META (ex. Facebook) advertising, which racked up an impressive $135.94 billion in spending in 2022, is an indisputable titan in the world of digital marketing. Yet, with a 67% failure rate reported by small businesses, there's a clear need for a more effective approach to harnessing this platform's power.
We connected with Jorens Kvele-Kvals, a seasoned performance marketer from Intelligence Media e-commerce marketing agency, to delve into the ten most frequently encountered META advertising pitfalls. Let’s explore these mistakes and learn how to sidestep them.
1. Skimping on Angles
A commonly overlooked aspect of META advertising is diversifying the 'angles' - the different approaches used to sell a product or service. Posting just one ad in one ad set is likely to underperform. The key is to present multiple angles for testing, allowing you to replicate what's working and discard what isn't.
2. Misusing Engagement
While testing multiple angles is critical, it can lead to scattered engagement across various ads. But you can optimize engagement by using an existing ad in a different ad set instead of creating a wholly new post. This approach helps maintain social proof, a valuable asset in digital marketing.
3. Undervaluing Engagement
Engagement signals like likes, comments, shares, and saves can significantly enhance your ad's performance. META uses these signals to determine how many users to serve your ad to and its overall quality. Make sure your ad is designed to make people pause and engage – consider using headlines with questions, contrary angles, or humor to boost interaction.
4. Non-compliance with META Advertising Policies
Disregarding META's advertising policies can result in your ads being disapproved or even worse, your account being shut down. Even minor policy breaches, like exceeding the 20% text limit in images, can hamper your ad’s reach.
5. Under-utilizing Retargeting
While high ad frequency can cause 'banner blindness', letting your ad run without capping frequency can still yield results. It's okay to let frequency go as high as 10, as long as the ad continues to perform well.
6. Neglecting Community Management
Keeping an eye on comments – or community management – can significantly enhance your campaign's effectiveness. Simply hiding negative comments and responding to customer queries can help protect your campaign from damage. Consider setting high profanity filters and blocking certain detrimental terms.
7. Mediocre Offers
No matter how stellar your ad design or copywriting is, if your offer isn't compelling enough, your ad won't perform well. If you notice no results within the first 12-24 hours, revisit your offer and make necessary adjustments.
8. Not Knowing Your Audience Well Enough
Understanding your audience is paramount in creating an effective ad. Your copy should align with your audience's language, preferences, and interests, which can dramatically increase engagement and click-through rates (CTR).
9. Failure to Isolate Variables
While testing is crucial, the methodology behind it is even more critical. It's essential to control variables like audiences, creatives, copy, landing pages, and placements. In a single test, only one variable should change to determine the impact of each element on your ad’s performance.
10. Taking Poor Advice
The internet is overflowing with advice on META advertising, but not all of it is valuable. The key is to keep things simple.
Effective META advertising hinges on four things:
- Excellent creatives and copy,
- Intelligent targeting and retargeting,
- High-converting landing pages,
- Compelling offers.
By avoiding these common mistakes, you can truly unlock the potential of META ads for your e-commerce business.
Request Your Free, Comprehensive Ad Audit Today
All of this information can feel overwhelming, especially if you're juggling all the different facets of running an e-commerce business. But here's the good news – you don't have to do it alone.
At Intelligence Media, we specialize in e-commerce performance marketing and we’re ready to give your META advertising strategy a comprehensive, no-obligation, free audit. Our experienced team will take a close look at your current practices, identify any of these common pitfalls, and provide you with actionable insights to supercharge your advertising efforts.
Don't let common META advertising mistakes hinder your business's potential. Take the first step towards maximizing your return on advertising spend by reaching out to us today. Your e-commerce success story is just a click away. Contact us now for your free audit.
