So, you want to run ads to try and sell some face masks huh?
Good luck!
If you are going to try and use Facebook ads to sell masks, you are going to be way in over your head unless you have a huge budget. You see the reusable wholesale face masks market is already difficult as it is to enter because you have so many bogus companies out there who popped out of nowhere overnight. And the internet has been around long enough that most people are skeptical when a new trend like this pops up.
Now also take into consideration the embarrassingly low click through rate of Facebook ads themselves. Across all industries the average click through rate is 1%.
These two factors combined should give enough reason for anyone to strongly reconsider using face books ads to sell masks. But why do people continue to try and use them?
Facebook is a household name now. I can almost bet you that it comes up in conversation at least 3 times a day. So naturally, people decide to give their dice a roll-on Facebook. On top of that, they see ads all the time and figure if it works for them it will work for me. Unfortunately, that is wrong for so many different reasons. Let’s hop into it.
The first and most common reason is budget. Most successful ad campaigns are dealing somewhere in the ballpark of 1,000$ a month or higher just to see a return on their investment. So, you can imagine that your average joe doesn’t have an extra grand lying around to just throw 1,000$ into ads every single month. For most people, this just turns into a money pit and after a month or two, they dip out and move on to the next thing with a lighter wallet than before.
The next mistake that most people make with running Facebook ads is they don’t understand that most companies hire a professional. You see, Facebook ads is like any other job or contract work. There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. If most people were to try and fix a hole in the wall by themselves it might get the job done, but it will look shabby and likely not finish the way that was intended. That’s why people hire pros. So, when companies look to place ads on Facebook, they hire a professional. These Facebook ad pros know exactly how to target the client’s audience and get the highest click through rates possible. But it comes at a pretty decent cost to say the least. Depending on your target audience and your local area, a legitimate Facebook ad campaign manager will run you an extra 500-2,000$ a month on top of your ad spend! Sure, you can always look to go the super cheap route and do it yourself or have some dude from overseas do it for 99$ a month, but you are not going to see the results you need that way.
Another major issue with Facebook ads and their campaigns is that they get shut down all the time without notice. Profitable or not profitable they get shut down. It honestly sucks, and I speak from experience when I say this. For example, I was running ads for one of the products I sell for months and it was really profitable. In fact, my ROI from ads was 3x!
But…I woke up a few days later and my campaign was suspended indefinitely. No rhyme or reason either, just gone. It’s not uncommon and is a harsh reality you need to be aware of if you ever decide to run a Facebook ad campaign for masks.
So now imagine this…You spend 3,000$ in upfront costs just to get your ads running and are just now beginning to see an ROI. You are feeling all excited and think you’ve finally made it big…but then you wake up the next day only to find that you’ve been suspended and have no way of getting it back.
All the time and effort you put into that project…wasted. But let’s circle back to ads for masks now. You might be thinking that everyone needs masks, so they’ll just buy them wherever they see them, including Facebook. Although it’s true everyone needs masks, most people are looking for a reliable source if anything. Most aren’t going to trust buying through some obscure, half thought out ad.
There are too many companies out there running around promising more than they can deliver and whenever people try to find out more information on the phone, they get forwarded to some call center overseas. Even if you are a legit supplier, people are going to have the preconception that you are just some foreign scammer who will take their money and run. There are literally so many scammers and bots taking over groups and advertising on Facebook right now it’s unreal!
But…for sake of playing devils advocate, let’s just say you have the money to spend, and can afford to hire a pro Facebook ad campaign manager who has a good track record…
Would you be successful in selling your masks? Honestly, even with the stars aligning like that, you would only have a 50/50 chance and here’s why…When this pandemic hit full swing in March of 2020, Facebook began banning the posting of any mask listings on Facebook. This was in part by quality control and trying to stop scams from taking place, but what this also did was make it a struggle for those who were legit suppliers.
In my opinion there is a much more fool proof way of getting sales of face masks, and you don’t have to use Facebook ads at all! Something my team and I have discovered is that search volume for face masks and other related keywords is through the roof! That means people are actively looking for masks on google!
The next part is pretty simple, all you need to do is create website that sells masks. This is much easier to do because once you put up the site, all the work is done, you don’t have to manage it 24/7 like Facebook ads. Also, the internet has no police so to speak. Basically, you can post anything for sale (within reason) and no one or nothing, can ban your webpage. You bought the domain and own the site…they can’t make you take it down! Furthermore, if you design your website professionally, you will have a much better opportunity for sales. You see, there are way too many second and third rate sites out there. People can tell the difference. As long as you make your site look legit and none of your content or pictures are spammy, you’re in good shape!
Lastly on the website note, if you rank your mask website to the top of page one…you’ll see an average click through rate of 33%! That is basically 30x what you would see from Facebook ads for local small businesses. The added bonus of it all? Websites are dirt cheap to build, if you built your site through Weebly or Word Press, you are looking at less than 50$ a month realistically! So, after all that, do you still think running Facebook ads is a great idea?
Running Facebook ads for selling masks is just for you if:
- You have a lot of money to spend and are a big risk taker
- You Like living in constant fear of having a source of income taken away from you at the blink of an eye.
- You aren’t all that analytical and like throwing money away at things you think will be fine
- You love people thinking that you’re some scammer from overseas who wants to take their money and run
No, but seriously though…
Facebook ads would not be a good investment for you to make in selling Facemasks because the reality of it is that only those with huge budgets are successful with Facebook ads. The little guy almost always loses or barely breaks even at the end of the month. It’s just not realistic.
All that being said, go ahead and drop your thoughts in the comments below!Do you think Facebook ads is worth it to sell masks? Why or why not?Have you had any past experiences with Facebooks ads that you’d be willing to share with us?Or have you even set up your own mask sales site and seen massive success?We would all love to hear your thoughts and opinions as well as bounce ideas off of each other.
There is a new normal that we are going to have to get used to living in, the question is how will we be able to adapt and what does this mean for the ecommerce market.
I hope this article helped you decide whether or not to pursue selling masks with Facebook ads!