Stop them in their tracks

Published: Thu, 04/11/24

Hi there friend,

Every night I take a little bit of time (ok, maybe more than a little) scrolling through my Facebook feed watching Reels and catching up on what’s going on with family and friends.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll just mindlessly scroll until something grabs your attention. Recently this has been Reels of classic TV show clips like Breaking Bad, pictures of people I know, or a video of Caitlyn Clark draining an unbelievable 3.

But occasionally I stumble across a great ad that makes me stop and pay attention. When we spend money to advertise our product, service, or lead magnet - that’s the ultimate goal. To get someone to stop scrolling when they see your ad and then take action.

But what is the difference between a scroll-stopping, action driven ad on Facebook and one that people completely ignore?

I’ve outlined one approach I take when designing and writing copy for my Facebook ads.

Create your Facebook ad landing page using AWeber’s landing page builder.

Here’s 7 tips on building a high-converting Facebook landing page.

Make sure you add your Facebook Pixel to your landing page so you can measure the effectiveness of your ads.

There are 5 core elements of every Facebook ad, I like to break each element down to a “role”. Once you’ve got these roles identified, you’re then on a path to success.

A Facebook ad showing the 5 core elements

Element: Creative

Goal: Grab their attention

It starts with the creative. You have 1.7 seconds to grab someone’s attention when they’re scrolling Facebook on their mobile.

So be bold. The #1 mistake I see so many folks make when designing their ads is putting TOO MUCH information in the creative. Unless the creative stops them from scrolling, in 0.25 seconds, they are not reading the copy.

Here’s a great example, does any of this copy make you stop. For me, the answer is no.

In my experience, a better approach would have been to do the following:

Remove all the text
Focus on the main benefit, that would be “1100+ Done for you business essentials for coaches”
Enlarge the image of the woman
Put on a bold, colored background

Maybe something like this:

An example of a Facebook ad with a blue background, woman with her arms up, and text overlay "1100+ done for your business essentials for coaches"

Special shout out to Chris V. for showing me how to remove the background using Canva in last week's newsletter.

Element: Primary text

Goal: Sell them

Now that you’ve peaked their curiosity with a bold creative, use the primary text to “sell them” on your offer. This is where you let them know why they should care.

Here’s a great example from Hulu. They start right off with a pain point of paying cable companies, then they follow that up with mentioning “Live TV” and the number of live channels.

Hulu Facebook ads example promoting switching from cable to live Hulu

Element: Headline

Goal: Get them to take an action

You have limited space here (approximately 40 characters before the text gets cut off), so make it count.

Use the headline to highlight the primary action you’d like them to take.

Let’s take that Hulu example again.

Headline section of Hulu Facebook ad with headline "Switch to Julu + Live TV"

What do they want you to do? Switch to Hulu + Live TV.

Element: Description

Goal: Reinforce your main message

Depending on where your ad appears, the description may not be included. So don’t put something critical to the success of your ad here.

Add something that reinforces your core message. In the Hulu example above, the main purpose of the ad is to convince people to switch from cable to Hulu for their live TV, but they reinforce this messaging by including “Includes Disney+ and ESPN+” in the description.

Element: Call to action

Goal: Take action

Facebook provides you with 19 calls to actions that you can choose from. This include:

Apply now
Book now
Download
Get offer
Order now
Sign up
Subscribe
Plus 11 others

Choose the one that best fits your offer.

Create your ad

Whether you’re promoting a lead magnet in order to grow your email list or promoting your Etsy shop, Facebook ads are a great, affordable way to reach your goals.

Try this approach and let me know how it goes. I’d love to share your success story in an upcoming newsletter.

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