I’ve created ads for some of the largest online brands (The Farmer's Dog, BYLT, Wayfair, Fabletics...) & I'm excited to share my TOP 20 ad formats in a FREE cheat sheet for you to study!
Sign up on my website pop-up to get it emailed to you:
Unpopular opinion from a media buyer:
90% of paid social success comes from having a great brand + great creatives that are designed for the platform (looks native to IG, Snap, etc.)
10% of the equation is the actual targeting and optimizations.
Change my mind.
Don't make ads, make TikToks! As a brand owner or agency, you know it's not THAT easy. There are plenty of trends that brands can take full advantage of for advertising or organic purposes. Here are FIVE top (current) trends that brands should be creating content around:
I never thought it was possible to be spending $500K+ a month on any other social channels than Facebook and Google (sorry Pin & Snap).
TikTok has quickly become the best channel right behind FB/Google for many brands.
The barrier to entry on TikTok is LOW. Here's some tips👇
One of my TikTok ad clients is spending $150K+ a month on TikTok ads.
Guess what is the top spending/performing age group?
Women 45-54.
The CTR and conversion rate on women 45-54 on TikTok is nearly double the 18-24 segment. 🤯
Here are 5 ad creative hooks you can copy from me to improve your TikTok ad performance!
Start your ad showing the product on the website, then show how it looks in real life!
Ad for my client Fabletics ⬇️
Facebook Ad Creative Tip:
Split-screen ads are working super well right now!
Mixing a static-image with a UGC video is a winning ad creative formula ✔️
Our latest ad for Brightech 👇
How to only see ads on your TikTok feed:
Go to settings -> ads -> ad experience specialist.
Now you will only see ads when you scroll through! Perfect for getting ad inspiration and spying on what other brands are doing.
Snapchat CPM's right now for conversion/purchase optimized campaigns are less than 50 CENTS averaged across my e-com accounts. Compared to $13 averaged across my accounts on Facebook. Don't sleep on Snapchat right now... or maybe you should. I'll happily take less competition 😃
My TikTok Ads course goes live in 1 week!
It will include hours of tutorials on how to set up your TikTok ad campaigns for success, as well as all of my ad creative tips and tutorials.
RETWEET this & FOLLOW me I will choose 1 person next week to win the course for free.
If someone said I had to bet a million dollars on 1 ad format that I believe would get the highest return...
I'd pick this format:
- Say TikTok in first 3 seconds
- Social proof "I saw everyone had these and wanted to try it"
- Unboxing
- Product in use
- Endorsement / CTA
My TikTok ads course is officially live 🎉
This course is perfect for those who want to learn the media buying and ad creative tactics that the top eCommerce brands are using to scale TikTok ads.
Watch my 45 video lessons to become a TikTok ads expert.
It's been my personal mission over the last year to share the best paid social advice via my Twitter, Facebook Group, and now my Youtube.
You shouldn't have to pay for a course to get great content.
I just released 5 new videos that will teach you how I approach Facebook ads:
7 Tips To Improve Your Ad Creative Performance 🧵
#1
Start your ad with the desired end result of using your product, then in the second frame introduce the product. This will increase video watch time as people will want to know how to get the result.
(all examples are my own)
ROAS down?
Have you tested any of these in a while?
✅ New creatives
✅ New ad copy
✅ New channels (Youtube, TikTok?)
✅ New offers
✅ New landing pages
✅ New product launches
✅ New audiences
✅ New email flows
✅ New pricing
✅ New influencers
Never. stop. testing.
My TikTok Ads course is ALMOST ready to launch!
I must say, the creative section is by far my favorite. 80 slides of creative tips/tricks that my girls & I use to make great TikTok ads each week.
Little sneak peek ⬇️
Audience testing is dead.
Prospecting targeting is OFFICIALLY over on Facebook.
The robots have taken over.
Facebook has announced starting September 21 that targeting expansion will be automatically applied on all ad sets using targeting or lookalike targeting.
A lot of people ask me how I plan to “scale” my business.
What if I don’t want to scale?
What if my dream is to work with a handful of awesome brands & people that are actually great to work with?
What if I'm content with where I'm at now?
Can any other biz owners relate?
There are no media buying hacks on Facebook.
There are just good ads and good products.
No media buyer can save an ad account with their tactics or account structure if the ads and product suck.
If your ROAS on FB is bad, the media buying tactics are rarely the culprit.
Why is it that Facebook's Marketing Experts
Are absolutely anything but Facebook Marketing Experts?
And why do they insist on calling/emailing so often 😂
Marketers, listen up👂!
I'm letting you in on my 8 top-performing ad formats. You need to be testing these before Q4!
#1
"3 things that will convince you to try _____"
2022 Facebook Ads Winning Strategies:
- Reels (Launching TikTok ad creative on Reels)
- Page Whitelisting (Running ads through the creator pages instead of the brand page)
That’s all I’m doing now a-days.
My typical Facebook ad budget split:
70% Prospecting (Cold Audience)
30% Remarketing (Warm/Hot Audiences)
✅Always exclude your remarketing from prospecting ad sets
✅Know your time lag to purchase to determine remarketing window
✅ Leverage broad audiences / interest expansion
This is a huge accomplishment for me🎉
I, as a freelancer, am now being recognized as a Preferred Facebook Agency Partner! This means I'll be listed in Facebook's preferred partners directory and access to agency-level support!
I've personally managed $2.5M+ in the last 6 mths.
3 TikTok Ad Hooks You Should Test:
#1
"POV"
In this ad below, we did "POV - You Realize You Only Have One Bottle Left"
But you could easily do this for almost any product
POV - You Realize You're Out Of _______
Here's my formula for creating TikTok ads:
- Always keep the ads under 30 seconds
- The first 3 seconds of the ad needs to be the most eye-catching
- Always use native TikTok fonts
- Use emojis when appropriate
- Show genuine reactions to trying the product
- Clear > Complicated
What type of ads is working the best on Meta right now?
Here are 5 top-performing ad hooks you need to start testing ⤵️
#1
What I Ordered Vs. What I Got
Want to know what ad type is working best for Meta ads right now?
They're called MASH-UPS.
Simply put, mash-ups are "mashing together" footage from a variety of content creators.
Here's why mash-ups are a must-have in your ad account...🧵
If you are looking to hire an agency, here are 5 red flags to look out for 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
#1
They have a calendar link to book a call with the agency owner on their home page.
Ain't no serious agency owner has time to take random calls with leads that aren't pre-qualified.
I've been running TikTok ads for large eCommerce clients like Thrive Market, Our Place, Blend Jet, and Sugar Bear Hair for over a year now.
Ask me any TikTok ads media buying / creative questions for the next hour! 👇
Here's another high-performing TikTok Ad Formula:
- Hook: Websites You Should Know About ________ Edition
- Greenscreen with the website
- Share the 3 top value props
- Show browsing the site on a laptop
- End with CTA to go to the website
How to instantly elevate any Facebook/Instagram ad:
- Incorporate zooms
- Add a reverse transition
- Use a split-screen
- Add captions
- Speed up clips
A thread on the TikTok algorithm 🔥 have you ever wondered how it all works? The TikTok algorithm has made it easier for a video to go viral than any other platform!
TikTok is using machine learning to evaluate the quality of every video uploaded. Good Content = Social Success
Honestly, taking an ad account from $0 to $50k in monthly spend is much more difficult than taking an account from $100k to $500k.
The reason is because product-market fit has to be proven to get to $50k a month.
That’s why I only work with clients that are already at $50k+.
FOUR ad creatives you need to test in your ad account (if you haven't already). These ad styles are ones I swear by, whether starting with a brand new account or in need of a creative refresh for my existing clients -- see the thread to see a few examples.
Your biggest regret will be not testing these 8 viral ad hooks sooner...
Hook
#1
:
My biggest regret is not trying this ______ sooner
(all examples my own)
⬇️
I'm really excited about the results I'm seeing from this ad I did for a client. It's also an ad you can replicate with any product on white.
By matching the background color to the color of the product and then zooming out to the white background with text, it grabs attention!
I miss when my timeline was marketing tips and not crypto 🤡.
Please tag your favorite marketers to follow in the comments below! I need new marketers to follow.
My favorite ad type for BFCM (Black Friday/Cyber Monday)
"Texting Interruption"
I shared an example of this a few weeks back but wanted to share a few more that we have been making with this trend!
Here's an ad creative effect that I've been obsessed with doing lately:
It's called "phone inception" 📲
You can do this by capturing clips of your product in use in various settings and then use a screenshot from the previous clip on your phone to transition to the next place.
80% of my business is UGC content creation.
20% of my business is media buying services.
1 year ago, that % was flipped.
Media buying is nothing without a supply of great ad UGC ads!
Here's how I did it and why...
TIKTOK AD TIPS 👇
- "Reply to a comment" as your ad creative! This makes it look a lot less like an ad and more organic to TikTok
- Robot voice, need I say more?
Loving our latest ad for Wandering Bear 😍 My fridge is going to be famous!
As a business owner, I get a ton of annoying emails from salespeople.
I was curious... how did my email get leaked? And how do I stop the flood of cold-sales emails every day?
I finally found the problem & solution ⤵️🧵
Here's a tactic to make your ad look LESS like an ad:
Start the ad with the actress walking and talking to the camera with no text on the screen until at least 1-second in.
People decide if they will watch a video in less than a second. So your video must not look like an ad!
In May when iOS14.5 happened, I had a client leave me when ROAS dropped on FB.
They said they were going to another agency that had the "hacks to beat iOS14"
Just caught up with them, and they realized there are no hacks.
Lesson is don't trust anyone who claims to have hacks.
5 Video Ad Intros You Need To Test (Steal My Ad Frameworks!):
#1
Snap transition! This helps increase video watch time and grab attention in the first second.
Your ad length should be the age of your customer.
Targeting 25-34 Y.O.? That is the perfect ad length for this demographic.
Under 18? You better have super short and snappy TikToks.
65+? They convert best on videos longer than a minute. They have longer attention spans!
Really proud that I, as a media buying freelancer, have reached the top Facebook Agency status as a Premium Agency Partner.
This means that I have personally managed over $25M in ad spend for my clients and following best practices.
So excited to start working with Savage X Fenty on their TikTok Ad Creatives!
As a long-time Rihanna fan, this is definitely a dream client to work with 😍 What a way to end the year!
I really want to create a TikTok ads course because I have so much experience media buying and creating ads for some of the top brands on TikTok.
But I'm too busy media buying and creating ads for some of the top brands on TikTok to make a course.
The dilemma 🥺
Here's a great free resource for ad inspiration:
A member of my Facebook ad creative group created this library, which includes the ads from the top 1000 Shopify merchants sorted by category. Super useful!
Huge TikTok Ads Update:
Smart Performance Campaigns⭐️ (SPCs for short)
This will completely change the way that media buyers approach TikTok ads.
It's already been reported to double the efficiency of your ad spend.
Here's the download on SPCs and how to best use them ⤵️
I had a client this week that had a TikTok go viral.
The day it went viral, revenue in one day was higher than Black Friday last year.
This is all from a 13-second video.
TikTok is crazy.
I got the new Macbook Pro today.
And the absolute best feature is that I can build on Facebook ads manager without my laptop sounding like a 747 taking off.
This has to be the proudest moment of my career.
My client, Outer was just named by Business Insider the
#1
fastest growing DTC brand in Q2!!!!!!!!!!
I've had the best time scaling their Facebook and Google ads!
I get a lot of emails asking if I can guarantee a 3x+ ROAS
Reminder:
If I had the secret formula for GUARANTEED results with digital marketing...
I'd be lounging on my private island right now and not in meetings all day 🤪🏝️
There are no secrets! Just testing and learning.
Sometimes the best looking ads perform the worst.
And the ad you film and edit on your iPhone in 10 minutes perform the best.
Prioritize speed and volume of creative testing over the overly-produced videos that takes weeks to make.
What do the top advertisers on Meta and TikTok like The Farmers Dog, Poshmark, and Hims have in comment? They all have amazing ad creatives, and they hire me to make them.
Here are 15 top ad formats for you to use as inspiration:
#1
Let me change your mind about _________
In my last 2.5 years of creating ads for TikTok,
One thing has remained true:
Mentioning "TikTok" in the first 3 seconds of your ad is positively correlated with ad performance.
Examples:
Things TikTok Made Me Buy
I saw this on TikTok so I had to try it out
Things you should be testing in your Facebook ad account:
Statics with IG text overlays.
Yes, UGC is important! But static images serve an important role in your ad account. It's a mistake to just rely on video ads.
*What's Working For Me W/ Facebook Ads*
- Refreshing thumbnails and copy on ads that died out
- Refreshing old ads with a 4x5 aspect ratio instead of 1x1
- Dynamic creative still images/carousels
- Consolidating the account as much as possible with broad audiences.
Thoughts?
I randomly started a product review blog that now gets over 10 million impressions and 2 million post engagements a month on Facebook.
Here's the story of my most successful side project:
*The secret to scaling paid social that nobody will tell you*
The secret is that there are no secrets. Although I work on some brands spending $1M+ on ads each month, I can mostly attribute that scale to great product-market fit
If I had the secret I'd be on my private island😋
Brand: "Turn off that ad, it's off-brand"
Media Buyer: "But it's the best-performing in the account right now"
Brand: "I don't care, it's too unpolished. We need to stay on brand"
Media Buyer: "But none of the polished branded content is working"
Moral of the story:
If your
I'm a huge believer in Advantage+ Facebook ad campaigns.
One of my clients switched their entire account over to Advantage+ just over a week ago and has seen a 16% decrease in CPA.
Exact same ads, just a different campaign structure.
Ask me anything about Advantage+! ⤵️
How to make a perfect 15-second ad ⤵️
Hook (seconds 0-3) -> Introduce Product + Brand Name (seconds 3-5) -> Top Value Prop (seconds 5-8) -> Who Would Love This (seconds 8-13) -> CTA (seconds 13-15)
Here's what I'm seeing so far for Black Friday:
- CPMs on Facebook are 25% higher than last year
- Images are working better than videos
- The top-converting offers are 30%+ off site-wide
- TikTok is doing GREAT, taking our regular best-performing ads & pairing it with sale copy
Facebook Ads retargeting tip 😀! So you can’t remarket people who have VIEWED your photo ads, you can only target those who have watched your videos or clicked to the site. So to get around that, change your stills into 10 second videos (the video is just the photo!)
Great news for TikTok marketers 📣
The Community Interaction campaign type is officially out of beta.
This means that TikTok advertisers can now run campaigns solely for the purpose of getting new followers on their organic TikTok page.
I'm seeing cost per follow <$0.10 🔥
What's working for TikTok ads right now:
The hook "Things I Wish I Knew About Sooner Part __"
I love starting ads with this hook because it looks so native to the platform & encourages people to keep watching. What do you think of my latest? 👇
Today I start working with a dream client... Fabletics 😍
I'm so blessed to be working with some of the best brands out there on their TikTok strategies!
If I did a free live Snapchat ads training for intermediate/advanced digital marketers this week, would you want to join? 👻
Reply yes in the comments below and we’ll set up a zoom 👏🏻
One of the best features of TikTok ads is the ability to boost an influencer's post.
If an influencer posts a video with your product, you can ask the influencer for their post ID and get authorized to put an ad budget behind their post.
Just like whitelisting a FB page!
TikTok course is almost done!
Just a few more tutorials and lectures to film this week.
I just got the first lessons back from the editors and it's coming out better than I ever dreamed of 😍
Trying to scale your Facebook ads to spend $10K a day? Don't use audience targeting.
The algorithm knows based off of your pixel data who is best to serve your ads to. You are better off getting out of your own way and opting for completely broad targeting.
I'll show you 👇
Something I've always thought is shady is when agencies lock clients into long-term contracts.
I've always operated on month-to-month contracts. As long as the value is there, clients will happily stay. Forcing an unhappy client to stick around is unethical.
Agree or disagree?