Facebook Advertising Dos and Don'ts

Let's face it—Facebook Ads aren't going away anytime soon, in fact, they are only becoming more relevant. If your business hasn't jumped on the bandwagon yet, we strongly suggest you do. We'll share with you our top advertising dos and don'ts - so you can hit the ground running with your ads.

Do A/B Test Your Ads

A/B testing, or split testing, gives you the ability to test different versions of your ads so that you can see what works best and improve future campaigns. When you decide to do a split test, it is important that your two ads are identical except for one variable—just like 9th-grade science—otherwise, you aren’t going to know what caused one ad to outperform the other. Your audience during the A/B testing phase should be large and not be used on any other ads running at the same time. If this happens, your two test ads will be competing against other ads that are not part of your A/B test, which will introduce new variables that may skew your results. Follow this guide for some A/B testing best practices.

Do Narrow Down Your Targeting

If I had to choose the best part of advertising with Facebook, it would be the targeting options. The options really are endless when it comes to finding that perfect audience on Facebook, the one that will respond to your ads, fill out your forms, and share with their friends. In order to find that audience, you will likely have to tweak your targeting parameters a few times. Facebook allows you to target people based on location, age, gender, and languages. But then you can go even further into detailed targeting and include things such as the cars they drive, the titles they hold, or their annual income. Once you get comfortable with the targeting options, you can upload your own customer list into the ads manager in order to find people on Facebook who are similar in nature to your existing customers.

Do Use Engaging Photos and Videos

The saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words," still holds true to this day, especially when it comes to Facebook Ads. When people scroll through their feed every day, what do you think is the one thing that will make them stop to view a post? An eye-catching picture that POPS or a video that draws in their attention. When you are choosing an image for your ad, make sure the image or video is relevant to what you are advertising. Even if you have the most adorable photo of your bulldog - it probably won’t do much for your ad on your new flavor of ice cream. Facebook ad images do need to be 1,200 X 628 pixels, an easy way to create custom images that are sized appropriately is to use Canva.

Do Use a Facebook Pixel

If you are new to Facebook advertising, a Facebook Pixel is most likely a new concept to you. A Facebook Pixel is a small piece of code you install in the header of your website that will track when a user visits your site or takes action, like placing an item in their shopping cart. Almost all companies today that use Facebook advertising have a Facebook Pixel installed on their website. That is how you'll sometimes visit a website and then see ads for it on Facebook later that day. Installing the Facebook Pixel onto your website is actually very simple, even for us non-coders of the world. Facebook provides detailed instructions on how to do this, here.

Don't Use a CTA That is Unclear Or Misleading

If you use a Call to Action that is misleading or doesn't align with the copy of your ad, you are only going to confuse your audience. They won't understand what you are trying to sell or what action they should take if they are interested. You want a strong call to action that will actually convince people to take action. Your call to action should be concise and to the point, but there is no perfect length.

Don't Spend Too Much Money

You might shy away from Facebook ads because you believe your business cannot afford to compete. This isn't true, and if you can afford even $1 a day, you can make a real impact. By spending around $1 a day on ads, you have the chance to get in front of about 4,000 people that wouldn't have normally seen your ad otherwise. If money isn't an issue for your business, it's still important to stay true to your objective and don't throw away your money. Start small with your ad budget and increase it accordingly as you see results. Play around with images, text, and targeting to get the most impressions for your dollar.

Don't Stop Posting On Your Facebook Page

While I believe in the value that Facebook ads bring to your business, I am not suggesting you stop posting on your page and only focus on Facebook ads. I believe that the two can and should complement each other. If someone sees your ad and becomes interested in your product or service, the first place they will probably check out is your Facebook page. They'll want to get to know your company better before they invest their hard-earned dollars into it. By having relevant, up-to-date posts, photos, and videos on your page, the user will be able to have a better feel for who you are as a business.

Don't Write Long Copy

I think this might be the "don't" I'm most guilty of repeating. I'm long-winded, love to over-explain myself, and never think you can have too much information, just look at the length of this blog post. I know you might be thinking, "but I'm paying for this ad, I need to cram in as much information as possible!" I'm here to tell you that this isn't the case, and keeping your message short, while leading with value, is going to get you far more engagement than posting a long-winded paragraph. People will become uninterested and skip the ad entirely.

Now that you’ve got the basics of Facebook advertising down, the fun can start. Create a few campaigns and play around with the targeting options and A/B testing. Pretty soon you’ll be a pro at creating eye-catching, relevant ads.