Three Common Mistakes to Avoid When Running Ads
When I first started running ads, I made every mistake in the book. I seriously learned by trial and error and let me tell you there were many errors. The greatest gift of making mistakes is learning new ways to optimize ads and deepening my knowledge of Facebook & Instagram ads.
In this blog, I am going to share three common problems with Facebook and Instagram ads and how to solve them. These are skills I have picked up along the way. My hope is that after reading this post you will feel confident in your ability to troubleshoot and optimize your ads. I don’t want you to experience the panic I felt when my ads didn’t run according to plan. Also, there will more than likely be a time when your ads don’t run the way you expected them to, and I want you to know you are not alone in experiencing this.
Let’s get to the tips, the bolded subheadlines represent three common ad problems, so feel free to scroll to the one you are or have experienced, or read through them all to build up your toolkit for how to handle these issues in the future.
Your Ad is Not Spending Money
You set up a campaign, created an audience, and put together an enticing ad, but your ad is not spending any money. The first thing to do is double check your ad dates and budget. Make sure you didn’t accidentally put in the wrong month or year for your ad. Also, make sure your budget is large enough to fully fund the different audiences and ads in your campaign. If your budget is too small you will receive an error message from Facebook asking you to raise your budget.
If everything is set properly and your ad still is not running, then it is likely because your audience size is too small. In order to run well, Facebook needs an audience size of about 1,000 people. Try rebuilding your audience so that you have a larger group of people for Facebook to serve the ad to.
If your audience is small because they have taken certain action within your sales funnel and you want to continue to run ads to them, then you may need to switch your campaign type. Often at the bottom of the funnel, people want to run a conversion ad optimizing for purchases. However, if your audience has already been narrowed down by the TOF (top of funnel) ad and MOF (middle of funnel) ad then you likely have a high-quality audience.
In this instance, use a "Reach Campaign" to reach as many people as possible in your small but high-quality audience. Be sure to check the frequency of the ad. Facebook’s default frequency setting is to show the ad to one person once a week. However, if you want people to see your ads once a day then you can manually change this setting while you are creating your ad.
You're Reaching a Lot of People, But Aren’t Getting Clicks
This is another common problem with Facebook ads. Your reach is high, but your results are low. People don’t click on your ad, watch your video, or engage with your post. If this is the case then it is because your ad itself is not resonating with your audience. Try changing your ad image, video, headline, and ad copy. Test out different types of ad content until you see your desired result go up.
One thing to keep in mind is the type of campaign you choose will determine the audience that Facebook targets. For example, if you set up a video view campaign, then Facebook will serve that ad to people who are most likely to watch your video. This is why boosted posts are not always the most effective use of your money. A boosted post is optimizing for engagement (likes, shares, and comments). It is not optimizing for sales or landing page views. If you are running a traffic or conversion ad, then you want to have a CTR (click-through rate) of 1% or higher.
You always want to lead with value and consider your ideal client's pain points, wants, and desires and highlight those items in your ad. Sell the result of your product or service, not the product or service itself. For example, if you are massage therapists, you could sell the 60-minute massage with essential oils and soothing music; or you could sell relaxation, calm, and peace of mind. Focus your advertising around the result of the massage, not just the features you offer with the massage.
You're Getting a Lot of Clicks, But Aren’t Getting Any Conversions
Now you have checked your audience size, you test out different ad content, and people are clicking on your ad going to your landing page and not buying. This pain point refers to people running a traffic or conversion ad. If this is the case, then it is because your landing page is not converting. There are two things to check and adjust on your landing page.
- How clear is your message? Is it clear and obvious what a person is getting from you in exchange for their email address or money?
- How easy is your process? How much information does a person need to give you to gain your freebie or make a purchase?
The clearer your message is and the easier it is for someone to check out with you the higher converting your landing page will be. Lead with value, address your ideal client’s wants and desires on your landing page. I believe that the fewer words you have on a landing page the better. If you want to share more do it via email after the purchase or opt-in to your free guide.
The price of a conversion will significantly go up if you ask for a lot of information from your client. Keep it simple; ask for a first name and email address. If you need more information from then, again I would recommend sending them a link to a form in an email with more questions.
I would encourage you to make tweaks and adjustments to your landing page until you get a 20% conversion rate. This means if 100 people land your website, at least 20 of them will opt-in or make a purchase.
Do You Want to Become an Ad Expert?
So there you have it three common problems with Facebook and Instagram ads and three ways to fix these errors. If you are running into an issue I did not address then feel free to reach out. I am currently building out a digital course: Social Media Ad Lab. This course is designed to help you learn how to leverage Facebook & Instagram ads for your business. Currently, I am looking for five beta testers to go through the course.
If you are interested in taking the course, complete this form.