Are you wanting to try Facebook ads? I’ve said before that a list building campaign is the perfect “beginner” Facebook ad. When my clients are new to Facebook ads, it’s the first one I run for them. But how do you know if you’re ready for a list building campaign? Here are five things you should have to be ready for a list building Facebook ad campaign.
1. You have a lead magnet (freebie) designed and ready to share.
A good lead magnet will act like “bait” for your Facebook ad campaign. It offers something so irresistible to your ideal customer or client that they won’t think twice about parting with their email address to get it. If you sell products, this lead magnet might be one of your products for free, or at a significant discount. If you sell courses, it might be a section of your course at a discount. If you offer coaching, it might be a digital tool to help your potential clients learn something or experience growth.
2. You have your lead magnet on a landing page on your website.
This seems obvious, but it’s actually a crucial part of a Facebook campaign. Having your freebie offer on a landing page (rather than in a pop-up) allows us to place the Facebook pixel. Placing the pixel is essential for Facebook ads. Facebook can’t do a good job managing your ad (and neither can I) if their pixel isn’t placed on the page with the freebie. (It’s fine to have your lead magnet on an outside platform like Leadpages are Kartra. You just need to make sure whatever site you’re using has the capacity to place the pixel.)
3. Your lead magnet is set up so that people who sign up for it are added to your email list.
This one sounds obvious, since the whole point of a lead magnet is to grow your email list, but it’s important that your lead magnet is wired correctly so that all of your leads are added to your email list and get the gift that you are promising. Make sure that you have your opt-in settings the way that you want them and make sure that people actually receive the freebie when they sign up for it. You want to make sure all of these settings are completely polished before you start paying to send people to sign up for your lead magnet.
4. You have a “Thank You” page that you send people to after they sign up.
This thank you page is essential for helping the Facebook ad pixel do its job properly. Redirecting to a page from your email provider doesn’t work. You need to build an actual page that allows you to place the snippet of code from Facebook that is the pixel. We use
5. You’ve tested your freebie with organic traffic to make sure it’s an offer people really want.
I bought a giant pack of yummy looking individually wrapped crepes with chocolate spread from Costco once. Everything from Costco comes in just one size: ginormous. There were probably 50 crepes in this package. They looked amazing. I love Nutella & I love crepes, so why not? There was just one problem: I hadn’t ever tried them before.
Turns out, they tasted awful. The crepes were dry and the chocolate spread was bland. If had tried a sample (Costco has the best samples!) I would have known they were awful. Instead, I jumped in and spent my money before I tested the product. Don’t do the same thing with your lead magnet. Once you’ve got your lead magnet on your website and connected to your email provider, try promoting your lead magnet on Facebook to your followers with a regular Facebook post. See if you can get people to sign up. Try posting it on Pinterest to see if people are interested in it. Offer it to your current email subscribers for “free” and see if they download it. Make sure that your lead magnet is something that people really want before you spend a bunch of money on Facebook ads to try to promote it.
If you have a fantastic proven lead magnet all ready to go on your website and you want to explode your email list, get in touch with me about running a list building campaign. I’ve got a new customer discount just for newbies!
Want a printable version of the checklist? Sign up for my email list and I’ll send it to you, along with the rest of my freebies.
