19 Oct Testing your Facebook ads for the best results
Facebook Ads is one of the most popular options for digital marketing and certainly the most used for companies and marketeers.
However, despite its popularity, several people are still failing at generating a positive number of conversions. They keep investing more and more and not seeing enough results. Why is this happening?
- You’re not talking to the right audience
You have the perfect copy and beautiful graphics but no one is clicking on your ad. And this is probably because you’re directing the ad to the closest people: your current Facebook page fans.
Think about it. They’re already interested in your product, why would they click on your ad again? Or maybe you have family and friends on your business page (perfectly normal when you start), and even when they support your cause, they might not buy anything.
Facebook allows you to create custom audiences to show your ad to very precise audiences. The broader your target audience is, the less you will be able to talk directly to them and encourage them to click your ad. The saying goes – if you try to talk to everyone you will be talking to no one.
You have to consider and analyse who your customer is and then build a customised audience profile. Knowing the characteristics of your customers will help you target the right people.
Think about characteristics such as: age, gender, location and things they like, things they are interested in, things they are passionate about, what keeps them up at night.
2. Your imagery is wrong
When considering the imagery to use for your ad, often it has been found that using a picture that actually “stops the scroll” is better than using something that blends in with everyone else. Use high quality images that show your professionalism and match with catchy copy, Facebook has some rules for their ads.
Avoid using too much text, especially if it’s placed on the image. Facebook prefers ads with little or no text at all. Until recently Facebook actually rejected ads with too much copy on the images and wouldn’t let the ad run. They have now lifted that ban however it seems that whilst they allow the ads to run the ads with too much copy on the image are still penalised by being more expensive and not seen by as many people.
3. The right bidding option and amount
If the ad is not attracting enough impressions or clicks, you should try adjusting the bidding settings. In the ‘Bid amount’ section try switching to ‘Manual’ instead of the automatic option. Then you can decide how much you want to bid per click.
If you’re still not getting seeing the type of clicks numbers you want, you might need to bid a bit higher (if you have the budget for it).
Once you have done this, if your impressions and clicks are still low, you should take a second look at the audience you chose for the ad, retest new imagery and new copy.
4. You’re not experimenting
Experimentation is essential when it comes down to finding the perfect ad for your campaign.
The best campaigns have tried different ads on Facebook before deciding to stick to one, change it or eliminate it. Finding the perfect ad takes a fair amount of testing.
If you have several campaigns, consider creating different sets or variations of the same ads and stick to the ones you consider are delivering in the best way.
Try using a combination of different images, copy, text and even CTA. Make sure to see a preview of how the ads might look on Instagram ads, Ride sidebar, etc. You can even test videos too instead of images.
5. You’re using too much of the same
Facebook can place your ad automatically on different social media platforms like Instagram. But when you use the same copy, display and image for all platforms, you’re just wasting money.
Every platform works differently and they all have different types of users and audiences. What might work on Facebook, might not work on Instagram. What works on Instagram won’t necessarily work on Instagram stories.
Remember that Instagram has a younger audience and works entirely on visual appeal, relying less on copy.
There’s a lot to consider when running ads, but when done correctly they can be very powerful. Don’t get disheartened when first starting out. As we have mentioned there is testing involved and can take some time to see the best results.