More often than it should happen, most businesses record a staggering amount of loss when advertising. Why this happens is as clear as day, but many businesses do not pay attention while mapping out their marketing strategy. One mistake can jeopardize weeks of hard work.

With the amount of money businesses invest in advertising, it is only right that they get a good ROI. According to statistics 2022, in the first quarter of 2022, there are over 2.93 billion active monthly users on Facebook. 

These statistics make Facebook the most used social media platform in the world. However, all these statistics don't guarantee that running ads on Facebook will automatically boost your ROI. 

Running aimless ads on Facebook without targeting a particular audience can see you spending thousands targeting countless people that are not even interested in what you have to offer. 

So, how then can you make the most out of your Facebook ads? Below are common mistakes you should avoid

1. Setting the wrong objective.

This is one of the first steps toward building a successful Facebook campaign; if you get it wrong here, the overall success of your ads will be affected. Once you have set your objective, you can then decide the milestones and resources you will need to achieve your set objective. 

These objectives are divided into three categories: Awareness, consideration and conversion.

If you are looking to boost brand visibility, then AWARENESS is the best choice for you. You want your target audience to know about your brand and become interested in your products and services. You need to highlight unique selling points, what problems your brand solves and what marketing channels you want to utilize to reach out to people.

On the other hand, CONSIDERATION is when you are looking at making people engage with your brand. You want them to become interested, know more about your brand as well as seek further information when they visit your website. You ultimately want them to become leads.

CONVERSION involves getting more sales. You want to run ads to increase your profit. You can create a creative and compelling copy that prompts your audience to take the desired action.

It is normal for your ad's objective to change, but it is essential that you have a specific objective for each campaign. You need also to make sure that it is the right one of the ads you intend to run. This helps you make the most out of Facebook advertising.

It is fine if you don't get it right at the right time. After a few trials, you will get the hang of things. Another thing to note is milestones; this affects your ads because you need to understand where you are in business and what kind of ads will suit your brand at the moment.

 For instance, some businesses wrongly measure their success based on page likes or a number of followers. Although this can be an indicator of how well your business is doing, it is not the main determiner. There is more to it. 

Just imagine running conversion ads because you have over 3,000 likes on your Facebook or Instagram page. This sounds like a good number, but is it good enough to say that your brand is popular enough to run conversion ads? I don't think so.

2. Targeting the wrong set of audience

The second biggest mistake for brands or marketers is targeting the wrong audience. Okay, take this scenario, for instance, you walk into a school and start advertising pampers to secondary school girls. Yes, have a good laugh. That is the exact reaction you will get when you target people that are not even interested in your products or service.

Before you even think of running ads, be sure who your target audience is. While setting up your Facebook ads, you might need to be careful not to set your audience too large or too small. You want to make sure that your ads content targets people that are likely to be interested in what you have to offer. 

One of the best ways to achieve this is to have a customer persona. A profile of your ideal customer based on their age, marital status, income, gender and educational level. You might need to look further by looking into their hobbies, interests, and values.

While setting up your Facebook ads, make sure that you are not too specific to avoid not reaching other potential customers that may not be in the category you have selected.

 At the same time, you cannot afford to be too broad because it would be like throwing a pin in the midst of the crowd. You do not have that money to waste. 

3. Making use of the wrong ads type

Once you understand your Ad objective and have been able to figure out your target audience, knowing the kind of ads is next. There are various forms of ads you can use on Facebook. These include pictures, videos, infographics, carousels and products display. 

Understanding your ad objective and target audience will make choosing your ad type a lot easier. Over time, as you consistently run ads, you will be able to know what ad type resonates the best with your target audience. 

It would be best if you also considered how your audience is going to view your content on different devices for your ads to be very effective. There are different platforms that can help you create good graphics and edit videos for your ads, like Canva. So you do not have to break the bank trying to run digital ads.

4. Leaving your ads running on autopilot

I know that you would love to run your ads and leave it to do all the work while you go on a little vacation. As much fun as this sounds, it may not work totally in your favour at the end of the day. You need trained personnel to monitor the activities of your ads if you plan on being away. 

Monitoring your ads is very important to avoid ad fatigue. Leaving your ads on autopilot can cause this. Ads fatigue occurs when the frequency of your ads rises, and an audience keeps seeing your ads over and over again. This may lead to dislike for the ad and company. Your cost per result may suffer from ad fatigue.

When your ads are monitored, failing aspects of your ads will be spotted on time and removed. You will also be able to monitor which type of ads is doing well and which are not. You can quickly close the one that is not doing well, helping you reduce costs. You can also gather all these insights and use them in your next campaign.

Google Analytics is one of the best tools to monitor analytics. You will have access to data like conversion, location, content and engagement.  

It would be best if you also pay attention to the analytics Facebook shares with you. Facebook shares with you the performance of each of your ads and the best performing ads. 

Additionally, Facebook Business Suite allows you to manage campaigns for both Facebook and Instagram posts in one place and personalize and alter your campaigns. As a new business, you may need to collect more analytics and audience data to target your advertising effectively.

Also, if you notice that people are not buying your goods or service, then focusing on Facebook leads may be a good option. 

5. Not A/B Testing

Before you jump the gun and run ads:

1. Make sure you have everything in check.

2. Do not assume that your products or services will automatically appeal to your target audience.

3. Try conducting some A/B Testing first; the result might shock you. 

Many businesses fail at the first instance because they assume that they will be an instant success. The reality of things is that you may not be! You need to conduct extensive research. Some aspects to test include:

• Creative (copy and imagery) 

• Call To Action (CTA) (Get Offer, Learn More, Get Quote, Sign Up, Order More)

• Statistics about the population (geography, job titles, gender, education, etc.)

• Interests and Habits (engaged shoppers, entertainment, family and relationships, etc.

• Positioning (where your ad is shown on different platforms)

• Format of the advertisement (still image, carousel, video, etc.)

You can also examine your competitors' advertising to determine what works for them in terms of ad messaging or format in order to connect with a similar audience.

Timing is equally crucial for reaching your target audience at the proper time. Keep in mind the impending holidays and how they might fit into your promotion.

It's also a good idea to use funnel mapping to understand where your audience goes once they click on your call to action. You can identify areas for improvement by looking at the ad journey from the customer's perspective.

Conclusion

Facebook advertisements become more manageable when organizations take the time to strategize and examine their goal, needs, audience, content kind, and ad journey.
When you're first starting out in social media marketing, learning from your mistakes is a great way to improve. It allows you to identify areas where you can improve.