4 Best Facebook Ads Case Studies

Curious to know how you can use Facebook ads to achieve your business goals?

This guide covers four best Facebook ads case studies showing how brands like Seltzer Goods, Jon Loomer Digital, Starbucks at Home, and Top Business Class achieved impressive results from ad campaigns. From boosting sales and brand awareness to increasing reach, these examples show the power of targeted and creative advertising on social media. 

Read on to learn how you can replicate the steps in the four Facebook page case studies to get similar (or better) results.

#1: Jon Loomer spent USD300 to reach 100k FB followers in 30 days

Jon Loomer, a Facebook marketing strategist, helps brands apply advanced Facebook strategies to build their businesses, drive leads, and increase revenue. His Facebook page has over 196k followers. 

Jon Loomer ran a Facebook ad campaign for a month as an experiment and reached 100k new Facebook followers. 

Keep reading to know how Jon did this and what you can learn from this case study.

Jon Loomer’s Facebook Ad Campaign Process

Jon Loomer followed these steps to create and run his ad campaign, reaching 100k Facebook followers in 30 days:

• Define the campaign’s objective. Jon chose “Reach” as the main objective for his ads campaign. His goal was to reach all his followers, so he wanted Facebook to show the ad to the maximum number of people.

• Choose the frequency cap. This feature limits the number of times a person sees the same ad. Jon Loomer chose a frequency cap of 1 impression per 90 days to avoid showing the ad to the same audience multiple times.

• Define the target audience. Jon only targeted his custom audience (his followers). He also targeted his followers worldwide so that he wouldn’t limit his reach to his audience in the four core countries (USA, UK, Canada, and Australia).

• Choose the ad placement. Loomer initially chose most placements, including ‘In-article’ and ‘Audience network. ‘ But he eventually removed the placement option entirely when the ads were shown to the same people multiple times.

• Set the budget. Jon set a daily budget of USD 10. So, the total campaign budget would be USD 300 in 30 days.
• Set up and run the ad. Loomer chose a simple ad creative featuring text and an image. His message was also simple and clear: “This is a test.” He then explained what the experiment was all about.

After launching the ad, Jon Loomer expected that:

• His ad would first reach the least expensive countries, where 68% of his followers lived.
• In the first few days, he would reach a few people in the four most expensive countries (the US, UK, Canada, and Australia).

From the results he obtained, Jon’s expectations were right.

• He reached about 17,000 people on the first day and around 99.97% were from the least expensive countries to reach.
• He only reached 6 people (about 0.03%) in the four most expensive countries to reach.

Takeaway

Below are the key lessons you can learn from Jon Loomer’s case study:

• Facebook Reach campaigns are effective. Choosing “Reach” as your campaign objective ensures that your ad reaches as many people as possible. But you can limit the frequency to avoid showing the ad to the same person multiple times. Jon Loomer’s ad campaign was effective, although he didn’t reach all his followers in 30 days.
• Use a scalable budget. A flexible budget allows you to scale your ad campaign depending on the outcome. If you have several ad sets, you can use Facebook’s Advantage Campaign Budget feature to distribute your budget optimally across all the ad sets. The system prioritizes the high-performing ads and displays them more frequently than the low-performing ones.
• Adjust ad placement. You can adjust your ad placement based on real-time results. For instance, Jon Loomer removed ad placements that caused the audience to see the same ad repeatedly.
• Segment your target audience. You can group your audience into categories for better reach and lower cost. Jon Loomer had two main audience groups, those in the four core countries and the rest of the world. 

#2: Seltzer Goods increased B2C sales by 785% in 30 days using Facebook Ads

Seltzer Goods, a woman-led business, creates and sells colorful home products like stickers, tote bags, and puzzles. The brand inspires happiness and curiosity through unique, creative products. Seltzer Goods was doing well until their B2B sales dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company decided to invest more in social media advertising. It settled on Facebook ads to reach direct customers and increase sales. 

The ad campaign was successful, with the following results:

• 785% increase in monthly revenue
• USD4.87 cost per customer acquisition (CPC)
• 9.68 times return on ad spend (ROA)

Seltzer Goods also saw improvements in organic metrics on its website, including:

• 183% increase in monthly organic traffic
• 6.6% organic conversion rate
• 931% increase in brand query and product searches
• 200% increase in non-branded search query impressions

Seltzer Goods’ Facebook Ad Campaign Process

Seltzer Goods partnered with Inflow, an advertising company, to help them create and implement a social media advertising campaign.

The ad company followed the following steps:

Step 1: Analyze your current situation

First, Inflow used Facebook pixel on Seltzer Goods’ website to monitor web visitors and purchases. The ads company found that Seltzer Goods’ target audience was active on Facebook and Instagram.

Secondly, Inflow chose to target a cold audience (people who’d never interacted with a brand) since Seltzer Goods wanted to reach new customers.

Inflow also analyzed Seltzer Goods’ sales situation and found out the following:

• Seltzer Goods’ challenge: The company’s wholesale (B2B) operations had suffered during the pandemic, so it wanted to increase direct customer (B2C) sales. Another challenge was that potential customers didn’t know about Seltzer Goods. So, the company had to find a way to increase awareness.

• Seltzer Goods’ unique selling proposition (USP): The company had a large collection of unique goods, like interactive puzzles, that people would love to buy during the lockdown. Plus, they were reasonably priced. 

• The proposed action: Inflow proposed social media advertising as the best approach to boost the brand’s awareness and increase B2C sales. 

Step 2: Create a Facebook ads strategy

Inflow created an effective Facebook ads strategy based on the “See, Think, Do” framework, which works best for e-commerce brands. This funnel-like framework targets audiences at different consideration stages:

• See (Awareness stage): Potential buyers need a specific product but are not considering purchasing it. So, a brand creates awareness about its products and engages the prospects at this stage.
• Think (Engagement stage): At this point, the prospects are actively engaging with the brand but aren’t fully convinced to buy the product. So, the brand provides more information to nurture their interests.
• Do (Conversion stage): At this point, prospects are ready to buy the product. The brand only needs to persuade them to turn their intent into action, so it uses strong CTAs and simplifies the purchasing process.

Step 3: Set up the ad campaign

Seltzer Goods’ ad set included one Facebook ad and one Instagram ad. It was:

• Simple and creative 
• Optimized for all devices
• Optimized for 1-day click delivery (since the goods had low prices)
• Automatically placed 

For the ad campaign, Inflow chose a conversion-based approach that focused on purchases. So, it only targeted those who would be interested in buying the products. 

The target audience included:

• A custom audience – those who’d shown interest in Seltzer Goods’ products, especially the puzzles
• Lookalike audience – those who’d interacted with the brand’s website as visitors, Add-to-cart users, and purchasers

Inflow chose a carefully scaled ad budget. After a few days, the team advised Seltzer Goods to increase its budget by 10-15% if the ROAS (Return on ad spend) was at least 5 times the budget.

Step 4: Optimize your Ad campaign 

The Inflow team crafted one in-ad copy to be used in two different ad creatives. The creatives featured single-image ads (in 1:1 ratios) optimized for mobile devices. Making the ads mobile-friendly improved user experience and increased their reach.

Inflow used A/B testing to determine the best-performing ad creative. 

The best ad creative captured what Seltzer Goods values: fun, brightness, and being artistic. It would grab people’s attention and make them take a closer look at the ad.

The ad copy was:

• Relevant. The message promoted relevant products (like puzzles). It resonated with the target audience, who spent most of their time indoors and needed interactive activities.
• Positive. Playing with puzzles promotes mental health, making the copy message positive.
• Persuasive. The strong CTA (“Strengthen your puzzle game”) persuaded the target audience to buy the puzzles.
• Reassuring. It mentioned that the goods were “in stock and ready to ship,” so the buyers wouldn’t have to worry.

Takeaway

Here’s what you can learn from Seltzer Goods’ case study:

• Have an effective social media advertising strategy. A well-thought-off strategy plus relevant, creative, and unique ads make your campaigns effective. Also, keep your campaign simple and specific.
• Target the right audience: Know your target audience. Start with those who’ve shown interest before moving on to the lookalike audience.
• Create scalable ad campaigns. Have a scalable budget, making it easy to adjust your campaign depending on its performance.
• Paid Facebook and IG ads affect the performance of other channels. Seltzer Goods saw a 75% increase in revenue from other channels. Organic traffic increased by 183%, while the conversion rate was over 6.6%. Also, the brand got referral traffic and backlinks as its reputation grew.

#3: Starbucks at Home Saudi Arabia got a 5.3-lift in brand awareness through mobile-first video ads

Starbucks, the popular coffee brand, wanted to raise product-launch awareness in Saudi Arabia. 

The brand used mobile-first video ads on Facebook and Instagram to promote its new premium instant coffee mixes and got the following results:

• 5.3-point increase in brand awareness
• 7-point lift in brand awareness among adults (aged 18-24)
• 5.9-point lift in consideration
• 8-point lift in consideration among adults (aged 25-34) 

We’ll look at Starbucks’ journey and the key takeaways in the sections below.

Starbucks’ Advertising Process

Starbucks partnered with Zenith Media, an advertising agency, to run its Facebook and Instagram campaign. The main objective of this campaign was to inform potential and existing customers about the launch of its new product (the premium instant coffee mixes).

Here’s how Zenith Media ran and managed the ads campaign:

• Create a campaign strategy. Zenith Media suggested that Starbucks at Home run two campaign ads at the same time. The first one focused on reaching new customers and coffee lovers who would consider adding the new product to their daily routine. The second ad campaign was optimized to boost ThruPlay views, increasing awareness among consumers. The team would use mobile-first ads.
• Implement the ad campaign strategy. The Zenith Media team created attention-grabbing and mobile-friendly Facebook and Instagram ads. The creative ads featured Starbucks’ brand elements, like their logo and colors, within the first few seconds. They also had text overlays with simple messages.

The ads featured close-up shots of a Starbucks instant coffee and customers enjoying the brewed coffee at home as part of their morning routine.

• Optimize and promote the ads. The Zenith Media team followed Meta’s best practices in ad placement. They targeted a broad audience and used a frequency of 1:2 impressions per week. Then, they had at least four ad placements in the News Feeds, Reels, Stories, and In-stream.

Starbucks Home showed the ads to three groups. One group consisted of coffee lovers and health enthusiasts in Saudi Arabia (aged 18-35). The next group was custom audiences who had visited Starbucks’ website or previously interacted with its video ads. The last group consisted of a lookalike audience with similar characteristics to the custom audience.

Takeaway

Here are the lessons learned from Starbucks at Home’s case study:

• Localize your social media advertising: Crafting ads that feature the local language or reflect the local culture makes them relatable and effective. For instance, Starbucks at Home used Arabic in its ad campaign to create a deeper connection and increase engagement with the audience.
• Optimize your ads for mobile devices: Creating mobile-first ads helps capture the audience’s attention quickly. They also have improved user experience and reach a wider audience. These ads should be eye-catching and have simple, clear designs to increase engagement and conversions.
• Segment your target audience: A brand should understand its target audience and segment it into distinct groups for easier reach. For example, Starbucks at Home targeted three specific groups in its ad campaigns, reaching new and current customers.
• Use strategic ad placement: Placing your ads strategically where your audience will see them will increase reach and engagement. Starbucks placed its ads in four places at a frequency of 1:2 impressions per week.
• Collaborate with an advertising agency: Partnering with the best Facebook ads agency helps your brand create and run a well-structured campaign. You benefit from the agency’s expertise and experience in running similar campaigns.

#4: Top Business Class increased high-quality calls with call extension Facebook ads

Top Business Class, a boutique travel agency, offers private discounted prices for business and first-class airfares. It helps travelers find the most suitable flight options depending on their preferred itinerary. Potential customers have to call the travel agency to book and confirm their flight arrangements.

Top Business Class wanted to increase qualified call volumes. So, the brand ran an experiment using call extension ads on Facebook. Two weeks after launching the campaign, the travel agency had the following results:

• 22% increase in qualified lead volume
• 24% lower cost per additional qualified leads

Below, we’ll look at how Top Business Class achieved these results and the top lessons we can learn from this case study.

Top Business Class’ Facebook Ad Process

• Assess the situation. Top Business Class had previously used Facebook ads to generate leads. But, the agency hadn’t been successful in increasing calls from ad campaigns. So, they wanted an ad campaign strategy that would favor phone calls from prospects.
• Define the campaign goal. Top Business Class’ main goal was to increase qualified calls from potential customers. Phone calls with the agency’s customer service representatives are the only way prospects can confirm their bookings and buy discounted tickets.

• Create the campaign strategy. The travel agency settled for a call extension ad together, plus the usual campaign setup. This ad format is best for brands that run their main business operations via phone calls. Also, the ad would only appear in the Facebook feed on mobile phones. So, it was more likely to reach a wider audience.
• Test the ads. Top Business Class ran an A/B test to determine if the call extension ads would be effective. The travel agency compared two ad cells with the same campaign elements, including conversion objectives. The first one was a control cell with the usual ad campaign setup. The second one had a call extension ad plus the usual ad setup.

The two cells had the same ad creatives, featuring a sleek plane against a blue sky backdrop. The copy was compelling, stating, “Skip the website scouring! Our agents will find you the best rates for international business class flights. Contact us today.”

The ad’s goal was to direct prospects to Top Business Class’s website after clicking the CTA button. If interested in booking a business class flight, they would browse the web, fill in the lead form, and then click the “Get Quote” button. The prospects would then be prompted to call the agency directly and speak to a customer service representative to get more details on suitable flight prices.

Takeaway

Here are the key lessons you can learn from the Top Business Class’s case study:

• Match your ad format with your business model. For example, Top Business Class chose a call extension ad because their business involves direct calls from customers.
• Use measurements to run better ad campaigns. Testing different ad formats before the actual campaign will help you know what works and what doesn’t. Top Business Class used A/B testing to determine that call ads were the ideal ad format for their campaign.
• Ad optimization. Adjusting different elements in your ads, like the target audience, placement, ad creatives, and budgeting, will help you get the best results from your campaign. For instance, Top Business Class combined a call extension ad with the usual ad setup and call extension to increase high-quality call volumes.

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