Facebook has a huge audience and tremendous data on that audience to help advertisers. One of the many reasons it is still the leader in social media. Since so many of your clients and prospects use the platform it makes sense to advertise there. As with any advertising media if you use it incorrectly you will waste time and money. The following are five Facebook failures to avoid.
Audiences
Target the correct Audience. Before you start, create a customer avatar, in other words, build a profile of what your ideal customer looks like. This will include age, gender, interests, behaviors and anything else that you think might distinguish them. As you target your advertising refer to this persona and use it to guide the Facebook targeting features you choose.
Analytics
Forgetting to use the Facebook analytics tools. Facebook has some very good tools to analyze the results of your advertising. Which of your ads are performing best? What days and times get the most response? This is the “work” part of optimization where you study your results and make adjustments to improve performance.
Custom Audiences
Not using Facebook Custom Audiences. Facebooks algorithms are a big reason it is such a successful advertising platform. Use Facebook to retarget people who have already visited your website. Or use Facebook as another means to communicate with people who have signed up for your blog, or have previously purchased something for you. Better yet, take the email list of people who have bought from you and have Facebook target people who have similar characteristics, also known as Look-alike audiences.
Winning Ads
Creating a Winning ad. Ad creation is not always easy, and chances are your first effort will not be perfect. You need to continually experiment with ads. Try copy of different lengths, quite short, medium and long copy. Look for powerful images. Then test at least three. Facebook is a visual medium and a striking image will get people’s attentions. Experiment with video. And then see what is driving the best quality traffic.
Part of a winning ad is the headline. Try new headlines. Again, testing three headlines is a good start. On your initial tests start with broader audience targeting. Once you have tested copy, images and headlines work on more precise audience targeting. It is best to test one variable at a time. No matter how successful your ad always use a small piece of budget to experiment.
Great Offers
Having a Compelling Offer. You need to find a reason for people to stop and click on your ad. “Free” and “Limited Time Offer” can work well for some businesses but maybe not yours. Find out what motivated your existing customers to buy your goods or services and see how you can replicate that in an offer. This is another component that you can test with.
Facebook has helped many thousands of businesses thrive. It can help your business too. As with any medium, focus on best-practices and review your results. No matter how good your performance always try and improve. Keep testing. With a little effort Facebook can become a valuable part of your marketing mix. If you avoid these five Facebook failures you too can have success advertising on the platform.
