Warning — this blog might leave upset. If so, and that’s okay. Honestly, nobody likes being called out. But keep in mind that marketing is a lifetime learning process. When we first started going paid social media ads, we made many of these mistakes as well, luckily with our own money, not client budget. What it taught us was that social media platforms are always evolving, and therefore, it’s critical to conduct a merciless full review periodically so you know which part of your strategy is falling behind, so you know why Facebook Ads aren’t working the way they’re supposed to.

Your Targeting is Off

Targeting is becoming increasingly challenging as Google revamps their cookie policies. You may wonder: what does cookies have to do with your Facebook targeting? Well, because a large part of running Facebook ads is about retargeting, which fall straight into your user data from landing destinations, whether it be an app page, your website, or a specialty landing page.

That aside, even direct targeting is becoming more challenging each day. While you may be tempted to target the high-volume interests and categories on Facebook, understand that most small businesses do not have a budget to sustain those targeting. So think about how you want to target: are you making a solid, delicious pancake, or a giant crepe that easily breaks?

Your Ads Aren’t Tailored to the Right Funnel Stage

When it comes to Facebook Ads, typically, assuming you have a limited budget, your main focus should be your TOFU (top of the funnel) leads. This means most of your money would be spent on awareness campaigns putting your brand and offer in front of others, conversion or traffic campaigns aiming to move the leads off Facebook to your business, or retargeting campaigns focusing on those interacted with you before but haven’t made a purchase. Audiences (prospects) in each funnel stage have different characteristics, preferences, and decision-making triggers. For your Facebook ads to work, you MUST tailor your offer, creatives, and messaging to the right funnel stage.

Your Copy Stinks

Like what we shared with Upcity’s recent article on essential Facebook Advertising Tips, most Facebook Ad copies stink like scams nowadays. Please, do yourselves a favor. Stop listening to some gurus whose knowledge sources seem shady af. Nobody is going to read 20 paragraphs of copies and convert. For decades, advertisement copywriting has been promoting the importance of being concise, accurate, and influential. For God’s sake, hire a copywriter if you have to, but don’t be carried away by the long copies and emoji lists. Just because you see them everywhere doesn’t mean they’re working.

You Set the Wrong Goals

If you still think Facebook Ads is all about making sales, then, chances are you’ve got your campaign goals wrong from the beginning. Based on the funnel stage your campaign targets, your goals should vary correspondingly. For example, an awareness ad is all about being fun, cute, and leaving a strong impression. At this stage, you want to get your brand name out without worrying about conversion at all. Meanwhile, a retargeting ad should go straight to the point, assuming your audience are already familiar with who you are and what you do.

Your Landing Destination Doesn’t Drive Conversion

In the end, those leads need to go somewhere. They can’t stay on Facebook, or if you’d prefer, Meta, because clearly, that’s not your company. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Facebook’s fancy experience builder with a native lead capturing form, or redirecting your audience to a landing page or social media profile, understand what your end goal is. Therefore, if your final destination is not designed to drive conversion, whether it’s form submission, page like, website visit, or app download, your Facebook Ads are crippled from the very beginning.

Approaching Facebook Ads with Full-Funnel Strategies

If Metaverse has been driving you crazy with all the brand new tools and revamping of their advertising backend, you’re not alone. Many small business owners are finding Facebook advertising more overwhelming every day, mainly because of how quickly things are changing. For example, most advertisers aren’t aware that today’s Facebook Ads lean heavily towards customer experience, meaning you can almost prepare yourself for not getting ideal results unless you are running full-funnel campaigns.

Westerlund, Co is the leading social media marketing agency planning, executing, and monitoring full-funnel campaigns for businesses, creating a lead generation powerhouse in combination with their content marketing and SEO efforts. Have concerns about your existing campaigns? We offer a free one-hour ($120 value) assessment session so we can at least point you in the right direction.