Most small businesses who think they’re ready to hire a Facebook marketing agency…aren’t.
Is that a bit harsh? Maybe.
But the truth is that it’s really easy to waste a ton of money — and valuable time — tapping one of the many Facebook marketing agencies out there before your business is ready.
Worse yet, if your initial experience goes awry, you might invalidate the concept of off-loading your Facebook marketing duties to an agency, rather than realize that your process may be a bit flawed.
To avoid future heartache, and more than a little wallet-ache, here are five questions to ask to ensure you are truly ready for the Facebook marketing agency Major Leagues:
How to Know if You’re Ready to Hire a Facebook Marketing Agency
Question #1: Have You Run at Least 4 Facebook Ad Campaigns?
This is a mistake I see all the time. Small business owners who just want an agency to “set up their Facebook stuff” or help them sign up for the latest whiz-bang piece of Facebook marketing software.
And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, I’m all for off-loading crap you don’t want to do to other people, I can tell you as somebody who used to work in an agency this is where a big waste of your money lies.
That’s because many agencies prey on your Facebook tech overwhelm and will offer you “generous” packages where they set everything up. What they don’t tell is that they often off-load stuff, like setting up your Facebook page or creating your ad campaigns, to somebody else. Usually at a much-higher price than you would pay ordinarily.
Instead I recommend you hire freelancers, on a site such as Upwork.com, to set up your Facebook marketing stuff. This includes finding:
- A person to create your Facebook page (including banner image, timeline highlights, and keyword descriptions)
- A person to install Facebook stuff on your website (share icons, retargeting code, etc.)
- A person to create 4 sample Facebook ad campaigns (“Like” campaign; video ad, one “click to website” ad, one “lead generation” ad)
And then run one campaign a week for the next month. And just observe what happens. Does your fan count rise? (It should.) Are you getting people to sign up for you email list? Are they downloading your coupons? Are they visiting your site?
Don’t worry if nobody is buying anything yet. (If they are, you are way ahead of the curve.) You just want to get a bird’s eye view of the machine in process. (So, you don’t end up paying top-dollar for stuff you could have done earlier.)
Question #2: Do You Know Your Numbers?
And by numbers I mean:
- How Much the Average Customer is Worth to You Life-Time
- How Much You Are Currently Spending on Customer Acquisition
You don’t have to be exact. You may not know precisely how much each customer is worth to you. Yet.
But if you’re selling a Kardashian-inspired chess set for $50 — and your average customer buys four chess sets (because you can’t have just three) — then your average customer value is $200. Which means if it costs you $175 to acquire a customer via Facebook — not unheard of — then you’re more than breaking even.
You’re kicking ass.
The reason this is so important is that when you go sleuthing for a Facebook marketing agency, you’ll know EXACTLY what results you want. You’ll be able to articulate such things as:
- We want to lower customer acquisition cost on Facebook (from $75 to a more comfortable $50)
- We want to boost our lifetime customer value (Kardashian-styled MahJong!)
Facebook is definitely the long game of marketing, some call it the “long con,” and if you don’t whether your Facebook spend will at least break-even, you’ll have no idea whether anything the agency is doing is working. (Which leaves you prone to wasting money on stuff that doesn’t boost your business.)
Question #3: Is Your Funnel Dialed-In?
Dialed-in doesn’t necessarily mean you have everything perfect. (If you did, you’d probably be on Shark Tank, not looking for a Facebook agency.)
But it really helps before you approach an agency to handle your Facebook duties if you’ve got:
- A compelling offer to a starving/excited audience (free report, free trial, awesome discount…anything that will interrupt people as they look at Facebook on the phone)
- A way to collect that lead (email list, Facebook group, survey)
- A method to sell them something low-ticket initially (this just needs to break even)
- A system to nurture and market to that lead (automated email sequence, phone call follow-up)
- A mechanism for selling ’em more stuff in the future
Again, this doesn’t have to be executed to perfection before starting. But…it just gives your Facebook marketing agency experiment a much-better chance to thrive if you actually have your funnel ducks in a row. (No matter how wobbly that row seems to be.)
Question #4: Do You Really Frickin’ Know Who Your Ideal Customer Is?
A social media agency can do far more for you than just gather some Facebook marketing quotes or pause your ads in the middle of the night. One of the most powerful ways an agency can super-charge your Facebook efforts is to help you hone in on your REAL ideal customer. (Dentists; over the age of 55; looking to sell their practice; who love to play golf; and live in Phoenix) Not the bland, vague person you think your customer is. (Dentists in the United States.)
This doesn’t mean you have to know what TV shows your ideal customer watches or what kind of novels they like to read. That’s the agency’s job, to take your demographic and psycho-graphic elements of your ideal lead and translate that into ad campaigns and marketing strategies that have the best chance of success.
Question #5: Are You Ready to Talk to at Least Four Agencies?
It’s temping to want to buy the very first house you see. (“This one has running water. We’ll take it!”) But just like acquiring real estate, choosing a Facebook marketing agency requires some patience and a willingness to keep walking if the fit isn’t right.
Here’s the cool thing: if you’ve realized the first four items on this list then you’ll know more about what you want your Facebook marketing to accomplish then 99% of all the other small business peeps out there.
You’ll be able to ask the right questions. And not be unduly impressed by vanity metrics. (“Okay, you say you’ll boost my fan count. That’s nice. What about my customer acquisition cost? Which type of ad do you think works best? And how would you do it?”)
Not only will you earn the respect of the Facebook marketing agency — they’ll know you’re not going to tolerate B.S. — but you’ll have confidence in your own Facebook marketing knowledge. (Even if you don’t know how to create a single Facebook ad.)
What’s Your Take on Hiring a Facebook Marketing Agency?
Got a tip you’d recommend when working with a Facebook marketing agency? (And not get totally screwed.) We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
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