Facebook is the top Social Media platform on the planet, so businesses have a lot of opportunities to reach a lot of different audiences. Facebook Business pages have the ability to schedule entire marketing campaigns, set up a store, and track insights with a few clicks. There is a lot you can do with Facebook – but if you are not doing it right, you’ll be wasting your time (and money.)

Whether you have 10 followers or 10,000, the following Facebook Marketing mistakes could turn users away from your company or fail to get their attention in the first place. Facebook requires constant active attention to reach the right users, so if you find that you have made more than one of these mistakes with a recent campaign, you may need to shell out more time for your Facebook marketing efforts.

Misspelled Copy

Let’s just get this one out of the way. If you are a small business running your own Facebook ads, don’t leave your ad copy up to one person. Misspelled copy or content with poor grammar sends a bad message to your followers. Every piece of Facebook content should be sent out to a few people who have experience editing and proofreading ad copy. Create a list of posts or ads ahead of time so that proofreaders are not constantly checking a few sentences every day.

Not Investing in Sponsored Posts or Ads

Facebook is a pay-to-play platform, which can be frustrating for many businesses or influencers who want to reach users organically. In January 2018, Facebook announced that they were changing its algorithm to prioritise “meaningful interactions.” Basically, users will start to see more posts from family, friends, and groups, and fewer posts from businesses and pages. This left many bloggers, businesses, and communities grumbling, but it’s the way you have to play the game. Before you set up a Facebook marketing campaign, discuss your budget and invest in your ads.

A Brief Note on Google Adwords vs. Facebook Ads

Set aside a chunk of your marketing budget to put into Facebook ads and sponsored content, even if you are already paying for Google Adwords. Facebook allows your business to reach users at a different stage on the buyer’s journey than AdWords. Rather than making a hard CTA to buy or click straight to a landing page, you can naturally introduce your business to users with more visual content. Plus, Facebook advertisers consistently report that the social media platform has a great return on investment. Your Facebook ad budget doesn’t have to break the bank, but it should be a top priority when creating your next marketing campaign.

Staying Out of Facebook Groups

Family, friends, and groups are the top priority for the Facebook algorithm. Facebook groups are an underrated tool that have been allowing businesses, marketers, and influencers to promote products in a more natural and interactive way.

Facebook groups are a great way to keep your competition out of the conversation (especially if you are an admin or creator of the group,) but do not be fooled into thinking that Facebook groups run themselves. Admins have to keep a careful watch on the behavior within the group, especially if it continues to grow and expand. Scammers and spammers feed on Facebook groups, and too many inappropriate posts will turn users away from engaging in the group. A bad group experience could give users a bad impression of your company.

Not Checking Up on Posts After Scheduling Them

This is a classic social media mistake. Facebook happens in real time. If a tragedy happens or a big news story breaks, you want your social media content to be appropriate and relevant. A lighthearted post that seemed funny a month ago may not be so funny if users are scrolling through more serious or mournful news.

If you have a Facebook campaign running, you should be constantly monitoring and checking the effectiveness of your campaign to make necessary changes.

Writing Strictly Text Posts

Facebook is a highly visual platform. Visual content works to grab user attention and encourage engagement. If you aren’t using visuals, your posts will quickly get lost among more interesting and unique content. One hundred million hours of Facebook video are being watched every day, and this number has been skyrocketing in recent years. Read more about how visual content affects SEO and social media marketing efforts on a recent blog post.

Leaving Optimisation Out of It

SEO applies to search engines, but don’t think that any best practices are thrown out the window when Facebook is involved. Use the same principles that you use to create optimised landing pages when you are creating ad copy and other social media content. Consider user experience throughout your campaign. Know how to make your ads look good on desktop and mobile devices (after all, Facebook execs have attributed 89% of all ad revenue to mobile users.) Even the smallest optimisation changes to your campaign (let rotating your ads to keep users interesting) can have an effect on your engagement and overall campaign success.

Targeting Without Research

Facebook has limited targeted ads after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Previously, marketers and businesses could target based on very specific demographics collected from third-party data collectors. You could target an ad based on recent purchases, life milestones, or participation in certain activities. Now, your business may be limited to targeting by broader demographics like age and location.Sending out an ad to women between the ages of 25-34 opens the doors for more women who may not be interested in your products.

How do you narrow down the list of Facebook users who will see and respond to your ads? Do proper research before you target. Create thorough buyer personas that explains how your buyers are using Facebook to interact with friends or businesses. Figure out optimal times for clicking on ads and making purchases. There is still a lot of data that your business can use to reach high-quality leads and customers.

Failing to Remarket

The Facebook Pixel is alive and well, and can be used to target some of the most specific and useful demographic – Facebook users who have already visited your website.=

Remarketing is an excusable mistake; 46% of search engine marketers believe that this is one of the most underrated tactics in the game. But if you don’t start remarketing now, your competitors will.

Former website visitors can be some of the easiest users to target. They have already seen your ads and have been convinced to look at your website. If you own an e-commerce business, you can target users who have abandoned their cart or looked at specific items on your website. The odds are good that once users see these ads, the wheels will start turning in their heads. Users who see retargeted display ads are 70% more likely to convert and make a purchase.

Facebook remarketing campaigns can deliver seriously effective results with only a few steps. Again, failing to remarket isn’t a dire mistake, but it would be silly to not target specifically to users who have already taken all of the right steps with your business (other than converting.)

Create a Facebook Marketing Strategy That Works

Enough about mistakes. Let’s talk about how to effectively create a Facebook marketing strategy that brings the right users to your social media pages, landing pages, or product pages.

Consider where users are in the buyer’s journey or sales funnel.

Users who don’t know your business are much less likely to buy than users who consistently engage and interact with your social media content. When you are sending out ads, consider your current relationship with users. Segment ads accordingly to reach users at different stages of the sales funnel.

Remember the rest of your social media strategy.

Facebook is certainly the king of social media networks, but it’s not the only way to advertise products or engage with your customers. For example, Facebook and Instagram are closely connected. Instagram Shopping requires a Facebook store, and content for Instagram can be sent to Facebook with a single click. Don’t limit your business to a Facebook marketing strategy; expand your possibilities and create a comprehensive social media (or content) marketing strategy.

Invest in experts who keep up with Facebook’s changing algorithm.

The algorithm changes from 2018 and removal of third-party data are not the last big updates Facebook will see this year. In order to make and distribute the most effective content, you have to stay updated with all algorithm changes from Facebook, Instagram, and even Google. Behavior on one social media platform can be heavily affected by behavior on another social media platform, so it’s important to stay updated on changes and updates.

Ready to create a Facebook marketing campaign that helps you meet your growth goals?

Learn more about how Digital Squad has used their experience and expertise to become a top Auckland Facebook marketing and retargeting agency.

Megan Okonsky is a copywriter and content marketing specialist with Digital Squad. She is originally from Philadelphia but has landed in Melbourne after traveling for eight months in Southeast Asia and New Zealand. She also teaches vinyasa yoga online. 

The post Don’t Make These Eight Facebook Marketing Mistakes appeared first on DIGITAL SQUAD.