like YouTube, Amazon, Yahoo! and Wikipedia. It’s a great way of finding ideas that are a little bit different which your competitors might not know about.

I’m always on the lookout for more ways to find keywords - do let me know in the comments if you have any other suggestions. 

And if you need assistance researching keywords for your business, please email me at rebecca@rebeccaperkins.co.uk and we can discuss how I can help you. 

Google Marketing Live 2019

Google Marketing Live 2019 takes place tomorrow. It's one of Google's biggest events of the year and it's traditionally where they unveil their latest ad products, innovations and plans for the year ahead.

They've already given us a sneak peek of a couple of features, promising a much-improved app and better options for local campaigns. But what else can we expect to hear about tomorrow? The experts at Wordstream are putting their money on more of the following:

• New ad types;

• More campaign types;

• New ways to target your audience;

• Additional success metrics;

• The loss of a favourite feature.

Having worked with the amazingly detailed targeting options on Facebook Ads, I’d love to see more granular and accurate targeting available on the Google Display Network too. And the introduction of new ad types is always welcome - the more options available to test the better as far as I’m concerned!

What other features would you like to see Google introduce?