Did you know that an average Facebook user clicks on 11 ads per month? According to Facebook ad statistics, average price of Facebook Ads decreased by 6% while the overall Facebook ad impressions increased by 37% in 2019. This makes Facebook advertising a lucrative channel for online marketers. Combine that with its massive, diverse, and active user base and you can easily generate a lot of leads and conversions with Facebook advertising especially if you do it the right way.

Unfortunately, most businesses end up making costly Facebook ad mistakes which prevent them from taking full advantage of Facebook advertising. Yes, the rapidly evolving Facebook algorithm and shift from free to paid content might have irked social media marketers who are striving for organic reach but not much have changed for paid social media ads.

In this article, you will learn about Facebook Ad Campaign & ad mistakes that businesses make but you should avoid at all costs.

1. Targeting the Wrong Users

Facebook ad platform allows social media marketers to target specific users based on their interest, age, location, gender, education, income and many more. Unfortunately, most businesses could not really pinpoint their efforts on targeting Facebook ads to the right audience. As a result, their Facebook ads are visible to people who are not interested in the product or service, which is why their Facebook ad campaigns fail to achieve the objective.

How can I show my Facebook ads to the right audience? Learn from brands who are doing it the right way. The first name that comes to mind is Shopify. They not only understand their target audience but also show ads that add value to them. Take a look at this ad example.

In this ad, Shopify is targeting users who have never considered turning their craft into a fully functional business and monetize their hobbies. They are trying to bring small scale ecommerce craft retailers into the fold with this ad. Combine the right audience targeting with an aspirational language they use on their ads and it is good enough to persuade many individuals to set up their online business or ecommerce business using Shopify and sell their passion.

2. Not Using Algorithm to Your Advantage

The pace at which social media landscape is evolving has led to frequent Facebook algorithm changes to keep the platform relevant for both individual and business users. From a marketing standpoint, that might not be such a good thing as it prevents social media advertisers from settling into a process. They must constantly change their tactics to cope with algorithm changes.

You cannot ignore it either as these algorithms influence where and when your Facebook ad is placed. If you want your ads to perform well, you need to understand how the Facebook algorithm works and hire social media marketers with Facebook Blueprint certification. Yes, it automatically optimizes your ads so your Facebook ad spend doesn’t go to waste but you should also optimize and constantly tweak your ads for better performance.

3. Ignoring Automatic Ad Placements

Facebook owns Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Whether your ad is visible on Facebook Story or as an Instagram story, it is treated as a placement. You can control these placements manually or use the Automatic ad placement option offered by Facebook to automate the process.

Most businesses tend to go with a manual approach as they think that it will give them more control over their ads but also requires more research, time, and effort. On the other hand, using an automatic placement option will save you from a lot of hassle as Facebook does all the research, spend most of the time and effort on to show the right ad to the right people.

4. Not Highlighting the Value Proposition

Have you ever come across an ad that does not convey the value proposition? You might have because it is one of the most common mistakes businesses make. How can you expect an ad to grab the attention of the target let alone get clicks and improve conversions if it does not highlight the value proposition? You cannot. Your Facebook ad copy should clearly get the point across and emphasize on value and unique selling propositions that make your brand stand out.

Slack and Uber does a great job at it and a quick glance at some of their Facebook ads will make this evident. Here is an example to prove it.

We all know how unproductive and time-wasting meetings can be. Slack highlights how it can save you from this hassle by reducing the number of physical meetings and make work better by unifying all your conversations on one platform. Instead of directly asking users to sign up, they are encouraging users to learn more about their product, which is also the right move.

5. Neglecting Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads allow businesses to showcase catalog of their products to persuade warm and cold leads to act. It can also be a powerful tool for retargeting and prospecting. Despite its advantages, it is ironic to see very few businesses leveraging dynamic ads.

6. Not Building an Email List

Emails are dead. They are no longer relevant after the advent of social media. You hear and read about this every day, but billions of emails are still being exchanged. It is still used by billions of people and still a preferred choice for business communication. If you are relying solely on Facebook, you are putting your business at risk as it can go down or change in policies can negatively impact your business. That is why you should create an email list. It allows businesses to promote their products and services and let them communicate with their users at a personal level.

7. Having Multiple Ad Campaign Budgets

Most businesses have multiple ads running simultaneously but that does not mean that you should create a separate budget for every ad. You can create a single budget for multiple ad sets and allocate them according to your needs. Make sure you optimize your ad spend so the maximum amount is allocated to ads that are not performing well and minimum to ads which are already doing well.

Which is the biggest Facebook ad mistake you have ever made and what lesson did you learn from it? Let us know in the comments section below.