Tomorrow is our Big Day! No, we’re not getting hitched… The Yearly Carnage Digital Marketing Conference is almost here!

And guess what? There’s still time to secure your spot! Come hang out and listen to strategy-driven talks from some of the most inspiring speakers in the biz.

For all of you who are locked ‘n’ loaded for Friday, you can now download the schedule and a parking map. Tight. 

We’ve purposely been ignoring the Cambridge Analytica/Mark Zuckerberg drama lately. Well, guess what? Today is the day we get into it.

KIDDING. We’re not talking about that noise.

What we are talking about today is Facebook ads. Regardless of what’s going on in the news, it’s still a really good time to be running Facebook ads. DigitalMarketer recently spent some time at Facebook’s offices to uncover a TON of insight about Facebook ads.

Let’s get into it:

• (06:00) Wanna geek out about Facebook’s ad algorithm? Join the group, FB Auction Live. The group is built by Facebook itself and you’ll get to hear from Facebook employees.
• (10:10) When using “Conversions” as your FB ad goal, use lowest cost bidding. Don’t worry about the other options. Just not worth your time or money.
• (12:39) If your costs are low when you start a campaign, they’re going to rise. That’s because Facebook targets the most likely converters first.
• (13:20) To get around this, keep your ads fresh by changing up the creative often.
• (14:28) Big takeaway: When things are going well with your campaigns, it’s time to make new ads.
• (15:50) Use Dynamic Creative to extend the life of your campaigns.
• (17:02) Facebook’s ad algorithm uses three things to determine when your ad will show: your bid, your estimated action rate, and user-value.
• (17:44) Estimated action rate is really interesting. Basically, Facebook looks at your ad account history to determine if you’re serving up quality ads or just junk.
• (19:56) User-value is a panel of people who review ads and assign scores to them. That’s real people reviewing ads, not an algorithm. This one blew our minds!
• (21:40) Facebook also tracks how people interact with your website—mostly through bounce-rate.
• (27:00) And if you, as a marketer, are worried about the current Facebook drama, don’t be. DigitalMarketer thinks it’s going to blow over. DigitalCarnage (us) also agrees.

We’re just scratching the surface of this podcast. Still 20-minutes to go.

Ad headlines can be tricky little things. Shorter doesn’t always mean simpler. Sometimes, it’s the brevity that makes them more difficult to write. Crazy-good copy skills or not.

Even if your product or service is life-changing, it won’t matter if you can’t entice your audience to click on your ads.

Today’s Read focuses on how to expertly craft PPC ad headlines—with excellent examples to boot! Headlines that will pull in prospects, tempting click after click after click. Resistance is futile.

Alright, let’s check out some of these tips:

1. Include Keywords
   Don’t make your prospects guess what you sell. Make the connection between their search query and your ad crystal clear by including the keyword in the headline.
2. Ask Questions
   Leveraging user intent is crucial to increase conversion rates. One way to do this is by asking the searcher a question with your headline.
3. Add a Little Humor
   Keep in mind: What’s funny to one person might be offensive to another. If you opt to take this approach, A/B test your ads.
4. Include Numbers or Statistics
   Many users respond well to empirical evidence, and hard data can be a trust signal.
5. Use Social Trends as Inspiration
   Look at what people are talking about in your industry through social media and use that to inspire your headlines. Go to Twitter’s “What’s trending” section to see trending topics based on your preferences.
6. Make Use of the Character Limit
   Don’t use unnecessary words or characters for its own sake, but make sure you take full advantage of the 25-character limit.  
7. Focus on the Benefits
   Resist the temptation to use your headlines to talk about how awesome you are. Instead, focus on how your product will make your customers’ lives better.

Still more helpful tips and examples to go →

Have you seen Chef’s Table? If you love that show like we do, today’s Watch is for you.

Royal Caribbean hired the director of the acclaimed Netflix series to shoot their latest branded video series, The Local.

This 3-part series features a destination that not many people know Royal Caribbean sails to: Cuba. Each episode follows different Cubans—a ballerina, a restauranteur, a rock climber—and gives you a deep look into their lives…or as deep as you can go in just 5 minutes.

The vintage cars and cigars that we commonly associate with Cuba take a backseat in the mini-documentaries. These beautifully shot love letters to Cuba connect the audience to a deeper part of Cuban Society.

Our favorite of the 3 episodes, The Host, is linked below. But, be sure to watch The Ballerina and The Climber too.