With over 2 billion people on Facebook, a lot of small businesses are trying out Facebook ads. And they should! The problem, though, is that most of them are failing at it.
Almost 2/3 of small businesses are doing Facebook ads all wrong. As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to figure out where they went wrong and how you can avoid following their example. In my experience, there are a few reasons that a small business’ Facebook ads can veer off course.
They don’t have a plan.
In my experience, a lack of planning is the cause of a huge chunk of Facebook ad fails. Saying “I want a successful Facebook ad” isn’t nearly enough. First of all, what makes for a successful ad? Is it more clicks? More likes? More views? Until you define what success means (preferably with a number like “200 clicks” or “16,000 impressions”), you’re going to fail because you won’t be able to plan for an optimized result.
Once you know what success means for your Facebook ad, the next step is to figure out how you’re going to get there. Will you target people in your target demographic? Will you have a punchy CTA that makes everyone want to click on your link? Will you be funny to earn more engagement?
62% of small business owners aren’t thinking about these questions before making Facebook ads, and that’s why they fail. You’ll have to do better than them if you want to succeed.
They’re cheap.
Facebook is a pay to play platform, no question. Yes, all ads have some kind of budget, but what you’ll get for $100 and what you’ll get for $1,000 are very different.
Let’s say you took the first step of setting a goal and decided that you’d consider your ad a success if it generated 500 clicks to your website. If your budget is $50, it’s going to be all but impossible to hit that goal, and your ad is going to be doomed to fail before it ever shows up in someone’s feed.
I encourage you to think of Facebook ads a little differently than what you might be used to. Instead of imagining how much it’s going to cost you to get X clicks, think about what you’ve already seen. Maybe you spent $10 boosting a post and it got you an extra 15 clicks, which obviously isn’t very exciting. Well, if you increased that budget to $100, that’s 150 clicks. Spend $500 and you’re looking at 750 clicks. That number’s a lot more exciting, isn’t it?
Stop thinking of Facebook ads through the lens of what they’ll cost, and instead focus on what you have to gain. If you’re too afraid to put real money into your Facebook ads, they’re never going to perform as well as you’d like.
They’re not putting in enough time.
How much time did you spend on setting up your ad? If writing the copy, choosing visuals, selecting an audience, and scheduling the ad all took you 20 minutes, then you’re not going to reach your goal.
When small business owners don’t put enough time into Facebook ads, they miss out on a professional result. They make it harder to execute their strategy because they’re rushing, and it’s just generally not a productive use of time.
Think of your time like your money. Sure, you can technically get a Facebook ad up and running in a few minutes, but is that going to give you the results that you’re aiming for? I know it can be hard to find the time, but if you’re rushing your Facebook ads, then you’re only going to waste whatever budget you’re putting in.
Beat the 62%
The good news is that 38% of small business owners are getting Facebook ads right, and I want to help you join that number! I’ve been doing this for a long time, so use my advice to make sure your Facebook ads are beating the competition. Otherwise you’ll only end up wasting your adspend budget!
Do you need some more guidance on how to make Facebook ads work? Let’s talk about it in your free consultation with The Go! Agency!
