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Things to consider before hiring a Facebook Ad Professional

/ Facebook Ad Tips / By

Are you looking to hire a Facebook Ad professional to help you launch into the world of Facebook ads? If so, you’re in the right place. 

Hiring the right Facebook Ad Strategist for you is important and can have a huge impact on your return on investment and the volume of leads you generate. 

So before you hire the first Facebook ads freelancer you see, please take some time to read this article. It will save you both time and money in the long run! 

Although I do offer Facebook ad services, this article is not about me. Instead, I want to ensure you have an unbiased, helpful guide to choosing a Facebook Ad Strategist that’s right for you (and that won’t always be me!).

What type of Facebook Ad professional do you need?

When searching for a Facebook advertising pro to work with, you might notice many different types of offerings. 

From freelancer to agency to Facebook Ad Strategist. It’s confusing knowing the difference and who to choose to help you. 

Below, I’ve broken down the difference between these types so you can understand which is the best option for you. 

Facebook Ad Freelancer

Freelancers lend their skills and talents to a number of clients on a flexible basis – this doesn’t mean they’re any less qualified than any other category, but it is worth checking their credentials and making sure that you have seen evidence of their ability with Facebook ads. 

Facebook Ad Agency

A Facebook Ad Agency provides experienced Facebook advertisers to help businesses use Facebook ads to grow. They often have the benefit of a full creative team, so the scope of work taken on can be a lot broader and incorporate video editing, graphic design, copywriting, plus other PPC services and wider marketing services like SEO and content creation. It’s good to remember though, that in the current climate of hybrid working, many agencies are built up of teams of remote freelancers.

Facebook Ad Strategist

A Facebook Ad Strategist tends to be someone that very specifically focuses on the Meta platform and will present the relevant Meta Blueprint Training certifications to show that the services they offer are verified by Meta (Facebook) themselves.  They can not only build out your advertising campaigns, but also help you create an advertising strategy that seamlessly fits in with the rest of your marketing efforts, and works as part of the bigger picture of your business.

Finding the right Facebook ads person to help you specifically 

Be specific when searching online for a Facebook Ads professional to work with. Try and use extra words within your search phrase to describe the type of Facebook Ads professional you’re looking for.

For example, if you need a Facebook Ads pro who specialises in ecommerce, make sure to include all this information when searching using Google.

The more specific you are now, the easier you will find the right person for you. 

How much do you have to spend?

The cost of a/hiring a Facebook ads expert can vary greatly depending on your requirements, but generally you will be paying in excess of £400 – £2000 per month. 

This can make it extremely difficult to choose the right person/company. 

But, you might be wondering, what’s the difference between the companies that charge £400 and the companies that charge £2000 a month? 

I’ve broken that down for you below.

Freelance Facebook Ad Professionals 

You may come across a Facebook Ads freelancer that charges by the hour, which could potentially bring your spend in at the lower end of the scale but you will generally find that what you’re getting for your money is a campaign build – so you may not see the results you want unless you already specifically know what your objective is, what type of campaign you want to run and how much you need to spend.

Facebook Agency

Agencies often work on a monthly ongoing basis, so you can expect them to propose a monthly retainer fee to keep up with all of the ongoing tasks within your ad campaigns. Most agencies charge upwards of £1,000 for monthly retainers. You should ensure that you understand fully what the monthly fee includes. It may be campaign maintenance work like testing, optimising, and delivering reports but equally it may include refreshing creative, copy, and new campaigns every month.

It’s also common for Facebook advertising agencies to charge a percentage-based fee of whatever you plan to spend on ads each month when you start to get into bigger advertising budgets (usually in excess of £10k per month spend), and this can be in addition to a monthly retainer.

Facebook Ad Strategist 

A Facebook Ads Strategist is likely to offer bespoke packages that are tailored to suit your own requirements rather than a one size fits all fee. You may find that you pay for the initial strategy, which will assess what your requirements are, and then potentially have a “front loaded” project cost – because the beginning of working together will include onboarding, digital plumbing, audience research, competition analysis, and campaign strategy.  All of this is essential even if you’ve been working with someone else on your Facebook ads, as the new Facebook Ad Strategist will need to evaluate your current campaigns to decide what steps to take or whether to start fresh. On average, a Facebook Ad Strategist is likely to be around £600-800 per month.

How much of your time is needed? 

Realistically, your time commitment should be the same regardless of who you work with. You’re going to need to set aside some time for onboarding – to ensure that your ad account is set up correctly – and also working on your goals, content and targeting so that your campaign strategy can be formulated. 

What results do you want? 

Facebook ads are not an exact science. You should have in mind what results you’d like to achieve – whether that’s a target number of conversions (leads, sales, webinar sign ups, challenge sign ups, lead magnet downloads), an increase in engagement or followers, or a higher level of traffic to your website. And you should definitely share that information with whoever you work with, and that will allow them to advise you on how realistic they feel your goals are and the anticipated ad spend it might take to get you there.

However, it is an even playing field – whether it’s freelancer, agency or Ad Strategist, the person / people most likely to get you the results you want will be the one that takes the time to fully understand your business, guide you correctly in terms of creative and copy, optimises your ads, ensures your targeting is en pointe and manages your ad campaigns through to success.

Where do I fit?

I’m not for everyone. Honestly. I’m really not. But if you’re reading this article, you might wonder where I fit into all this. 

I help small to medium size businesses build out high performing sales funnels, making effective use of Facebook ads AND email marketing. I charge between £400 – £800 per month, generally with a minimum three month commitment and typically work with owner managed businesses (which isn’t a prerequisite, but does define a lot of my clients). 

I’m pretty straight talking, no fluff, no hearts and flowers – which is brilliant if that’s what you like working with. Not so good if you want someone that’s always going to agree with you, will tell you your copy is amazing and your creative is awesome – even when it isn’t! That’s not me. 

What I will always do is treat your ad budget as if it were my own money – working my very hardest to get you the maximum return on investment possible.

What is next for you? 

I’m sure, after reading this article, you feel a little more comfortable about hiring a Facebook Ads professional. But, even though I am a Facebook Ad Strategist, I wanted you to be able to make an informed decision before you speak to anyone. Even me.

If you want to ask any other questions about working with me, feel free to drop me an email on jo@jofrancis.biz. But if you’re genuinely ready to get going, then why not book straight in for an Ad Action Plan – and if you’re not sure what that is, you can read all about it here. 

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