Hey there! On today’s menu, we got Facebook ads – tips to help affiliates earn big money through this social network.

Facebook offers many ways of earning money, except the thing is, not everyone succeeds. Why?

Because each network has its own peculiar features and novice affiliates (who always know everything better than everyone else) in 9 cases out of 10 make all the typical beginner mistakes.

But, they’re newbies, after all, we all made mistakes at the start. Yet, seasoned affiliates, who are anything but dumb, also make these mistakes by forgetting that Facebook imposes new restrictions and bans methods that we allowed not so long ago.

We’ve all been there: that’s why LeadBit is the best affiliate program – because it tracks changes, tests offers, knows all about promotion challenges, and helps affiliates deal with them.

This article will help newbies form a plan of action and show the pros that there are still subtleties in driving traffic through Facebook that they weren’t aware of. Let’s get started!

Get To Know Your Facebook Audience

The best part about Facebook is the responsive audience that doesn’t focus on its social status. It’s a very open platform, not a closed club for the elite. On the contrary, the elites here strive to show how close they are to the people. And that’s what you should take advantage of:

1. The Audience here is large and responds to novelties well;

2. The Audience has money to spare and lots of it.

And since the network’s job is to “provide the people with ways to have a good time”, information isn’t perceived as critically as it would in other places. Naturally, the user has a right to choose, in fact, this right can sometimes sink your whole campaign. So, if you want to secure a steady flow of income – learn to listen to your audience.

Affiliate marketing is sort of like archery. The bullseye is your ideal customer. They’re different for each offer, for example:

• the THORAXIN cream, which enhances muscle growth, is often purchased by 18-30-year-old males;
• the Macron’s Secret anti-wrinkle cream is the choice of women aged 40+;
• women aged 25-34 is the most numerous audience for the slimming product SLIM MAX and the breast enhancing cream

If you’ve decided to promote your offer through Facebook stories, where affiliate links blend right in, then your audience selection tool is the access settings for the content you post. Your options are:

• myself only – used at the draft stage, as a backup option;
• user settings – used to show the offer to a narrow group of users, for example, members of 18+ communities;
• friends – if you’re creating a group and want to hide its contents from unwanted visitors (moderators can still see it though);
• available to all – suitable for white-hat offers.

If you’re decided to promote your offer through Facebook, you use Ads Manager to set up your audience by dividing them into 3 groups:

1. The main audience

Targeted by default. You can specify the GEO, interests, age, sex, behavior model.

2. The user audience

These are people that have at one point been the clients of the company or have expressed interest in its products. This audience is set up based on the client database, visit history, and user actions (both on the website and in the app) data.

3. The similar audience

You select specific user criteria and Facebook will find suitable candidates.

Identifying your audience correctly will help you rake in more profit.

Choose the Correct Format for Your Ads

Identifying the audience is half the battle. The other half is linked to advertising. Facebook ad tips in the “helpful information for businesses” section talking about only 4 formats:

1. Ads with images. Traditional ads with photos. Note: Facebook has special requirements regarding image quality (more on that later). Хорошо заходят demotivational posters, “live” photos that anyone can relate to finding a good response. Don’t use glossy print – it doesn’t help with banner blindness nor does it hook users.
2. Ads with videos. If LeadBit’s promo materials for the offer include a video, you can use that. A key nuance: short sound-less videos find a great response. Facebook prefers 3-minute videos – use YouTube: make a montage out of multiple clips that share a topic.
3. A carousel. You can place several images and links (photos and videos) for both a specific offer or multiple ones. Or you can create a big canvas (when multiple small images, like a puzzle, make up the bigger picture). Quality “expensive” images and mini-comics are a great choice here.
4. Dynamic product ads. One big image with several small ones under it, that expands when clicked on. Used to showcase an assortment of goods (if you position yourself, for example, as an independent beauty store) or a specific product from different angles. Here’s a tip: put a GIF where the main image is supposed to go and images from that GIF in the remaining slots.

Additionally, you can use these 4 not exactly formats, but tricks and lifehack:

• “The inner circle”. Ads will be shown to users that are geographically close to the promoted location. For affiliate marketers this is relevant when promoting offline educational programs or services;
• Event ads. Not too relevant for affiliate marketing, one-time events (festivals, expositions) very rarely feature in affiliate programs. Looks like a traditional banner with a call to go and register;
• “Viral” ads. Relevant for texts with a well-camouflaged link and, of course, an image. In this case, the affiliate is responsible for forming a subscriber base that will spread the content.

Use The Best Places To Display Your Ads

A little reminder: in Ads Manager you choose where your ads will be displayed, Facebook shows ads not just in the social network itself.

You can shift responsibility to the platform by selecting “display automatically regardless of objective”.

This option is a good choice when you’re testing offers as well as for affiliate newcomers who don’t fully understand, where their target audience comes from.

You yourself can choose how your ads will be displayed by ticking the appropriate boxes Keep in mind that Facebook charges you for displaying ads – each impression is going to eat away at your budget.

That’s why you need to choose the most prominent places to put your ads in if you want to get conversions. After all, that’s the core objective of your ad campaign. In this case, ads can be shown in all possible places.

If your audience goes onto Facebook via their smartphones, don’t tick the box for desktop ads.

Only you know what spot will be best for your ads. Focus on your audience. If it’s composed of mainly 30-40-year-old women – lean towards Stories, if it’s the same age group but predominantly male, the Marketplace will suit you better.

Set Specific Goals Before Planning Your Facebook Ad Budget

In Facebook-ian “goal” means “why have you come here”. This isn’t a recommendation from a business planning book, this is a command for the AI: what exact audience reaction are you expecting to get using your ad campaign. It’s this pretentious algorithm that is in charge of displaying your ads based on user actions and won’t show it to people whose behavior doesn’t guarantee them performing the target action.

Facebook and Its Objectives

From the wide array of ad campaign goals, you choose one. The affiliate’s objective is to turn a profit, that’s why brand awareness, coverage, and video views aren’t usually needed. Choose one commercial direction:

• traffic – used for transitions to the webpage, works well for the pre-landing/landing page bundle;
• lead generation – used for the client’s target action (registration, filling out a form, etc.);
• conversion rate – used for sales.

Articulate Your Offer and Call To Action Clearly

Almost 40% of ads don’t work due to errors made in preparing the text. The user spends 1.7 seconds on a single post, in that time managing to comprehend the image and a fragment of the text – the headline, the description, and the call to action. Then they either click or immediately forget ever seeing that ad.

An ad isn’t a statistical summary report: the text must contain hidden emotions, intrigue, and evidence (in the form of numbers). So, make a draft, then cross out any unnecessary elements, change the adjectives into verbs and the words “lots” and “few” into numbers.

Before, Facebook would straightly recommend the “text not take up more than 20%”. Now, the requirements have been expanded, you can color outside the lines a bit but… Facebook slyly warns that “if your text exceeds 20% the number of impressions for your ad will be minimal”. That’s why:

1. the less text, the better;
2. you need to use numbers in the text (whiten your teeth in 5 days, extend the pleasure by 100 minutes);
3. the text (just like the entire ad) should be emotionally engaging.

Example. The offer “We have dry firewood gathered in an ecologically clean region of Slovakia. Buy from us. Free shipping” is how an ad should NOT be written:

• good firewood should always be dry;
• an ecologically clean region – where’s the proof;
• buy from us – this is clear from the call to action, hence, the “Purchase” button;
• shipping is a matter to talk about on your landing page.

Cross out the unnecessary elements. We’re left with “We have firewood” or even better just “Firewood”. What’s it for? To heat up the house. Heat it up how quickly and how much? In an hour by 39%! This is the useful information you should talk about in your commercial offer. What we get is “Energy-intensive firewood that heats the house up by 39% within an hour”.

Your Landing Page Must Match The Subject Matter Of Your Ad

failure to comply with which is fraught with adblocking. Check:

• how unique the content on your page is;
• the number of PopUp ads (approaches 0);
• the presence of shocking content (there should be none).

The design of the page is also important, as is how easy that page is to navigate. And most importantly, the content must match the ad. You cannot advertise paid sexual services under the guise of a massage parlor.

Read more about what Facebook sees as low-quality ads here:

https://en-gb.facebook.com/business/help/1767120243598011

Off the record, rules are meant to be broken. Facebook has groups that will eagerly buy adult products and lots of other prohibited stuff. And the profit is very tasty, making the risk worth it. If you really want to:

1. drive traffic from a “farmed” account;
2. drive traffic through cloaking services;
3. Divide the advertising budget into several parts and replenish if you see that mods haven’t blocked your ads yet.

Let’s use slimming capsules as an example. Facebook bans almost all offers of this category – you can get banned for an image that offends someone, the drug’s composition, or unrealistic promises. That’s why you should transform into “someone else” – you’ll need at least 5 accounts for your ad campaign (you can buy a fresh or “farmed” one or just register as a fake user). You’ll also need:

• a proxy server (one for each account!) and a virtual machine;
• or a hosted server plus a virtual desktop.

You still need to work without attracting attention to your little scheme, through a virtual desktop or machine.

If you don’t want to buy accounts, you still need to buy passport scans (preferably). You will also need a virtual number for a couple of hours of service for receiving SMS messages (required). You register using:

1. a fake Gmail;
2. a payment system account;
3. a Facebook account.

3 years ago, imitating a real user for 3-5 would work:

• fill out the form;
• view broadcasts and photos;
• scroll through the news feed;
• visit other users’ pages.

Today, Facebook will ban you immediately after you open Ads manager after such “stormy activity”. This leaves you with 2 options:

1. Don’t waste any time. Create an ad campaign with a minimum daily budget of $ 5-6 and no more than 5-6 ads. Just don’t use direct affiliate links, work through the spy tracker and the cloaking service.
2. Optimally, preparing an account takes 2-3 weeks. During this time you need to:

• amass 30+ interest;
• be active offline (view news, visit stores and thematic sites).

Occasionally check how Facebook sees your profile

• your interests: https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/?section=interests
• non-Facebook activity: https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/activity_list
• lifestyle: https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/ad_settings

You start working once you get the “Engaged shoppers” status.

If you get banned, delete the server(!), clean your browser cache, create a new one with a new IP address and start over from the “make a fake email” stage.

Always Use Targeting

Targeting is the ad’s engine: it determines how much money you’ll waste and how big your profits will be. So think: who could want to purchase whatever you’re promoting. Difficult to do? Don’t worry, it’s only 50% of the success of your online advertisements.

Here’s a tip: think about how your product can help people. For example, an anti-hemorrhoid remedy is great at removing puffiness under the eyes and can be used as an anal lubricant. And while everyone is offering the ointment to men over 35 and women that have given birth, you set up a campaign aimed at young women who work at night or gay couples – and without cut-throat competition, you manage to turn an excellent profit.

Facebook targeting is just audience segmentation, the criteria for which are specified in Ads Manager:

• demography, or in other words the audience’s GEO. This is pretty simple. The selected offer must be on the market of a specific country/countries;
• sex, with a conditional subdivision into male/female;
• age, the narrower the niche, the easier it is to find your audience;
• interests, again, look at your offer “for guidance”. Gaming, beauty, health, finances – this (currently) is your audience’s main interest;
• marital status. In affiliate marketing, there aren’t that many offers specifically for families, since lonely people are more likely to register on dating websites or purchase exclusive webcam content. This factor is crucial when promoting dating or adult offers.

These are the parameters that Facebook’s AI takes into account when determining the potential audience to show your ads to. For most people, their interaction with targeting ends here.

BUT. There’s a whole affiliate mob working with your offer and they all use the same settings. What part of the audience will actually see your ads? That’s why you need parsers, like Target Hunter. And adjust your setting according to its data.

Use Numbers in Your Ads

This article about Facebook advertising tips wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention number – an important nuance that influences the number of clicks. Which ad do you think a client is more likely to click on:

• how to save electricity?;
• how to save electricity by 33%?

The answer is obvious: the second one, the buyer will click the more specific ad. That’s why to try to (where it’s appropriate) put in numbers. It’s important to avoid vague statements that take up a lot of space while not really influencing the audience much.

Use Correct Image Sizes

Facebook supports the main graphic file formats, but it has special (strong!) recommendations when it comes to advertising: use png or jpg format. Moreover:

1. one image in the feed, in the right column, Marketplace. Resolution 1,200×628 pixels (for square images – 1080×1080 pixels). Recommended aspect ratio 1.91:1. The text shouldn’t take up more than 20% of the image’s space;

2. carousel images, regardless of location. Recommended resolution – 1080×1080 pixels, 1:1 ratio. The less text – the more impressions;
3. images in articles. Resolution 1200×628 pixels, aspect ratio 9:16 (or vice versa), height and width – 600 pixels;
4. images for stories. 1080×1920 pixels, 9:16 ratio. Note that the top and bottom 250 pixels must not contain text:
5. images for Resolution 1200×628 pixels, minimum size 254×133 pixels, 9:16 ratio (or vice versa for vertical images).

The largest allowed graphic file size is 30 MB, but files like that are very difficult to load: not all potential clients have high-speed Internet. Try to reduce the file’s “weight” without sacrificing image quality.

Use Correct Images

We love pictures, adults, and children all enjoy looking at images without being too distracted by the text.

This is due to the fact that our brain processes image 70% faster and tired potential customers that go onto Facebook to relax don’t want to rack their brains.

A picture in an ad campaign attracts and retains the audience’s attention, evoking the necessary emotions and increasing the conversion rate.

Use High-Quality Images

In high-quality images, all the details are clear, the focus is correct, the horizon line is (most of the time) properly taken into account. You can’t find a high-quality photo? Don’t worry. In fact, any defect can be passed off as a “cool feature”:

• a blurry “before” picture with a clear and bright “after” one right next to it (for example, the results of an anti-age cream);
• shifting the focus to small detail, for example, a handbag, jewelry, watch, a businesswoman holding a smartphone;
• deviating from the horizon line works great in promoting products for the younger generation.

So, strive to get high-quality images, but if you just can’t catch a break – feel free to get creative.

Show Your Product or Service in The Image

Affiliates that want to work through Facebook regularly face a specific problem: where to get high-quality images from. LeadBit doesn’t recommend turning to photo stocks – 95% still does and ends up draining their ad budget.

Work with the offer’s landing page. For example, “stretch” out the can of breast-enlarging cream. Next, the magic happens. In Photoshop (or any other serious graphic editor) you place this can against a background. Don’t forget how commerce works: people don’t buy the goods, they buy the benefit they bring.

The cream’s benefit is a pretty, tight blossom, best if the can will be on top of the hand of the girl holding it right in front of her chest and pointing a finger towards her busty breasts. People can clearly see what exactly it is you’re offering.

Profit depends on your creativity. If you’re advertising penish-enlargement creams and don’t want to make the ad too pornographic – use a banana, a carrot, or a candle. Or if you’re promoting lipstick, put a cocky girl that’s picking between 2 lipsticks – such an image intrigues the viewer and combined with the proper call to action can increase profits by 30%.

Avoid Using Too Much Text

Although Facebook is considered the social network of intellectuals, where people are used to reading long posts, this doesn’t apply to ads. Here’s a good rule to follow: 80% of the space goes to the image, 20% – to the text If your text takes up more – expect to get fewer impressions.

A trick from the LeadBit affiliate program: before launching an ad campaign, grayscale the finished image using any graphic editor on your computer and see how easy it is to read the text, the font, and small details.

You can argue along the lines of why then did I pick out such cool colors if I’m just gonna grayscale it, but… the human eye just works that way when skimming through content (0.1-0.5 seconds).

And often herein lies the reason for failure, when bright colors, a cat-child-naked woman, combined with super text are perceived as gray and impersonal, the affiliate does not receive the desired conversion.

Give Each Image The Proper Focus

What does focus do in an image? It sets the accents, adding depth to the picture and clarity to the lines. Vignette (brightness falls from the center to the edges of the image) is very rarely (almost never) used due to how small the area of a Facebook ad is. It’s a complicated trick:

• if you want a good result, you need to have good taste and a sense of proportion;
• you need to be able to process images in a serious graphic editor, like work with filters and retouching in Photoshop;
• the risk is still pretty big, users might perceive a blurry image as a low-quality one, and pretty framing effects draw away clients’ attention from the essential elements.

Your task is to turn a profit, and that depends on the number of clicks. Complicated things make the client think, distract them from the purchase and make them nostalgic, so use only high-quality smooth, not contrasting images. Moreover, it’s best to take additional steps to measure the contrast, add special effects to make sure the user’s attention will focus on the elements you need it to. 

Anyone Can Make Professional Creatives

If the “Screw this! I ain’t no artist” thought came across your mind, don’t despair yet. In order to create professional creatives, in addition to photo editors, you can use services like Unsplash and Canva.

Unsplash works with stock photos (yes-yes, even though we told you not to do what everyone else does, using one picture, edited and as a background only, is fine). The number of high-quality images grows by about 2 million per month, you can dig around and find something worthwhile.

Say, you’re in London and decide to drive traffic to China. This is the second economy in the world, people here have money. You can take a relevant image, add an inscription and launch an ad campaign. Things you need to pay attention to:

1. The program is bad at sorting. For example, the search results for “Chinese architecture” showed buildings of different countries and eras, there were not only pagodas but all tunnels, bridges, and temples. It’s easy to take a Mongolian or Japanese temple for a Chinese one.

2. Lots of recognizable similar photos just made by different authors. Taktsang Trail, Paro, Bhutan, this was rendered 15 times on the first results page. But this is NOT China.

If we then search the temple’s name, the first few images we’ll get are these

That’s a cute kitty, sure, but what does it have to do with the temple?

3. You can only download images, the site does not have a tool for editing or adding text.

Bottom line: we found the image, downloaded it, and then straight off to Photoshop or Canva to “polish it up to be presentable.”

Canva is a conventionally free service in multiple languages, there is a large library of templates for working with Facebook, the ability to add creative details to your own images, and work on the same project as a team. Cons:

• requires high-speed internet without any restrictions;
• limited features in the free version (for example, you can’t change the size of the image);
• not too many decorative fonts.

Yet the available features are enough for an affiliate marketer. After all, you’re not making a long-term campaign, 2-3 months tops. And that means you don’t need to make boundary-pushing pieces of art.

Use Color Psychology

The study of color on customer behavior has long been a toy for psychologists. They found out that:

• yellow and red stimulate the nervous system, excite the person;
• blue and green are soothing.

This is true for pure colors and despite the truckload of illiterate texts you can find online is not true for shades. Solemnly strict black and red will not sell beauty products (only suitable for a funeral procession), while the color of fresh spring grass is pleasing to the eye and is great for stimulating the purchase of health products.

Workaround your offer. Take adult. What color is best to use to provoke, intrigue, seduce, draw enchanting sex? You can choose pink/blue as the main ones if we are dealing with homosexuals, but black and red are mandatory in all cases.

I understand your frustration: you came looking for solid advice and here we are telling you to think and be creative. But imagine that everyone actually makes all their ad campaigns red, for all offers, because it excites people and helps them make impulsive purchases.

Absolutely everyone. Well did you? People will stop reacting to red altogether, when there’s too much of it, we’ll have oversaturation on our hands. So study your competitors’ ads and… find the color that’ll help you stand out from the crowd but not too much.  

Don’t forget to take into account the peculiarities of the GEO. The East loves light blue and orange, while white is the color of mourning. The idea is clear: without a profound study of the target audience and the features of the offer, you should not use, for example, white roses against a black background in your Asian ads.

Mobile Device Design

Depending on the country, between 45 and 60% of visits to Facebook are made from mobile devices, and the younger your audience, the more it uses mobile devices. Make sure to not forget about this. Facebook, however, likes to crop image corners, so check how your ads look on a desktop and mobile device.

Use A/B Testing To Find The Best Design For Your Facebook Ad

Facebook’s Ads Manager has a simple A/B testing tool. You need to check the box for the campaign and select “A/B testing” on the toolbar. Another option is the “Experiments” tool.

There’s another sneaky tool – Facebook Analytics. It will help you analyze user behavior in more detail (you can log into your own account from both your smartphone and laptop), build funnels, and select a custom audience in order to set up retargeting. Fiddle around with filters, compare the income you received from different sources, check the demographic statistics, etc.

Guys, this is important! An obligatory stage of the campaign is checking what sort of response they offer elicits, how the audience reacts to your call to action. Choosing the best option will increase your conversion rate.

Draw Inspiration From Your Competitors

No, we are not encouraging you to steal creatives – we recommend you analyze and think, pick apart the image and text. What words hooked you personally, why did you like the image. What is so unusual about this ad (and why did you suddenly decide that you won’t succeed?!). After 3 days of analyzing competitors’ ads, you will begin to understand how to organize an ad campaign.

Be sure to use ad spy tools for facebook (you can study creatives up until the second coming of big C). Compare campaign settings, promo materials, text content, GEOs and wisely borrow successful bundles.

Examples Of The Best Facebook Ads

We liked the ad for MVMT watches. Pay attention to how correctly the background is set up – chocolate wooden boards create a feeling of solidity, stability, reliability.

No unnecessary elements. The product – the price – the call to action. As little text as possible but accompanied with high-quality “live” pictures. The impulsive “I want it!” desire and instant purchase. An exemplary ad.

Another example that can be useful for affiliates. Nike uses colors that stimulate impulsive actions instead of using cities, athletes, or nature as a background.

In the same way, you can take an image of a product, from the offer’s landing page, place it on a bright background with 2-3 inscriptions, and put it in a carousel. All that’s left is to add a title and an action button.

FAQ

1. What are the best Facebook ad formats for mobile apps?

Focus on the amount of source material. A single picture will force you to make do with the “image” format if you have more than one – work through the carousel.

2. Can I place my affiliate link in the ad?

You can, via Ads Manager. The link is set up when you create/edit a draft version of the ad at the “Advertisement” level in the “Campaign” or “Tracking” section.

3. What types of Facebook ads have the best conversion rate?

Dynamic ads and the “Canvas” format. The first adapt to the visitor, the second is cheaper when using a smaller copy of the landing page doesn’t send the user to another website.

Videos (your own, not a link to Facebook’s competitor Youtube) convert 20% better, but making high-quality content that would also meet Facebook’s rules is quite a challenge. Use GIF animations: they take less time to make while ensuring that more people see your ads.