The Facebook Roundup: Volume 7

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 7.

The Good

Making good this week is Infusionsoft which is a company that helps businesses automate their sales and marketing; they’ve been at it for a while now so their brand is going strong. You can notice the level of quality in their brand just by looking at this ad which makes it so good.

Here’s why it’s good:

• The number (24,000) is massive so it immediately tells the viewer that what they’re doing has to be right with that many clients.
• No hard sell – they’re going for a trial product demo.
• The image is superb – it encapsulates being a small business owner while having just enough branding and copy included in the creative.
• Punch headline and bottom copy to go along with it? Check.

Overall it’s one of those ads that simply does what it needs to do – be effective. There’s really nothing else you’d improve on this outside of learning through A/B testing the copy & creative so this is a big win on their part.

The Bad

Interestingly enough the ad that’s making the “bad” section of our roundup is none other than Facebook for Business. You know… the actual ad platform you’d be advertising with?

Here’s why it’s bad:

• The way they filled in the copy so it fits neatly is very appealing to the eyes.
• The video is a good way to go because it’s a complex topic.
• The comments, however, are where things start to fall apart because it’s riddled with individuals stating how much they hate the FB ad platform, problems they’ve had with it, and recommendations against the thing; not responding to these concerns and opinions makes the ad start to falter and it only gets worse the more you dig into the discussion.

Overall it would have been great for any other platform to be honest. The people viewing this ad are the ones that are using FB advertising and the majority seems pissed off. It’s like setting up a bake sale outside of a gym… it’s going to tick people off. It could have gone smoother if it went generalized and pointed people to a hub of resources rather than going straight for one part that seems to be mostly hated by the users.

The “Blatant Commercial”

Ohhh Candy Crush, how we all know the. The game that got everyone and their mother’s involved is still going although not nearly in the limelight as before. Like Angry Birds the brand is spilling into the real world (through retail) and it’s reaching a serious point of saturation (which is why it’s at the bottom of our list).

Why it’s the worst:

• Though last week we mentioned in our “good” that having a new page on FB for a brand is good this is one instance where it feels too much considering there are pages for every other copy and variation of the Saga games (do we need another? Apparently so).
• It’s a blatant commercial. Nothing more, nothing less.
• Is it another copy of their game or is it a cross promotion with a soda company? It’s a variation of their game but for a second it we were expecting something like 7-Up or Sprite to pop up.
• Lots of views and positive comments, though, so there’s that.

Overall it’s just too much. Sponsored ads are nice and all but this is just a straight-up commercial for a product that’s autoplaying which always irks people because they’re trying to get away from commercial breaks by going on their computer. Maybe if it had more video of the actual game? Maybe if it didn’t seem like it was a Candy Crush branded soda coming out? Whatever it is – it’s our pick of the worst for this week.

Conclusion

What did we learn this week?

A. A great image can really sell your product/service especially when it nails it in terms of relating to the customer and having the main points of what it does front and center of the creative

B. Take some extra time to figure out your types of customers and how they’re likely to respond by rolling out smaller campaigns to gather feedback before blasting it to all

C. Try to do something more than make a commercial and slap it up as an FB post

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