4 simple reasons why your Facebook ads are failing – and how to fix it

According to Small Biz Trends, it appears that almost 70% of small business owners who do their own Facebook ads have no results or virtually no results at all.

Why am I not surprised?

Facebook ads are hard to do. The platform changes all the time, the design changes all the time, the ads policy changes all the time and if you are not on top of it, you can’t follow up with the changes and you get no results. If by chances your ads are not rejected, banned or your account canceled.

Just take a look at Google to see how many marketers have had their account canceled with absolutely no chance to get it back.

However, a lack of good results is not a good reason to throw in the towel.

Why? That’s because Facebook is still the #1 platform in the world. It’s still the best place to advertise, at the lowest cost and for the best ROI.
Actually, The Verge reported that ¼ of the world’s population is on Facebook.

Frankly, it doesn’t make sense to stop running Facebook ads only after a few weeks or months. That’s because the problem most likely isn’t coming from Facebook. And if the problem is not with Facebook, the solution is not with Facebook either…

The problem probably lies in the way you’re creating your ads (or your marketing manager). But the good news is that it’s totally fixable because it’s just a question of knowing how to do it the right way.

So, how to do Facebook ads the right way?
There are a lot of tutorials showing how to do Facebook ads, so in this article, I will not focus on how to do it, but about the mistakes you do that prevent you from getting results.

1. You don’t know how to talk to Facebook people

All social media platforms have some similarities. But they also have subtle differences. And it’s those differences that dictate how people use them.

Here’s a great example of how talking about pizzas requires a different phrasing underlying different social media channel:

• Twitter: I’m eating a #pizza
• Foursquare: this is where I’m eating a pizza
• Instagram: here’s a filtered picture of my pizza
• YouTube: The best tutorial to make a pizza
• Linkedin: my skills encompass making pizza
• Pinterest: look at all my pizza pictures
• Facebook: I love pizza

You need to realize that that people are on Facebook just chilling. They chat about things that concern them and mostly expect a comment or alike. Your customers are sharing comments and emojis and way too much about what they ate for breakfast.

Moreover, they do all this because it’s blissfully self-gratifying.

Here’s why that’s very important:

A lot of companies start their ads with ‘Here’s who I am. Here’s why I’m great.” But they don’t focus on the person on the other side of the ad. They say, this is what we have to offer but they don’t say “here is something that will interest you and eventually may help you resolve one of your problems.” They don’t think about what the Facebook user wants.

People don’t care anymore that you are the #1 reseller in your city, or that you have been in business for 20 years.

Actually, people don’t browse on Facebook to search for products to buy. If they already know what to buy, they just go on Amazon.
People don’t go on facebook to see videos, they go to YouTube for that.
I know it’s a terrible thing to say but people go to Facebook to read about news and trends.

People get on Facebook to connect. Especially with friends and family. When you show your ads in the middle of that, people often think, ‘why am I seeing this?”

That’s especially true if your ad behaves like a rude stranger. You know, like the jerk who hijacks a conversation between friends just to talk about himself.

Blech! Right?

But your ad doesn’t have to be an abrasive outsider.

Imagine you are in the line at Starbucks and someone comes to tell you about the washing-machine they are selling… What would you think?
The same goes for Facebook newsfeed. If you interrupt people in Starbucks, what type of conversation would make them put their coffee down and listen to you?

Now imagine you were standing at the movies in a long line and had a person we didn’t know join us. And they weren’t rude at all. They were entertaining and very funny and easy to interact with and everybody had a good laugh listening to them.

Well, that behavior should be the goal of your Facebook ads. That’s what you want to put into a Facebook ad.

A Good vs Bad Facebook Ad Example:

That is a test that we have done at TheEssentialTools.Com. We used this tactic to transform a costly ad flop into a low-cost conversion machine.

Can you tell from this side-by-side comparison which ad outperformed the other?

The ad with most ROI is the one on the right. Yes, the tall one.

Here’s why:

• no exclamation points
• better use of copywriting techniques
• a focus on the thoughtfully targeted Facebook user
• no mentions of the presenter — or his offer — until the fourth paragraph

2. You Don’t Narrow Your Target Audience

Usually, when someone says, ‘Facebook ads didn’t work for me,’ that’s because they’ve created a unique ad and targeted it toward everyone, that is nobody.

It’s like having a pet shop in Atlanta and advertising to all available billboards in the US. The results will be poor because:

• the audience is too broad
• the cost is too high

Some marketers recommend targeting people at the bottom of your sales funnel first(BOFU). (if you don’t know what a sales funnel is, click here). The peculiarity of the BOFU is that it’s filled with people who already know your company or have purchased from you before.

Remember, when you’re marketing to a prospective customer, you only have a 13 percent chance of persuading them to make a purchase. On the other hand, repeat customers:

•  costs you less and makes you more.
•  have a 60-70% chance of buying.
•  spend 300% more
•  promote your business
• Your small audience of repeat customers is more likely to be interested in your products. It could cost you only $20/day to run successful ads to them.

What if you don’t have a big pool of repeat customers
The power of Facebook lies in re-marketing. Not only you can show your ads to past and current customers, but also to people who have visited your website.

It’s easier for people to trust you with their time and money if they already know you. People who have previously visited your website came for a reason: they were interested in what you had to say. By retargeting them on Facebook, you are just reminding them that you exist and that they don’t need to go see your competition: you DO have the service or products they need.

3. You’re running the same ad over and over

You can’t create an ad set and think, ‘I’m done.’ Then walk away.

Durin the TV era, that’s how advertising used to work worked. You would create a TV commercial, newspaper ad, or radio spot and keep it going and going.

But Facebook advertising is very different.

What Facebook cares about is content that’s brand new. When you post fresh content, Facebook rewards you with lower prices because your ad is engaging and people comment, like and share.

The result is that when people lose interest, not only:

•  you end up paying more for your ad exposure
•  your ad is shown to less and less people

In facebook Ads Manager, there is a metrics called “Frequency.” This number shows how many times on average your ad was shown to people. A couple of years ago, if people see your ad 7 times, it was old. In 2018, when people see your ad more than 3 times, they develop “ad blindness.” After 3 times, they just don’t see your ad anymore even if you show it 20 more times, they will not react to it.
If your prospects do not react to your ad, if affects another metrics called “relevancy.” When relevancy dip below 8, Facebook penalizes you and charges you more.

The only solution is to always update your creatives.

Here are some Facebook ad tips for keeping your content fresh:

• Small biz should update their ads at least once a month
• Larger companies need to create a new ad every 1-2 weeks

That “relevancy” and “frequency” input is leading us to the next point…

4. You Don’t Watch Your Reports

If you aren’t watching your reports, you’re spending money unnecessarily. If something isn’t working, hit the pause button. Reanalyze and try another campaign.

The ad above is quite problematic.
On the bright side, the ad is doing well:

•  1642 people visited the landing page after clicking on the ad
•  with only $0.12 the cost per result is low

On the dark side, you can see that after 6 days, the “news” effect is taking its toll:

•  the cost has actually been rising every day, from $0.06 the 1st day to $0.20 on the 6th day
•  the reach is dropping big time from 350 visitors the 1st day to 80 on the last day.

The decision to keep running it vs stopping it is up to you. But at least, this report is showing you some fundamental information, and any decision without facts is unwise.

Again the reason why people are not reacting to the ad above can be multiple, but this is a perfect example of ads fatigue, even after 6 days… I would stop the ad and make a brand new one.
But don’t make the mistake to create an ad that’s too similar to the one that needs changing.
Don’t think like “oh, if the pink picture doesn’t work, I’ll put a yellow one.” Or even switching the word ‘speed’ for ‘hurry.’ You need to give Facebook customers a very different ad, otherwise, people will recognize it and ad blindness will kick in.

Because if you know you’re targeting the right audience, the problem lies in not knowing what that audience wants from you.

Here are a few Facebook ad tips that’ll help you find out what users want from you:

• make a survey and ask them
• use lawman’s language isntead of professional jargon
• make sure your messaging is similar from the ad, to the landing page, all the way to your checkout.
• pay attention to your reports when they show an ad is working!

When an ad is phenomenal and you’re getting leads for 1/5 the price of other platforms, DON’T let it die. Put on the gas. Pause everything else, and put your money behind the ad while Facebook is helping you push. It can snowball in your favor!

Like It or Not… Facebook Is Still King of Paid Media
People underestimate how big and powerful Facebook ads are. There’s no better way to reach a targeted audience instantly.

So, don’t give up if your first efforts aren’t as grand as you think they should be. Just figure out what mistakes you’re making and start fixing them.

If you think the Facebook ad tips in this post are awesome, but that for some reason (you don’t have the people to do it, you don’t have the time, ect.) I can help.

First I have a Facebook Training here
Second, if all this sounds daunting I can do it for you, here.

I hope these Facebook ad tips provided you with the first aid you need to get better results than ever!