Many photographers have completely written off using Facebook Ads for their business. Back in the day, Facebook was an amazing resource for photographers to use to grow their business. Whenever you would post to your Facebook Biz page you would get a ton of likes, shares, comments, etc. But then Facebook changed their algorithm and currently when you post, .01% of the people that follow your page will actually see it!

So does that mean Facebook is dead?

I am here to tell you the answer is most certainly not!

In 2014, Laura and I started using Facebook Ads for our photography business, LuRey Photography. Up until that point, we had been advertising on The Knot. The results we were getting from The Knot continued to dwindle over the years so we knew we needed something else that would produce leads and bookings. When we first started using Facebook Ads we had no idea what we were doing and ended up losing a ton of money. But just like anything else, we knew we had to put the time, energy, and effort into them to fully learn how to utilize them. Once we figured out what we needed to do to run successful Facebook Ads, it changed everything for our business and personal lives.

[Recommended Reading: Photography Business Marketing Tips]

In Jan of 2018, we started The Art of Six Figures to teach photographers our Facebook Ads Marketing System. In 10 months we have now taught over 600 photographers how to utilize profitable Facebook Ads! In this article, I am going to give you a crash course on what I have found it takes to run successful, profitable Facebook Ads!

Components Needed For Successful Facebook Ads

  • Landing Page
  • Thank You Page
  • Email Follow-up Sequence
  • The Facebook Ad

A High Overview Of The Potential Customer Flow

facebook ads, the art of six figures, lurey photographyIn the image above you can see how these pieces fit together. When a potential client clicks on the Facebook ad they are redirected to the landing page. On that page, there is a button they can click to claim the offer. This is known as a “Call to Action” because we are asking them to take a specific action.

Once they click on the button, a form with pop up asking them for their email address. When they submit the form, they are then redirected to a thank you page. Submitting the form also triggers an email follow up sequence. If the offer was for a lead magnet, the first email should contain a link to the PDF they requested. Over the next few days, the potential customer will receive a few more emails from the sequence.

In the image below you can see an actual example of the user flow from an ad we ran.

Facebook Ads, the art of six figures, lurey photography

Let’s dig into each of these components a little deeper.

What to do before running Facebook ads

After helping hundreds of photographers launch successful FB Ads, I have identified the Top 7 Mistakes Photographers Make When Running FB Ads. One of the biggest mistakes I see photographers make when running Facebook Ads is sending people to their homepage and asking for the sale right away.

Why?

Sending people to your homepage leaves room for the user to become distracted. As business owners, we need to guide the user towards the actions we want them to take. Sending a person to your homepage doesn’t give them any real direction. When they land there, they are presented with our portfolio button, about us button, contact button, etc. When we run our Facebook ads we send people to a dedicated Landing Page that is specific to the offer we put in the Facebook Ad.

So What Is A Landing Page?

A landing page is a webpage you create that only has info about one thing. In addition, it only has one clickable button. Below is an example of a landing page we use. We build these using a software called StickyFolios. You can also use software like MailChimp, Clickfunnels, Leadpages, etc. If you have WordPress, ShowIt, or Squarespace for your website, you can simply create a new page and simply hide the menu bars.

the art of six figures, lurey photography, landing page

Notice that this landing page is super simple and straight to the point. If someone really wants a wedding planning guide they can click the button. If not, they can leave. When they click the link, a form will pop up asking for their email address so we can email them the guide.

This landing page was built to serve a very specific offer, A FREE Wedding Planning Guide. We put this guide together in order to provide our potential clients with an upfront value before ever asking them to book with us.

This is an important principle for you to understand. You would never go out on a first date with someone and ask them to marry you, correct? Yet when most photographers run ads, they run a 20% off sale or something similar. This is asking them to marry you on the first date!

We use the Wedding Planning Guide as a “Lead Magnet” to provide upfront value before ever asking for a sale.

What Is A thank you page?

Once the user submits the form on the landing page, they should be redirected to a thank you page. A thank you page should thank them for taking whatever action it was that they took. It reassures them that they will be receiving the info they requested. It is also a great place to provide more value or ask them to take another action like call you right now.

Below is an image of a thank you page we use. We create these using StickyFolios as well.

the art of six figures, lurey photography, facebook ads, thank you page

The email follow-up sequence

When a user submits a form on our landing page, an email follow-up sequence should be triggered. An email sequence is a series of emails that we have pre-written, which get delivered over the course of a few days, to every person that submits a form.

We recommend using StickyEmail to create these sequences if you don’t already have a Studio Management Software like 17Hats, Pixifi, Honeybook, etc.

So what should these emails include? Links to blog posts, past client testimonials, invite them to your fb group, a full gallery of a past shoot, etc. The point of these emails is to nurture the potential lead into finally reaching out to book with you as if it was their idea!

The Facebook Ad

Once you have created a landing page, thank you page, and an email sequence, you are ready to create an ad.

Please note that you should never boost a post using the little blue button on your Facebook Business page. Instead, you should always use the Ad manager. This will give you way more targeting options.

There are 3 main components that make up a successful Facebook ad.

  1. The Copy (Words You Use)
  2. The Creative (Video Or Image)
  3. The Targeting (Who should your ad be shown to)

Let’s look at some ads our members have run as well as some we have run ourselves. This will give you a better idea as to what images and copy to use.

Ad Examples

Below is an Ad Abigail Gingerale Photography ran. They booked 12 weddings off of this ad alone! We call this type of ad a “Story-Based Ad”.

the art of six figures, lurey photography, facebook ads for photographers, facebook ads, story based ads

Below is an ad we run off and on all year. It is for a wedding planning guide. This type of ad is called a “Lead Magnet Ad”.

lurey photography, the art of six figures, facebook ads

Below is video testimonial ad that one of our members ran. We call this ad type an “Experience-Based Ad”.

the art of six figures, lurey photography, facebook ads

Conclusion

Facebook ads take work! Simply boosting a post does not work. Running ads without a way to get the potential client’s information is useless. You must control the path that those leads follow by creating landing pages and opt-in’s. This way you can nurture those leads with your follow up email sequences.

Once you have your system in place, it is well worth it!

Facebook ads are all we use to generate new clients for our photography business. We have spent over $40k on Facebook ads in the last 2 years! I assure you we have made all of the mistakes for you!

If you are interested in learning more about our Facebook ads marketing course, as well as seeing reviews from our members, click here!