Not all Restaurant Facebook ads are created equal.
As you know, I always talk about the power of Facebook ads and how restaurants are CRAZY for not using them to drive sales. This week, I had Zoom meetings with two restaurant owners running Facebook ads, and I was excited. But once we got talking, that excitement turned to concern. I’m sure you can relate to the feeling when you see a fully utilized potential.
On one hand, it’s great that they see the value and have pulled the trigger. But on the other hand, they have hired companies that aren’t doing it right. Choosing the right companies to run your Facebook ads is crucial, as it’s only a matter of time before these owners think Facebook ads don’t work versus this company’s broken strategy.
Both companies run generic video ads directing traffic to the restaurant’s website or online ordering platform. However, a critical flaw in each instance is the absence of tracking systems to monitor the success of the campaigns. They cannot identify the visitors to the website or whether they are making a purchase. They aren’t even attempting to gain customer information. This is like running a radio ad and hoping someone hears it and takes action. The MASSIVE value of Facebook ads is the ability to take customers on a journey.
That journey for me is ABR, a strategy I’ll delve into below. I believe it could be a game-changer for these businesses.
In addition, the agency’s sales pitch is that the ads are “getting engagements.” For these owners, that seemed like a minor win, but it’s not. Facebook video views count as engagements, the same way a comment does. Video views are incredible when that’s what you’re trying to get. However, in these instances, the owners hope customers can land on their website and place an order.
The picture at the top of this page exemplifies how you can be tricked into thinking an ad is working. The orange box shows you 602 post engagements, which can sound incredible. WOW, 602 engagements with my ad. But when you find that 587 were 3-second plays, you realize it’s not all it’s made out to be. While there’s value in a 3-second video view like there is any advertising impression, it’s not the engagement that matters for this ad. This ad was built for CLICKS, and only 13 of the 602 engagements are CLICKS!
As you’ll see in the picture below, the other ads tell a different story.
On the 2nd line, the ad labeled “Opt-In (Message) is an ad meant to get people to click a button that messages the page; the ONLY goal of that ad is to gain new messaging connections. These message connections get the customers to opt into your marketing program, which takes them on a journey to spend money in your restaurant.
In this ad, there were 256 engagements, 185 of which were link clicks, the goal of the ad. Of those 185 link clicks, 55 gave the restaurant their information. Now, this is where the NEXT LEVEL comes into play. Because we are putting these customers into our DRYVER software, I can see that 14 went into the restaurant immediately and spent $962.
As you can see, not all “Facebook engagements” are created equal.
Now, let’s delve into our unique ABR STRATEGY. This strategy, which stands for Attract, Build, Retain, is designed to not just engage customers, but to guide them through a journey that culminates in spending at your restaurant.
A = Attract
B = Build
R = Retain
In my 2nd example, it went like this
A = We spent $242 to ATTRACT the attention of potential customers.
B = We BUILT a database of 55 customers from the 256 post engagements
R = We RETAINED their attention after the ad with emails and texts from our marketing campaign that drove approximately $962 in sales.
And now the fun starts since you have 55 new customers in your database, of which 14 have already spent money. Those customers will be worth $10,000+ in future sales with no cost associated with them again.
In episode 676 of Restaurant Marketing Secrets we talk about this topic, CLICK HERE to listen to this 5-minute impactful podcast.
