I’ve been running Facebook ads for a long time.
For a lot of clients.
A long, long time.
Basically since they first started.
And I’ve had the opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t and I’ve looked over a lot of ad accounts.
So when I say I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly, I mean it.
Over the years and through all the different ad accounts I’ve looked at and all the clients that I’ve work with and all the ad accounts that I’ve audited, well, there’s one mistake that seems to occur over and over again.
And we’re gonna cover that in just a second.
But when we do, stick around because we’re also gonna cover 10 more mistakes that you might just be making as well.
The number one single biggest mistake that most businesses make when it comes to running Facebook ads is making decisions based on insufficient data.
It’s not sexy, I know.
But it’s the truth.
You see, the problem most people have when they’re running Facebook ads is they’re making decisions either too early, or with insufficient data to make the right decision.
Whether this means giving up on ads way too early, scaling too early or making split testing decisions without enough data behind them, it’s all pretty much the same thing.
And this is really dangerous territory.
Because it means you could be potentially leaving hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars on the table.
And I see this happen all the time.
When someone takes a potentially really high performing ad and cuts it off right away.
Or they see an ad that starts to get a little bit of traction and they dump a ton of money at it, only for it to fizzle out just a couple days later.
So here’s why this is important.
You see, Facebook is an algorithm and an algorithm means math.
And math means numbers.
Which means you’ve gotta be sure that you’re providing Facebook with sufficient data and sufficient numbers for them to work appropriately.
And you’ve gotta be sure to go through the algorithm in order to find the best possible combination of things for you and your ad.
And what this means is you’ve gotta feed the beast.
You’ve gotta give it both time, and money to get sufficient results from it.
This is why it’s so incredibly important to have your entire strategy thought out before you spend your first dollar.
We call this full funnel marketing.
And basically it means having your strategy mapped out from ad click all the way through to sale, and maybe even up-sales and continuity and all the stuff that occurs after that.
So my biggest suggestion and my biggest takeaway point here is that when you’re setting up your ad campaigns, and when you’re designing everything…
Make sure that you’ve done it all strategically and make sure that you’ve got key performance indicators or KPIs all set ahead of time so you know what numbers you’re shooting for.
You need to know what a sufficient amount of time is, and the budget that is necessary in order to decide if this is a winner or a loser.
And then have a strategy in place for what you’re gonna do whether it’s a green light or a red light.
Meaning whether your ads are meeting your expectations, or falling below them.
Alright, so now that we’ve got that covered, let’s dive into
The 10 more mistakes that I frequently see so you can avoid them too…
1. Having no Pixel Installed
When you’re running Facebook ads, you need to make sure that the Facebook Pixel you’re provided is installed across all of your different websites, landing pages, and anywhere else you’re gonna be running traffic to.
This is especially important if you’re gonna be running conversion ads, as you’re gonna be optimizing for the second step in the funnel.
But regardless, you wanna make sure that the Facebook Pixel is installed across all of your online assets and properties.
This is going to allow you to collect and basically amalgamate as much data as possible so you can use it later to either re-target people or to create audiences based on different actions they’ve taken.
2. Not Having Enough Budget per Ad Set
This draws on the biggest mistake we talked about, which is basically not having enough data in general.
But when you’re deciding how to carve up your budget and which ad set to put it in, you wanna make sure that each ad set gets a sufficient amount of budget.
This is because ads are optimized at the ad set level.
So let’s say you’re working with a budget of $50 a day.
Rather than putting it across 10 different ad sets with five bucks in each…
You might wanna put it down to two different ad sets with $25 in each which is going to allow you to get more data a little bit quicker.
And then, of course, you can scale up the winner and cut the loser later.
3. Having too Many Ads per Ad Set
Again, this kinda draws on what we just talked about.
But when you start to really spread out all sorts of different ads under an ad set, well, Facebook is gonna try and pick and choose which ads to show to your audience.
And they’re gonna make a decision really quickly which may not be the best one for your business.
For this reason, try to keep it relatively limited so you can actually get a clear indication and a relatively accurate split test with the ad that is actually providing the results you’re after.
4. Using the Wrong Audience Size
This could be either using a really tiny audience of hundreds or thousands or a massive audience of millions and millions.
What you wanna do here is you wanna find that sweet spot.
Maybe between 500,000 and two million people–probably a rough ball park to start.
And this is if you’re targeting nationally or internationally.
Now if you’re targeting locally, this is a whole other story.
And you can get away with much smaller audience sizes of maybe just a few thousand people.
But again, what you wanna be doing is you wanna be giving Facebook enough data so they can optimize the algorithm to get you the results you’re after.
5. Not Using Custom Audiences
Whether we’re talking about audiences that you’ve built off the Facebook Pixel that you have installed, or uploading your email list, or your customer list.
These are incredibly powerful audiences because basically what you’re doing is you’re giving Facebook the data with exactly who you want and then telling them, look: these are the people that I’m after.
And that moves us nicely into the next mistake.
6. Not Using Lookalike Audiences
You see, a lookalike audience can be built off the custom audience that you’ve just built.
I know, if this is the first time you’re hearing this, it might sound a little bit confusing.
But once you’ve done it a few times, it’s actually really straightforward.
Basically when you’re creating a lookalike audience, it allows you to go out there and tell Facebook that you want them to find the top 1% of people that look just like the custom audience.
And then Facebook is gonna deliver your message and your ads directly to those people.
This is incredibly valuable targeting and some of the best results we see, almost always come from lookalike audiences.
7. Using the Wrong Conversion Objective
What this means is that if you want someone to take a specific action, well then, you wanna tell Facebook what that action is and optimize your ads for that.
Don’t be shy here.
You can afford to be honest and tell Facebook exactly what you want.
And it’s in their best interest to try to get that for you.
This means if you simply want clicks and traffic to your website, well, then you’re gonna wanna pick traffic.
If you’ve got a video and you wanna get more views on it, well, then you’re gonna pick video views.
And if you want someone to register for a webinar or download a lead magnet, well, then you’re gonna wanna pick the conversion objective.
Not traffic, not video views, but the one that you’re actually after.
8. Not Having Backup Ad Creative on Hand
This means backup ads with text and different images, different combinations of things you can try if your ad happens to go stale, or stops losing its effectiveness.
The last thing you wanna do is have to scramble to come up with brand new creative and find new images and write new copy as your ad is tanking.
Rather, you’re much better off to have a steady supply and a backup supply of really well-crafted ads that you can put out there whenever you need to.
9. Not Having Backup Ad Accounts
Sometimes ads get denied.
And sometimes ad accounts even get shut down.
Which is why (if you’re relying on Facebook ads as your source of traffic) you want to have backup ad accounts in place.
One backup ad account is great.
Two, is probably even better.
And three, well, may not be a bad choice…
10. Not Diversifying Your Ad Platforms
One really is the loneliest number.
Which means if you’re relying solely on Facebook ads as your source of paid traffic, you might wanna start looking into other platforms.
Platforms like YouTube ads or maybe even LinkedIn ads or Google Adwords, or display advertising–whatever is best suited for your business.
But putting all your eggs in that one basket and in that one Facebook ad strategy is really risky.
So diversify your traffic platforms and make sure you’ve got multiple irons in the fire ready to strike whenever you need to.
