Five really common mistakes you could be making on Facebook Ads – and how to avoid them

Business

Wonder why your Facebook Ads aren’t delivering the results you were hoping for? Facebook Ads expert Marie Evans reveals five mistakes you may be making.

If your Facebook Ads haven’t been working then it’s more than likely you and not them. But that’s not your fault – Facebook don’t exactly make them easy!

I work day in day out on Facebook Ads and I’m here to share some wisdom that will help save you time and money. So here are my top five tips if you’re just starting out with Facebook Ads. (If you’re ready to get an agency to help you, you’ll find a list here at AmazeLaw.)

1) Using the boost button

Okay, I have news, that boost button… it’s not serving you. Instead, you need to get over to Business Manager and run your ads from there.

In fact, it’s looking like Facebook is going to force everyone to do that before long so you might as well get a head start.

Working from Business Manager will allow you to run campaigns with different objectives. You want people to engage with your post? Then choose the Engagement objective. You want to drive people to your website? The use the Traffic objective.

Boosting posts is just about engagement. So if you’re boosting posts but your web traffic isn’t going up, that’s why. If you want serious return on investment for your ads, you need to head over to Business Manager.

2) Expecting love from strangers

Would you walk over to someone you’d never met before and ask them to buy your stuff or work with you? No, of course not. Most of the time you’d lean in with a little small talk or intro first, right?

It’s exactly the same with ads. You need to start by going broad with your targeting. Be a little: ‘hey there, this is me/my product’.

You can then retarget people who have engaged with the post or been to your website as a result with a ‘you know what I think would be great for you?’ message. This will allow you to be super focused and efficient with your targeting.

3) Using stock images

Personally I hate stock images. If you’re trying to sell a real product or service, why promote an inauthentic version of that? Reality and authenticity are what sells.

If you were looking for a dentist, would you rather see a stock image of standard catalogue model with shiny pearly whites? Or a picture of the local team at the dentist, or a video of what their reception looks like?

It’s more reassuring and more engaging to see a true representation of what you’re talking about or selling. However this doesn’t mean you need to invest in expensive studio production. Shooting on an iPhone is just fine, and can even perform better than slick high end video editing.

4) Bad copy

Bad copy is a real bug bear of mine, and I think the best thing I can do is give a straight up example. Which one of these would you be more likely to buy:

Waxy Wax, the highest quality wax on the market. Also available with a wax warmer that holds twice the average wax. Designed by industry experts.

OR

The last thing you want is brittle wax that’s going to snap off when you’re trying to wax your clients’ most intimate areas. So don’t take the risk. Waxy wax is the smoothest and softest and most pliable formula we’ve ever made. So you’ll have happy clients who keep coming back for more.

I would argue the latter resonates more, even if you’re not a beauty professional. There are plenty of copy formulas you can follow, but as a basic tip, just remember that you need to stop trying to sell your stuff and start solving problems.

5) Constant tweaking

Back away from the ads. Once you’ve set a campaign live you should leave it along for AT LEAST 72 hours.

Facebook’s ad algorithm needs time to figure out where it can show your ads best in order to optimise performance. Increasingly I am sitting on my hands for even longer while I wait for campaigns to warm up, and I’m seeing better and better results as a consequence.

Read more Facebook business tips

Love more advice to help you use Facebook to grow your business? Check out these articles:

Marie Evans works with wholehearted businesses to create positive ad campaigns and communication strategies across the Facebook owned platforms (which includes Instagram and WhatsApp) and through Chat Bots. Follow her on Instagram.

Photo by CoWomen