Social media ads: Avoid trolls and sell at the same time!
More often than I should, I see photographers posting in groups looking for help as to how to respond to an uninvited or negative comment on their ad, usually for minis where the time, price and number of images is placed front and centre.
The first thing I’ll tell you is that the standard trifecta of time-files-price isn’t an effective sales technique or a good use of ad real estate space, because those things represent the details of your experience. Ads sell the experience first, which means that you need to engage people in desiring what’s in the ad on a a gut and emotional level. Why should they want this? Why is it important? What would make them choose you over others? How does it make them feel? A good example to drive this point home are advertisements for resorts in tropical places. They’ll get you with drop-dead images of beautiful, sun-kissed people, turquoise waters, cocktails with little umbrellas and white, pristine sand (and didn’t that description just sell you on wanting a vacation a lil’ bit?) They won’t just show a hotel, how many nights for how much….until after the initial ad already has you picturing yourself gliding through the pool to the swim-up bar! Once you can already feel the sand between your toes and the warm and fuzzy of that colourful cocktail, what will you think of the price? A little stretch in the budget maybe?
An ad on social media has less than a split-second to catch someone in a scroll. A paid ad needs to be really compelling to stop that scroll. In that small space, especially if potential clients are on their phone, a collage of tiny images won’t have much impact, nor would the lacklustre details of a title called ‘mini’ and a price highlighted in a badge. What’s compelling? Would you stop your scroll if you saw your own ad? Further, that price, shining front and centre (as many templates - usually meant for selling commodity products - are used for minis), invites people to make a comment about it. And often it will be negative: either saying it’s too expensive, a rip-off, or worse, another photographer who undercuts on your own ad/post! And then the struggle becomes how to respond to something that’s appearing on your ad for everyone else to see. Time and energy to stew, fume and vent, then block or respond. Not time well spent in your business.
The solution?
Remove price from the post (and time and files) and lead people to a sales page. Then, you have an entire web page to sell - your ad space expanded infinitely! Additional images to show off a session - bigger and better than in the tiny ad in someone’s feed. Where you agonized about which image went on the ad and did a collage because you loved them all and wanted potential clients to see all of them, you can put the rest here - another problem solved. And here is where you can put price, number of images received, dates for the sessions, how to book. You also have opportunity to impart value for context, which helps mitigate that price tag. The budget stretch, remember?
Further, you have the benefit of your branding that web page, which reinforces your branding efforts elsewhere. You can also call out any vendors that are working with you (like tree farms for Christmas minis) and it’s an opportunity for cross-promotion. I can’t stress enough how much of a missed opportunity this is to get eyes on your event. So many aren’t sure of how to advertise their sessions beyond ads or posts on social media, and here it is - a gift - share that sales page with the vendor, and because they are featured, they will be more apt to share that with their followers, increasing your booking chances and building a relationship/partnership to boot!
When a troll sees your ad, they have nothing to dig into because there really isn’t anything notable there like a price for them to comment on. I’d be hard-pressed to find a troll motivated enough to click through to see something they aren’t truly interested in, find the price, get disgruntled about it, return to the ad to leave a troll-y comment! Trolls look for easy, low-hanging fruit opportunities to give unsolicited opinions. By refining your ad to the benefit of your ideal client and using some solid sales principles of a further reveal in the sales page, you can neutralize this issue. Remember that time spent fuming and blocking? Spend that proactively instead building a simple sales page and your time automatically becomes better spent.
For those who were intrigued by the ad, they will click through for more information (maybe even an initial troll!) And then you have them captive for a few more seconds, to sell them further on the experience. That is a significant marketing reward right there - they gave you their attention. Don’t know where to start building a sales page? I love the advice from The Foxes photography. Their advice focusses on weddings and elopements but can be used for any photography genre.
I can’t find a downside. The ad is just the teaser. Its only job is to get people interested enough to take another step. It’s not meant to reveal everything, because there just isn’t room and details are boring and turn people off.
If you want more on how to design compelling ads, I recorded an Ecamm Live workshop on it. It’s available in the Units section of my Facebook Group. Join and watch for a load of tips and tricks to get those ads working for you, and trolls be gone!
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