10 Reasons Why Your Facebook Ad Is Not Converting
57% of consumers say that social media influences their shopping. 44% mention Facebook as the most influential.
Facebook is indeed an important tool for every marketer.
One of the first marketing advice you would receive from a marketer is to invest in Facebook Ads. There are thousands of articles written about Facebook Ads and how to set it up.
However, what most of these articles fail to reveal is that not all Facebook Ads work the way they ought to. Some marketers say they feel like they have wasted their funds after running a Facebook Ad because they can’t measure the impact in terms of conversion.
How do you ensure your Facebook Ads generates leads and delivers results?
1. You Approach Facebook Advertising Like Google Advertising
Many Facebook advertisers fail before they begin because of their wrong approach to Facebook advertising. They compare Facebook to Google where they can run search and display ads.
It’s a pattern of “user search for a keyword > related ad shows up > user clicks the ad > user buys product on your website.”
But the fact is no one goes to Facebook with an aim to shop. They connect with friends and family, check upcoming birthdays, follow their sports teams and favourite celebrities. An ad that converts is native to Facebook and conveys your marketing message effectively. It should be social and clickable.
Mark Zuckerberg observed this mind-set problem. In the company’s Q4 2014 earnings call, he said that the goal of Facebook is “to reach a point where the ads are as relevant and timely as the content your friends share with you.”
2. You’re Trying to Reach Millions With Broad Ads
“Reach millions of customers on Facebook in 5 minutes.”
That’s what we’ve all been sold and bought into. It’s tempting and exciting. You assume that if millions of people see your ads across the world and just a tiny fraction of them convert, you’ll be smiling to the bank.
If this was your strategy, you’ve wasted money. Targeting such a large number of people rarely works. It forces you to appeal to everyone but appeal to no one.
3. You’re Poor at Targeting
One of the features that makes Facebook such a powerful platform to advertise is their detailed targeting options. They let you target a defined audience for your business. But many advertisers are overwhelmed by the options.
There are hundreds of options under the broad categories of demographics, interests, behaviours, and remarketing. One of the options many advertisers overlook is Custom Audience – a feature that enables you to target only people who already have a relationship with your brand.
When you fail to make use of it and not target your ads properly, your ad is shown to people who don’t care about your offering.
4. You’re Targeting the Right People at the Wrong Stage
Even when targeting a small group, your ad falls short if it does not fit the stage they are in their buying journey.
Customers follow the Awareness > Consideration > Purchase cycle. But many Facebook advertisers are not conscious of this customer journey. So, they start at the end or the middle. They tell consumers who don’t know them to buy now.
Going with a buy-first approach is similar to proposing marriage on your first date. Facebook users don’t want to be sold to. They want to socialise with friends and families.
5. Your Facebook Ad Does Not Lead to a Persuasive Offer
You lose money when people visit your landing page from an ad but they aren’t clear on the next step.
One of the reasons why you attract curious clickers but not action takers is because your Facebook Ad was poorly conceived, badly written and not designed for conversion.
For prospects to match their click with action, make a strong offer. Appear credible. The offer should be clear and directed to a specific market segment. Use a persuasive call to action to seal the deal.
6. Your Facebook Ads Aren’t Consistent with Your Landing Page
As ridiculous as it sounds, many Facebook advertisers send their ad clicks to their homepage where they have multiple offers.
When people click on your ad, your landing page should correspond to your ad. Usually, this means using the same brand colours, images, and talking about the product or service you advertised. Anything else affects your credibility and conversion.
7. Your Ads Are Not Optimised for Mobile
95.1% of Facebook users access Facebook via mobile. Your Facebook ads aren’t converting because they are not optimised for mobile. When creating your ad on desktop, preview how their ads will appear on mobile. Errors that occur include missing description, the headline gets cut off and poorly optimised images.
8. You’re Not Using Effective Frequency
Most people who see your ad won’t take action immediately. This is where the theory of “effective frequency” comes into play. Effective frequency is simply the number of times people need to see your ad before they take note and act. Repeat your ad to the same audience and test results before stopping it.
9. You’re not Running Continuous Ad Tests
Advertising is largely a scientific process. Testing is a huge part of the process. Many successful advertisers admit their first ad creative rarely works. They discovered what works through continuous testing, learning and optimising.
Testing is a never-ending process. As the interest of your focus group changes, so should your ad. If you’ve been running one version of your Facebook ad continuously hoping to convert without any experiment, it’s now easy to see why your ads performed poorly.
10. Your Ads Are Suffering Fatigue
Ad fatigue occurs when people are exposed to your ads repeatedly until they don’t respond anymore. It’s the classic principle of diminishing return in action. Even the most successful Facebook ads are not immune to. Facebook ads need to be tweaked and refreshed occasionally. Don’t just set it up and forget it.
Conclusion
Even with the decline in organic reach of Facebook posts, you can get your content in front of your ideal audience with targeted Facebook Ads.
Segment your audience. Narrow it down to people most likely to be interested in your content. Show ads based on where they are in the buyer’s journey. Follow these tips we’ve mentioned and your ads will yield better results.
Author Bio
Chima Mmeje is a content marketer, digital strategist and copywriter. She has published on high ranking sites such as Jeff Bullas. She creates high-quality content that increases your SERP rankings and achieves your content marketing goals. You can find her at Zenith Copy
