1. Disciplined
What does it mean to be disciplined with Facebook ads?
You stand by your decisions long enough to learn something, one way or the other.
Let’s say you decide to test a new campaign with new creatives inside and the first 6 hours of the campaign goes terribly. Do you panic and close the campaign? No. You give the campaign long enough to give it a fair chance. Generally, this is 2-3 days but this can be longer with smaller budgets and shorter with larger budgets.
Let’s play this hypothetical scenario out.
If you see that the campaign is failing for the first 6 hours and you close it (too early) then you wasted money because 1. you didn’t give it enough time to potentially work and 2. you can’t be sure whether the creative is good or not because you didn’t spend enough on it to be sure.
If you see that the campaign is failing for the first 6 hours and leave it for ~2-3 days, you either win or you learn. If in 2-3 days the campaign starts to pick up sales and starts to optimize then in theory you should make your money back (and then some). You also learned what creatives worked and what didn’t because they had enough spend to thoroughly test them. If in 2-3 days the campaign completely fails then, yes.. you still lose money BUT it’s not a complete waste. Why? Because you can be sure that the creative is probably not going to work. (P.s. I do test creatives a few times before moving on)
So the next time you make a decision to scale a campaign, turn off an adset, turn off an ad, edit something…stand by your decision. Let it run long enough to see the effects. Be very observant. You either win or you learn.
2. Patient
What does it mean to be patient with Facebook ads?
Here are a few examples I see all the time of people NOT being patient:
- Turning off ads, ad sets or campaigns too soon
- Scaling a campaign too soon
- Touching a campaign too soon
- Closing campaigns too soon during bad periods
- Not letting tests run long enough to be sure of the results
- Jumping from strategy to strategy too fast
Generally, Facebook ads is a marathon not a sprint. Keep in mind that the pros base their decisions off of 7-days’ worth of data not 12 hours. Unless you are working with larger budgets or have a keen sense of how your ad account normally behaves, you should be giving campaigns enough time (min. 2-3 days) to optimize after launching them or editing them.
Here is another common example we see during bad periods. If you have a campaign that is struggling but was doing well in the past and has a lot of conversion data, then there is a decent chance it will revert to the average and have good performance after some time. Exercising patience in these critical moments can be the difference between a substantial loss and a handsome profit.
Give Meta a chance to do it’s thing. Let things run long enough so that you can be sure of the results. Use what you learn to your advantage in the next campaign. And the next. And so on.
3. Analytical
We base our decisions from data, not emotions. I don’t care if you ‘like’ this creative or ‘think’ this angle will work. Test it. What does the data say?
Every Facebook ad that you create is a conversation between you and the market. The market will give you its response in the form of sales, clicks, engagement, etc. It is up to you to interpret the data, draw conclusions from it and modify your next campaign accordingly to maximize your results. *Shout out to Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz for this insight.
Your facebook ads manager is full of clues that can take your business to the next level. Just like an archaeologist, you must mine your ads manager of its data, piece together fragments of information and come up hypotheses for your next series of tests.
You could be one campaign away from having a major success. The data in your ads manager may already hold the key to that success, and it’s up to you to find it.
Utilize the breakdown tool to analyze your results by creative, primary texts, headlines, demographics, location, platforms and more. If you start to hone in on exactly who is buying your products or services, you can start to tailor your creative towards them and improve your results.
4. Organized
Staying organized inside your ads manager makes it easier to analyze your data. If your data is easier to analyze, then it is easier to make decisions.
Pro tip: Name your campaigns, ad sets and ads in such a way that you can quickly and easily tell what settings are inside without having to click inside and check every time.
When everything is organized in your ads manager, your data starts to come into focus and it becomes much easier to start to draw conclusions based off your data.
Staying organized by labeling is not enough though. You need to be organized and systematic about the way you test.
Are you testing new creatives? Then every other variable should be identical so you can measure the true impact of the new creative.
Are you testing new audiences? Then every other variable (i.e. creatives inside each ad set) should be identical so you can determine which audience performs better.
Are you testing new copy? You get my point.
In a hyper-competitive industry like advertising, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Staying organized in your approach helps build your confidence and allows you to stay one step ahead of your competition.
5. Risk Tolerant
Advertising on Facebook is a high risk, high reward game. The pros treat it less like gambling at a casino and more like a chess match. Thoroughly assess the potential outcomes of your next move and make a calculated decision based on data.
Everyone has their own unique relationship with risk. Some people invest all their money into a 401(k) while others bet it all on meme coins. Much like investing, you will develop your tendencies and strategies to manage risk with Facebook ads.
There are risk-averse strategies for Facebook ads (i.e. horizontal scaling) and there are riskier strategies. (i.e. some cost cap strategies) Both can work, it’s just a matter of how and when they are applied.
Here is a common example of where you need to assess the risk of your decisions in Facebook ads:
- Should you scale a campaign?
- Should you introduce new creative?
- Should you test a new product?
- Should you try to optimize an active campaign?
- Should you duplicate a campaign?
- Should you close an ad in a campaign?
All these scenarios can have inherent risks associated to them. Scaling a campaign can increase your profits or it can tank your campaigns. Optimize a campaign can improve its performance or ruin it. Close an ad can divert spend to a better performing ad, or it can throw off the balance within an ad set and then throw off the ad set in the campaign.
Before you make any decision in Facebook ads, you should ask yourself. Is this worth it? What will I gain if I do this? What will I potentially lose? If the risks out weighs the benefits then go for it.
Everyone is different. It is up to you to develop your own style of running Facebook ads that fits your character.
No matter which way you look at it, running Facebook ads carries inherent risks. But sometimes you have to risk it for the biscuit.
6. Pragmatic
Speak from experience working with hundreds of ad accounts there is no 1-size-fits all solution to Facebook ads. There is no blueprint or magic bullet that works on every ad account.
People that think deeply, utilize the data and follow what works will get significantly farther in my opinion than someone with 1 strategy that they apply to every business. Every business is different. Every ad account is different. Each one needs a tailored approach.
Become a student of the game. Study everyone’s tactics. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Why does that work? Test it for yourself.
Instead of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, you should find what works for your business and capitalize on that as much as you can.
Weird scaling strategy? Test it.
New Creative Angle? Test it.
ASC+? Test it.
New offer? TEST IT!
Only through systematic testing will you find the best strategy that works for your business. Have an open mind. Take in information. Test all the strategies that you think will work. Keep the strategies ones that do.
As you gain experience you will develop a toolbox, full of tools, ready to be used in the right situation.
7. Focused
Focus is hard to come by nowadays. There are unlimited distractions. The ones who remain focused on their goal and are determined to achieve it are most likely to do so.
Whether your goal is to test X number of angles per month or hit Y profit this week, you should be consistently taking actions that get you closer to achieving your goal.
Don’t test things at random. Don’t hope for better results. Analyze your data, piece together information and then test your assumptions based on the data. Keep testing until you are sure of your answer.
Don’t get distracted by the latest Meta conspiracy theory or ‘influencer’ flexing fake get rich quick schemes. There are no short cuts in this life, and you must remain focused on the goal if you are to achieve it.
Thanks for reading! I am sure there are other character traits that I did not mention. What are some other traits that you think make a great Facebook advertiser? Comment below. Let’s discuss.
