Face Facts

How exactly does someone become an expert in Facebook advertising?

By being Brian Meert.

Meert, Founder of Hollywood based AdvertiseMint, a Facebook Advertising Agency, has managed Facebook advertising for hundreds of companies over the past seven and a half years.

His dedication has led to a client list that includes Coca Cola, Playboy and Grant Cardone.

“I’m inside the Facebook ad platform more than most people who work at Facebook,” Meert says.

Obviously, advertising is nothing like it was prior to the introduction of social media — taking out an ad in the newspaper, buying time for a commercial on television or renting a billboard to promote your product or service.

“The older methods of advertising are just not as effective as the new advertising tools from social media. Facebook wants to keep their users and has built an ad platform that incentives quality advertising. If users are bored and swipe past your ad quickly, your ads become more expensive. On the flip side, Facebook rewards advertisers who find ways to creatively educate, entertain or engage users with their ads.”

Facebook has revolutionized modern-day advertising. “Whether your ad budget is $50 or $5 million, all advertisers are now using the exact same platform,” he says. “This allows a level playing field between a small business and mega brands running nationwide ad campaigns. Your business will win the ad game if you are constantly creating new ads and ensuring they are high quality.”

This is why Meert – and thousands of other social media experts — say “Facebook advertising is the most efficient method on Planet Earth to spend money and to get your desired outcome.”

The secret to taking advantage of the advertising opportunities with Facebook comes in the backend of the system, “meaning what you can do with your money,” Meert says. “One is how much you spend to be able to reach people, and the next factor is how to be able to reach the right person at the right time with the right creatives.”

So how does AdvertiseMint create ads that hit all those correct target areas? It starts with insider knowledge.

“Once you understand how the system works, you can build systems and strategies to maximize your results. Plus, Facebook has many power tools like dynamic creative or asset customization that 90% of businesses never use to help improve their results” he says.

For Meert, his expertise comes from “doing it a lot – repetition — and being able to see a lot of the data from hundreds of different businesses across the board. We’re in a unique situation to be able to share the collective learning from multiple clients and industries to help ensure we bring you the best results.”

Meert produces a daily podcast called The Duke of Digital that “guides business owners and entrepreneurs through the ever-changing digital landscape so you can grow your business online.”

He also wrote The Complete Guide to Facebook Advertising, a best seller on Amazon. The idea for the book came after Meert found himself answering the same questions over and over. “I talk to 10-15 business owners a day and found myself answering the same questions. I wanted to create a way for others to learn from my experience and improve their results”.

Every year since then, Meert has released a new, updated version of the book with the latest information, since the Facebook ad platform is constantly-changing. “The advertising tools are changing and being updated in real time. I will have completely different conversations today than I did a month ago. I want the underdog to have a chance against the major brands — by helping them improve the return from their advertising.”

While there are many moving pieces to successful Facebook advertising, Meert says that if he had to choose one, it would be ad creatives. “You need to double down on your ad creatives. No matter how many videos you’re making, you need to double that number, and that’s still probably not enough.”

If you aren’t creating new videos … “You better get on it,” Meert says. “The advertisers that are most profitable on Facebook are producing a steady stream of videos. We created a subscription service called VideoMint, which provides rapid video production so companies can have new videos every month.”

The future of Facebook advertising is already here. Facebook is in the process of implementing automated and AI solutions that could eventually eliminate the position of a media buyer managing ad campaigns.

Thus, what Meert predicts will set companies apart is the creative process. “When we first started, we had a bunch of media buyers placing ads. Now we have almost twice as many people in our creative department as our media buying team. Your creatives are your secret sauce with Facebook ads.”

However, Meert does not see media buyers becoming obsolete — ever. “While Facebook has some powerful tools, they don’t always work perfectly and its vital you have a Facebook Blueprint Certified expert watching over your ad campaigns. Even the most technologically advanced airplanes still have pilots, who take over if a system malfunctions. You need that with your Facebook ads.”

Whatever the future holds for the world of Facebook advertising, Meert will be at the forefront of it. He has stayed on top of Facebook ad trends and knows that in order to stay at the front, “You have to be ready to change. With each new feature comes an opportunity to gain an advantage over your competition if you move quickly.”

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This article was edited and published by Rick Weinberg, California Business Journal’s Founder and Editor-in-Chief. Click here for Rick Weinberg’s biography.

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