The Truth About Social Ads – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of The Truth About Social Ads, Jason Smith dives deep into the critical topic of audience segmentation and explains why it’s a game-changer for successful ad campaigns. While it may not seem like the most exciting topic, Jason makes a compelling case for why audience segmentation is one of the most crucial elements in driving ad performance. Whether you’re running campaigns for eCommerce, lead generation, or any other business model, this episode is packed with practical advice for getting your ads in front of the right people at the right time.

Jason kicks off by reviewing the concept of full-funnel ads—discussed in the previous episode—and explains how audience segmentation works hand-in-hand with this strategy. He takes listeners through the three stages of the funnel: Top of Funnel (TOF), Middle of Funnel (MOF), and Bottom of Funnel (BOF), detailing what types of audiences belong in each. From lookalike audiences built from high-intent data to precise exclusions that avoid audience overlap, Jason breaks down the nuances of targeting that can elevate your return on ad spend (ROAS).

For marketers still grappling with the technicalities of audience building, Jason offers practical insights on using Ads Manager effectively to set up clean, non-overlapping segments. He also highlights common pitfalls—such as lumping different audience types together—and how they can lead to skyrocketing costs and poor performance. Whether you’re managing a $1,000 monthly budget or a million-dollar campaign, his step-by-step advice ensures you can make audience segmentation work for your business.

In the episode, Jason also tackles the myths surrounding the impact of iOS privacy updates on middle and bottom-of-funnel strategies. Contrary to what some marketers believe, these stages of the funnel remain highly effective when executed correctly. Jason shares his tried-and-true methods for crafting audience lists, segmenting days for optimal recency, and ensuring personalized engagement across all stages of the buyer’s journey.

Listeners will leave this episode with a clear understanding of why audience segmentation is indispensable, how to execute it correctly, and why this approach is far superior to relying solely on Advantage+ campaigns. If you’ve ever wondered how to better structure your ads for long-term success, this episode is a must-listen.

Tune in now to learn how audience segmentation can transform your ad campaigns and drive exceptional results for your business!

“Top of funnel is all about reaching people who’ve never heard of you. Keep it cold, keep it logical.” - Jason Smith

Key Takeaways:

• Reaching New Prospects

• Engaging Warm Audiences

• Converting High-Intent Users

• Exclude Overlapping Audiences

Learn more about Jason Smith through the following links:

Facebook

Website

In this episode of The Truth About Social Ads, Jason Smith dives deep into the concept of full funnel ads and why they’re essential for any successful ad strategy. Whether you’re in e-commerce, lead generation, or any other business that relies on digital advertising, understanding and implementing full funnel campaigns can make the difference between lackluster performance and exceptional results.

Jason breaks down the three key stages of full funnel advertising: top-of-funnel (TOF), middle-of-funnel (MOF), and bottom-of-funnel (BOF). He explains how each stage serves a specific purpose in the customer journey, from building brand awareness to nurturing engagement and ultimately driving conversions. Using real-world examples and insights from ad account audits, Jason highlights common mistakes brands and agencies make, such as over-reliance on Advantage+ campaigns and neglecting retargeting strategies.

One of the standout takeaways from this episode is the importance of tailoring your ad copy and creative to each stage of the funnel. Jason stresses that speaking to a first-time visitor the same way you would a repeat customer is not only ineffective but could also harm your brand’s credibility. He offers actionable tips for segmenting audiences, crafting personalized messages, and optimizing the frequency of your ads to avoid overwhelming or frustrating potential customers.

For listeners eager to level up their ad game, Jason provides a compelling case for why thinking like a consumer is key. He challenges traditional approaches, urging marketers to move beyond surface-level tactics and embrace a logical, customer-centric perspective. If you’re looking for practical advice to improve your ad performance and better align with your audience’s needs, this episode is a must-listen.

Tune in now to learn how full funnel advertising can transform your campaigns and deliver better results for your business. Don’t miss Jason’s expert advice and real-world strategies for scaling with purpose!

“If you’re not using top, middle, and bottom-of-funnel ads, you’re missing out on the customer journey.” - Jason Smith

Key Takeaways:

• Full Funnel Ads Are Essential

• Avoid One-Size-Fits-All Campaigns

• Think Like a Consumer

• Creative and Copy Customization

Learn more about Jason Smith through the following links:

Facebook

Website

We’re talking about this today because we’ve got tons of experience with these types of situations, these scenarios. And we’re not going to get walked all over, we’re not going to get blamed for things that are not our fault. This episode is about being respected. If you disrespect high performers, they can get upset because they work hard to be the best at what they do. And that’s how we are as an agency. We pride ourselves in being absolutely the best at it. And so when a client comes to us and they’re used to working with like a smaller agency that would do whatever they said, and we command a higher level of respect because of the work we’re doing, sometimes they’re not used to it.

But that’s really what we expect is respect from our clients. And we give the same respect in return. We’re totally open to as much feedback as you want to give, but when a client says, “You guys aren’t doing your job, you guys aren’t getting the results that I think you should be getting.”

Then it goes down this rabbit hole of personal opinions and we’ve skewed away from the actual data, right? Like we need and use data to make good decisions. And we’re making decisions based on the data that’s coming in. And sometimes clients don’t understand this and ask us to do things that aren’t in their best interest.

In this episode, we are going to cover the four most common mistakes we are asked to make, and how we have created systems and ways of communicating with our clients, so we avoid these situations.

These are:

1. Increasing ad spend too quickly. Extremely risky and usually results in big losses.

2. Resetting the learning, sometimes it works, but often it dive bombs the account.

3. Only caring about cold traffic.

4. Blaming the ads when it’s not the fault of the ads or our responsibility. There are many factors at play, including conversion rates, sales team effectiveness, company operations and culture, and many more.

Check out this episode to learn more as we go through all the details and explain our strategies to avoid these hot messes.

Notes and more here: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/24

Free Resources:

Free Attribution PDFs: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/attribution-pdf/
Connect with Jason: info@sportlightsocialllc.com
Connect with Eric: eric@sportlightsocialllc.com

We’re talking about attribution models for your ads and specifically one main attribution model, which is what Eric’s developed, so we can give our customers a view-through attribution model with Facebook so they can see their numbers inside of the dashboard. Well, not inside of the Facebook dashboard, but inside of the dashboard that Eric’s come up with.

This is an important topic, especially now because of the iOS update. We’ve had a lot of customers and even other agencies come to us and ask, “Hey, what are you guys using for reporting and attribution?” Because the Facebook dashboard is no longer reporting. And we’ve heard from a few clients that some agencies aren’t even reporting on return on ad spend. They can’t even report on it.

Eric and the team have been working super hard to get the solution resolved. We’ve partnered with a third-party reporting agency and these guys are awesome. And I think we’ve got the solution now. So, listen to this episode is you want to know all about our solution, it’s a game changer.

Basically, we are able to still see view-through data, which was the biggest factor with the iOS 14 update. Our agency has successfully conquered and beat iOS. There still are limitations. It’s changed the way paid ads work. There’s no way around that, but the big impact is that we can report on return on ad spend.

Check out this episode to learn more as we unpack all the details. And grab our free download which also explains our strategy.

Notes and more here: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/23

Free Resources:

Free Attribution PDFs: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/attribution-pdf/

HighLevel helps agencies and marketers thrive with their all-in-one sales and marketing platform. If you have an agency and you haven’t heard about HighLevel yet, you have to listen to this episode. And if you have heard of it, or are one of the quickly growing agencies who are using it, then you need to listen in as we unpack some of the latest and greatest features and benefits found in HighLevel. And reveal some upcoming additions too!

Founder Shaun Clark and Chase Buckner, the Director of Content & Education join us for this power-packed conversation about HighLevel, the fastest growing white-label platform for digital marketing agencies. HighLevel is one white-labeled marketing app to rule them all. HighLevel is everything your agency needs to succeed! Capture leads using HighLevel’s landing pages, surveys, forms, calendars, and inbound phone system. Automatically message leads via voicemail, forced calls, SMS, emails, and FB Messenger. Use their built in tools to collect payments, schedule appointments, create memberships, and track analytics.

And these guys are adding new and powerful features to this mind-blowing tool all the time. We specifically dive into the new Spotify integration for Ecommerce businesses which we’re particularly pumped about.

And one of the best things is that you can White Label the software, customize it for your ideal clients, and sell it to them as their new primary marketing SAAS tool. We talk about why this can become a major revenue stream for your business. Clients tend to keep paying for tools like this, even if they aren’t hiring you for marketing services. It’s crazy sticky, especially when they realize this one tool saves them from having to pay for 5, 10, or even 20 different tools!

We’ve been using HighLevel for two years and are super stoked about where these guys are taking this platform. HighLevel works directly with agency owners to use their feedback and suggestions to make this a serious game-changer. Listen to this episode, then go check out HighLevel. There’s a free 14-day trial so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Notes and more here: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/22

Resources:

HighLevel Website

Connect with Jason: info@sportlightsocialllc.com

Connect with Eric: eric@sportlightsocialllc.com

Getting traffic to your ecom site isn’t an issue, especially when you’re working with us. But converting that traffic into customers is an entirely different ball game. A while back, we saw many of our clients struggling to get the conversions they wanted, so we joined Tanner Larsson and the Build Grow Scale (BGS) community which has proven to be a hugely powerful investment.

Tanner joins us today to unpack some of the ecommerce store optimization strategies he teaches and has written about in his book, Ecommerce Evolved: The Essential Playbook To Build, Grow & Scale A Successful Ecommerce Business.Ecommerce Evolved: The Essential Playbook To Build, Grow & Scale A Successful Ecommerce Business. We also discuss their upcoming event, Build Grow Scale Live which will be in Dallas this year. We’re love the stuff these guys are doing, and will be at the event as well, performing ads audits and helping ecom brands crush it in 2022.

Tanner has built quite simply the world’s best ecommerce community with access to the top ecommerce experts in the world, as well as live mentorship, live feedback on your store (so you never have to wonder what to do next), revenue-boosting private apps, Revenue Optimization™ services, and data-driven resources to help you multiply your revenue the fastest way possible. We’ve seen it happen.

The last 24 months have changed the game for ecom brands. During the pandemic, online shopping exploded. Along with this growth has come a massive amount of change. The days of being able to throw up an ecom store, slap a few products on there, run a few facebook ads and make money are gone. ​The days of being able to cover your acquisition costs, expenses and still profit from the first sale are gone. ​The days of being able to use large volumes of cheap traffic to make up for an unoptimized ecom business are dead.

It’s a whole new world out there in terms of what works and what doesn’t, and Build Grow Scale has been in the trenches every day doing what they do best… Testing, tweaking, analyzing data and optimizing stores to maximize their performance and profits.

We share what Tanner and his team have discovered during this episode. But to truly get the most out of your store, we recommend (highly!) that you come to BGS Live.

About Tanner Larsson

Tanner Larsson is the co-founder of Amplified Partnerships, an ecommerce brand incubator, and the CEO of BuildGrowScale.com. He launched his first ecommerce venture from his childhood bedroom in 2001 and has since founded or partnered in over a dozen different businesses in markets such as home services, health & fitness, guns & survival, kitchen accessories, supplements & nutraceuticals, business education, and HVAC.

Tanner is also the founder and facilitator of an exclusive ecommerce syndicate called Black Label, a mastermind composed of the best and brightest marketers, CEOs, and entrepreneurs in the ecommerce space.

Tanner lives with his wife and kids in Reno, NV.

Notes and more here: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/21

Resources:

Build Grow Scale Live: https://www.buildgrowscalelive.com/2022
Build Grow Scale: https://buildgrowscale.com/
Tanner’s Book, Ecommerce Evolved: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1534619348/
Connect with Jason: info@sportlightsocialllc.com
Connect with Eric: eric@sportlightsocialllc.com

When we work with companies, we are a partner. We work with them as a partner and in certain industries, there are agencies like ours outside of internal or in-house company staff or resources that can do a better job.

And so, there can be more value for the company to hire out than to hire within. A lot of companies rely on this type of partnership for paid advertising and that’s what we specifically focus on. We have dynamic partnerships that are sometimes difficult. And we want to talk about that today.

We go to great lengths to explain our role in this relationship and keep a constant stream of communication rolling, but this can sometimes get confusing and does not always go smoothly. So today we wanted to go through some of the strategies and tactics we’ve learned through experiences, good and bad, that will help keep these roles well-defined, and the relationships happy (mostly).

Here are a number of highlights from the episode and few of the things we cover:

– Jason explains why he was MIA for a while.

– We are fortunate to be good at what we do, and now can say “no” to certain clients.

– A lot of smaller agencies will say “yes” when they can’t deliver, which can lead to a terrible experience.

– Our super power is building, optimizing, and reporting on the client’s ad campaign KPIs through clear communication.

– We optimize the ads, not the website conversion rate.

– The iOS update has made things a little more challenging, but check back soon because we have a solution.

– It’s not good to have the client in the ad accounts, micromanaging things.

– We’re the experts who are in direct communication with platform reps and are up to speed on current best practices.

– If something breaks, we know how to fix it, the client doesn’t.

– Clients will have expectations for their ad campaign ROAS, even if we explain that’s going outside of the goal KPIs.

– There are a lot of factors outside of our control which can affect sales, but it is sometimes easy for the client to blame it on the ads.

– We do not analyze all of the data, but can hire someone to do that if needed.

– Our goal is to get our clients the best numbers possible and the best performance from their campaigns.

– Scaling ad campaigns takes time and does not happen overnight.

And more… This episode is packed with a lot of principles we have learned the hard way. At the end of the day, we just want to have great relationships with good partners. We’re not perfect, and make mistakes every now and then, but we make sure to do our best and communicate clearly, always.

Also, we’re in the trenches every day running ads. If anyone’s struggling with the Apple update out there. We have a resource for you go to our website, a download on everything you need to do for the checklist.

Apple released the update iOS 14 Facebook a while back, We will have another episode soon detailing how you can again analyze attribution, but you can get the checklist we put together, you may find a tip or two.

Notes and more here: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/20

Resources:

High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401952852/

Get the Apple Update Checklist: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/ios

Connect with Jason: info@sportlightsocialllc.com

Connect with Eric: eric@sportlightsocialllc.com

Has the Apple iOS update has impacted your ads? Across the board, this has made click tracking much more difficult. Do you want to continue to grow your business but are at a bit of a loss because your analytics are now unreliable? Have no fear, meet Northbeam!

Today Eric talks to Austin Harrison about their solution to your (and our) problems. Northbeam connects with your e-commerce and advertising platforms so your data all lives in one place.

Their metrics are unbelievable. Clear, concise reporting for the executive team. For everyone else: in-depth breakouts by channel, product, and more. And they go beyond last-click attribution to provide a holistic picture of what is fueling your growth. In additional to all of this, they have some killer automated analysis and forecasting.

If you are running ads across a variety of platforms, you need to check Northbeam out. Eric boldly claims that Northbeam’s innovative approach has saved them by providing accurate data they can rely on.

Also, we’re in the trenches every day running ads. If anyone’s struggling with the Apple update out there. We have a resource for you go to our website, a download on everything you need to do for the checklist. Get the checklist so you can keep your ROAS as high as possible.

Notes and more here: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/19

More about Northbeam here: https://www.northbeam.io/

Get the Apple Update Checklist: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/ios

The reason we’re doing Facebook versus Google is because we get questions like this all the time, about this topic. Should I be doing Google? Should I be doing Facebook? Should I be doing both? We’re going to go through all that today in this episode and answer that for you. And there’s no better way to do that, but to have Kasim Aslam on the show today, he’s the founder and CEO of Solutions 8, one of the world’s top ranked Google ads agency.

We work pretty closely together and refer business back and forth to each other because it’s just too complicated to be good at ads within both platforms, and we’re both dedicated to provided the best service we can for our clients.

During this fascinating and insightful conversion:

– We chat about the differences between the two platforms, and what to expect when signing up for the Google ads experience.

– Kasim blows our minds with a deep dive into all the ways Google touches our lives, and how much data they are actually gleaning from their multitude of touch points.

– For example, Kasim reveals Google reaches about 90% of every internet user on the planet, and about 65% of those every day.

– Google has a mind-blowing 70 million demographic and psychographic profiling factors that they use in order to catalog people, Facebook has 55,000.

– In fact, with Google Analytics on 99% of front-facing websites, and all of their other touchpoints (Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Drive, etc.) their AI algorithm works so well, the engineers at Google don’t know exactly how it works.

– We also go into a powerful discussion about how the iOS update is impacting both Facebook and Google. (Note: For both, we recommend you hiring a professional. It’s no longer easy for someone to do on their own or without a specialist.)

– The question about why you should not write one check to one agency is answered. (Answer: It’s all so complex, no single agency will have the knowledge and inside connections to serve you the best.)

– And so much more!

In the end, we reveal that for businesses of different sizes at different points in their growth, Facebook may be better or Google may be better. But when you combine the power of both, they will work more efficiently and give you a better ROAS for a variety of reasons.

So, listen to this amazing conversation, we learned a lot and I’m sure you will too!

All right. Thank you everybody for listening and we’ll talk to you soon.

Also, we’re in the trenches every day running ads. If anyone’s struggling with the Apple update out there, we have a resource for you, a checklist on everything you need to do for the release of the iOS 14 Facebook update.

Notes and more here: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/18

Get the Apple Update Checklist: https://www.spotlightsocialadvertising.com/ios

Connect directly with Jason and Eric: info@sportlightsocialllc.com

Spotlight Social Advertising on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spotlightsocialllc/



Kasim’s Info:

Kasim Aslam is the founder and CEO of Solutions 8, one of the world’s top ranked Google Ads agencies, Solutions 8.

Recipient of the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association’s 2017 TIM Award for Person of the Year, Kasim was also named one of the Top 50 Digital Marketing Thought Leaders in the United States by The University of Missouri in 2020.

Kasim was recently hand-selected as the Traffic Coach for DigitalMarketer.com’s ELITE coaching program by their executive team.

His book, The 7 Critical...

A mastermind group is a group of peers who regularly meet in order to give each other guidance, advice, and support.

It is no secret that mastermind groups are essential to operating a successful business, growing your business entity, and achieving your goals and dreams.

Keep in mind that the ultimate goal of these meetings is helping members navigate complex and difficult business challenges and issues using the collective experiences and insights of the larger group.

Today, we are breaking down the benefits of a Mastermind group and hopefully giving you some ideas about how you can tap into the power and support found within these groups.

Our group: https://jasonswenk.com/