After Facebook started giving businesses the option to pay and boost the post or page, Facebook marketing, of which Facebook Ads became the preferred way to promote brands. Some ads fail and some perform exceptionally well. Why ? The more you learn about Facebook’s sophisticated features for advertisers, the more successful you will be and the better the returns on your marketing investment. So, what to do and not to do on Facebook Ads?
Facebook Ads can be hard to pin down, but once you get it right, the world is yours! Facebook Ads can be an incredibly powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. After all, Facebook has a user base of 2.7 billion monthly active users in the world and continues to be one of most profitable advertising investments.
In addition to the significant contribution of traffic, Facebook ads offer many advantages to marketers:
- Easy to set up and use in minutes;
- Cost effective for all marketing budgets;
- Multiple ad formats and placement options;
- Able to identify target audiences according to specific criteria;
- Detailed information to help improve campaigns.
It’s easy to get started with Facebook Ads, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to be successful. Writing the headline, developing the content, and creating the posts seem to be easy enough to get the ad started. However, some common errors can occur on Facebook Ads. And every mistake causes us to spend extra money and lose potential sales.
With a user base of 2.7 billion monthly active users around the world, there’s never been a better time to get started with Facebook Ads. So, let’s start with the list of don’ts you should follow when creating your next Facebook ad.
To do on Facebook Ads
Determine your marketing objectives before launching your campaign
If you’re interested in generating buzz around your brand, tracking Engagements (Likes, Shares, Comments) and Cost Per Engagement (CPE) might make sense. Are you looking to increase your number of Facebook friends? If so, it would be more useful to calculate your cost per fan to ensure that you are cost-effectively increasing your brand’s social media presence.
Facebook ads can be used for a multitude of purposes, from promoting specific actions to general brand awareness. So it’s important to figure out what you want your Facebook campaign to achieve before you start spending money on it.
A/B test Ads
A/B testing, or split testing, allows you to test different versions of your ads to see what works best and improve future campaigns. When you decide to do a split test, it’s important that your two ads are identical except for one variable, otherwise you won’t know what caused one ad to outperform the other.
Your audience during the A/B testing phase should be large and not used on other ads running at the same time. If this happens, your two test ads will compete with other ads that aren’t part of your A/B test, introducing new variables that could skew your results.
Make an exclusive offer in the ad
People like to feel special, and Facebook users are no exception. If you want your ad unit to grab people’s attention, you need to make the ad content worthwhile. Give users an offer they won’t find anywhere else and you’ll have a better chance of earning those coveted clicks.
Some marketers go one step further and ask users to “like” the brand in the ad unit before they get access to the special offer. While this can be a good method of gaining new Fans in the short term, be aware that many of these Fans may simply “dislike” your page once they have gotten what they want.
Include a clear call-to-action (CTA)
A clear and concise call-to-action (CTA) immediately tells the audience what you want them to know about your offer and the purpose of your message. This helps them act and make decisions faster. So hello conversions!
With only 25 characters for your title and 90 for the description, consider optimizing the call-to-action (CTA). Whether it’s a simple “Click below to learn more” or “Buy now and save X%”, make sure it’s aligned with your ad copy so you don’t mislead your audience. Consider adding incentives — promo codes, limited-time promotions, or first customer prizes — to entice the audience to click through and make a purchase.
Use quality images
In a space full of messages and advertisements, you only have a few seconds to capture users’ attention. And to do that, you need to use eye-catching images and videos that will make them stop and buy you time.
Your graphics should be clear and simple, high quality and easy to understand, while still being fun, dynamic and creative. Sound difficult? This Facebook image size guide will come in handy.
Choose bright contrasting colors or use images of smiling people for better conversions. However, make sure they’re relevant to what you’re advertising and find ways to incorporate them into your brand.
Facebook Ads Don’ts
Blow your budget
Facebook Ads are one of the best ways to attract new business even on a tight budget. If you’ve never used Facebook Ads before, start small and learn that works before you increase your budget.
When your ads don’t work the first time, you might be tempted to spend a few extra dollars before you even identify the root cause of the problem. Big mistake!
Expect Instant Results
Anything worthwhile takes time; this is also true in the context of Facebook ads. Like any other social platform, Facebook uses algorithms to learn, adapt and provide the best possible result for your marketing campaign.
When you create a Facebook ad campaign and have a clear goal, the social network optimizes your campaign for that goal. It will show your ads to the people most likely to take the action you want.
To do this effectively, Facebook experiments early on and serves your ads to different types of people within your target audience. But Facebook doesn’t stop collecting data and optimizing your ad campaign once the learning phase is over. So let your campaign run for 24-48 hours before deciding if modifications are necessary.
Don’t forget to reconnect
A small typo could affect your brand credibility. You wouldn’t want users to comment on your mistake instead of asking about your ads. It is therefore crucial to review them before publishing them.
Double-check or even triple-check for any spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Prevention is better than cure, so always review your ads carefully before posting them.
Put your campaign on autopilot
It is essential to monitor its advertising campaigns. Always keep track of your performance and make changes accordingly for better results. However, it is not advisable to do this very often, because each time you make a change to the ad, it stops until the moment it is being revised. And after his recovery, he needs time to pick up the pace.
Use Facebook Ads to sell immediately
People go to Facebook to take advantage of the social network, they’re not necessarily in the mood to buy something. You may have better results if you lower your expectations: instead of offering a purchase, request a social action (Like/Share) or direct users to a landing page where they must enter their email address in order to access a special offer or exclusive content.
Forget your mobile users
84% of Facebook’s total ad revenue comes from mobile advertising. Facebook ads don’t appear the same on desktop and mobile, and your users don’t interact with them the same way on both devices either.
Therefore, you simply cannot afford to ignore such a massive audience by sticking only to desktop design. Consider to design different advertisements for Internet users on mobile and computer in order to increase your chances of registering clicks and conversions.
Treat Facebook as a mass distribution channel
Granted, Facebook’s reach is incredibly broad, probably everyone is there. But that doesn’t mean you should treat it like a megaphone through which you can send one-size-fits-all messages. Facebook users value relevance and authentic engagement when dealing with ads. So, make sure your ads are relevant to your audience if you want to see an improvement in your marketing campaigns.
Miss video ads
45% of people watch over an hour of Facebook videos each week. Video ads are therefore more likely to convert audiences if you are creative enough. Additionally, you will be immensely “praised” by Facebook’s algorithm for using this ad format.
Therefore, it is high time you took a step ahead and made the promoting a customer testimonial, tutorial, or behind-the-scenes video through Facebook ads.
Conclusion
Facebook Ads give you a great opportunity to build brand awareness and create buzz. But before you start, take the time to fully understand the uniqueness of the platform and adjust your advertising strategy accordingly.
If you need training in this area, take a look at our webmarketing training with a social media strategy component.
And you, how do you use Facebook ads? Do not hesitate to share your experience on Facebook Ads in comments.