7 Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Facebook Agency

Although you’re looking for a Facebook advertising service provider, the agency that you will meet with will likely not be solely focused on this aspect of advertising.

That isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker in itself, but it is something that you should become aware of early on.

The reason for that is simple; the agency is on a learning curve.

Simply put, the more you work on the same thing, the easier and faster it becomes in the long run.

Even though Google Ads and Facebook Ads are both digital advertising platforms, they do not evolve in the same industry/universe.

One would think that an expert in Facebook ads would quickly become an expert in Google Ads, but that's not the case.

Just look at the number of books on the subject available on Amazon:

- Google Ads: approximately 1,000 books

- Facebook Ads: 1,000 books as well

There are many different facets when it comes to digital advertising and, if you want to work with an expert, it's best to choose the one that spends 100% of his time and of his client's budget on mastering a single platform.

To quote a well-known American proverb:

“Jack of all trades, Master of none”

This is no longer about the agency’s approach towards acquisition, but rather about its typical mandates and client typology.

Again, if you want to have an optimal experience on Facebook, ask the agency if it has ever worked with a client :

A - Who has a similar business model

• Have you ever had to generate sales for an e-commerce business?
• Have you ever generated leads for a service company?
• Have you ever generated store or restaurant visits?

B - Who evolves in the same market

• Have you ever tested ads in this industry?
• Have you ever tested audiences?
• What were the results?

If you run an e-commerce business that sells computer accessories, it would be beneficial for you to work with an agency that has a major software provider among its clients.

That way, the agency will have a strong understanding of your industry and good market knowledge (as well as a handful of audiences that have already been tested!).

Facebook, like other platforms, has a Pixel and many key performance indicators to track the results and performance of your ads, from simple clicks to more complex events.

But that's not the point.

Is your Facebook agency able to determine in advance which KPIs to track and explain why?

Does it start running campaigns without first making sure that Facebook can track your performance?

Having several ways to track your sales (e-commerce platform, Google Analytics, etc.) is not problematic, but not knowing which ones are attributed to Facebook is.

Especially when the campaign objectives that we use the most rely on the existence of a pixel.

Simply put, does your agency know what information is essential to your success and, consequently, how to achieve your goals.

If the agency offers you an audit, ask them what information it needs to be able to create your target customer and to come up with a strategy.

If it’s relying solely on your Facebook Ads Manager, it's a bad sign.

Even if you’ve been advertising on Facebook for a long time, a simple analysis of your manager is not enough. You’re hiring an agency to do better than what you can do yourself!

There is existing information that should be pulled from other platforms, including Google Analytics (if possible), Adwords, your Facebook page, as well as your own experience (of your customers, the market, your competitors).

A good agency will ask you a lot of questions from the outset, which will allow it to establish a list of avenues for research and find additional information using recommendation algorithms.

This may seem like a bit of a long process for you to get through, but the agency has to catch up on some market knowledge and retrieve elements that its team members would not have been able to find on their own (the name of a supplier, a legally binding clause, etc.) and that only an insider could have (hence the interest in finding an agency specialized in your industry).

You should, therefore, ensure that the sources used by the agency are relevant enough to draw conclusions.

This goes back to point nº2. Following the analysis that the agency has done for you, what tested AND approved solutions or techniques can be applied and implemented right away?

Also, why is that approach better than another?

You need to know if your agency is in full exploration mode or if it’s using techniques that have proven successful for your type of business.

It's okay to try new things. That's actually what a Facebook agency is all about because that's how you keep up to date with the latest techniques.

It is a problem, however, if you’ve just started working together; the agency should wait until it has accumulated good consistent results before it starts thinking "outside the box".

At point nº1, I explained at length the importance of choosing an agency specialized in Facebook advertisingrather than a "one-stop-shop" agency.

However, you must understand that not everything takes place on Facebook.

Triggering purchases when targeting cold audiences is challenging, as your prospects are not on Facebook 24/7 consuming ads.

They also like to surf the internet, discover new things, check their emails, etc.

Facebook is one way of acquiring new customers, but understand that a sale can take some time and happen through other means, such as :

• A dedicated sales page
• A Lead Magnet
• An email sequence

Should you want a specific example, I would suggest reading my article on "The $220K Per Month Funnel".

You will understand the importance of having a funnel beyond Facebook in order to keep your prospects engaged as long as possible andincrease your chances of conversion.

But not all advertising agencies can produce that kind of content and can even afford to do A/B Testing at all stages of your funnel.

It would be interesting for you to find out if your agency has its own creative team and if it’s reactive in case of an urgent request.

Last question to ask your futureFacebook agency.

But contrary to all other questions, you shouldn’t expect a positive and "definitive" answer… If that’s the case, then there's something fishy going on!

It’s impossible to predict results on Facebook for the following reasons:

• You’re working with an algorithm that is (in part) unknown to all.
• You’re sharing the platform with other advertisers who want the best exposure.

These two factors alone can heavily influence your results.

The first because, should Facebook decide to update its algorithm (like Google), you will only notice it once your results and performance are affected and your campaign needs to be optimized yet again.

The second is that during peak periods (e.g. back-to-school in September), your campaign will be competing with larger budgets from other advertisers, thus affecting your results over a short period of time.

For now, these are external factors, but you also have your share of responsibility!

We recently wrote a long article that explains how the following factors can affect your results:

• Ad Objectives
• Ad Copy
• Visuals
• External Page or Landing Page
• Ad Scent

Although your Facebook agency spends 100% of its time mastering the platform, it cannot predict performance/a specific number of results or even an average cost per result.

On the other hand, it can share the results obtained with its other clients (to the extent permitted by law) and the steps taken to do so. That goes back to point nº5.

The agency can also give you an idea of the minimum daily budget required to conduct testing according to the type of campaign and volume of the targeted audience.

Hiring a Facebook agency is an important milestone for your business and, as we've explained, it is not to be taken lightly.

Although the world of agencies is attractive due to strong branding and growing technical knowledge, you should not give your business to the first one that comes along.

It is imperative to ask very clear questions to know:

• How does the agency prepare your audit and campaigns?
• How does it monitor and optimise them?
• What are its successes? And how does it get out of difficult situations?
• Has it worked with similar players/industries? Under what conditions? What objectives?

The goal is not to recruit an agency just for the short term, but rather to find a potential partner to accelerate your growth!

In addition to the above, I would recommend reading our latest article: In the Head of a Facebook Pro.