Facebook Ad Mistakes

 14 Facebook Ad Mistakes Most Beginners Make That Completely Kill Conversions

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Stop wasting time and money on underperforming ads and read this article to write better ads and  improve your conversion rates.One minute, you’re on a roll. But, just two hours after hitting that button, you’re wondering why you even thought your ad was good. Every time you think you’re going to write the best one of all time, you check yourself now. You question whether you should just close Facebook Ads Manager and back away.Well, don’t stress too much — as it turns out, it’s a common problem. Even the people you admire and follow have struggled and will continue to struggle with FB ads to some degree.But see, here’s the thing: just because it’s a common problem, it doesn’t mean it’s not a serious one. Over time, poorly put-together Facebook ad campaigns eat away at your ad budget. It’s especially problematic if you’re not well-versed in the basics, best practices, and bad habits of creating Facebook ad campaigns.Of course, you have to get your ads live first, and some mistakes can get you and your ads kicked off Facebook — perhaps for good.Some challenges affect every marketer on Facebook. Others fall harder on affiliate marketers, particularly if you’re trying to promote a product or service in Facebook’s category of “restricted content,” which has many different rules for many different niches.Let’s look at 14 of the biggest mistakes affiliate marketers make when launching a Facebook ad campaign, and how to avoid them.

Facebook Policy Violations

Facebook has a long list of compliance policies, but in general, it isn’t as complicated as it sounds. In general, there are 14 things to avoid doing. If you can do that, you’re as good as gold.

1. Accidentally Linking to a Broken Landing PageBusted landing page links result in your ad being rejected, and conversions being killed from other channels. Lucky for you, all you need to do is ensure your landing page loads quickly, runs properly, and works on both desktops and mobile devices.

2. Using a Landing Page That Doesn’t Match Your AdHow would you feel if you clicked on an ad for cruelty-free pants and wound up on a site selling taxidermied marmots? You’d probably be pretty upset. Facebook won’t take it too well, either. Make sure your ad promotes what your landing page actually offers.3. Linking Directly to Your Affiliate Campaign PageFacebook doesn’t have a problem with affiliate marketing, but it does reject ads or ban users for driving traffic to affiliate offers. That’s why building your own landing page, preferably under your own domain name, will make your offer look distinctive and professional.A strong landing page is one of the best conversion-boosting tools in your affiliate marketing arsenal, so start learning how to make landing pages, or find someone who can reliably produce landing pages for you.

4. Making False or Misleading ClaimsThis is an extension of the last mistake, but there’s a little more to it. You can’t make promises you can’t keep. For instance, you probably shouldn’t promise people they’ll lose 100 pounds if they buy diet pills through your affiliate link.Any claims that aren’t founded, proven, or realistic, don’t make it to live Facebook ads. If they somehow do, your ad account will likely be banned sooner than later.

5. Promoting (Or Even Showing) Prohibited Products or ServicesFacebook knows that people need to reference some sort of database or list when writing ads. It helps to know what to avoid, and what to do more of, after all. That’s why you should be cross-referencing your offers against Facebook’s ad policies. It’ll help you avoid wasting time and money building campaigns for stuff that won’t make it onto Facebook in the first place.

6. Using Disruptive Content on Your Ad or Landing PageFacebook loves ad creative and copy that’s sleek, modern, and very much relevant to today. This means your ad, image, video, and landing page should all be kept updated regularly. Anything that looks too dated won’t get approved, because they’ll assume it isn’t properly maintained. Sounds pretty logical.

7. Exploiting ControversyTimes are pretty tough these days, anywhere in the world, but the last thing you should do is capitalize on it or just… remind people. A lot of the time, people get on Facebook to forget about things like the news, so bombarding them with an ad that relates to the outside world just doesn’t suit the platform. Try keeping your ad as drama-free as you can.

8. Using Profanity or Bad Grammar/PunctuationFacebook is a social media platform, sure, but it’s also one of the top advertising platforms you could use, outside of Google Ads. That means things like bad grammar, profanity, or special characters are a no-go. Keep your ads clean, and you’ll be good to go.

9. Mentioning Facebook Don’t mention Facebook — confusing, sure, but logical. The whole point of your ad is to offer something outside of Facebook, so there’s no reason to mention it in your copy. Pretty simple, and easily avoidable.

10. Using Too Much Text in Your ImagesFacebook provides plenty of space to make your pitch in the ad copy above your images, so don’t put any text in your images that isn’t absolutely necessary. The platform typically doesn’t have the visual space for ads with images containing more than 20% text, so keep it lean. It’s still plenty of wiggle room, so it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

11. Bad Targeting (Too Broad or Too Narrow)Marketers love Facebook because of the precision it offers over ad targeting. You can find just about any type of audience imaginable on the platform, there’s a wide range — your target audience included. Most affiliate offers should appeal to a somewhat broader audience, though.Facebook Ads Manager shows you the size of your potential audience as you set your variables. Use this feedback to find the sweet spot between overly broad and overly specific audience targeting.

12. Running Only One Ad (No A/B Testing)Marketing is both art and science — at least until you start running ads and collecting data on your performance. Expert marketers always run multiple variations of their Facebook ads, with different copy, different images, and even different ad types.A/B testing allows you to see how two similar (or completely different) ads perform against each other. You can use the results to optimize high-performing ads, discard poor performers, or even adjust your targeting parameters. But remember, don’t put all your ads in one basket. Test variations on your ads early and often.

13. Overlooking Your CTAsYou want people to take action, right? You can’t expect them to know what to do as soon as they see your ad. You have to guide them towards buying with clear and compelling calls to action (CTAs).On Facebook, your CTAs are typically below the images and can include the CTA link address, a headline, and a subheading, as well as a small CTA button. On your landing page, CTAs can be anywhere and look like anything you like, within reason. Your CTA is typically your last, best shot at converting a lead to a buyer, so give them plenty of attention and A/B test them heavily.

14. Unclear StrategyAnyone can run Facebook ads, and it doesn’t cost very much to try. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to run an effective Facebook ad. You need to understand who you’re targeting, why you’re targeting them (what problem do they have that your affiliate offer solves), where they live, what they need or want, and how you’re going to address those needs and wants.Understanding all these variables will also help you fine-tune your copy and images, optimize your landing pages, and choose which types of ads to run and how much to spend. Thinking through your strategy before creating a Facebook ad campaign can save you a ton of time and money over the long run.The perfect ads don’t exist, and neither does the perfect affiliate marketer. But the best affiliate marketers will chase small improvements in their conversion rates wherever possible, never stop trying to improve their ad performance.Hopefully, you’ve learned enough from this article to make fewer mistakes when launching and scaling your Facebook Ads — good luck!If you’re looking for an affiliate network that helps you make more predictable revenue more often, you might want to consider digitalsaral. We’re currently the #1 fastest-growing affiliate network, and we specialize in maximizing results for both affiliates and advertisers. No exaggeration. We focus on carrying only the best offers and provide maximum commissions—you’ll get payouts up to 3 times a week. Click here to learn more and see digitalSARAL might be a good fit for you.