Facebook Ads Inflation

Igor: Hi, my name is Igor Kheifets and this is the List Building Lifestyle, the only podcast
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Welcome back to another edition of the List Building Lifestyle with your host Igor
Kheifets. Now, this is one of my favorite episodes to do because I get to
literally tell you why you shouldn’t be using Facebook ads. Now, on the usual day,
right, on an average episode I will tell you things, like, “Oh, it doesn’t
convert,” and, it’s really hard to kick people out of their drowsiness. How people
use social media to escape from decisions and not to make decisions, therefore you
can’t expect people to buy anything on Facebook. How it’s overrated, and how it’s
rated as number eight most profitable traffic source after all the good traffic
sources actually, and not before, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Today is actually more like an update episode where I assume you already know
that. It’s just, here’s another reason. Another reason why I never liked the idea
of putting all of my eggs in one basket with Facebook. You see, Facebook is wrong,
and thanks to the app business, which is a really good business as far as Facebook
is concerned, and the eCommerce business, which is another great business for
Facebook, because a lot of advertising is happening on social media for these
industries. The ad load, the Facebook ad load is reaching its full capacity, if
not already reached full capacity, which means that the newsfeed is so crammed
with ads that they can’t fit anymore.

Like, I never thought, “This is actually going to happen.” I honestly thought that
Zucker nerds are going to figure out a way to prevent this from happening, because
it will literally mean that they will be making less money every day, but it did.
It did. Facebook literally cannot cram anymore ads into the newsfeed than they are
right now, which means that the only way that they’re going to keep thriving and
making more money, which is the ultimate purpose by the way. Just in case you
forgot, okay, that Facebook’s number one purpose is to make more money for its
shareholders, the only way they can do that is by raising prices.

As of me recording this episode, I haven’t checked the prices, but if you noticed
an increase then know that it’s probably because of this one little thing. It’s
the ad load that increased, therefore, Facebook is going to “force” to raise
prices because they obviously looking to make more money. What does this tell you
about today? What does this tell you about what’s going to happen in the future?
Well, if it happened today chances are it is going to keep happening in the
future, just like it happened with Google AdWords.

Google AdWords used to be a really cheap traffic source, but it’s not anymore,
primarily because of the whole ad load thing and Google not being able to display
more than X ads, enough on the first page. Same thing can be said about PPV
traffic. There used to be a time where cost per lead views were like a ridiculous
half a cent, maybe like a third of a cent or something like that, but it’s not
anymore. Right now we’re probably looking at 20, or maybe 12 cents, depending on
the nature of the website et cetera.

The only industry that does not raise prices when the competition grows is Solo
Ads. Now, the reason why is actually very interesting, because there is no one
entity that controls it. There is no governing Solo body that dictates prices for
everyone, it’s every man to himself. Therefore, even if there is an increased
demand for Soloist traffic this particular month, or that particular year, then
the prices will remain exactly where they are unless the list owner decides to
raise the price. That’s the only version of reality where that actually can occur.

Which is, what does it tell you? It gives you more predictability perhaps, keeps
your cost per load at the bare minimum. Facebook cost per lead went from as little
as $2, maybe $1, a couple of years back, to as much as $12 a lead. I told you that
story about me going to a seminar by Shakir Hussein in London, when I was still
living in Israel. Shakir exposed his numbers showing that they’re spending $12 or
$9 per a single lead. Is that sustainable? Is that honestly sustainable to you?

What is your budget? Do you have a good ten grand per month, or per week, to spend
on leads? If so, yeah, that’s probably a good number. That’s probably not going to
bother you, but if you’re just average, if you’re normal, if you’re one of us, you
probably don’t have that kind of money to spend per lead. In fact, with Solo Ads
you can probably get away with two, three, maybe four dollars a lead easy,
depending on how well you convert, and depending on how good you are at
negotiating those prices.

My point is that for as long as you’re operating in Facebook’s world you will
always encounter these issues. There’s really no way for you to avoid them. So
something to keep in mind the next time you’re wanting to run a Facebook ad, or
thinking of building your business on Facebook ads as a whole, as a strategy.

Now, that pretty much sums up everything I wanted to share today, which is, it
really requires no further reiteration. Facebook is crowded, it doesn’t convert,
they’re raising their prices, your cost per lead is sky high, so there’s no reason
for you to use it. Unless, of course, you know what, I will say this. Unless
you’re doing a retargeting, because I have been doing retargeting on Facebook for
a little while now, for a little over a year, and I believe it has its place to be
there.

In other words, if somebody already took action with you by visiting your website,
which means they know who you are at the very least. If you started peering on
their feed consistently, day in and day out, and you spend another $10 a day on
retargeting ads, that’s actually not a bad thing because then what you’re doing is
you’re building out that image, that useful image, that you are everywhere.
Because that’s a useful thing to have when you’re trying to convert someone,
especially over a period of time.

If you are trying to use Facebook as a way of getting cold leads, then man, you’re
fighting an uphill battle. It’s really going to be difficult for you to achieve
anything with the current prices, and with the fact that it’s super fricking
crowded. Now, of course, you may say that, “But Igor, the inbox is crowded as
well.” And, of course, it is, but the difference between the inbox and your
newsfeed is that people who read your emails and click on them can actually spend
money. Unlike people who are browsing through a newsfeed all day, who, most of the
time aren’t really doing it to spend money.

People who check their email are looking to make a decision. They’re decision
makers, that’s a decision media, and we’ve done an episode about that many times.
I think it’s like three times now that we’ve actually devoted entire episodes as
to why email is action media versus Facebook being just a procrastination media.
You may want to look that up on our website, the listbuildinglifestyleshow.com.
But, other than that, yes, everything is crowded but Facebook is really, really
exploding.

It’s really hard to fit into the newsfeed because of that competition, so get
ready if you’re attempting to give Facebook a shot if you’re still fighting this.
If you’re still a Facebook ads method monkey get ready to spend the big bucks
because unless you are willing to do that you won’t be able to get far, you won’t
be able to get traction, and even if you will get views for your ads, chances are
those will be very, very little numbers.

That concludes today’s episode. Thank you so much for tuning in, and until next
time we chat, stay off of Facebook ads and have a good one.

Thank you for listening to The List Building Lifestyle. Make sure to subscribe on
iTunes or Google Play to never miss an episode, because who knows? Just one
conversion tactic we share on the show might double your list and double your
business. Download the transcript of today’s episode and all future episodes at
listbuildinglifestyleshow.com. And don’t forget to claim your complimentary copy
of The Wealthy List Builders Survival Guide at
listbuildinglifestyleshow.com/survival. This is Igor Kheifets, and until next time
we talk, have a good one.