If you’ve been pouring time, effort, and money into Facebook advertising, but haven’t been getting good results, you might be ready to throw in the towel. But wait! There are some common mistakes that you might be making, and luckily, we have the solutions.
Here are four reasons why your Facebook advertising isn’t working – and our tips on how to create ads that convert.
Problem #1: You’re not targeting the right audience
With over 2.6 billion monthly active users, Facebook is almost guaranteed to have the audience you’re looking for. But if you’re showing diaper ads to people without babies, you’re unlikely to get many clicks. Facebook assigns a relevance score on a scale of 1-10 that can help you figure out if you’re targeting your ads correctly. If you keep seeing 2s and 3s, it’s time to revamp your strategy.
Tips: Gather audience data through surveys and site questionnaires, Google Ads data, and site analytics. Use it to target your ads to custom audiences. Think outside of basic demographic information like age and location. Combine this data with the wealth of options under Facebook’s Detailed Targeting section, which includes things like interests, education level, home-ownership, life events, and political leanings.
Go a step further. If you already have an email list, Facebook lets you upload a file to use this information to target your ad campaigns. You can also generate an audience based on people who have already engaged with your content on Facebook.
Still struggling to figure out your audience? Facebook’s Audience Insights is a helpful tool.
Problem #2: You have the wrong message
Okay, so you’ve figured out your custom audience. Great! But if your ads still aren’t converting, it’s likely that you’re using the wrong message on the right people.
Tips: Use a funnel marketing approach to segment your audience into different stages in their customer journey. Facebook’s campaign objectives come in three categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. If your audience has never heard of you, you’ll want your ads to focus on brand awareness. If you’re targeting a hot audience, focus on getting them to make a purchase.
Digital Marketer has a great resource on how to think through the steps in your Customer Value Journey.
Problem #3: Your visuals aren’t compelling
Audience? Check. Words? Check. Now let’s talk about those visuals. Let’s say your ideal customer is scrolling through Facebook, ready to buy, and they come across your ad. Will they see a creative, compelling image, or a boring wall of words? Which one do you think they’ll be more likely to click on?
Tips: Refresh your creatives. Invest in great ad design, and make sure you have a balance between graphics and words. While Facebook recently did away with their 20% rule, which didn’t let ads run if over 20% were text, marketers still report struggling to get text-heavy ads to convert. Here are some helpful tips on creating great Facebook ad designs.
Problem #4: You’re giving up too soon
Your ads look great. You’ve followed all of our suggestions. Now it’s time for a trial-and-error process to figure out how to best refine your Facebook advertising. After all, even the best digital marketers in the world don’t produce a show-stopping ad on their first try every time.
Tips: Make multiple variations of the same ad. Split test your images to see how they perform differently with different audiences. Sometimes an adjustment to the colour palette or a simple wording change can make a huge difference. Other times, you’ll need to make radical changes. Track the data for a few days and see which ads run best.
You’ll also need to experiment with how you’re bidding. If you’re not bidding enough, your ads won’t have a wide reach. If you’re bidding at the top of your budget, but still not getting results, then you’ll need to re-evaluate your audience targeting.
Conclusion
Facebook ads are a great way to increase traffic to your site and build brand awareness. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to Facebook advertising – and that’s what makes it so effective. If you’re wondering why your Facebook ads aren’t converting, these tips are a good place to start. Reach out and we’ll help you craft Facebook ad campaigns that get results!
