Facebook Advertising is one of the most powerful marketing instruments currently available on the market. Choice of placements, unbelievable reach, sleek design and incorporating a facebook pixel are just a few of success factors. However, sometimes e-shop owners find themselves in a strange and frustrating situation — a very promising and effective tool seems not to be working for them. Ads appear to be barely shown and almost no one clicks on them. If this sounds familiar for you, here are a few things you should definitely try to make your ads really work for you:

Advertise to the right people.

• Be sure to target the right demographics

The broader your audience settings are, the harder it is to keep the ad relevant. Since we all know that relevance score matters, you have to make sure that your ad is focused on your target audience (e.g. women aged 18–40). Think of your potential customers use Facebook and Instagram at all — in some countries, for example, it may not be customary for older people to have social network profiles, so your effort may not result in any sales at all.

• Extend the audience duration window

Sometimes, a decision on whether or not to buy a certain thing may take a while — especially if the product price is way over the “impulsive purchase” threshold of $30. In the cases when your shop is new and still doesn’t have many visitors or the cost of the product is high, it is a good idea to make the default period set for advertising longer.

If the product is not quite an 'impulse buy', you may want a longer retargeting window

In tests conducted by RetargetApp, runtime for retargeting ads was extended to 30, 45 and 60 days instead of 14-day span normally recommended by Facebook. The 45-day period has proven to be the most successful of the extended options, bringing positive ROI in over 55% of all the cases.

• Run split tests

It’s impossible to find the winning tactic without experimenting. Run two-three similar ads with a slight difference in the target audience to see, which one performs better.

Make use of Facebook Ads Manager A/B testing functions. Try different genders and ages — your assumptions about your target audiences may be wrong.

Advertise to the right things.

• Comply with Facebook Advertising Policies

If your product catalogue, website or Facebook page contain (or even mention) products prohibited or restricted by Facebook, the ad may get disapproved, so make sure that you learn what’s okay and not okay to promote. Sometimes, a mere change of the product name or description does the trick — in other cases, however, you may need to remove separate products or whole categories in order to continue advertising.

• Check your product catalogue

Note that it’s important that absolutely all images in the catalogue must be larger than 600x600 (and no larger than 1200x1200) pixels in size. The product images should look professional (preferably, be of the same style), contain under 20% of the text on them and, once again, comply with Facebook Advertising Policies.

Remember that nudity (even partial and shown for artistic/educational purposes) is not acceptable, nor it is a good idea to include “before and after” images in the catalogue. Check the catalogue for errors — in rare cases, your website link may be classified as malicious and you may need to contact Facebook to continue advertising.

Make sure that your ads look good on mobile devices:

Neatly designed Canvas ad that started a success story of Intelligent Blends

Mobile browsing is on the rise. This year 52.2% of all web pages were viewed from cell phones and tablets, while over 70% of all online purchases are expected to be attributed to mobile shoppers by the end of 2018 — this is why you need to make use of all the mobile-friendly formats. Use Canvas ads to show your potential customers your product range right inside their Facebook App or browser. Make video ads — they have lower CPC and bring amazing results on both Facebook and Instagram. You can also use quizzes as part of your Facebook advertising strategy to gather new leads.

Send the right message.

• Choose the right words for right ad types

Utilizing the same ad message for all the ad types you are running is not okay. Prepare at least a few ad copy options for each of the following groups:

• Offer perks to convince people to purchase

Everyone loves a freebie. Free shipping, complimentary gift packaging or a small product presented with any purchase will increase the chances of your ad getting clicked on. Make sure that the offers are obvious and well-worded:

• Incentivize your customers to spread the word

Think of a referral program that would allow your customers to get a small reward if they recommend your products to their friends. After all, social networks are all about sharing. Apps like ReferralCandy will help you set up a reward program in no time.

• Get help

The world of online advertising can get confusing. Keep it in mind that you can always get qualified help, both from fellow e-shop owners and support representatives. Report the problems you are experiencing to Facebook Support. Do not be afraid to ask for help and may the sales be with you :)

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