1. Small, over-targeted audience selection
As a general rule, advertising to a narrow, specific audience is a good strategy. It makes sense – why waste marketing dollars on people who aren’t going to be in your consumer segment?
While targeting focused audiences isn’t inherently bad, it’s important to consider where Facebook falls in the sales funnel.
For the vast majority of businesses, Facebook is going to be a top-of-the-funnel component to your overall marketing strategy. This means that it’s beneficial to get more eyes on your brand and focus on converting them later on.
It’s better to err on the side of having a larger audience than to be concerned with reaching a few users who likely won’t utilize your product or service. As previously stated, Facebook has a huge user-base. Take advantage of it by casting a wider net with your targeting practices.
2. Not testing
No matter if you’re designing an ad or baking a cake, your first attempt likely won’t be the best you can do. When setting up a campaign, you should be utilizing Facebook’s testing features to determine which version of your ad the audience will find most useful.
The split testing feature (also called A/B testing) can be used to target the same audience segment with different creative. You may be surprised at how much of an impact changing simple things, like your CTA or imagery, can have on the eventual results.
It’s much more effective to run one split test than to keep switching up ads on a monthly basis to determine what works and what doesn’t. Facebook’s algorithm does all the heavy lifting for you when it comes to testing, so take advantage of this helpful tool to find the best ad for your business.
3. Thinking short-term
Facebook isn’t Amazon. Whereas people visit Amazon with the intent (or at least open to the idea) of purchasing something, people log on to Facebook for a social experience. Even if your eCommerce business relies on Facebook as a way to drive sales, you need to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the platform.
Facebook is the perfect place to familiarize your audience with your brand, and why they should choose you over your competitors. It’s not the best place to employ sales-y, pushy copy points that don’t entertain or educate.
Marketers are constantly faced with the question of whether or not to change up and ad, or give it some time before deciding a new strategy is necessary. Yes, there are certainly times when an ad just isn’t effective and should be changed. However, there are also plenty of instances where an ad might just be starting to generate interest and needs to be left alone.
Human beings appreciate familiarity, even if it’s subconscious and they don’t realize it. When someone is exposed to an ad several times, the message begins to sink in. If you’re constantly switching up your ad, you never give it a chance to work its way into the audience’s mind.
Marketing should be a long-term game, and results should be evaluated as such. Unless you’re promoting a time-specific sale or service, let ads (read: ads that have won in your testing phase) run for a couple of months before digging into their effectiveness.
4. Your message (or value you provide) isn’t obvious
Think about your own social media habits. Do you stop and look at every ad that comes across your feed? Or do you typically scroll right past them after a brief glance?
If you’re in the first group, congrats – you’re a marketer’s dream customer. If you’re one who glances just briefly (which is most of us), you understand the importance of making your ad’s message readily apparent.
When you’re coming up with the creative for an ad, keep in mind that you must assume your audience A.) Doesn’t know anything about your product or service, and B.) Is only going to view the ad for two seconds at most.
As someone who is familiar with your business, it can be a challenge to view the ad through the eyes of someone who has never heard of your company before. Proving your value in a short window is a hurdle all social media marketers face when designing creative.
One way to overcome this obstacle is to test out different versions of your ad. This will provide unbiased and reliable data you can use moving forward.
5. You aren’t using the pixel
A high percentage of Facebook ads focus on driving traffic to a business’s website. After all, website visits lead to brand familiarity, which can lead to conversions down the road.
Another huge benefit of getting people to visit your website is the possibility of building new audiences.
If you’ve set up the Facebook Pixel, which allows you to retarget users who have visited pages on your site, you can effectively target people who have already taken an action to engage with your brand.
Retargeting with Facebook is an extremely cost-efficient way to put your company in front of the ideal audience – people who have shown at least some interest in your business’s services.
Wrapping up
Facebook is an extremely valuable, if not necessary, marketing tool in today’s world. Billions of people utilize the platform each year, and its data-rich targeting options give marketers a huge advantage.
If your business needs help developing a Facebook marketing campaign that drives sales, get in touch today to schedule a consultation.
