How to Run Facebook & Instagram Ads Using a "Grow the Friendships" Approach to Accelerate Community Building

Many merchants using Shopify are already running Facebook (Instagram) ads.

At StoreHero, once a Shopify store's conversion rate improves and CRM is set up, we leverage Facebook and Google ads as well.

At that point, we operate with a "Grow the Friendships" mindset and consistently achieve strong results.

In this article, we'll walk you through how to run Facebook ads using the "Grow the Friendships" approach.

StoreHero leverages its proprietary growth platform to support detailed operations that manual management simply can't achieve, and drives business growth through large-scale execution of growth initiatives.
If you're struggling to grow sales on Shopify, feel free to reach out. =>Download our free service introduction guide here

What Is "Grow the Friendships"?

The "Grow the Friendships" concept and growth strategy is grounded in the effectiveness of UGC (User-Generated Content) — the idea that people buy because someone they know and trust recommends it.

At StoreHero, we grow commerce businesses on Shopify using the Grow the Friendships method.

This approach works especially well for products tied to a sense of community (products that serve as symbols of belonging), products whose value isn't obvious until you try them, and products that are innovative and hard to compare with alternatives.

The Grow the Friendships mindset can also be applied effectively to Facebook & Instagram ads. Here's how.

Why UGC Matters

In a "Grow the Friendships" Facebook ad strategy, UGC is essential. Make sure to collect solid UGC in advance.

We've covered how to collect UGC for your Shopify store in several previous articles — check them out for reference.

Among UGC formats, customer interview articles and ambassador pages pair particularly well with Facebook ads and are highly recommended.

Lululemon, for example, features yoga and running instructors as ambassadors to connect their online and offline store experiences.

Lululemon's ambassador program and other examples are also covered in this article (Ambassador Marketing Case Studies and How to Implement Them on Shopify).

Custom Audiences

Use the customer lists collected in Shopify through ambassador pages and similar initiatives as custom audiences.

Tagging your Shopify customer list by acquisition source makes it easier to use for custom audiences. Use CRM apps like Klaviyo or Omnisend, or tools like Mechanic, to apply tags.

Visitors to an ambassador page tend to be fans or acquaintances of that ambassador, so the resulting customer list is full of people who already know and trust them.

By building custom audiences and lookalike audiences from that list, you can target people who are part of the community around each ambassador.

In other words, you're targeting people who are likely to resonate with the ambassador's values and message.

Ad Creatives

On Facebook, ads with higher engagement — meaning more clicks and comments from the target audience — are given priority in delivery.

Facebook ad creatives come in many formats. Beyond simple banners, you can effectively communicate your message using video, carousel, slideshow, and more.

In a "Grow the Friendships" ad strategy, UGC is also used in the creatives themselves.

When building audiences from lists collected across multiple ambassador pages, use carousel ads or similar formats to feature multiple ambassadors in a single creative.

Choosing the right combination of ambassadors can make a significant difference.

Landing Pages (LPs)

If a landing page has a high bounce rate or low CVR (conversion rate), Facebook will gradually stop showing that ad.

For this reason, Facebook ad optimization must include not just the ad itself but also the landing page and on-site content. Since the LP has a particularly strong impact, it deserves dedicated effort and ongoing improvement.

For visitors who clicked through from ambassador-focused creatives and are part of that ambassador's community, it's naturally effective to feature ambassador content prominently on the LP.

When ambassador pages exist, you can link each carousel creative directly to the corresponding ambassador page, or consolidate all ambassador information into a single LP.

LPs should be continuously tested and improved using data and tools like Hotjar.

Running Meta Ads Thoroughly with StoreHero

StoreHero supports merchants who want to grow their Shopify sales through thorough execution of growth strategies.

For Meta ads, we leverage the StoreHero growth platform to automatically generate feed data based on each product and SKU's performance and inventory, as well as audience data derived from customers' purchase history and attributes. This enables highly granular operations that are impossible with manual management, and supports continuous growth through large-scale execution of campaigns.

We're currently offering free store diagnostics. If you have challenges with Meta ads or growth strategies in general, please get in touch. Learn more about our free store diagnosis here

Summary

We've outlined how to run Facebook (Instagram) ads using the "Grow the Friendships" approach.

This method aligns with the Facebook ad algorithm, which means it tends to produce stable, consistent results. If you've hit a wall with Facebook ads, we encourage you to give this approach a try.