So, you’ve jumped into the Facebook ad pool with both feet. Good! Facebook ad spending in 2010 was $2 billion…now it’s at $12.5 billion and growing. Volume isn’t everything but you can see something is going on.
Once you’re in the pool it’s best to know how to swim. Fortunately, there are many articles and online resources you can use to make sure you craft the best possible Facebook ad campaign. They’re all there…so use them! Here are 3 mistakes commonly made that reduce effectiveness, each easily fixed through a little research and effort.
- Poor targeting. Facebook offers more opportunities to target specific audience characteristics than any other paid advertising, period! Country, age, precise interest, broad interest, connections sought, state, city, gender, friends of connections, language, education, zip, workplace, relationships…all these are options you can use to zero in on best prospects. Even a simple thing like targeting fans can increase clicks 700% and conversions 400%! You don’t need more prospects, you need more highly interested prospects. Target accordingly.
- Use built in Facebook testing capabilities. Long before the Internet direct mail advertisers knew how to get the best ROI out of their campaigns. They were constantly testing offers/call to action, images and copy. In print that was expensive but still worth it. On Facebook you can test all those variables simultaneously, monitor the results as they happen, and make changes to your current and future campaigns accordingly.
- Using boosting as a crutch. Facebook wants to encourage marketers to use Facebook ads and they do all they can to make it simple. Hence boosting. When you select that option you get to select some criteria that look like targeting. And to some extent, it is at least a good first step. But you wind up with a lot of non-targeted prospects and maybe clicks you don’t really want to pay for. Don’t just take the boost bait. Do just a little bit more homework and do your own targeting.
Avoid these common mistakes and have more fun (and success) in the Facebook ad pool.
