The hidden opportunity with Meta ads

Updated
August 27, 2025

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If you're running Facebook ads for the sole purpose of direct response lead generation, you might be missing an even bigger opportunity that you might have with social media. Aside from direct lead generation, Facebook ads tend to generate customers in other ways that aren't as easy to attribute. So in this video, I'm gonna help you understand that better so you can capitalize on it. A while back, one of my local clients decided that they were going to put a pause on their Facebook ad campaigns.

Now they didn't really want to, but their team was basically like, hey we're getting all these leads from all these other lead sources, let's pause the Facebook campaigns. Now what they noticed when they did that is that the leads they were getting from all of their other marketing sources also suddenly started to dry up and started to decline. So what's happening there? Meta ads tend to generate leads and customers in a way that's not super easy to track.

So let's look at how that's happening. So first of all, you might have people that with their personality type, they don't want to really get into your funnel. They want to do their research on your company first and make sure it's gonna be a good fit for them. So, they will click on your website, you know, for or they'll do a Google search for your company name, they'll read your reviews or go to your website and then maybe reach out if they think it's a good fit and by default, it just looks like a website lead. It just looks like somebody who found you on Google. You don't necessarily automatically attribute that to Facebook. Secondly, you have people like me who might come across a really good deal or offer of some type.

Maybe they're kind of procrastinators, not that I ever procrastinate on anything, maybe that part doesn't fit me. But, they're good they procrastinate so they want to take a screenshot and then maybe they come back to it later. So I've done that before, so it's still like a potential future customer, they're just not responding right away. And thirdly, you have people who, maybe they are previous customers of yours and maybe your company was starting to dwindle a little bit then they remembered it and they remembered their friend Susie was just about to have her HVAC system replaced and so now, because you retriggered that memory, now she's more likely to refer your company.

So, those are just three examples, but we tend to see this effect a lot where when we start running Facebook ads for people, they start getting busier from their other lead generation sources. Now, you might be tempted to take that information and say, okay, well I'm not gonna run lead gen ads, I'm going to run reach ads to get in front of as many people as possible so I can drive that brand impact. Now, that might work in some cases but the reason I don't recommend that is because with the lead gen ads, you are giving Facebook data by the people that fill out those forms to tell it who's the ideal audience to optimize for.

Meaning those lead gen ads are likely to get more views with people that are more likely to be good candidates for your business, and those are the types of people that you wanna create brand growth with. So if the revenue that you're generating from your Facebook ads is not just the direct leads, but also that extra brand exposure you're creating, you might wanna think a little bit more carefully about what you're putting in those ads. I see all these really scammy, fake urgency types of ads that are being run and they're designed to just get the most clicks and then when they click, they're just designed to get the most form fills and then, yeah, basically just the maximum amount of leads possible without any other real consideration.

And maybe in the short term, that gets a lot of leads, albeit those do tend to be lower quality leads. It can really hurt your brand over time. If a customer recognizes your company name when they are going and googling for an HVAC company, you don't want them to be the first thing they remember was a really scammy ad that you ran that created these feelings of adrenaline that they didn't like. So, you have some people in there, you might have some jokes in there, you have some of your best reviews in there and that way when people think of your company they're remembering that connection they felt, they're remembering that, those positive feelings that they felt making it more easy to trust you and to buy from you.

So the first step is just to track what's already working. So on your website form, if you have a little drop down that says where'd you hear about us, you can put, you know, referral, Google, social media, and that'll just help you start getting a better understanding of what's potentially already coming from your Facebook ads. In some cases, those indirect leads that you get through your website are actually gonna be better quality than what you get on your lead forms. Whereas, on their direct form fill leads, they have more like a twenty percent booking rate.

So, in conclusion, if you're running Facebook ads, don't think of it as just another lead generation tool and treat it based off lead cost and that by itself. There's a lot that's happening with the branding and there is a lot of opportunity to connect with your local community if it's done right. My name is Peter, I'm the owner here at ServiceAllies. If you found this helpful, like, comment, subscribe and we'll see you in the next video.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Service Allies different from other HVAC Facebook ads companies?

What makes us different from other Facebook ads companies is the pains we take to make the leads good quality. This includes the way ads are written, images that are used, the video ads we create, qualifying questions we ask in the lead form, and getting feedback from you to know which campaigns are getting the best quality leads.

How will we get notified when new leads come in?

You can get notified by text, email, app notification, or any combination of the three.

Is there a contract?

There’s no long term commitment with Service Allies. It’s a month to month agreement!

How do people see the ads?

Local homeowners see the ads depending on where we tell Facebook to target. We can use zip codes, or multiple targeting radiuses, to show ads in the areas you want. Homeowners who are on Facebook or Instagram in those areas see your sponsored ad as they scroll.

How many leads can we generate?

It depends on 1) how low we can get your cost per lead and 2) your monthly ad spend budget. Lead costs typically fall between $25 and $75 per lead. If you spend $5000 per month on ads, that would mean between 200 and 66 leads. The more populated your service area is, the higher the scaling potential.

How much do you charge?

You will have two separate costs. The first cost is ad spend, which Facebook will bill you directly for. I typically recommend a monthly budget of $1000 - $2000 to start. Since the average lead cost is $50 in ad spend per lead, this should get you roughly between 20-40 leads monthly. If you need more or less, we can adjust advertising spend as you need. The second cost is our agency fees, which are only available on a live demo call.

How good are the leads?

Normally, between 20% and 40% can normally be booked for sales appointments. This requires that you follow up with the leads consistently, and have a good process for getting them scheduled.

How long does it take to start working?

When a new client signs up, we start with an onboarding call, and launch 7 days later. Over the past 5 years I’ve run this lead generation program, I’ve never seen it take longer than 2-3 days after launch to start getting leads.

How many people are you working with in my market?

We only serve one contractor in a local market. Even if you are part of a large metro area, we’ll single out an exclusive zone just for you. We still have a relatively small client base at the time of writing, so there is a good chance your market is still available. However, the sooner you reach out the better.

How many contractors are going to get the leads?

Just you. Facebook ads will be shown under your business name, and all the generated leads will be exclusively yours.

What if I'm not on Facebook or don't have a business page?

No problem. It's fairly simple to set up a Facebook business page, so we can do this for you at no extra charge. Also, don't worry if your current Facebook page doesn't have many likes. It doesn't seem to affect the volume or quality of leads at all.

How do you get the leads?

We get leads by running ads on Facebook. Ads are like Facebook posts, except you pay Facebook to show your ad to a specific local area and demographic. If you currently don’t use Facebook, or don’t have a Facebook page, that is no problem. We’ll set up a page on your behalf to run ads from.