10 Wonderful Ways To Avoid Wasted Ad Spend On Facebook Ads

In today’s ever-evolving landscape, businesses are always seeking out new means to engage their target audience. We have seen the dawn of Google Ads, formerly Google AdWords, rise and fall as CPC rates climb to an all-time high. With this in mind, many digital marketers are turning to a new realm of advertising: social media. Though Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and so many others have risen from the ashes, there is no denying the fact that Facebook Ads are the most fundamental and, equally, the most important. With 2.8 billion active users, Facebook has risen as a diverse and compelling way to market in any industry.

The platform has been more than willing to provide advertisers with a concocted mix of CPC, conversion, and CPM ads, allowing for unparalleled opportunities for businesses to connect with potential customers and to drive meaningful connections. However, despite the potential we have seen over the years, as with any form of advertising, there is a requirement for a strategic approach. In fact, the main reason 62% of Facebook advertisers fail is because they hope for the best. No plan of action is created, and this is a prerequisite for the desired results needed.

To truly harness the power of Facebook Ads and compound its effectiveness, advertisers need to be willing to understand the best ways to strategize their campaigns. In this article, we will delve into 10 proven strategies that businesses can use to elevate and expand their Facebook advertising reach and drive irrefutable results for their business. This includes defining clear objectives, creating compelling and comprehensive ad creative, optimizing targeting options, and continually testing and optimizing campaigns. By equipping businesses with the proper tools and the most proven practices, this guide should provide you with a stern, albeit effective way to reach your marketing goals with seamless effort and conviction. Let us begin!

Step 1 - Define Your Objectives

Before you sign up for that Facebook Ads Manager account, it is more than necessary to first define and objectify your goals. Many marketers make the mistake of starting far too early, plunging ad money into campaigns without a proper plan of action in mind. Having a clear and bountiful understanding of your goals in regard to your advertising efforts is essential to your ad’s success. Whether you are trying to raise brand awareness, gain more traffic to your website, find new leads to add to your given CRM, or simply to get more people to your Facebook Page, you need to think in terms of “SMART” objectives.?

Much research has shown that businesses that start advertising with a clear outcome in mind are more likely to succeed. A recent study by FounderJar.com found that companies that set specific and measurable goals for their Facebook advertising campaigns are up to 76 percent more likely to see a successful outcome . Furthermore, these businesses typically follow SMART objectives, as described earlier, which are an essential component of any marketing strategy.

By defining your goals in advance, you are giving yourself and your business a map to the finish line. Many marketers forget the basics: you need to start with the end in mind to establish the first move. This is often categorized as top-of-funnel, mid-funnel, and bottom-funnel. Whereas top-of-funnel goals are meant to begin the customer/client journey, bottom-funnel objectives are meant to get them to a place where they want to actually buy or engage with your brand. For information on a typical sales funnel, click here . Furthermore, by outlining your objectives, and with insight into proper sales funnel strategies, you can start at the bottom and work your way up. This approach, though commonly misused by many, has been proven to work.

An example here would be a goal of increasing brand awareness. At this point in the journey, you are working on a top-of-funnel strategy , and can therefore plan to maximize exposure through CPM (cost-per-mille, or cost per 1000 impressions) in order to gain an understanding of who your target audience truly is. This is one scenario where measurement is crucial. It is advised to never leave a Facebook Ads campaign running without checking it at least a few times each day to see what gender is most common, what age group has interacted with it the most, and what interests and behaviors you find that can benefit you in the long run.

As you progress through your planning process, you can then move to middle-of-funnel goals, such as a campaign targeted to increase engagement on your posts or increase follower counts, where they can find useful blogs, content, and information about you and your company. Finally, bottom-of-funnel objectives can focus on CPC (cost-per-click) and conversions. Side tip: if you follow this strategy to a tee, you can easily create a lookalike audience using your Facebook Pixel (see this guide for more information ) to expose former visitors to your ad, increasing sales.

Step 2 - Know Your Audience

Understanding your audience is not an option; it is a requirement. This goes for not just Facebook advertising but any marketing objective. If you do not have a clear picture of who you are trying to engage with, you are going to be targeting a broad range of audiences that may or may not be interested. Want to waste 80 percent of your ad spend in a week and gain absolutely no results? Then proceed to run a campaign without a clear buyer persona in mind.

The great thing here is, Facebook Ads provides advertisers with a fundamental tool many know as “Insights.” Much like Google Analytics, Insights can be used to figure out who reacted to your ads prior to launch. Or, if you are still planning, consider thinking about these items:

• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Interests/Behaviors

These are just three of the many assets Facebook will require for you to target the right market. By gaining compelling insights and thinking really hard about what will motivate your audience to take action, and by thinking ahead with a solidified strategy, you can create ads that necessitate well with them. Take this seriously! If you are selling pacemakers, you might want to avoid targeting Millennials. In fact, funny story: Facebook has a new “Advantage Audience ” feature that I had a bit of a dilemma with. I saw great results! 1,666 clicks with a CPC of $0.03.?

I was awestruck…until I checked Google Analytics, and realized that my site’s average session duration was 3 seconds. Confused and bewildered, I looked down to “Locations.” Guess what happened? I forgot to target my audience, and Facebook’s algorithm had decided to send 1,666 people from Mexico to my website. Yes, thank you, Facebook. I now know why they bounced off the site after 3 seconds: they did not speak English! So, do yourself a favor and take a bit of extra time to properly target your demographic, despite Facebook promising AI will assist.

Step 3 - Create Compelling Ad Creative

Now that you have determined your audience, it is time to start crafting your ads. Though I must warn you, there is a lot more to it than simply slapping on a Canva.com graphic you made while half-asleep, typing a few words, and clicking: “Submit.” Well, that is, if you want to succeed. You need to do more than just appeal to the visual side of your audience, though do note that statistics have shown that visuals are vital (we are hardwired on an evolutionary level to react more to visuals than plain text). You need to also consider your ad copy.?

Luckily, Facebook Ads has some features that may assist. You can test multiple headlines and ad copy, as well as descriptions, and though we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves here, remember that you have gotten through the hardest part: finding your market. Now it is time to have some fun! Be sure to split-test your ads. Remember to only change one aspect at a time. If you have 5 ads under one campaign, you can opt for Facebook Ads to use AI to generate different background images, enhance text, and yes, even optimize the copy if it feels it is appropriate. Though this is not required, it is always advised to try different approaches.

Some great tools for creating great ad creatives are Canva.com , which we have all heard of, and though many seem to think to themselves: “Hmm, isn’t that kind of cheating?” you would be amazed at how immensely powerful this platform truly is. If that is not your cup of tea, or if you are working with a comparatively large ad budget and need to make sure you do not provide something from a template, consider Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.?

I have used these tools exclusively over Canva.com , simply because it allows for more customization. However, again, visuals are only half of the battle. You need to be able to capture someone’s attention with the graphic or video, and then maintain their interest with a compelling headline and ad copy. Fun fact: the human attention span is roughly 8 seconds . Guess what? A goldfish has a 12-second attention span. Go figure. So, make sure your visuals contain some text; do not slap on some random stock image from Google and assume the best.

Step 4 - Create Compelling Ad Copy

As we discussed, aside from dynamic visuals, persuasive ad copy can play an emphatic role in achieving the attention and interest of your audience. Write a concise headline, highlight pain points, and again, remember your goals! Backtrack a second and go back to reviewing your target demographics, and your initial plan-of-action. Hone your copy to the language and style of both your brand and your audience. Millennials, as an example, may appreciate a more upbeat approach, whereas a Baby Boomer may be a bit easier to convince with copy that highlights fond memories. I am not suggesting you write: “Remember Woodstock? Then Buy Our New CBD-Flavored Gum!” but you get the idea. It is all about speaking to them, not at them.

The key to writing a compelling narrative is to emphasize the unique value proposition of your product or service. Remember, in any business, your objective is to find a problem and then solve it. It is business 101. Now, how can you communicate this? What problem does your product or service solve? By clearly and effortlessly communicating this to them, you are more than likely to improve and incentivize their attention span (yes, maybe even beating that of a goldfish!) Include a clear CTA (call-to-action) and remember to try different variations.?

Last but not least, and though this is just off the cusp of my head, name your ads uniquely. If you have 5 ads with 5 different propositions, identify what those are. This will be key when you get to a further stage where your objective is to measure results. Nothing could be worse than trying to figure out why “Ad A” worked better than “Ad B.” Sure, it helps knowing that one did better than the other, but would it not make more sense to name it: “Professional Tone” or “Humorous Emphasis?” Also consider your ad creative. If you have an ad with a graphic with a blue background and another with a red background, then simply put: “Professional - [Color].”?

You get the point!

Step 5 - Now You Can Begin!

Are you still there? Did I lose you at: “PPC?” If you are still with me, then good, because we have reached the fun part: putting the ad together! Though this sounds fun…well, actually, it truly is fun! You have your buyer persona in mind, you have a clear plan of how to do this, and you know what your goals are. You have graphics or videos that will catch the attention of your audience, and you have put together plenty of unique and wonderfully-crafted pieces of copy. Now, you can proceed to log into Facebook Ads Manager, and click: “Create Ad.” Exciting, right?!

Facebook makes this step pretty simple. However, a few key tips will help, First and foremost, make sure you avoid anything that says: “Advantage.” Many have learned this the hard way. This simply means that Facebook’s AI algorithm (which they publicly mentioned here that it is still in beta mode, i.e. it’s not worth testing your luck) will control everything, from the audience to the locations, to the devices, and so on. Avoid this like a plague, and do the manual work.

To create your ad, you will simply follow the steps, but please make sure that you watch a few videos on the most updated procedures prior to launching. I would explain the full process in detail, but because Facebook Ads Manager changes almost weekly, it is best to leave you with some solidified tactics. First, make sure you set a realistic budget.?

Though there is no “average Facebook CPC” or “average Facebook CPA,” assume that if you have a $5.00-a-day budget, and you want at least 10 clicks a day to your website, set a “Bid Cap” at “$0.50.” Never, ever, ever let Facebook decide what you will pay; they will drain your budget. Make sure you continually check in on your ads over the first couple of days to make sure that there are results being generated. If not, incrementally adjust your Bid Cap by 5-10%.?

It is wise to avoid going from $0.50 a click to $1.00, as you may be able to meet them in the middle. I hate to break the bad news to you, but Facebook is a business, and like any business, they will try to take advantage of the newbies. Always set a firm cap, and always make sure you target your audience. With that said, moving onto the next part, which is just that: targeting! One last thing: make sure you set up conversion tracking using Facebook Pixel.?

This is a simple HTML tag that you can insert into the source code of your website. If you need a walkthrough on how to do this, click here for a handy-dandy guide , or Google it. No worries, it is not too difficult. This will allow for you to track when someone performs an action. This is a crucial step, and if you do not know how to do it yourself, Fiverr.com offers plenty of affordable freelancers who can assist you. If you need further help, reach out to me!

Step 6 - Targeting Appropriately

One of the key advantages of Facebook is the ability to reach audiences based on demographics, affinities (interests/behaviors), and so much more. This is measured a) by other ads, and b) by AI algorithms that have been in place way before the AI wave launched (believe it or not, my friends, AI has been around since the 1970s; you just did not hear about it until ChatGPT). This is where your buyer personas come into play. Set a strategic age range, and I do advise that unless your product or service is definitively male or female oriented, test both genders. Finally, add the right interests and behaviors.?

Though they are known to change these up on a month-to-month basis, typically they will fall into categories that are easy to choose from. An example is a campaign I ran for business owners. I was running an ad campaign for a company that sold consulting services. I set the age range to 35-55, and included around 20 behaviors and interests, including everything from: “Business Owner” to “Marketing Services,” to interests in “Business Development” and for those who designate themselves as: “Entrepreneurs.” I saved the audience and it yielded great results.

Step 7 - Optimize Your Landing Pages

If you thought the process was done after hitting: “Submit,” remember one thing: you need the ad to go somewhere! When someone clicks that button, they need to go to a designated URL or landing page, which is inserted into the ad during the setup process. Remember that it is best to avoid sending people to a generic home page. If you are setting up an ad for a product, such as “running shoes,” then be sure to send that audience to (example) “www.website.com / products / running-shoes.” If you are selling a service, it is advised to set up a “Book Now” page, and be sure to populate it with as much information as possible. I had a client I worked with once who had nothing but a form on his URL destination. It was somewhat like seeing a windowless white van: you do not know what is inside of it, but if they decided to opt out of windows, it can’t be good. So, make sure that you capture their attention with a great title, then retract to some stellar copy, add some visuals, and make sure they understand what you are selling them.

Otherwise, you just wasted a click and the cost behind it.

Another piece of advice is to try and match the ad creative. If you are using a visual that is blue with white text in a “Merriweather” font, try to do the same with the landing page. This is just a tip, not a requirement, but it can improve your conversion rate by up to 32 percent.

Step 8 - Monitor Your Ads

So, assuming you have finalized your ad, and have launched it, what do you do now? The mistake 62% of marketers make at this point is, they leave it where it is. This is a big “no-no.” The first few days will require some patience, as Facebook has an algorithm that will literally say: “Learning.” Yes, it is doing just that, and it is best to avoid messing around with anything during this period. If you do, it will reset back to this phase, and you will have to wait another 3-4 days for it to “learn” again. Once this phase has passed, monitor your ads at least 3 times a day.

This will allow you to make sure you are not paying exorbitant CPC fees, and will also give you a chance to hone your ads one-by-one. After the initial learning phase, adjustments - after about a week or so - do not reset this period; the algorithm has figured you out, and now you can adjust. Remember, if you see an ad performing better than another one, do more than simply click the others off and let all ad spend go to the successful one. Play detective and figure out what that ad contained that allowed for it to succeed. Then, duplicate it and test out a few single variations, one at a time for each, until you get it right. Lastly, monitor your “Insights.”

This is less important for the sake of the ad, and more important for the sake of a) your landing page (check Google Analytics daily to make sure the ads are appearing, that actions are converting, and that your session duration for the page in question is decent enough) and b) your own learning. Remember, your goal is to learn not just about how Facebook Ads works, but also, who is most likely to click on your ad. This can provide a sentiment of killing two birds with one stone: you are keeping tabs to make sure the right audience is being advertised to, and you are understanding more about who is most likely to click on what. Again, make it a game!

Step 9 - Test And Optimize

This goes hand-in-hand with the above step, but it is worth mentioning again. I do advise you not let your ads run continuously. Set an end date or a “Lifetime Budget.” This will allow you to figure out what worked previously and what did not. Going back to the idea of testing top-of-funnel, as an example, you can try a strategy where you begin with CPM, then proceed to a second iteration where you target engagement, and finally, once you know the right audience, retarget them using Facebook Pixel . This is called a “Lookalike Audience .” This allows maximum exposure for your brand. Again, testing and optimizing will be a process you go through periodically, and it should not be understated that there is never enough learning you can earn.

Step 10 - Celebrate Success!

Congratulations! You just launched a Facebook Ads campaign! How do you feel? This step is easy: pat yourself on the back for the progress you have made, and if you feel this article was helpful, be sure to follow me or connect.. Remember, Facebook Ads may seem like a simple process to master, but it truly is not. It requires diehard dedication, and I do hope this was not information overload for you. However, for sake of being thorough, it is imperative for me to provide you with more than just a typical guide. If you feel this was an accomplishment for you, then believe me, it was for myself, as well. Facebook Ads are not scary, but they do require planning, and careful consideration. Again, 62% of businesses fail at this, so don’t be one of them. Be sure to follow and connect with me for more information, and keep in touch!

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