The Facebook Roundup: Volume 19

August 9, 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 and potential to be good but weren’t exactly making the cut. For the “worst”, and we mean no hard feelings to those at the bottom of the list, it’s that special feeling you get when your stomach doesn’t settle (like a sudden lump in the back of your throat from being uncomfortable).

So let’s begin with Volume 19.

The Good

Now we’re talking interesting content thanks to Drop Ship Lifestyle.

Dropship Lifestyle
  • Since the ad is obviously targeting those interesting in online business it comes right out the gate by identifying the target audience, presenting one of the problems, and offering a solution (which also adds a twinge of branding).
  • Nothing too special about the image but the fact that it’s boasting 187 niches and has a clear download button is enough of a head turner to convey the message and gather some interest.
  • Short and punchy works and this ad does the trick with it’s [Free Download] and copy – along with the download button.

This is a great example because this is what you’d expect coming from an individual or small business that’s creating ads on a budget. It’s something we all can do versus some of the wild, creative stuff that big brands are doing since they have teams of marketing professionals at their disposal. It packs a punch and gets the job done (even if it doesn’t have a ton of likes).

The Bad

It’s neat but doesn’t seem like anything to do a double take… Paribus.

Paribus
  • Whenever you throw in the whole “Free Money!” thing it just comes across as cheesy these days; if you’re going for the penny hunters then you’re going to get the penny spenders so if that line was removed the rest of the top copy would have been sufficient.
  • The contrast in the image doesn’t seem to match up. If it is stock it’s clear the app was laid over the phone and if it isn’t then it just looks like they did a few takes and just said “eh, let’s go with the one where they look excited”.
  • The bottom copy is interesting enough with it telling you that stores owe you money – the ‘Get Your Money Back!’ works well, too, but since it cuts off it could have had a little extra punch.

Overall there isn’t anything particularly terrible about this ad but then there really isn’t anything amazing. You’d probably scroll right past it and never give it a thought. Even if it did gain some form of interest there isn’t a whole lot going on to convince you to install the app outside of the chance a store owes you money (which they probably don’t).

The Bland

What’s there to be said about Triplebyte?

Triplebyte
  • Bland
  • Boring
  • Whatever

This ad just looks like it was something thrown together at the last minute just to appease someone higher up. Besides the formatting done by Facebook this would look like a normal post in your feed (maybe that’s a good thing?) but you wouldn’t even notice it while scrolling through which kind of defeats the purpose of it all.

Conclusion

What did we learn this week?

A. Content sells and when you package it as being an answer to a serious question then you’re going to see some good response and engagement.

B. Try to avoid saying stuff like “free money” because we’re beyond that phase (hopefully) – it feels campy and tacky like how’d you’d feel if it was just a half-naked person being used in the ad.

C. Spend a few extra moments to piece together better copy and find an image that actually draws attention (if it the original image fits the feel but not if it’s just bland).

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.

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