The 12 Facebook Ad Mistakes You Didn’t Know You’re Making

Just this morning, a potential client mentioned to us that “Facebook ads don’t work.” We’ve heard this over and over. The truth is that Facebook ads don’t work, if you don’t understand how to make them work. Advertisers, even big agencies, generally don’t understand how much goes into the process of creating the perfect Facebook ad. From designing the ad creative to analyzing the results, it’s easy to make fatal errors. We’ve compiled a list of 12 common Facebook Advertising mistakes so that you can be that much closer to having that perfect ad.

1. Having Too Much Text. It looks pretty tacky when Facebook cuts you off mid-sentence. Don’t treat the text limits like guidelines or suggestions, follow them. Your ad text might show perfectly on a desktop newsfeed but be truncated on mobile. Keep that in mind as you write your ads and if necessary, create separate ads for mobile so that users can read your ad descriptions across all devices as you intended.




2. Targeting Too Broad Of An Audience. Have you ever been at the mall or any public place and had someone hand you a completely random flyer that had nothing to do with you? You’re most likely to throw that straight in the trash. Targeting too broad an audience is essentially the same thing. Facebook has so many targeting methods available to you. It’s silly to simply target a broad demographic or geographical area. Narrow down your targeting and you’ll likely see a boost in CTR and Conversion Rates. Better yet, constantly test your targeting to find the best possible segment.




3. Not Testing Images. You probably found an image that you like. That’s obviously why you are paying to have it shown all over Facebook. Is it the best image for your goals? Are you sure? Always test your ad images. The best performing image is sometimes not what you would expect. The same can be said for headlines, calls to action, etc.




4. No Call-To-Action. Don’t just leave your ad text open-ended. Give your audience a call-to-action. Urge them to “shop now”, “sign up for a free trial”, “download a coupon”, or whatever else works best for your ad. Make sure the call is specific and simple.




5. Adding More Than One Ad Per Campaign. Facebook is notorious for ad throttling, meaning they will select which ad to show to the detriment of others in the campaign. If you have 10 ads in the same campaign or ad set, most of these ads will have limited reach. Facebook essentially selects a winning ad and runs with it. Keeping your ads in separate campaigns will ensure that your ads will run evenly. 




6. Selecting The Proper Goal. Upon creating a campaign, you have to select a goal. You can choose from page likes, clicks to website, website conversions, video views, etc. For instance, if you want to drive online sales, you’ll want to do “website conversions” and not just “clicks to website.” You’ll need to create a tracking pixel. Even though this is more work, it’ll be worth it in the end. Don’t just take the “clicks to website” shortcut if that’s not the best option for your goal.




7. Not Tagging URL’s To Track Conversions. Facebook reports will track certain metrics for you automatically, such as impressions clicks etc. The most important metrics are your own on-site metrics such as bounce rate, time on site, purchases, revenue or other conversions. If your URLs don’t contain any tracking parameters then there will be no way to tell if your campaigns were successful or not. Tagging URLs is simple, if you’re not doing it now, start! Remember, if you didn’t track it, it didn’t happen.




8. Budgets Too Small. This is especially important if you are ad testing, and since you should always be testing, it applies to you. Be careful not to spread your budget too thin by running too many ads at once. Not having enough data when it’s time to analyze your results is frustrating and turns everything into a guessing game. Set a budget high enough to allow for plenty of clicks on each ad variation.




9. Not Checking Power Editor Changes. Power Editor provides an easy interface to upload and edit your ads but isn’t without its flaws. If you upload several ads at once, it’ll often pause some ads automatically. After each upload, it pays to double check so you aren’t surprised when, days later, you have zero impressions.




10. Using Obvious Clipart In Ads. We’ve all seen ads with brutally obvious clipart or stock photo images. A poorly chosen image will do nothing for your CTR and can even hurt your brand’s credibility. Make sure that chosen images are applicable to your product or better yet do a photo shoot when possible.




11. Not Using Custom Audiences. Even though Facebook targeting is one of the most advanced methods out there for targeting new customers, many businesses ignore the fact that they can also directly advertise to any email address or phone number they already have via “Custom Audiences”. If you send out a newsletter or keep an email list of any kind, use that to your advantage. You already have a list of specific people who are interested in your products or services. That beats a best guess any day. Not all of your email addresses will be on Facebook but a good portion will.




12. Linking Your Ad To The Wrong Page. Facebook wants you to link ads to your brand’s Facebook page because they want to keep users on Facebook. However, that doesn’t do a whole lot for your brand. The marginal value of a Facebook fan is decreasing exponentially because of the limits Facebook is putting on the reach of organic posts. Always make sure you’re linking ads to your website, ideally to a specially-created landing page that’s highly relevant to the ad you’re running.

At the end of the day, fixing these 12 mistakes will help you ensure that your ads are relevant and interesting to the end user. Throughout the ad creation process, put yourself in the user’s position and a lot of these mistakes will take care of themselves.