Demystify Social Media Marketing | Brandon Hodgins

• 8:00 am - 9:00 am

Brandon from Trade Search delivers a lecture on digital marketing, focusing on the effective use of Facebook (Meta) ads for businesses, particularly trade and service-based companies. He contrasts proper ad campaigns managed through Facebook Ads Manager with the less effective method of simply "boosting" posts. The core of the discussion revolves around structuring ad funnels, starting with broad awareness campaigns and moving to targeted, sales-oriented ads using retargeting strategies. Brandon provides a detailed walkthrough of setting up an ad, emphasizing audience creation, the importance of quality content, and the technical steps involved in launching a campaign. He also shares practical SEO tips, such as using Google My Business updates and local publications, to improve online ranking and visibility.

Key Knowledge Points

1. Facebook (Meta) Advertising Strategy

• Boosting Posts vs. Proper Facebook Ads
  • Boosting a post is a basic form of advertising where you pay to show a post to a wider audience. While not entirely useless, its primary function is to build the top of the sales funnel by increasing awareness and collecting view data.
  • A proper Facebook ad campaign is set up through the Facebook Ads Manager, which offers sophisticated tools for targeting, retargeting, and creating complex campaigns. Running ads through the Facebook Business Suite without using the Ads Manager is equivalent to boosting.
  • Agencies that only boost posts are not providing the full value of a proper ad service.
• Ad Funnel Structure
  • Start with a top-of-funnel awareness campaign aimed at getting as many people as possible in the target area to see your content.
  • After building an audience and collecting data, run more sales-oriented ads with specific offers, deals, or detailed service explanations to convert viewers into leads.
• Retargeting Techniques
  • Retargeting is crucial for moving prospects through the funnel: show new ads to people who previously interacted with your content.
  • Create custom audiences, such as users who visited your Instagram in the past year but didn’t follow, or viewers who watched 50–75% of your videos.
  • Multiple touch points (often around seven) are key to driving a sale.
• Audience Targeting
  • In small geographic areas (e.g., Barrie), broad targeting often works best—let Meta’s algorithm find the right people; over-specifying interests can backfire.
  • For larger areas (province-wide or national), use interests and keywords to narrow the audience.
  • Geofencing can target specific locations (trade shows, hospitals, competitors’ sites) to “poach” clients.

2. Setting Up and Managing Ad Campaigns

• Ad Creation Process
  • Building a single, proper ad typically takes 1–2 hours—it’s not a five-minute task.
  • Steps include defining the objective, setting a budget, building the audience, creating the creative (video/image), and writing multiple versions of ad copy and headlines.
  • Provide five variations of ad copy and headlines; Facebook’s algorithm will test and prioritize the best performers.
• Lead Form Optimization
  • Avoid the “More Volume” option; it often yields low-quality leads due to auto-fill.
  • Use “Higher Intent” or “Rich Creative” forms. “Rich Creative” acts like an online brochure with reviews, process steps, and business details before submission.
  • Add 1–2 screening questions (e.g., “Make/Model of car”) to prevent auto-filling and better qualify leads. More than three questions can feel tedious.
• Technical Settings and Pitfalls
  • In Ads Manager, disable many of Facebook’s “helpful” automatic optimizations (e.g., auto music, visual touch-ups).
  • These can distort images or add random, inappropriate music to videos, wasting spend and harming brand perception.
• Budgeting and Metrics
  • Recommended minimum daily spend: ~$10–15.
  • Higher-ticket items (e.g., roofing) may need ~$30/day to see results; awareness campaigns are generally cheaper than lead generation.
  • Cost per lead varies by industry (e.g., detailers might see ~$5 CPL; roofers higher).
  • High-quality creative directly impacts performance; better content can outperform higher spend (e.g., $1,000 less in spend but 90,000 more people reached with superior content).

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Presence

• Google My Business (GMB) Updates
  • Regularly post “Updates” on your GMB profile—an effective, underused tactic.
  • For service businesses covering multiple areas, post for each job by location (e.g., “Roofing job complete in Alliston”).
  • Include relevant keywords (e.g., “standing seam job with siding”) to rank higher locally; fewer than 5% of businesses do this.
• Local Publications and Backlinking
  • Features in local online publications (e.g., Barrie Uncovered, Barrie 360) build authority and improve rankings. An article can strongly differentiate you from competitors.
  • More articles and backlinks improve Google ranking and visibility in AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT that draw from Google.
• Website SEO
  • Improve local SEO by embedding a list of all service areas into the site’s header code—Google can index them without cluttering the user-facing footer.
• Dominating Social vs. Google
  • For many service businesses, Facebook and Instagram are less saturated than Google Ads, which can be costly and competitive.
  • Dominating social creates a “trickle-over” effect—people later search for you on Google. A balanced approach pairs strong social presence with a smaller Google Ads campaign for discoverability.