When it comes to social media marketing, Facebook is one of the best advertising platforms in the market, with over 2 billion monthly active users¹.

Because it is the largest social network out there, it’s a no-brainer that you should advertise your business on the platform for continued sales growth.

Although you may have heard some horrifying Facebook Ad stories, there are things that you can do to avoid them.

5 Facebook Advertising Tips to Reduce Your Ad Costs

Here are five ways to avoid committing budget-depleting Facebook ad mistakes.

1. Make Clear Objectives

Before starting your Facebook advertising campaign, know what your objectives are. This will help you distinguish what kind of campaign you should run, as well as accurately measure whether or not you are getting your desired results.

If things are not working the way that you planned, you can change or pause the campaign to avoid wasting funds.

Here are ways to develop Facebook ad campaign goals and objectives:

Set clear goals as a group: When you discuss the campaign and goals with your team, you are more likely to reach your desired goals.
Come up with an action plan: Do not just set goals. Design an action plan that will define the process you want to follow and how you will achieve it.
Set KPIs: Regularly track your key performance indicators to maximize your campaign.

2. Know Your Audience

Facebook's ads platform lets advertisers choose groups of people they want to show their ad to. These groups can be based on interests, demographics, behaviors, and fields of study.

So, create a buyer's persona and be as detailed as possible. When you target your Facebook Ads in this way, you’ll be able to look back on your buyer’s persona, their demographics, behaviors, and interests.

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, and ask the following questions in your market research:

What do your ideal customers search on search engines?
What apps do they use?
What kind of influencers do they follow?
What pages do they “like” on Facebook?
What type of blogs do they read?
Where do they hang out on Reddit?
What competitors are they buying from?

If you pick the wrong audience, you’ll end up with fewer conversions than if you target an audience that’s genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

3. Use Facebook Pixel

In a nutshell, Pixel is a way to track interactions and conversions for your ad and landing page using analytics. You can install the code for Facebook Pixel on your website yourself, or hire a developer to do it for you.

Facebook Pixel is used for three primary functions:

Create a custom audience for your site so that you can re-market to them.
Optimize your Facebook ads for conversions.
Track conversions on your website or event page, then attribute them to your ads.

When used properly, Facebook Pixel is an excellent way to measure the effectiveness of your ads and drive results. From the information that you collect with Pixel, you’ll know how your audience engages with you off the platform. You can use that for better delivery of your ads as you continue selling to them on the platform.

4. Refresh Campaigns

Users easily tire of seeing the same ad over and over. Therefore, your campaigns are likely going to under-perform if you only refresh your campaigns every two weeks.

Ad fatigue can happen and people will start ignoring your ads after seeing them a couple of times. As a result, you’ll experience a rise in ad costs, drops in engagement, loss of conversions, and poor return on investment.

Here are some effective tips on how to refresh your ad creatives:

Revise copy

Switch from the first to third person and vice versa.
Turn your questions into statements.
Switch your CTA every once in a while.
Add or remove emojis, product or brand name, and price details.

Edit Image

Place stickers, texts, filters, catchy backgrounds, and other effects onto your images.
Consider adding or removing your brand logo.
Turn your photos and videos into GIFs.

Rotate Ad Formats

Switch between different ad formats: single, video, carousel, canvas, and slideshow.

5. Do A/B Testing

Try out different versions of your campaign and learn what will make your brand resonate more with your audience. One of the common mistakes a lot of advertisers make is not having a specific baseline to measure from. So, have a solid foundation first, and then test one element at a time.

Your text body, placement, image, and headline should also be tested out separately. Don’t try to change your headline and text body simultaneously because you’ll never know which one made a difference.

To Wrap It All Up

Facebook offers an abundance of data and targeting options. But you have to be mindful of committing ad mistakes that could hurt your business.

Avoid wasting a lot of time and resources in finding the right customers. Have a clear strategy and understand your target audience.

Monitor your campaigns and adjust if necessary. Take cues from your audience and then see what works and what does not work. Remember your campaign's overall success depends on how your audience responds to it.

1. Statista: Number of Active Monthly Facebook Users

Kevin Urrutia is the founder of Voy Media, a Marketing Agency in NYC. He is dedicated to helping businesses triumph over the ever-changing marketing landscape. He crafts results-oriented solutions that are tailor-fit for each client his team works with.