How to Turn Around a Failing Facebook Ad Campaign ?

With over 2 million active advertisers on Facebook, you’ve probably read dozens of stories by now of how people are running profitable Facebook Ads.

But, what if you’re not experiencing success when it comes to Facebook Ads?

Does it mean that the whole notion of profitable Facebook Ads is a myth?

Of course not.

Your campaigns are most likely failing due to some fundamental errors that you’re making. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there.

Your targeting isn’t right

 

Facebook is a powerful advertising platform because you can target your ads in ways that just aren’t possible on other platforms. But, there’s a flipside to this.

If your Facebook Ads are failing, there’s a good chance that you’re not targeting your ads properly.

If you’re putting your ads in front of people who don’t care about your offering, it doesn’t matter how good your ad is — people just won’t click on it.

When it comes to targeting errors, there are two camps that advertisers generally fall into.

The first camp includes people who make their targeting too narrow. This tends to happen when you go over the top with Facebook’s targeting features.

The second camp includes people who make their targeting too broad.

How do you know if poor targeting is your problem?

Generally, if you’re working on a brand new campaign with decent new ads and you’re targeting is not set up properly, your ads will have a low ‘Click-through-rate (CTR).’

Conversely, you might have a decent CTR, but very low volume.  This is a common sign that your targeting is on the right track, but too narrow.

Remember — if no one’s clicking on your ads, your ads aren’t going to be making you any money.

If you want to dial in your targeting, there are a couple of things that you can do.

Create buyer personas

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer, based on market research and real data about your existing customers.

A buyer persona will help you figure out who your ideal customer is, by asking questions like –

What demographics do they occupy? At the most basic level you need to know their age, gender, job title and geographical location

You need to come up with a buyer persona that’s so detailed, that you can easily decide on all of the relevant options provided by Facebook.

On the ‘More Demographics’ drop-down menu, you might want to stop short of Ethnic Affinity.  Though the ‘Life Events’ section might be useful, the rest may cause you to target too narrow.