Do Facebook ads even work? That's a question that I think a lot of contractors have. Many people have tried to run Facebook ads and they just haven't seen much of a return. I  believe that a lot of this comes from not understanding the Meta platform, not grasping the way that ads work, and maybe just not running the correct offers. I have found a couple of actions that ring true when it comes to successful Facebook ads, with the most significant issue being that when you're creating content, it needs to be engaging no matter what. So let's talk about what works on Facebook ads and how you can start to see a return and use them to bring in leads during your slow time.

How do Facebook ads work?

If you are not a professional marketer, it is unlikely that you know a lot about how to use ads. If that's the case, I highly recommend finding somebody who has knowledge about the Meta platform before you get started. I say this because the Facebook ads platform is a complicated beast. Many times when I get in the back end of Facebook ads accounts, I find that the ads are set up incorrectly. 

One thing to note about the Meta ads platform is that at the beginning of an ad, you're telling Meta what your objective is.  If you're telling it that you want people to just go to your website, but you actually want leads, you will struggle to ever get the leads you’re looking for. If you actually want lead information from people, you have to tell Meta that that is what you want.  Before you go further in this article, if you're currently running ads, the first thing that I want you to do is ensure that you have told Facebook what you actually want it to do.

The best offers to run

Let's say that you set up your ads correctly. You have somebody working on them or you know what you're doing, and you’ve set up everything in the Business Suite correctly. The next thing that I would look at is the offer that you're running. A lot of HVAC companies try running offers like a free furnace with the purchase of the AC and low-dollar financing or free service calls.  The problem with these offers is that they aren't evergreen offers for the customer. People are not on Facebook looking for who they're going to purchase their AC from. Usually, ads target people who are scrolling through the newsfeed looking at their friends' celebrations and kids or memes or watching videos. Your offer must be something that reminds people of something that they should be doing all the time. I strongly suggest that low-dollar-hit-em’-in-the-pain-point offers. For residential HVAC, a tune-up special is probably going to be your best bet. Especially when the weather is in that shoulder season, and it's not quite hot or cold. That's when you want to go hard on those tune-up offers. Expert note: Don't just tell them they need a tune-up; remind them what they're going to lose if they don't get one.

The best type of ads to run

You have a great offer, you know how to set up the Meta platform but your ads still aren't converting or they're costing you way too much money. The next thing to do is to look at the ad you created, both picture and text. Let's go back to what I said before about that about what people are doing on Facebook before they see your ad. Your ad needs to fit in with Facebook and stand out at the same time. Your ad needs to be funny, relatable, and SCROLL-STOPPING. Just putting out a graphic with your branding all over it and your offer on it isn't that exciting, and it's not going to get much engagement. If you put enough money behind it you might get in front of enough people, and you might start to see some leads, but it's going to cost you a lot to bring those leads in. 

Instead, I recommend this rule of thumb: Be sure that the content that you're putting out would be engaging whether you were spending money or not. An excellent way to check this is to look back at the content on your social media that is already performing better than the other content. Things that I see perform well are relatable memes — things that are applicable to the people in your area- usually weather-related works really well or video — this,  generally, is highly engaging. It gets put in front of more people and could be great as a lead generation ad. Expert note: Be sure that you're using people in your ads and not stock images, and stay away from the highly graphic types that you're getting directly from Canva.

How to measure success

How are you going to measure success? The most important element after you have the lead ads going is that you're able to capture the information quickly and get your lead booked. Make sure that you have a system set up with your CSRs or someone in the office who captures leads and takes care of it until they become your customer.  Automation can help with this process. You can set this up natively in Facebook or with AI tools that will reach out to them via text or phone.  Automation helps with this process. Facebook allows you to start conversations in the Messenger app with future inquiring customers. Or you can use AI tools to ensure the leads that are coming in are getting to your CSRs by email. You can even use tools to respond automatically to your Facebook leads and get them booked via text. 

Once you’ve booked the lead, be sure that you're tracking the leads that you’re booking and the ones you’re not booking and why. This will give you data that you can optimize in your ad moving forward. Maybe your ad isn't quite reaching the correct ZIP code or perhaps it's just not speaking to the right people. essential to look at the data often so that you can make decisions about your ads and not waste money.

Facebook ads can be a really great way to bring in new leads to your HVAC business. It's important to review these different aspects of a campaign before you start and before you decide it won’t work for you.

Jen McKee, is the founder Kee Hart Marketing, a social media marketing agency that specializes in organic and paid strategies for contractors. Contact her at jen@keehartmarketing.com or online at www.keehartmarketing.com.