With more than one billion users worldwide, advertising on Facebook is a powerful tool for any business. Yet not all social media marketing is created equal. Advertisers on Facebook make several common mistakes that make ads less effective than they could be. Here we outline a few of those mistakes and provide some tips to help you improve your outreach today.
At Gauge Digital Media, we can help you maximize your Facebook advertising so that you can reach your maximum audience while also saving money on marketing. Contact us today to begin the process.
Mistake #1: Not Investing in Audience Research
For ad campaigns to be effective, it is crucial to target audiences who are most likely to be interested in your product. You can find a potential audience in several ways.
One way is by looking at other products and interests that overlap with your market. For example, if you run a small business selling hand-knitted products, you could explore the knitting communities via hashtags on Twitter or subreddits on Reddit and find people who “like” other small businesses with handmade knitted or crocheted products on Facebook.
Mistake #2: Not Targeting a Specific Audience
When identifying your audience, get as specific as possible. To use the example from above, just looking at who “likes” a major corporate craft store on social media does not give you enough information to identify members of your potential audience. A major craft store would sell hundreds of different products and, in turn, its customers could be there for hundreds of different reasons.
Facebook provides many tools that you can use to simplify this process. When creating your social media marketing campaign on the site, you can input the demographics and the other interests of individuals that are most likely to engage with your content. For instance, if you determine that women ages 35 to 60 are most likely to be interested in your products, you can specify that age range and that gender to make your campaign as cost-effective as possible.
Mistake #3: Not Having a Strategy
One of the most common mistakes out there is simply not having an advertising strategy. Lacking a strategy or direction for your marketing campaigns can create many business challenges. A significant consequence can be wasting the valuable money you are putting into your social media marketing.
Social media experts recommend a three-tiered approach to Facebook advertising. The first step is raising awareness of your product. Videos and graphics are one of the most effective ways to spark interest. The awareness step is where you target your broadest audience. Based on who interacts with your posts, you can narrow your audience to a smaller group of people who have demonstrated interest.
The next step is engagement. Here, you want to target people who have already seen your ad the first time around. An effective engagement strategy often includes a promotion or a free trial to reel in customers to your website.
The final step is remarketing. For this, you want to grab the viewers who have already been to your website. Posts that highlight a specific item in a user’s cart are a great example. It can also be helpful to write ads that have a more familiar tone. Testimonials are particularly effective for this.
At Gauge Digital Media, our accomplished team can work with you to develop the most effective strategy for your specific company. Contact us today to learn more about our services.
Mistake #4: Leaving Up Static Ads
Even an amazing Facebook ad can lose effectiveness over time. This is because of what marketers call “ad fatigue.” Every time a viewer sees an ad, it loses effectiveness. On social media, we all see dozens, if not hundreds, of ads each day.
For the best results, create exceptional advertisements for your products and switch up the ads often. Fixing this mistake can open you up to adopt another specific, more effective strategy for your ad execution.
Mistake #5: Writing Ads with Shortened Text
No matter how great your ad copy is, the length and formatting of it matter when it comes to Facebook advertising. If the text gets cut off and requires the user to click a button to read more, many people will not read the whole message. Text that runs over can also look messy and lessen clarity. Because of these factors, make sure your description is compelling and well-written and fits in the ad space.
Contact Gauge Digital Media
Ask yourself what your ultimate goals are and how you will transition between campaigns. Understanding social media marketing can take time, but creating and implementing an ad strategy that suits your business will help you improve your brand’s reach. For help with creating the best social media marketing campaigns, contact Gauge Digital Media by calling (410) 376-7709.
