When I realized Facebook Ads aren’t all they are cracked up to be….

In late 2017 I did some soul-searching.

Throughout 2017, I’d run a ton of Facebook campaigns. Some were fairly successful. Others failed utterly. None of them totally knocked it out of the park.

I tried every ad strategy I could get my hands on.

I studied copywriting, landing pages, and conversions.

Did A/B testing. Tried advanced audience targeting. Tried no audience targeting. Compared plain images with video.

Even my best performing campaigns took a ton of work. I spent hours obsessing over every detail.

Finally, I had a lightbulb moment.

I asked myself an important question: When was the last time that I bought anything from Facebook Ads?

I spend a good amount of time on Facebook and Instagram. I follow a lot of people on these channels. And I use them for both personal and professional purposes.

But when was the last time that I actually bought something because of a Facebook Ad?

Honestly, I think it was over one year ago.

One year. And that was only because I got on an email list that sent a bunch of follow-ups. Then I finally joined the course (which actually turned into a great decision).

But the point is, in 2017, I’d seen probably at least 3,000 Facebook Ads.

How much did I buy from them? Nothing.

Not. One. Thing.

Then I started thinking – how many things did I buy based on search?

Dozens. More than I can count.

Probably into the hundreds.

I bought a car. I bought a spa day for my girlfriend. I bought software. I bought cameras. I bought shoes. I chose dozens of restaurants. I booked an entire vacation.

All based on search. Google Search. Amazon Search. It was all search.

I was looking for those things. I was searching for them.

I’m not telling you that you should delete your Facebook ads in 2018. I’m not saying they are a waste of money.

There are places for them. And they can be valuable (we’ll talk about how we use them in future newsletters).

I’m simply pointing out: time and again we’ve had better results from search than any other top-of-the-funnel channel.

I see this in analytics. I see it in the data. And I see it in my own spending.

So, is search part of your strategy in 2018?

I hope so.