Have A Plan And Stick To It
The most important aspect of starting any new project is knowing what you’re trying to achieve. This advice applies to anything you do in life whether it’s going to the supermarket, joining a new gym or running simple errands at home.
It’s especially relevant to your Small Business too. There’s no point spending money on a new Facebook Ad if you don’t know what you want out of it. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I want to create brand awareness?
- Is my aim to get a greater number video views?
- Do I want the Facebook Ad to generate sales?
- Is my main goal to generate more click-throughs to my Website?
These are very simple questions that many Small-Medium Businesses, and even larger organisations, will often overlook resulting in zero value for the money invested.
Make sure you establish and review your main objectives before starting a Facebook Ad, while selecting the right type of Ad Campaign that best suits your goals.
Incorrect Targeting
One of the best features of Facebook Ads is the ability to directly target your audience. It is where your Small Business can immediately see a return on investment, similar to the way Pay Per Click works with Google.
Targeting your audience is the most crucial step to setting up a Facebook Ad Campaign. While targeting can be both profitable and automated, it is a fundamental step that many Small Businesses Owners neglect. Targeting in Facebook Ads is not just about nailing the basics, like age, gender and location, it’s about really getting specific about who you’re wanting to see your Facebook Ads – so basically, the people most likely to buy from you.
These options can include:
- Pixel: This tracks the people that visited your Website and then builds an audience out of these people, who you can then, in turn, target your ads towards.
- Create a Custom Audience: Allows you upload a specific list of prospects that you can send promotional emails, ads and specific content to on Facebook.
- Lookalike Audiences: Is an audience that has similar attributes to your current Facebook fan base or is a customised audience that you can directly target your Ads towards.
- Interests: Allows you to target people based on topics they may already have shown interest in on Facebook, such as Digital Marketing
- Behaviours: Targets your audience based on their purchasing behaviour or the mobile device they use
- Connections: Both targets and retargets people who are already fans of your Facebook page or friends of people that already like you.
Facebook’s Ad tools are available for a reason, and your Small Business should be taking full advantage of those targeting options, especially when you’re invested in the service. The best way to think of it is – incorrect targeting leads to money lost.
Not Selecting The Right Images
Since Facebook’s audience is in the billions, getting the visual representation of your Small Business right is absolutely paramount. When it comes to Facebook Advertising, you’ve literally got a split second to grab someone’s attention and make your Ad stand out from the crowd. And effective images are the best way to do this!
The image in your Facebook Ad is going to be what stops a user from scrolling through their newsfeed, and your copy is going to be what determines whether they click on your Ad or continue to scroll down the page.
Facebook also gives you the option to create multiple Ads and at no extra cost! This means you can experiment with different images not used in the initial Ad, and then target your audience accordingly.
For example, if you have an Ecommerce Store that sells both men’s and women’s clothing, you could create 2 Ads: one targeted to men, which has an image of a suit, and one targeted to women that displays a skirt.
You’re Not Utilizing Analytics
When you begin a Facebook Ad Campaign, Facebook provides you with a data report which allows you to analyse and assess the quality and effectiveness of your Ads. While scrutinising data might sound like the least appealing thing to do in the world, if you miss this step, you could be forking out big money for Ads that aren’t even working!
For example; Let’s say you’re a dog-groomer who has created 2 Facebook Ads. They both have the same written content, however one has an image of a puppy you just washed, while the other shows a stock image of a dog in a park. By analysing the data provided by Facebook, you’ll be able to determine which is most successful and then optimize your Ad. As well as this, you’ll also be able to use this knowledge to create more effective Ads in the future, as you know what kind of images, designs, colors and wording appeal to your target audience.
Wrong Ad Campaign Type
There are plenty of different types of Facebook Ad Campaigns that your Small Business can create depending on your overall objective and the results you’re after. Choosing the wrong one is definitely a big no-no.
The type of Ad Campaign you create will determine how Facebook delivers your Ad and who they deliver it to. Facebook has three different types of Ad Campaign. These include an Awareness Campaign, which delivers your Ad to people that are interested in your Small Business; a Consideration Campaign, where your Ad goes to people that will either click on your Website, like your page or watch your video; and a Conversion Campaign, that sees you Ad going to people that will be most likely purchase, sign up or download your products and services from your Website.
It’s super important to make sure you’re picking the right Ad Campaign for your goals. If you don’t, you could be paying for a whole Campaign that won’t see you getting the results you’re wanting
Ignoring the Potential of Facebook Ads In Place of Generic Posts
Instead of focusing on engaging audiences with a well-thought out Facebook Ad, many Businesses simply take the easy route: Publishing copious amounts of boring and repetitive posts that simply clog up users’ newsfeed and sees them scrolling past, bleary-eyed and disinterested.
Some Small Business Owners believe that the excessive posting will eventually create brand awareness and lead to sales. And while that’s not entirely wrong, it would be a total mistake to think this is the very best way to improve your Marketing capabilities.
While there are costs involved in a professionally created Facebook Ad (as opposed to normal Facebook posts), it will perform so much better than a standard Facebook post that will only reach a very, very small portion of your desired audience.
While Facebook was once simply another Social Media Platform, it has fast become an incredibly powerful way for savvy Small Business Owners to market their Businesses Online. The best way to make the most of Facebook Advertising, is to hire a professional to take care of it for you. This will ensure that you’re using the most effective possible Ads for your Business and, in turn, reaping all the incredible benefits that Facebook Advertising has to offer.
