Facebook Ads: 3 Pitfalls to Avoid and Tools to Overcome Them

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Are you still considering whether to take the plunge in using your marketing budget for Facebook Ads? Consider these staggering statistics:

Facebook clocks in 2.32 billion monthly users and 1.52 billion daily users.
The average Facebook visit lasts approximately 20 minutes, while most users log an average of 35 minutes per day.
During those days, the average Facebook user will visit the site about 8 times.
Every 60 seconds, 510,000 comments are created, 293,000 statuses are updates, and 136,000 pictures are posted.
On the daily average, Facebook logs 8 billion video views, 85% of those views occur with the sound off.
Since May 2013, 16 Million local businesses have created Facebook pages.

With those stats in mind, one cannot help but ask, “How can I gain not only the attention, but also the customer loyalty in such a competitive social media arena?”

You may not become a master overnight, but we’ve outlined three major pitfalls to avoid and some useful tools to use in order to get you headed in the right direction.

Avoid THIS #1: Overmarketing/Advertisement Saturation

If you have ever scrolled through Facebook and scrolled quicker because you have seen the same advertisement twice today and thirteen times this week, you are familiar with ad fatigue. Ad fatigue occurs when someone has experienced an advertisement to the point of annoyance or ignoring the ad altogether. In other words, small businesses that cause ad fatigue are wasting (potential or actual) customers’ time and their own resources. What does this mean for you?

Do THIS #1: Set Frequency Caps

The best way to avoid causing ad fatigue and losing potential customers is to set frequency caps. Frequency caps limit the number of times Facebook users see your advertisements within a given period of time. Doing this will (1) save you money from having an advertisement being placed too many times, (2) saves you a customer, (3) saves a customer’s time and patience with your business, and (4) create a better-shaped relationship between you and your customers.

SMART Marketing Tip: Facebook's campaign budget optimization pushes your ad dollars toward your best performing ads rather than wasting money on under-performing concepts. Click To Tweet

Avoid THIS #2: Divide-and-Conquered by Bidding Against Yourself

While YOU may understand that you showcase multiple advertisements to your audience, they may not understand that. For all they know, you have only one big promotion or one big sale going on at a time and, so, they do not need to continue reading the fine print of your advertisements. So, what do you do when you are trying to present different advertisements to the same audience at the same time on the same site?

Do THIS #2: Campaign Budget Optimization

Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) allows you to more efficiently manage your Facebook advertisement campaigns. CBO does this by pushing your advertising budget towards your ads that are performing better than others, rather than spending the same amount of your budget on underperforming ads. This practice, too, helps save you and your relevant customers time and money.

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Avoid THIS #3: Advertising When It’s Easiest For You (and ONLY You)

If you have ever tried sleeping in a house with a newborn baby, you know that they do not wake up only when it is convenient for you. You know that they are waking up when it is convenient for them because they need something then and there. So, you do not, unfortunately, get to easily dictate the baby to be on your schedule. Similarly, attempting to control when your customers should see your advertisements based on your schedule will prove ineffective.

Do THIS #3: Advertise When It Matches Your Target Audience’s Schedule

Research has shown that for the average Facebook user, they are more active on Facebook during mid-week between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. So, if you are not quite sure what is the most ideal time to advertise, that time span is a good starting point. However, the best way to know your audience is to speak with your customers — whether that be face-to-face, over the phone, or even on Facebook — and get to know how you can better meet their needs on their terms.

BOTTOM LINE: Facebook has some sophisticated built-in tools to help you maximize your advertising budget and get your message in front of your target your audience. Familiarizing yourself and using these tools to be intentional in how you market your business will give you the best return on your investment.