The Facebook Roundup: Volume 8

January 11, 2019

As per usual…

Those that land in our “good” selection are ones which really bring forth best practices, creativity, and effectiveness. The “bad” are ones that had a possibility at potential but weren’t exactly making the cut. For the “worst”, and we mean no hard feelings to those at the bottom of the list, is that special feeling you get when your stomach doesn’t settle (that sudden lump in the back of your throat).

So let’s begin with Volume 8.

The Good

Coming out strong is a promoted post for a Miami event supported through the Real Estate Investing Events page. Right away you can see what makes this stand out among the others you’ll find in this list.

Good - Real Estate Investing Events

Here are the good things about it:

  • The post is backed by a very relevant page which, no doubt, has a directed audience
  • The event happens to be free which makes it a head turner for the target audience
  • The image is great; the quality is high and the color contrast makes it stand out
  • Mentioning the limited seating creates an appropriate urgency

Overall this is great work and makes for a superb example of promoted posts done right. They are pushing the free-line hard on this one. It’s easily one of the types of ads that will have you stopping in your feed if you’re the target audience.

The Bad

Now we have something new that we’re starting to see courtesy of Answers.com. Answers is using a variety of pages to piece together these promoted posts that are mainly targeting people interested in entertainment.

Bad - Answers

Here are the bad parts about it:

  • Good attempt on catching attention with the question but overall it feels weak and lacks punchiness
  • Not really the best image of the Pawn Star guy – just a bit boring overall
  • Interesting use of copy as it does hook the reader but does feel very click bait-y which Facebook has been trying to get away from

Here’s where it really goes nowhere: each of these listings are just pointing to some piece of entertainment on Answers.com. It’s a good attempt to drive people to view content and try to complete a sale but it seems they’re just going for the traffic and advertising. A lot of the content is a mixed bag and is easily passable.

The Laggard

And here we have the bottom for this week coming straight to you from the page Directors Rock. This one was sent to us by an adQuadrant reader and boy did he spot a dud.

Worst - Directors Rock

Here’s why it made it to the worst:

  • The copy is lazy; it gets the job done but it’s entirely unenthusiastic (you’d imagine there would be more excitement around a product launch)
  • The image… the “Keep Calm” stuff is overdone and from what our reader told us (him being in the industry) it’s that no one would buy this type of stuff – it’s just goofy
  • What does it mean “closing soon”? Sure it’s limited edition but some other copy of urgency probably would have worked better… perhaps “Limited Amount?” that’s a thought.

This type of stuff is just a quick cash grab for products no one really wants or needs. The design is played out and silly. Where is this person going to wear something like this? Not when they’re at work and probably not something they’d want to get caught with when going out for drinks. This is just a lot of wasted potential which is why it’s on the bottom of our list.

Conclusion

What did we learn this week?

A. If you’re pushing the free-line really go all out and do something big such as holding a free event

B. You can push content pages but make sure that the funnel is still there so it’s just for the sake of getting a few eyeballs – have a purpose

C. Riding something trendy well after it’s been run into the ground just makes you look like a laggard and out of touch

Seen any good, bad, or down-right ugly ads this week? Have thoughts about these ones? Share your feedback with a comment below.

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