Lately the hot topic of conversation has been Facebook ads and how to utilize them to grow your online brand. The reason is because the Facebook ad platform has repeatedly proven to offer a greater ROI when compared to its greatest rival, Google Adwords.

Prevailing wisdom suggests that newer sellers not burden themselves with learning the intricacies of a new paid ad platform just yet (most feeling Amazon Sponsored Product Ads are daunting enough). However, most soon discover that Amazon PPC doesn’t scale well with a rapidly growing brand.

For those sellers who are growing and need a scalable option, or the enterprising brand owner who just wants a leg up, the Facebook ads platform offers just the mechanism.

In the following article, we are simply going to dissect the ads currently visible on Facebook (through my personal account). We’ll only look at physical product ads and only for those products that are currently available for purchase (no Kickstarters).

Let’s dive in…

20 Physical Products Ads

We will assess and dissect each ad based on the following major criteria:

  • Media
  • Product
  • Offer
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views

We’ll also look at some minor criteria:

  • Link
  • Text
  • Page Name
  • Button

Ad number 1 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – New type of glass pipe
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 10k and 4M
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (w/emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic shop
  • Button – Shop Now

This ad got a lot of attention. While we don’t know how long it has been running, it has certainly gotten a lot of exposure. This may be due to the fact that it is a unique product and the media is video.

Ad number 2 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – New type of Tupperware top
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 50k and 20M
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (w/emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – None

This ad also got a LOT of coverage. Again, we don’t know how old this ad is, but compared to the last one who got a like for every 170 views, this one got a like for every 103 views. That could be due to the fact that the kitchen niche is much larger.

Ad number 3 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – New type of wallet
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 1k and 400k
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – Shop Now

I wish I had looked at the comments and attempted to determine how old the ad might be since there was only 170 (but I didn’t think of that until later, and was unable to find the ad again). However, this one still got decent coverage in the hundreds of thousands of views. Only one like for every 203 views, but still a good amount of traffic to a neat product.

Ad number 4 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Cool face scarf
  • Offer – Buy 1 get 4 Free
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 1k and 200k
  • Link – None
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – Shop Now

This one got decent coverage as well in the hundreds of thousands of views, but clearly the targeting was right (and that offer is pretty sweet). The reason I say this is because they got a like for every 91 views! And check out their shares and comments. I’d say this was definitely a successful ad.

Ad number 5 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Mole remover pen
  • Offer – none
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 80k and 50m
  • Link – Two
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – Shop Now

Ad number 6 –

This ad has been circulating for awhile, so it isn’t any wonder why it has so many views. Also, it only got a like for every 237 views. That is likely because it is a super niche product. Still, 51 million views is a lot of traffic.

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Travel power adapter
  • Offer – none
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 5k and 1m
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Niche Specific
  • Button – None

This ad got good coverage with over a million views. What’s even more impressive is that there is a comment for every 400 views! That is some serious engagement. That may well mean that the views they are getting are converting REALLY well.

Ad number 7 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Novel neck pillow
  • Offer – Discount
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – 100 and 2.3m
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – None

So here’s the thing about this one. You’d think that due to engagement being low, it didn’t perform well at all. I mean, with only 100 likes, that means it only got a like every 23,000 views. BUT, with only 8 comments I am willing to bet the ad is relatively new. In that respect, 2.3 million views is pretty amazing traffic. However, it is also possible that the video was run worldwide just for views to boost that number for social proof.

Ad number 8 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Home teeth whitening system
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 100 and 100k
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

This ad got decent traffic, but engagement isn’t great. It isn’t a very niche product, as I think this type of thing would have mass appeal. Their targeting was also probably broad for that reason, so that might be why the engagement is low. However, hundreds of thousands of views likely equaled good website traffic.

Ad number 9 –

  • Media – Single Image
  • Product – Foot molded shoe
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – 44 likes, 2 comments, 3 shares
  • Link – none
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

Ok, here’s where things get interesting. This is our first non-video ad. And the results aren’t great. Now, in fairness this could be a totally new ad. And in fact, I did check the comments and determine the ad is about a week old. While that is pretty new, I checked a few of the much bigger ads with tens of thousands of comments and saw that they were getting hundreds of comments a DAY. So, 2 comments over a week is not very impressive.

Why is that? Could it be that the product isn’t very novel (think Vibram Shoes). Could it be that there was no compelling offer? Or how about the fact that the media was simply a still image?

Ad number 10 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Crazy glowy ring
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 500 and 1m
  • Link – none
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Learn More

Contrast that last ad with this one, also one week old. In a week, it had 1 million views! Not only that, but over 100 shares, and over 500 likes. That absolutely blows the shoe ad OUT OF THE WATER! So, take notes on the key differences. This ad is video. This product is unique.

Ad number 11 –

  • Media – Slideshow
  • Product – Custom shirts
  • Offer – Discount
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 5k and 150k
  • Link – Two
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

Now, this also wasn’t a video per se. It played like a video, but just cycled through images; basically, a slideshow. Exposure for this one was pretty good too, especially considering the product isn’t unique. But engagement is amazing at one like per 38 views!

Ad number 12 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Animal socks
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 50k and 7m
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – None

This ad got great exposure with millions of views, and a like for every 107 views. Also, it got almost as many shares as it did comments, which is rather impressive considering it got a comment/share for every 185 or so views.

In almost every example, the video ads out performed other media (and also were the most prevalent type of ad).

Ad number 13 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Pet necklace
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 25k and 1m
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Niche Specific
  • Button – None

A like for every 44 views and more shares than comments is no surprise with a gift as novel as this one. Everyone loves their pets, and everyone loves cats (on the internet anyway). So, this was a perfect storm of ad awesome.

Ad number 14 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Pet brush
  • Offer – None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 10k and 2m
  • Link – Two
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – Shop Now

The likes engagement isn’t phenomenal at only one like per 203 views, but the comment to share ratio is outstanding. Also, couple million views is pretty awesome traffic.

Ad number 15 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Charcoal toothpaste
  • Offer – Discount
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – Over 5k and 11m
  • Link – none
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

Likes engagement was terrible, but given the fact that it has 3600 comments, comparable to the last ad, but 11 MILLION views, I’d say this ad is reaching a hell of an audience. If their website has any decent conversion rate, that kind of traffic is very profitable.

what if you were to follow the winning ad formula but direct the traffic to your Amazon listing? You may be able to convert more of the traffic into sales.

Ad number 16 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Skateboard
  • Offer – Discount
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – 65 and 1.6m
  • Link – none
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

This ad only has 8 comments. This tells me that the ad isn’t very old. Yet it got 1.6 million views. That is some serious traffic.

Ad number 17 –

  • Media – Slideshow
  • Product – Weight loss coffee
  • Offer – Discount
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – 34 and 13k
  • Link – One
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

This ad may not seem that impressive at first, until you learn that it is only a day or so old. It is VERY new and managed 13k views with a slideshow (and a little intro animation…nothing complex).

Ad number 18 –

  • Media – Carousel
  • Product – Harem pants
  • Offer – Discount
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – 330 likes, 46 comments, 24 shares
  • Link – none
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

Here’s one we hadn’t seen yet. A carousel ad. While we don’t know how many impressions the ad gets, the engagement appears fairly decent for something that may have gotten low exposure.

Ad number 19 –

  • Media – Single image
  • Product – Wallet
  • Offer –None
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – 7800 likes, 1000 comments, 713 shares
  • Link – none
  • Text – Short (no emojis)
  • Page Name – Brand Specific
  • Button – Shop Now

First, I should mention that Ridge is a relatively well known brand by now. Be that as it may, the engagement looks decent, but we still don’t really know how old the ad is. When I viewed the comments, I did see a reply to one that was 13 weeks old. If this ad is at least that old, it managed 600 likes per week. That’s pretty impressive for a static image ad. But again, this is a decently established brand.

Ad number 20 –

  • Media – Video
  • Product – Fit belt
  • Offer –Discount
  • Likes/Comments/Shares/Views – 271 Likes, 796k views
  • Link – Two
  • Text – Short (w/ emojis)
  • Page Name – Generic
  • Button – Learn More

This video got horrible like engagement. But again, with only 35 comments, this was a pretty new ad (I think only a couple weeks old at most) and managed a LOT of views.

What Can We Learn?

Well, after looking at 20 random ads I managed to pull up in my Facebook feed and looking at their engagement and ad strategy, this is what I have concluded:

Video ads get the most engagement. In almost every example, the video ads out performed other media (and also were the most prevalent type of ad).

Products don’t HAVE to be unique, but it does help. Some products were novel, others were pretty common, but in the end it was all about the presentation.

The offer should be great. The best performers definitely had the best offer (that Skull face mask, for example, killed it with the buy 1 get 4 deal).

What if you can’t afford to have a video made? Well, the examples above proved one thing to be clear, and that is people prefer multi-media. It doesn’t HAVE to be a video, but the closer to a video the better the performance. You can also create a powerpoint presentation from your still images. Or at least create a carousel. But, unless you are a big brand, I wouldn’t be surprised if a single image ad doesn’t work well.

What if you don’t have a “unique” product? While it will definitely make things easier, it isn’t a requirement. You just have to make your product look unique. Point out any features it has that make it stand out, or just point out the existing benefits as if it is a brand new idea. However, if you have a generic product, I’d definitely consider having a professional video made.

My Wild Theory & How You Can Profit Massively

Ok, so here’s the deal. I clicked through all of those ads, and all of them lead to a listing/order page. Sometimes the page has a countdown timer for the deal, sometimes it is a storefront with multiple products to choose from.

The thing is, not one of them was an Amazon listing.

Well, after doing some digging, I learned that the average conversion rate for e-commerce in the US is 3%. However, I know that most of you Amazon sellers are enjoying conversions of anywhere from 10 to 30% or more.

This is largely because Amazon is a brand in and of itself. That brand has worked to gain a great deal of trust among consumers. So they much more freely convert to a buying customer.

My theory is, what if you were to follow the winning ad formula but direct the traffic to your Amazon listing? You may be able to convert more of the traffic into sales.

As far as the offer is concerned, you just need to employ a coupon distribution mechanism (SixLeaf will have one to offer soon) and then you can hit all the points:

  1. Great media
  2. Compelling offer
  3. Awesome product

With the added benefit of it being offered on the most trustworthy platform in the e-commerce industry.

So I challenge you to test, test and test some more. Let’s put our collective heads together to find the most effective strategy for exploding our brands utilizing paid advertising on Facebook and elsewhere.

**If you liked this article (or if you hated it) like, share, or comment. It let’s me know I should keep writing them.**