The Facebook Roundup: Volume 14

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).

The Good

The one that caught our eye the most this round was brought to you by PillPack.

What makes it good?

• They open hard by addressing the pains people have within their target audience “managing multiple medications” which, for those that do, immediately speaks the benefits
• Just look at that image – you may not know all those medications but it looks and feels incredibly sci-fi and gives you the thought of “that’s really neat!”
• Again with the benefits that hit home with the target audience; it completely conveys the value of using their service through convenience, costs, and organization

Overall, this one was the one that stood out mostly because the image was able to make you stop, learn about this service, easily understand why you’d want to choose them, and feel encouraged to click the ‘Learn More’ button.

The Bad

Well, we weren’t expecting this one but rounding out in the middle of the list is Sidekick By Hubspot.

What makes it bad?

• Posing the question of “How does he email so fast?” is fine but it lacks punch; you’re on Facebook, browsing through your feed, and not really having any thought about email at the time so your retort is “why should I care?”
• The image is conveying speed, but there’s so much going on in the background that it becomes distracting; now looking over it again you begin to look at the bad cable management instead of what’s on the actual screen
• Usually anything with a bold claim like “change forever” is going to make you skeptical (which can deliver clicks), but in this case it almost makes you scoff at the idea since email has been around for ages and there’s not a whole lot of revolution to it

HubSpot does some amazing work but this is one of those products that seems a little off by the way that it’s advertised. It looks like it was quickly thrown together for the sake of keeping a campaign running than actually trying for conversions.

The Thanks but No Thanks

Dropping in at the bottom is Staples. Remember that these ads (from the series) are a mix of broad and targeted so in this case it was directed at myself.

What makes it a no thanks?

• If they are using the FB ad platform and its features to target, then they have missed the mark completely because I’m not a fan of HP laptops to begin with
• The image is fine, I guess, but it’s just a laptop so it’s not going to catch my eye because I look frequently through hardware releases so I’m essentially blind to it
• If I’m ordering a laptop I would expect free shipping from the major stores and I’m not going to buy from Staples because I know they have a limited selection; the price match doesn’t matter because I’m loyal to other sites and I’m not in the market for a new laptop anyway

This ad would be okay (and that’s a stretch) if it was timed right but even then everything about it is so generic that you feel no association with the brands; you’d scroll through your feed, notice it (maybe), and keep going without a care because there’s nothing to catch your attention.

Conclusion

What did we learn this week?

A. Grab ‘em with an image, work them pain points, and tell the solution through what you have to offer

B. If you’re going to use an image at least make it identifiable if you’re more than two feet from your computer screen

C. Don’t bother targeting if you don’t understand your audience; actually get to know them before just throwing anything at them hoping it’ll stick

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.