Facebook Ads: For Painting Companies
Published On : October 1, 2024
Author: Richard Paul
Today let's handle Facebook ads/Meta ads. These ads show up on Facebook and Instagram, in the feeds, in stories in the marketplace. Pretty much everywhere Meta can show them. I know you might have heard that social media ads are known for low quality, however that isn't always the case if you know what you are doing. We all have experience with "Leads" in general. Some are good, some are bad. It's no different with Meta/Facebook. If you have the strategies and processes in place these leads can blow up your business.
Before we get started
One of the things we have helped hundreds of painters with is Automation. To put in simple terms its a computer that does the heavy lifting. I am sure you have experienced buying a lead, not seeing the email or text, getting back to it an hour or two later and having the homeowner say "I already found someone". This is where automation comes in. The reason they already found another painting company is because you didn't communicate with them in any way. You didn't answer the phone, you didn't send an email, you didn't even text them. So if you were in there shoes what would you do?
You would call someone else....
I suggest automation with any lead you are generating or buying, not just Facebook/Meta leads. If someone calls you and you don't answer, there are systems out there (We can help you with one) that send them an Automatic Reply via text message:
"I am spraying some paint"
"I am on a ladder"
"I will give you a call back shortly"
It sounds simple but think about it from your own perspective. If you are looking for a service, you pick up the phone and call them and they don't answer, what do you do next??
You call someone else...
Automation can take care of so many small holes in the boat and make you a ton of money!!
If you need guidance or help with setting this up reach out to our team!
Now let's get started!!
Social Media Marketing: Facebook Ads 101 for Painting Contractors
According to Statista, Facebook remains the leading social media platform with around 2.93 billion active users monthly, and Americans spend an average of 33 minutes per day on the platform. While Facebook appeals to a broad age range from 18 to 65+, Instagram is more popular among users aged 18-34, making it especially effective for reaching first-time home buyers. Both platforms are valuable for connecting with homeowners, but Instagram can help you tap into younger audiences. As a residential painting contractor, you likely have a clear picture of your ideal customer profile (ICP), and these platforms can help you reach them effectively.
How Do Facebook Ads for Painters Work?
When you are endlessly scrolling around on Facebook or Instagram, chance are you are not looking for a painting company, you are probably looking at cats... LOL
This is where our creativity comes in. We have all heard that only 3% of the market is ready to buy right now, they are probably searching on Google. But does that mean the other 97% don't need a painter? No. It means it hasn't crossed their mind yet. With effective targeting, demographic data and some decent ads, we can capture that 97% and turn them into qualified ready to buy clients.
"Instagram and Facebook Ads for painters are actually among the most effective ways to generate new residential painting business on a budget."
How Much Do Painting Leads Cost on Social Media?
It all depends, but $30-$60 per lead is a good target.
We recommend a daily budget between $50-65 (roughly $1500-$2000/month). The primary factor that determines your CPA (cost-per-acquisition, or cost-per-lead) is your CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions).
**If you don't have at least $500 DO NOT go down this path. You could buy a bunch of door hangers and pay a couple kids to walk around hanging them.
Things to think about: Facebook knows everything about us..
There is a stark difference between Facebook ads and Google Ads. With Google ads we are targeting someone that is actively typing in "Painting Near Me". With Facebook we are targeting things like demographic data, interests and what we engage with. These are what we are using to target that 97% of the market.
Facebook Ads: Pros and Cons
Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, offer some of the most cost-effective ways to generate residential repaint leads throughout the year. Since social media advertising is considered "Interest Marketing"—targeting people who may not be actively searching for your services—it's less affected by seasonal shifts in the painting industry.
With Meta, you're primarily paying for CPM (cost per thousand impressions), making it more affordable for exclusive leads compared to Google Ads, where you pay per click. However, closing leads on Meta can take more time. While Google Ads direct bottom-of-funnel traffic to a landing page for quick bookings, Meta Ads are more effective when users stay on the platform, keeping cost-per-lead (CPL) low.
Currently, Meta doesn’t offer an option to book estimates directly on the platform, meaning you'll need to follow up manually to secure an appointment.
Building a custom audience on Meta, since there are no search queries to target, can take some time—usually between 30 to 90 days. And because buyer intent is lower on social media, you can expect a lead-to-set rate of around 50-70%.
How to Build a Successful Social Media Advertising Campaign
Now that we reviewed why and how social ads work, let’s discuss how to build a successful campaign to attract new painting leads by advertising your painting business on Facebook and Instagram.
1. Claim Your Meta Profiles
First, if you don’t have Facebook and Instagram profiles created for your business yet, you will need to set those up.
Here are a few helpful tips to setup these profiles effectively:
Use the same slug for your Facebook Page name and your Instagram username. This will ensure your customers can easily find you on both platforms.
Fulfill as much information as possible on each profile. Items like your service areas, website, and phone number play an important role here. Link your Instagram account to your Facebook Page. This will ensure that anytime you post to Instagram your Facebook Page will be updated as well(two birds, one stone).
2. Create a Business Manager and Ads Manager Account
To begin advertising, Meta requires that you have two additional accounts created within their platform:
Business Manager Account— This needs to be linked to your Facebook Page and Instagram accounts.
Ads Manager Account— Link this to your Business Manager account.
3. Create Your Instagram and Facebook Ads
Now that we have the framework for your advertising campaign created, let’s get on with the main event!
Meta has a number of various ad types you can select from.
While you may think it’s best to send traffic from Facebook and Instagram directly to your website, like Google Ads, it’s actually just a great way to waste your ad spend. With the release of iOS 14.5 at the end of 2021, Facebook and Instagram are now unable to accurately track your actions off of their platform.
With this in mind, you can expect better results if you keep your prospects on Meta’s platform using the following ad types:
Lead Ads: Collect user information directly on Meta. You can create a custom form to capture information such as name, phone, address, and the services they’re interested in.
Messenger Ads: These ads trigger a new message request directly on Facebook. These ads are great for job recruiting as well!
4. Build Your Audiences
While creating your Meta Ads you will be prompted to define an audience.
This is arguably one of the most important steps to creating a successful advertising campaign that you can build on over time. As we discussed earlier in this article, your audience is built on user data and will ultimately determine who sees your ads.
There are three primary audience types on Meta:
Demographics: This is targeting information you provide Meta such as location, age, and gender.
Custom Audience: Build an audience around those who interact with your website/business.
Lookalike Audience: Build an audience that is similar to those who have already interacted with your business in the past.
For Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audiences we recommend targeting the following sources:
Website: Add a pixel to your website to retarget traffic on Facebook and Instagram.
Customer list: Build an audience from a list of your past customers.
Video: Create a “Video View” campaign to build an audience from those who play a video you’ve created.
Lead Form: Build an audience from those who submit your lead generation forms.
Instagram account: Target those who like and interact with your Instagram Profile.
Facebook page: Target those who like and interact with your Facebook Business Page.
As for Demographics, we find the best results with the following targets:
Location: Your service areas + 20-mile radius. Add exclusion zones around this service area to prevent out-of-area leads.
Age: 35-64 (The People that have houses to paint)
Gender: We recommend targeting both women and men in your market, and evaluate the results for each. You may find that men generate more leads, but close at a lower rate.
5. Monitor Your Campaign
A successful social media advertising campaign can be built and managed by just about anyone with enough time and money, but most successful campaigns come from experience.
If you’re just getting started we recommend monitoring your campaigns closely. Your ads will be in a “learning” phase for approximately the first 30 days, or 30 conversions.
Once your ads are optimized check in at least once a week to ensure your CPM and CPL costs fit your budget and margins, then adjust as needed!
Let's wrap it up
Facebook/Meta ads are a bit more complicated than Google to setup, however you are able to reach 97% of the market. That itself says why you should spend a few hours or even days learning this. You are able to reach so many more people for a much lower cost per lead and per job. This is primarily where we suggest our clients spend their ad budget. In the long run, which I hope you will be here for, it makes so much sense. You can fill your pipeline today and down the road. If you need help or just don't want to learn it, which we get, reach out and we can handle the whole thing for you!
-Cheers
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