HOW TO BUILD A THREE STEP FACEBOOK ADS FUNNEL


When you are building your Facebook Ad campaigns, do you have an overarching strategy or do you find yourself creating different ads for different purposes at random?

With the proper preparation and three Facebook ads, you can build an automated Facebook Ads funnel that introduces new people to your products, converts them into engaged prospects and then closes them into paying customers.

And you can automate this all within Facebook Ads.

We will help you develop a Three Step Facebook Ads Funnel strategy that utilizes landing pages, Facebook retargeting pixels and Facebook ads to automate the nurturing of your prospects into paying customers.

The Set Up
First things first… in order to utilize this strategy you’ll need a few things:
Blog Post(s): At least one relevant blog post that you can drive targeted traffic to.
Lead Magnet Delivery and “Thank You” page: We will use a lead magnet as a way to prequalify your prospects and move them through your funnel.
Sales or Product page: This is your final goal, what do you want your prospects to do? Purchase a product? Schedule a demo? You will need a landing page that your prospects can use to complete your desired action
Retargeting Pixels: The Automation in your sales funnel will rely on retargeting pixels to serve ads to prospects at different stages throughout the funnel, you need to be able to place these pixels on your website.
Once these weapons are in place, you can being concepting and forming your funnel.

The Funnel, Simplified
The funnel we are building is broken into three stages. Attraction. Conversion. Closing.

Attraction Stage: You will use Facebook ad targeting to deliver content (in this case a blog article) to the people who will benefit most from it. This will not only introduce your target audience to your brand, but also draw people into your Facebook Ads funnel.
Conversion Stage: You will engage your audience with an expanded piece of content, a Lead Magnet. Use this stage to prequalify your prospects into the final stage of the funnel by separating those casual browsers from those truly interested in what you have to offer.
Closing Stage: The final stage will deliver your sales page to the prospects who have pre-qualified themselves at earlier stages in the funnel. By pre-qualifying your prospects, you’ll know you are only serving ads to people who have already shown an elevated interest in your brand or product.
Below we will break each stage into your backend setup and your Facebook Ad Set up with suggestions for each.

Building the Funnel
Step One: The Attraction Stage
Stage one is all about attracting a targeted audience and introducing them to your brand. In order to attract your target audience into your funnel you’ll need a piece of content that draws people out of their news feed and onto your site. It needs to be relevant and helpful.

Backend Setup: You will need to place a pixel in the header of your website that will build a Facebook custom audience from anyone who visits your website (including your blog). You can access this Custom Audience set up through the “Audiences” tab under the Tools Section of your Facebook Ads Manager. We will call this audience “Website Visitors”. Once you have confirmed your pixel is ready to be used, you’re ready to start driving a targeted audience to your website and capturing them.

Website Vistors

Facebook Ad Setup: The first ad in the funnel will be promoting a blog post on your website. Choose your audience targeting based off your ideal customer: Who is your product or service designed for? What need does it fufill? Be as specific as possible while still having a large audience size. The size of this initial audience will affect the size of subsequent stages in the funnel. Build this ad as a “website clicks” ad with the intention of driving as many people as possible from your target audience to your website to be captured by your retargeting pixel.

When everything is setup, The Attraction Stage will introduce targeted prospects to your brand and capture them via the retargeting pixel on your website and add them into the “Website Visitors” audience and move them to the second stage of your funnel. Keep the content of these ads fresh and deliver new blog posts frequently to engage new members of your target audience.

Step Two: The Conversion Stage
Stage two of the funnel is all about qualifying and converting your prospects inside the “Website Visitors” audience. This stage will help you separate your true prospects from those who are only mildly interested and the casual browsers. We will use a lead magnet to extract some information from our prospects and prep them for the final stage of the funnel.

Backend Setup: This step requires two things. First, a lead magnet that requires a person to submit their personal information in order to be delivered content. This lead magnet must have a “thank you” page that the prospect is delivered to after they submit their information. The second portion of the setup happens on this “thank you page” where we will add a second retargeting pixel. This pixel will be set up exactly the same as your first retargeting pixel, but will only create an audience from prospects who have landed in your thank you page. We will call this audience “Qualified Prospects” and use it in the third and final step of your funnel.

Qualified Prospects

Facebook Ad Setup: The second ad in the funnel will deliver your lead magnet to your “Website Visitors” audience. The targeted prospects in this audience will have shown some initial interest in your brand by either visiting your website, or clicking on your first Facebook ad, so they will be familiar with your brand. Now is your chance to engage them and showcase your value. A/B test the tone and imagery of this and be sure you are closely monitoring your results. If an ad isn’t working, try something new. Build this ad with the goal of “Website Conversions”, because you ultimately want people to download or register for your lead magnet and be sent to your ‘thank you’ page where they will be moved to the third and final stage of the funnel.

*Keep in mind the size of your retargeting audience and use a daily budget that is appropriate.

By delivering an advanced form of content to engaged members of your target audience you will be able to convert and qualify your prospects more easily. By allowing your prospects to qualify themselves, you are setting them up for stage three of the funnel with little to no pressure on your part.

Step Three: The Closing Stage
In the third and final stage of your funnel, you’ll be making the pitch (and sale) to your qualified prospects. In The Closing Stage we will deliver a sales or product page to the “Qualified Prospects” retargeting list that was developed in stage two. This will be the final stage of the funnel with the goal of completing a purchase from you.

Backend Setup: The setup for this page is simple, you’ll need a product or sales page that you will deliver to your “Qualified Prospects” retargeting audience that we generated on the “thank you page’ of the ad in The Conversion Stage. This page will depend on your niche or industry, but the goal here is to have people exit the funnel as a paying customer.

Facebook Ad Setup: The final ad in your Facebook Ads funnel is another “Website Conversions” ad. This ad will make the hard sell of your product or service. Use powerful imagery and text that delivers your value proposition. Because of the way that the funnel is designed, only people who are familiar with your brand will be delivered ads, so you aren’t trying to make a cold sale. Your ads just need to close the deal.

*Again, keep in mind the size of your retargeting audience in this stage, it will likely be relatively small. Use a daily budget that is appropriate.

In order for people to make it this far into your funnel, they will have had to: first, visit your website and engage with your content. And second: Interact with your lead magnet in exchange for personal information. These people have already shown immense interest in your brand to this point and have pre-qualified themselves for a sale.

Put It To Work
This funnel, once set up, will automate your prospects from stage to stage at their own pace. Consider the following tips as you begin to implement this strategy:
Keeping your top of funnel content updated and relevant will help attract more people to your retargeting audience and speed the process along.
The size of your funnel is determined by the size of your original target audience and also the budget of your initial campaign. The larger the audience and more money you invest in feeding your funnel, the more potential prospects your funnel will be able to draw down into paying customers.
Always be monitoring and tweaking your ads to optimize performance. A/B test relentlessly.
With a little investment in quality content, a lead magnet and some set up, you can start to automate portions of your sales process and see your revenue stream grow! Let us know if you have any special tricks for automating your sales process with Facebook Ads in the comments below.