V8.5: Budget-Breaking Facebook Mistakes You Can Fix Today

As you know, we are big believers in social media marketing. And while there is no ‘one size fits all’ strategy, this is a wrong way to utilize paid social advertising.

With that in mind, let’s talk about a handful of “budget-killing Facebook ad errors” that are more common than you might think. Social Media Today author Nathan Resnick writes a great article on the subject.

1. “Too broad of an audience” The worst thing you could do is blanket out your ads to a huge, broad audience. You will eat through your budget on an irrelevant audience and have nothing left for the quality converters. Trying to reach the max amount of people is not a smart strategy. Remember quantity over quality is NOT the answer here. You have to focus in on the right target audience by narrowing it down. That way you spend your money effectively and with purpose. 
2. “The wrong target audience” Okay, we know a too-broad audience won’t cut it, but the wrong target market won’t either. If you are focusing too much on the wrong demographic or interest sets, you will not serve them the right ads. They will quickly lose interest because the value won’t be there for there. It’s important to home in on the correct audience and the most relevant content for them. Make sure to take some time with the data and find the exact persona you want to reach before creating your audiences. That way you will build your targeting tactics with the right people in mind. 
3. “The wrong budget” You have to match your budget to the objective in place and the size of your audience. If you have too high of a budget for a small niche, you’ll never spend through. If you put too little budget against a larger audience but don’t pace campaigns, you’ll spend through too quickly and you waste valuable testing. Of course, everything is a balance, so start small and then continue to add incremental budget until you find your sweet spot. 
4. “Bad creative” Like we mentioned previously, relevant content is everything. If your creative is bad, no one will click through or even care. And what a waste that would be. You could have the best target audience and the perfect amount of budget and none of that will matter if your ad doesn’t quickly capture attention. Facebook has pretty strict rules when it comes for advertising. If your creative has text that takes up more than 20% of the image, Facebook’s algorithm will limit its reach- or even reject it entirely. Remember to be striking and thumb-stopping while still providing a clear value for your market. 
5. “Not excluding past converters” Don’t waste budget serving impressions to someone who has already converted or expressed interest. It is very easy to exclude past converters and you should make sure to do so when you’re utilizing the same or similar content. Of course, you want to continue to nurture those people, but you have to do so strategically and with new content. 
6. “Not taking notes” Everything is a test. You must rely on data to make informed decisions and continue learning along the way. If you don’t keep track of your successes and failures with your social campaigns, you will remain stuck in a rut. You’re not throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping it sticks. You are making strategic choices, measuring success, and course correcting as needed.

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to rethink your strategies when it comes to Facebook marketing. Get out there and go save some money!