The Facebook Roundup: Volume 15

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 15.

This edition will be a little different as the sponsored stories and ads have been pulled from mobile.

The Good

Making its way to the top of this list is a rather neat app by Yousician.

What makes it good?

• The brand ‘Yousician’ is clever and the added ‘Learn to Play Guitar’ should do wonders its SEO and reaching higher placement in the app marketplace
• It’s a video that shows off the product and from the looks of it – it’s neat – it would be great for those that do want to learn guitar or just have a bit of fun in their downtime
• Plenty of people have already gave it a nice review (and from the likes/comments/views it seems like it’s been a hit for the marketing team)

Overall this one caught my eye not just because of the autoplay videos on Facebook but that it takes a unique approach to learning a new instrument with the help of smartphones. It looks like it would be easy to get started and if they built it right – it’ll certainly keep people using the app.

The Bad

Finding its way in the middle of the list is a business app offered by 17hats.

What makes it so-so?

• There is far too much copy going on; it’s trying to explain everything it and pushes it through a logical pitch rather than working off an emotion such as time constraints, frustrating platforms, and the like.
• The picture is good – nothing too fancy – but at least it works well with the whole business side of the targeting
• That closing line killed it by adding the smiley face (makes you wonder if the brand is trying to be fun or if they are being a little childish when it comes to this important business)

Overall it’s just too wordy and the smiley face kills it. The ad should have been broken up into individual campaigns each pushing just one (maybe two) of the things this app can do to keep it focused and to improve their split testing. I’m sure they’ll get around to doing something like that (hopefully).

The Facepalm

I don’t even know where to start with this sponsored post by ‘Fast Cash for Businesses’.

What makes this having you do a facepalm?

• Already something seems a little fishy with a name like ‘Fast Cash or Businesses’
• There’s a market for these type of loans but the fact they’re okay with bad credit and just give out loans (93%!) all willy-nilly throws up a few red flags
• That picture… it’s just tooooo overdone
• A million dollars you say? A quote that adds nothing to the context? A URL that doesn’t look too professional? Tons of likes?

Everything about this ad tells me to stay as far away as possible. Who knows? Maybe they’re legit but when you’re pitching loans and the business looks like it was slapped together (especially so in the campaign) all I can think of is two things: You’re either going to lose your privacy or the loans are so predatory that interest rates are going to be unmanageable.

Conclusion

What did we learn this week?

1. Video rocks especially if you have a neat, game-like offering close to a hobby this way it keeps them active in using the app
2. Tone down the amount of copy you’re going to use and if you’re explaining a variety of what’s included in your product you may as well do so through split testing so the options are overloading the reader
3. Don’t look shady

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