Virtually any business today either uses, or could benefit from using, Facebook advertising. True, traditional sources of media are still useful marketing tools, but social media is exponentially gaining favor as a go-to platform. Communicating with and reaching your customer base is an obvious advantage to growing your business, but did you know there are certain mistakes that could hurt you in the process? Here are the biggest tips and faux pas you can make when creating Facebook ads.
Be True and Truthful to Your Audience
There are endless benefits to studying your audience and customer demographic. Sure, you can try to appeal to the broadest possible group of people, but to get the most conversions, you’ll want to narrow down the messaging to a select demographic. Get to know your audience and their interests keenly, so that creating ad copy that resonates with them will come second nature to you. This doesn’t just apply to creating ads on Facebook, of course, but it’s especially important when using the platform.
Other than knowing your audience, it’s equally as important to be completely truthful to them in your advertising. You might be tempted to embellish and make your products sound out-of-this-world amazing, but your audience is very smart and quick to sense dishonesty. A bad marketing move (even early on) can come back to haunt you and undermine your brand’s reputation. To avoid any repercussions down the line, make certain your messaging is 100% honest. In some cases it doesn’t hurt to include disclaimers just to be on the safe side.
Know and Stick to Your Budget
It might feel like the right move to pour tons of resources and money into advertising, but without the proper analytics and insight, this can waste a lot of your budget very quickly. If you simply pay Facebook to show your ad to any and everybody, you’ll pay for placement that has no value to you. Luckily, Facebook makes it very easy to set your own daily or overall “lifetime” budget for each of your ads.
You can also curb the overspending by narrowing down the demographic and characteristics of your audience. Also, understanding each placement type and choosing accordingly will let you stretch your budget, while narrowing in on your target audience. Depending on the type of product or service you’re selling, some of these platforms may not be optimal for your business. Decide carefully and don’t assume more is always better.
Put Out A Quality Ad
Quality matters – whether that’s well-formed text that’s free of spelling and grammatical errors, high-quality visual media accompanying your ad. Don’t just set your Facebook ads to autopilot, doing the bare minimum. The more time and effort you invest in the quality and appearance of your ads, the better results you’re likely to see. When it comes to the text, make sure you double and triple check your spelling. Even a small error can make your copy look unprofessional and sloppy.
Know what kind of ads work best, and try to emulate their formula. For instance, ads that are too text-forward often fail to capture the audience’s interest. By contrast, clean and sharp copy accompanied by an engaging visual will make your ad perform better naturally. Also, don’t forget to drive the conversion and add a clear “call to action” button in your ad. Want people to read your blog? You should give them clear instructions and a “Learn More” button to lead them to your posts. The same goes for shopping for your products or whatever it is you want to achieve through that particular ad.
Learn From Your Ads
The biggest mistake you can make is ignore the rich source of information that is within your access with Facebook advertising. First and foremost, you should install or have a professional install a Facebook Pixel, which will connect your website to your Facebook Business Manager. This gives you potential access to in-depth customer analysis, which will be enormously valuable when choosing your future targeting. Even the most “unsuccessful” ads will offer insight into customer behavior, so be sure not to ignore it. Soon, you’ll know the exact age, sex, geographical location and interests of all your website visitors. You can even determine the optimal time to run your ads or increase their bidding power to ensure the most visibility.