Facebook Ads Strategies to grow your Makeup Business

Please note!! This is a 2000-word Valuable and Actionable post.

This is the 2nd part to my previous post, you can check it out here.

I remember running my first ad, and I did the same thing every other Facebook marketing Otondo (Otondo- new in town) did.

I clicked the “boost post” button and then facebook rejected my ad simply because I used the word “acne”.

Changed the images couple of times, change some text and viola it was up.

I waited…

I waited.

I waited to see how many clicked the website link to sign up. A small number did and that made me discouraged so I stopped the ad.

Second time I ran an ad, it went up easily.

A little more people than the previous clicked through but few sign up.

More tears and discouragement, I turned off the ad and gave up on the idea of Facebook ads for a while.

I decided to go back to my drawing board to find out where I was getting it all wrong.

The next time I ran an ad, I reached thousands of people and this time got a higher conversion rate with as little as $11.

The difference in my Facebook ad results was simply because, I spent time understanding my target audience and learning how to set up a profitable Facebook ad.

I realized that to grow my beauty business, I need to grow my customer base. To grow my customer base, I needed to learn more about them, their needs and how I can solve them. So, this means, No customer no business, it’s that simple.

You need to have a form of channel by which you get customers consistently apart from the regular referrals. Plus, you have a greater advantage learning how to deploy profitable Facebook ads strategies for your beauty brand than following what your competition are doing. The beauty industry is tough and challenging especially if you’re using the exact tactics everyone is doing. Most beauty businesses depend on referral marketing. While this is good, it’s not always enough.

Who is your Ideal Customer?

The first step to setting up a profitable Facebook ad is knowing your ideal customer, their demographics, interests and behavior.

AS A MAKEUP ARTIST, you’re looking for paying clients which could be bridal, fashion show, tv production, or party guests. Your clients struggle to do their makeup, so they want that quick and professional beauty touch for different occasions.

AS A MAKEUP EDUCATOR, you’re looking for students who are looking to either learn how to wear makeup on themselves or learn the art of Makeup Artistry as a Profession. They could be employees looking to escape the 9-5 and start out a business as a makeup artist. They could be university students looking to learn makeup skill as a source of income.

AS A MAKEUP RETAILER, you’re looking for customers to buy your makeup products. I’ve written an easy to implement post on how to get customers here. https://web.facebook.com/groups/smartbcamp/permalink/1779021518778056/

AS A MAKEUP BLOGGER, you’re looking to build an audience that will read your blog, watch your videos and buy beauty products you’re affiliated with.

Irrespective of what you do in the Makeup Industry, to grow your customer/client base, you need to understand who they are, their interests and their current struggles. That way you’re clear on who you want to attract to your beauty brand.

There are 5 key strategies to deploying a profitable Facebook ad:

1. Marketing goal/objective

2. Targeting your customers

3. An Irresistible offer

4. Sales Copy

5. Your ad creative (image/video)

1. WHAT’S YOUR MARKETING GOAL/OBJECTIVE?

The first question Facebook asks you when you’re about to set up an ad on your adverts manager dashboard is: what’s your marketing objective?

On this page they’ve given you a bunch of options which have been categorized into 3 parts:

• Awareness

• Consideration

• Conversion

These 3 categories are the levels of a simple sales funnel Facebook has designed for you. A sales funnel is a buying process where you take your customers from the awareness stage to the buying stage.

If you don’t understand the purpose of each option, you won’t get it right.

AWARENESS- Top of The Funnel

So, at the top of this sales funnel is the awareness stage. Here, Facebook gave you 2 forms of ad; the brand awareness ad and the Reach ad.

People at this level are the furthest away from being a buyer. There are so many reasons why they may not be a customer such as, they don’t know like trust your brand, they are not ready for your solution, etc.

Since the audience here at this level are not ready to buy, you can use any of the ads at this level to make customers more familiar with your brand and get them to know like trust you by giving them amazing value. By doing so, you are nurturing customers that will buy your products down the funnel.

While other beauty brands are pumping out buy! Buy! Buy! ads, you are forming a relationship by building trust and familiarity with your customer by giving them value.

To be in the minds of your customers, you have to be in the presence consistently.

CONSIDERATION- Middle of The Funnel

At the consideration stage, the people here are closer to becoming a customer. It will take a special offer to make them take some form of action such as event responses, to sign up with their email addresses for a free download, to sign up on your messenger bot, to install your app, to like your page, to share and comment on your post or to view your video.

The main goal of this stage is to capture traffic, and then nurture them to potential customers. Keep in mind that you have to follow up with your customers by giving them some form of value.

CONVERSION- Bottom of The Funnel

People at the bottom of the funnel are actively looking to buy your products. They know the exact solution they need and they are in search for it since they’re ready for it. The 3 forms of Facebook ads in this category are the: conversions ad, product catalogue sales ad and the store visits ad.

2. HOW TO TARGET YOUR CUSTOMERS

Since majority of your market are women, set the gender to women and the age range from 20-55. Here I’m just listing out 3 ways to target them with your ads.

DEMOGRAPHICS: you can target people based on their job titles, education background, their income, relationship status and so much more. Think of what category of people can offer your services as a makeup artist. Who would be interested in enrolling for your makeup classes? Who wants to buy makeup products and why? Who needs to read your makeup products recommendations on your blog or watch your video tutorials?

INTERESTS: you can target your customers based on what their interested in. so look at listing out makeup brands your customers must have shown interest in such as Marykay, mac, Maybelline, Milani etc. people interested in makeup are also interested in skincare, so consider listing out popular skincare brands.

BEHAVIOUR: Remember that your customers are spending more time on their phone. So, since Facebook has data from all the actions people are taking, you can target based on the mobile phones they use, the video and posts your customers spend time on.

3. CREATING AN IRRESISTIBLE OFFER

So, the trick here is to keep your end goal at the forefront of your mind.

You want to pull potential customers first, nurture them with free value then eventually ask for a sale. So, the question is what value can I give customers who are likely to buy your product?

You can choose to give them a freebie by telling them to sign up with their email on a landing page or opt-in through your Facebook messenger bot by commenting on the advert post.

FRONT OFFER: Freebie/free value

Makeup artist: Sign up to get 15% discount off on any of your bridal makeup package

Makeup retailer: Sign up for One day only 20% discount code on some or all products OR sign up to get a video tutorial on how to use some of the products your selling.

Makeup educator: Sign up to get a FREE 5-minute eyebrow video tutorial

Makeup blogger: Sign up to watch a FREE exclusive video on how you used a particular product to make your makeup last all day.

BACK OFFER: Product/service offer

Makeup Artist: Bridal makeup package.

Makeup Retailer: To sell the makeup products you have on ground.

Makeup Educator: One-month makeup class

Makeup Blogger: To buy makeup products through your affiliate link

Next, you need a trigger that will make your offer so irresistible for your customer. What’s the next thing your clients/customers purchase from you after your main Beauty product/service? That’s your bonus offer. You need to give your customer a good reason WHY they should do business with you. Your bonus should look so good plus it should have a deadline that will make your customers jump at it. The best bonuses are better and valuable than the actual product.

BONUS OFFER:

Makeup Artist: Bridal Makeup Package PLUS makeup service for mother of the bride

Makeup Retailer: If they buy products worth a certain amount they will get a FREE lashes or foundation brush.

Makeup Educator: One-month makeup class PLUS a makeup kit containing basic makeup products.

Makeup Blogger: Buy this product(s) through my affiliate link and get a video tutorial worth …. Then you should instruct them how to how to get their bonus by sending you a screenshot of their order receipt they got by purchasing through your affiliate link.

4.HOW TO SELL WITH WORDS (SALES COPY)

From headline to the offer you’re giving your customer, if you really want to get people to buy that product, you need to learn how to write words that will sink deep into their heads and force them to open their wallet for you. I’m not just talking about buy one get one free.

When writing your sales copy you need to let your customers know that you understand their currently struggles and your business/ product will solve it.

Best way to write a sales copy? Spend time talking to your customers/ potential customers. Listen to them carefully about their struggles and how it makes them feel. Then use their words in your marketing, that way they will feel some form of connection to your business simply because you’re sounding like you’re in their head.

Keep in mind that Facebook has strict rules on how you describe your customers.

As a Makeup artist, some wedding guests they struggle to do their makeup. If you listen carefully to them at the studio, they will say things like, “I want the makeup to last long since I will be dancing”. Or “I’m late…how fast can you get my makeup done?” or “I need to turn heads at this party when I walk in….”

As a Makeup Retailer, customers may say words like “what can I use to hold makeup for so long?” “I don’t know where to get original makeup products”.

As a Makeup Educator, your potential students say stuffs like, “what products do I need to get to start off as a makeup artist?” “What basic products should I have in my personal makeup kit?” “I’m still struggling with brows” “I take too much time on brows”.

As a Makeup Blogger, your audience ask questions like “is that foundation good for oily skin? or good in hot/cold weather?” Your audience want your honest review about a product before they actually buy that product. So, always list out products being talked about and links to where they can get them online so as to trigger them to buy products you’re recommending.

5. YOUR AD CREATIVE (Images)

When you look at top beauty brands on Facebook, they are very strategic about their images being used in their brand.

Often times your content determines the kind of customers you attract to your beauty brand.

A lot comes into play when it comes to creating images. Images create perception about your brand; i.e how people view your brand.

So, you need a form of strategy.

As a Makeup artist, you can use an image of a before and after picture of your work on a wedding guest or a bride.

As a Makeup retailer, you can post an image with makeup swatches on your hand so your customers can see how bright and pigmented your eyeshadow, bronzer or lip stick is.

As a Makeup educator,3-5 images showing the steps of achieving a particular makeup look.

As a Makeup blogger, before and after picture of a look you’ve done with a set of products. So, your image can have the name of the main product your post is centered on. If you want some examples, google Fenty beauty a new makeup line launched by Rihanna. You would see thousands of images on written and video reviews of the product.

Now when it comes to using images for Facebook ads, Facebook has couple of rules.

Your image size should be 1,200 x 900 pixels and it should have minimal amount of text or else you advert won’t be accepted.

Set your budget to $5 a day. Be sure to monitor your ads and follow up with your customers.

You’re good to go.

So, in the comment box below, I want to know YOUR BIGGEST STRUGGLE so far in running Facebook ads to get customers as a Beauty Entrepreneur.

Don’t forget to tag a Makeup Business owner that will definitely need this post.

Muaah… Talk soon.


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