Social media advertising has exploded over the last ten years, and for good reason! Businesses, no matter the size, can reap the benefits of this form of advertising as it is one of the most cost-effective ways of creating brand awareness and driving sales. It is no secret that social media companies gather data on us: about what we like, which profiles we keep up with, who we talk to, what links we click on, etc… They know us better than we know ourselves sometimes and as scary as it is to say that out loud, as marketers, our eyes can’t help but light up.

Social media has created this amazing opportunity for businesses to reach potential customers, but why is it that we constantly see businesses failing to do so. “Why didn’t my ads get any clicks?”, “How do I get my ads in front of more people?”, “Am I not spending enough money?”. People approach us all the time with these type of questions, so today we are going to outline 4 rookie mistakes to avoid when advertising on social media:

We once had this client tell us that he wanted to advertise on Instagram, only later to find out that his business Instagram profile had never been used. To advertise on any social media platform, your business should be active on that platform. When someone sees your ad, they will naturally click on your business’ account to see if you’re legit and to learn more about the company before even considering hiring or buying something from you. Advertising on social media is great for two reasons: 1.) Drive sales through your ad and 2.) Build a loyal following to your account. To reap both of these benefits, be active on whichever platform you want to eventually advertise on.

You know exactly what you want to promote and you’ve created your advertisement, you’re all good to go right? Not quite. Instead of creating just one version of your ad, create a couple different ones. Try one with a different header, one with another image, one with a different color, etc… The point is that by having multiple versions of your ad running, you can analyze how your audience is responding to them. After 48 hours, check the analytics and see which ones are performing the best and disable the others. This method of comparing to optimize is known as Split Testing or A/B testing.

Whether your goal is to build brand awareness or to grow sales, the most important feature a digital ad needs is a call-to-action, yet we continuously see ads lacking one. It is crucial to have a call-to-action because this is the statement that encourages your audience to act in your favor. Common call-to-actions include “Shop Now”, “Call Now” or our personal favorite “Learn More”. A call-to-action statement is usually in the form of a button to make it more clear to your audience where to click to “Learn More” or “Shop Now”. So now that you know, never run an ad without one!

When setting up your ad, avoid clicking “select all” when it comes to your ad placement. Ad placement is where your ad shows. For example, on Facebook you can place your ad on feeds, stories, marketplace, the right-column, before videos, etc… There are tons of options, but not every option is going to make sense to the audience you are targeting. We once disabled mobile devices and placed ads solely on desktop for a client because their webpage was not mobile friendly and we wanted the audience to have the best experience with their ad. Thinking through every step of your ad placement is crucial to a successful ad campaign as it ensures your audience the best experience with your brand.

Next time you’re creating an ad on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc…  we hope you think about these four common mistakes and avoid them completely. Although it takes triple the time and out-of-the-box thinking to avoid these mistakes, these practices ensure the best bang for your buck when advertising on social media. If you have any questions about advertising on social media leave them in the comment section below or feel free to contact us to hire our social media services.