HVAC Facebook Ads: 10 Actionable Tips for Better Campaigns

Do Facebook Ads Work for HVAC?

Yes, they do.

In fact, in a recent survey by Service Direct, almost 31 percent of consumers said they patronized a small business after watching a Facebook ad. Thirty-two percent said they visit the Facebook pages of small businesses during their buying research process.

This underscores the importance of using Facebook ads as a marketing strategy. Tommy Mello, who grew his service business from $50,000 in debt to over $30 million in revenue in seven years and is the creator of the Home Service Expert, agrees with this.

“Facebook is like an upside-down pyramid,” he says. “You’ve got a lot of customers at the top who really don’t know about your service, or they don’t need it today, but you’re building a funnel.”

“They call it ‘top-of-mind awareness.’ You’re starting to get that online reputation of, ‘Hey, I’ve seen that company before, now I need them.’”

Other reasons why HVAC business owners should use Facebook ads for lead generation include:

1. Targeting ability

Unlike other marketing channels, Facebook ads allow you to define your target audience based on their location, interests, previous activity, demographics, and so on.

2. Retargeting ability

With Facebook ads, you can craft campaigns aimed at a custom audience—people who have shown interest in HVAC repair services based on their internet activity.

For example, you could create a Facebook ad campaign targeting only potential customers who visited an HVAC company website or read customer testimonials.

This ensures you’re visible to people interested in your services.

3. Gives you coverage of your service area

Facebook ads allow you to craft campaigns targeting every potential customer in your service area. This keeps you top-of-mind until they need your services.

4. Delivers performance metrics

You can use Facebook's ad analytics and reports to monitor the performance of your ad campaigns. 

This way, you can optimize high-performing Facebook ad campaigns and replicate the elements that make them work in other marketing campaigns.

Important tip:

It's important to monitor the progress of all your marketing campaigns—not just Facebook ad campaigns.

Understandably, doing so manually can be difficult. But not with ServiceTitan. 

Its Field Service Marketing feature can help you track, adjust, and create marketing campaigns easily and quickly.

How?

Firstly, most marketing tools only track the calls an ad generates. However, since not every call leads to revenue, this method is not an accurate measure of a campaign's performance.

In contrast, ServiceTitan's Field Service Marketing feature ranks all your marketing or advertising campaigns, using the revenue they generate. This way, you know which ones work and which don’t.

Furthermore, you can see the specific areas where your ad’s lead-generation ability is most effective using ServiceTitan's heat-map display.

You can use this data to ensure you’re only spending your money in areas where you enjoy a maximum return on ad spend (ROAS).

Types of Facebook Ads

There are several types of Facebook ads. They include:

Image ads

These are Facebook ads that use images to communicate a message.

Though simple, they easily capture the attention of social media users if done properly.

To create effective Facebook image ads:

• Use high-quality images relevant to your offering.

• Stick to Facebook image ad specifications (more on this below).

• Keep text to the barest minimum.

• Stick to one theme per Facebook image ad campaign. Resist the temptation to try to achieve too much with one image.

For an image to be accepted by Facebook, it must adhere to the following specifications:

• Resolution: 1080 × 1080 pixels.

• File size: 30MB.

• File type: JPG or PNG.

Video ads

They allow businesses to promote their products or services using video content. 

They're visible in your target's news feed, stories, and video stream.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when using Facebook video ads: 

• Use high-resolution videos.

• Use the hero's journey storytelling framework to capture your audience's attention.

• Keep it short and to the point. Try not to exceed 15 seconds.

• Add captions. Many people mute social media videos by default.

The video specifications are:

• Resolution: 1080 x 1080 pixels.

• File type: MP4, MOV, or GIF.

• Video duration: 1 second to 241 minutes.

• File size: 4GB.

Carousels

These are ads that allow you to use multiple images or videos. Each visual can have its own headline and link.

They're perfect for showcasing multiple products or services, telling a story, or describing a process.

For high-converting Facebook carousel ads, you should consider:

• Using high-quality images and videos.

• Keeping headers and descriptions short.

• Adding captions to the videos.

• Highlighting a different HVAC service on each image, each with a link to its landing page.

The specs for carousel ads are:

• Resolution: 1080 × 1080 pixels.

• Video File size: 4GB.

• Image file size: 30MB.

• File types: JPG or PNG for images and MP4, MOV, or GIF for videos.

• Card number: 2–10.

Instant experience ads

These ads open as a full-screen experience once a mobile user taps on them. This eliminates distractions, keeps viewers engaged, and boosts conversion rates.

It works with other ad formats—images, carousels, and videos.

Some key points to implement for successful Facebook instant experience ads:

•  Focus on a single message.

• Add short text descriptions.

• Guide viewers through the ad. Should they swipe left, right, up or down? Or zoom in? Let them know.

• Caption the videos.

Facebook's specifications for this type of ad are:

• Image and video types: JPG or PNG for images and MP4 or MOV for videos.

• Number of images supported: 20.

• Size: 1080 × 1920 pixels.

Collection

A Facebook collection ad combines a cover photo or video alongside three product or service images.

A Facebook user clicking on a collection ad immediately activates an instant experience—a full-screen landing page.

Best practices for collection ads include:

• Choose a cover image or video that's eye-catching.

• Add a URL parameter to help monitor the ad's performance.

Per Facebook's guidelines, here are the specifications to stick to:

• Resolution: a minimum of 1080 × 1080 pixels.

• Image and video type: JPG or PNG (images) and MP4, MOV, and GIF (videos).

• File sizes: 30MB (images) and 4GB (videos).

Tips & Best Practices for Running The Best HVAC Ads on Facebook

At the beginning of the article, we highlighted the importance of implementing the right strategies to ensure you obtain maximum value for the money spent on Facebook PPC campaigns. 

We're about to explore each one. 

Here’s a brief rundown of the strategies we’re looking at:

Let’s take a deeper look at each one.

Tip #1: Get your demographics right

A Facebook ad’s conversion rate depends on how well you define your audience using criteria like their demographics, location, and interests. Do it well, and your ad will get in the face of customers able and willing to pay for your HVAC services.

However, while using all the demographic data to narrow your audience seems ideal, it’s not advisable.

That’s because it limits the people your ads will reach, which increases your cost per result—the amount you pay to get a desired outcome, such as a click.

So, ensure your demographic selection is neither too narrow nor too broad.

Now, the question is, how do you determine your audience's demographics?

Start with a survey of your current customer base. Then, run a detailed analysis of their demographic makeup.

Additionally, you could look through the audience insight data of your Facebook business page and note the demographics of those engaging with your posts the most.

Tip #2: Leverage local-awareness ads

HVAC businesses typically serve customers located close by.

Besides, potential customers will prefer to hire a service company that's closer rather than another that’s miles away because:

• Their complaint may need immediate attention. 

• They may have to visit the company’s physical location.

• They’d prefer patronizing a business they’re familiar with.

For these reasons, Facebook local awareness ads are an excellent option for HVAC contractors. 

They allow you to run targeted ad campaigns for a specific audience at a maximum distance (one mile is the minimum) from your physical office location.

This includes those in the same city, county, or town as you.

Pro tip!

Always remember to select "people who live in this location" when setting up your local awareness ads so Facebook targets residents instead of visitors or passersby.

And to bring in more quality HVAC leads from your local area, consider pairing your Facebook local awareness ad campaigns with Google's Local Service Ads.

This allows you to appear on Google search results when potential customers perform high-intent searches like "HVAC companies near me."

To make your Local Service Ads even more effective, consider using ServiceTitan’s Local Services Ads feature.

With Google, potential customers can book appointments directly from the ad, while all the relevant info gets transferred directly into your ServiceTitan dashboard.

This convenience in the booking process can supercharge your lead-generation efforts.

Let's see a real example.

F.H. Furr Plumbing in Manassas, Va., secured more than 225 additional booking leads in seven months using ServiceTitan’s instant booking integration of Google’s Local Services Ads. And 80 percent of those leads became customers—the highest conversion rate of any of their marketing channels—leading to an additional $200,000 in revenue.

Tip #3: Use the right specs

Facebook has laid down specifications—which we covered earlier—on file type and size, character count, and aspect ratio. 

The reason is to ensure Facebook users have a great experience interacting with your ad on any device, especially on mobile (more on this later).

Otherwise, users may only see half of your ad, or the text may be cut off in weird places, distorting your message. 

So, you’d do well to consult Facebook specifications for any type of ad you're running before you launch.

Tip # 4: Use the Meta Pixel

The Meta Pixel is a small piece of code generated from your Facebook Ads Manager that you can install at the back end of your website. 

With it, you can track your website visitors’ behavior, such as page views, product views, and whether they added something to the cart or made a purchase.

After you've created and installed the Meta Pixel, you must ensure it's working. 

For that reason, consider installing Meta's Pixel helper Chrome extension. Then open your website, click on the extension in your address bar, and if it’s working, expect something like this…

But if it’s not, you’ll see this…

Later on, we'll explore how to use pixels to remarket to people who have visited or performed one action or the other on your website.

Tip #5: Harness the power of video

Using video in ads can help HVAC contractors boost brand awareness, grow traffic, and generate conversions.

It’s also a great way to showcase your repair process and deliver an immersive experience using storytelling that captures people's attention as they scroll through their Facebook feed.

In fact, 67.55 percent of small business owners agree that video ads convert better than static content. And 63.24 percent use videos more in their Facebook ads, even though they take longer to produce.

However, the conversion potential of Facebook video Ads depends on the quality and content of the video.  

One way to boost quality is to employ storytelling techniques, highlighting what a customer's HVAC system looked like before and after repair. Or feature a customer narrating their experience with your company.

Additionally, use subtitles since 85 percent of all video Facebook ads are watched without sound and Facebook serves video content with the sound muted.

It’s advisable to ensure your video ads are tailored to the interests of top-of-the-funnel audiences to build awareness. That's because video ads have the lowest cost per view, allowing you to reach a wider audience without spending much.

Finally, keep it short. It's best to keep it to a maximum of 15 seconds to hold viewers’ attention and get featured on Instagram stories and Facebook in-stream placements.  

Tip #6: Optimize your ads for mobile

97.4 percent of users access Facebook via mobile devices. Hence, optimizing your HVAC Facebook ads for mobile users is crucial.

Your headlines should be short. Long headlines take up space for the image or video when viewed on mobile screens.

Keep the videos short too, since attention spans are shorter on mobile devices compared to desktop PCs.

Also, use an aspect ratio that favors mobile devices. This way, viewers won’t need to tilt their screens.

In practice, it's advisable to use an aspect ratio of 9:16, although other ratios still favor mobile devices:

• 1:1

• 4:5

• 2:3

• 16:9

You can preview your ads using Facebook’s Ads Manager Preview, to know how they look on mobile before you launch the campaign. 

Tip #7: Match your ad with the relevant landing page

It's one thing for people to click on your ad. It's another thing for them to book an appointment, request a free estimate, or purchase after reading your landing page's content.

Your landing page copy should resonate with your promise in the Facebook ad.

Additionally, support the copy with high-quality images, videos, and social proof from satisfied customers. And focus on one theme only. 

Tip #8: Remarket to your audience

With Facebook's remarketing strategy, you can create ad campaigns targeting people who have signified interest in your HVAC services by performing actions like filling out estimate forms, requesting quotes, etc.

Recall we previously discussed Meta Pixel, right? Well, remarketing is a core function of Meta Pixel.

First, install Pixel on your business digital platform—CRM, website, application, etc. This collects the data of customers who visit the platform.

You can then use the data to create a custom audience on Facebook and target them with relevant ads.

For example, you could create a campaign promoting a discount to customers who filled out an estimate form but have yet to book an appointment. Or offer a yearly maintenance check to repeat customers only.

Once you've remarketed and brought the leads back into your sales funnel, you can then retarget them on other channels like email.

If it seems overwhelming to keep a handle on email and social media marketing campaigns simultaneously, we've got you covered.

You can use ServiceTitan's Marketing Pro E-mail feature to create and track high-performing email marketing campaigns.

You can divide your customers into segments based on your information in ServiceTitan. Then, create hyper-targeted campaigns that resonate with their current needs.

For example, ProSkill Services in Arizona has been using Marketing Pro to craft hyper-targeted email marketing campaigns, using customer data. 

Its first email campaign generated $6,000 in revenue in 24 hours, leading ProSkill’s co-founder, Travis Ringe, to call ServiceTitan a “game changer.”

“ServiceTitan is as important to our company as the tools and the trucks we use every day to accomplish the job,” he adds.

Additionally, you can track not just email opens, but the ROI each one's generating. This will help you understand which campaigns are performing well and which aren’t.

Tip #9: Write punchy copy

While the image captures viewers' attention, the copy persuades them to take action.

So, the copy must be punchy and structured to encourage the reader to take the desired action.

Copywriting formulas like AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) and PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solution) can help in that respect.

Let's say you need to create a Facebook ad campaign promoting a free HVAC consultation. Using the PAS formula, the copy will look like this:

• Problem: Feeling hot and uncomfortable this summer?

• Agitate: Have a non-working HVAC system?

• Solution: Call ABC HVAC today for a free consultation. Our team of experienced technicians will diagnose your problem and recommend the best solution for your needs. 

• Stickiness: Call ABC HVAC today.

Tip #10: Know your ad budgets

Your ad budget is the total amount you're willing to spend on displaying your Facebook ads to people.

It protects you from overspending on a campaign or ad set—a group of ads sharing the same targeting criteria, budget, and schedule.

There are four ways to set ad budgets:

• Campaign budgets

This determines how much you're willing to spend on an entire campaign.

Once a campaign budget is set, Facebook does what's called campaign budget optimization (CBO).

This automatically distributes your budget across the various ad sets. Those performing well receive a higher proportion of the budget, while others receive less.

It's best to use this option if you're flexible about the amount dedicated to each ad set and don't mind giving Facebook free rein to decide what's best.

• Ad set budget

In this case, you control the amounts allocated to each campaign ad set.

Use the ad set budget when your goals for each ad set differ or when the audience size for each ad set varies greatly.

You can find more information about choosing between a campaign and ad budget on Facebook’s business page.

• Daily budgets

This is the average amount you wish to spend on each ad set or campaign in a day.

It's flexible. And it's perfect if you want control over your budget, and prefer to spend approximately the same amount daily to ensure your daily results are similar.

• Lifetime budgets

This is the maximum amount you want to spend on your ad over its entire runtime.

Unlike the daily budget, lifetime budgets are a hard cap. But Facebook controls how much is spent each day.

HVAC Facebook Ad Examples to Inspire You

Below, we’ll showcase some of the campaigns from our clients, spotlighting what they’ve done right in the ad, so you can be inspired for your next Facebook ad campaign.

Example 1: F.H. Furr Plumbing

Firstly, the video thumbnail is eye-catching. It shows a technician fixing an HVAC system, which helps instill trust in potential customers' minds.

Secondly, the copy is short and straight to the point, strengthening the message in the video. So, even if a Facebook user doesn’t watch the video, they can get the message from the text.

Lastly, the text overlay in the video is crucial. Viewers who prefer watching the video without the sound will still get the message.

Example 2: Gee! Heating & Air

The next example is from Gee! Heating & Air, an HVAC company based in Georgia.

One thing we love about this is that the thumbnail captures the attention of readers and already contains the entire copy, uncluttered. 

So, a person can get the entire message and possibly take action, even if they don’t open the video.

Additionally, the CTA is clear, instead of some generic “learn more” or “see more.”

Example 3: Trademark Mechanical Heating & Air Conditioning

Until now, we’ve focused mainly on using Facebook ads to drive traffic, leads, and conversions. 

But considering the current shortage of technicians, wouldn’t it be a great idea to use Facebook ads to attract the best HVAC technicians to your company?

That’s what Trademark Mechanical Heating & Air Conditioning does in the Facebook ad above, to great effect.

The copy is short and brief, and the image is enough to stop scrollers interested in HVAC jobs in their tracks. 

Plus, the CTA is explicit, directing the reader to the next action to take.

Now Over to You

Facebook Ad campaigns have proved time and again to be an effective lead-generation tool. 

But remember: Measuring campaign performance is to marketing as a thermostat is to a heating and cooling system.

ServiceTitan helps HVAC companies track marketing KPIs, including those of Facebook ads. This helps them optimize their marketing budgets and avoid wasting resources.

If you want to find out how ServiceTitan can assist in revenue attribution and tracking your marketing campaigns, check out the demo and contact us if you have questions. 

ServiceTitan is a trusted business software that over 10,000 HVAC business owners across the U.S. rely on for automating and streamlining all their business operations, including marketing.