Facebook Advertising for Businesses: 3 Common Missteps

It’s difficult to remember a time when you didn’t catch up the day’s events, family milestones and latest news from a little place called Facebook. Whether its photos from a long distance birthday party, the newest viral video, or communicating about this weekend’s plans, Facebook has revolutionized the way we socialize. Did you know that there are over 1.4 billion (yes, billion with a “B”) users on Facebook? That means one in every seven people on the planet have a Facebook account. That is a 13% increase year-over-year, so this gargantuan social network isn’t slowing down. 

So what does this mean for your business? Does it mean you need to start making witty memes or creating tests that determine what Ninja Turtle you would be? Not necessarily. What it does mean is that you now have access to what has become the world’s biggest data aggregator. So whether your business offers products or services across the country or just across the street, you have a tool that allows you to market specifically to anyone, with any budget.

What makes Facebook an even more appealing advertising platform is that 29.7% of its users fall in the coveted 25-34 demographic. In addition, Facebook also boasts over 1.3 billion active mobile users. In the day and age where more and more business, research and communicating is being done across mobile devices, Facebook literally puts your message in the palms of your potential customers.

While these stats are impressive, many businesses are confused and overwhelmed when it comes to advertising on Facebook. In an effort to help local businesses with advertising on Facebook, we have listed some of the most common missteps:

Should I Exclude Audiences When Advertising on Facebook?

• Not Excluding Audiences

This is the most common mistake when starting an advertising campaign on Facebook. As we stated earlier there are over a billion people across the globe on Facebook. If you do business in Louisiana, gaining exposure in places like Dubai, Egypt and the Philippines will probably do little to boost your bottom line. When you set the goals of your campaign, Facebook will attempt to meet your goal as quickly as possible. This is a great way to blow through your budget with little to no results to show for it. This is where taking a deeper dive into the advertising tool helps as you put fences around your target market (i.e. state, city, zip codes). You have the ability to target not only your specific area, but also particular demographics (i.e. age, gender, interests, needs, etc.). This practice not only eliminates the waste of a mass communication advertisement, but focuses on quality prospects.

How Important is it to Use Fresh Ads on Facebook?

• Static Creative

A key cause of deteriorating ad performance is stale content. This is especially true if you’re working with a large budget or have a specifically defined target audience. It is important, especially with an established campaign to keep your creative fresh. Facebook offers a very insightful analytics tool and in-depth metrics. By monitoring your conversion rates, CTRs and other KPIs, you can get a real-time feeling for how an ad is, or isn’t, doing. It’s a good idea to have a couple different creatives that you can rotate throughout a campaign, but be prepared to make additional changes in order to maintain your ad’s effectiveness.

How Long Should I Run My Facebook Campaign?

• Prematurely Ending a Campaign

As you run an advertising campaign on Facebook it begins to take on a life of its own. Collecting data, providing metrics, and lending key insight to what is and isn’t working. The longer a campaign is active, the more details and patterns are discovered that lead you to the types of customers that are likely to convert. It is this information that the algorithm develops that allows you to optimize your ads. Pulling the plug too soon can mean missing out on valuable data for your marketing efforts.

These are only three common mistakes that businesses often make when advertising on Facebook.  Of course there are many more to be made, but many businesses have a great grasp and are seeing results. If your business needs help navigating the challenges of social media marketing, or is ready to take that leap into this new channel, click here to learn more about social media marketing.