The Do's and Don'ts of Facebook advertising

Key points

• Use the targeting power of Facebook’s platform to constantly improve.
• Where possible, make an effort to connect with customers using images and video content.
• Keep up your quality control.

Posting on Facebook is now almost second nature for many of us. But when it comes to putting up paid marketing content for your business, it pays to stick to a few well-proven dos and don'ts.

With Facebook's algorithm now prioritising posts from family, friends and groups in your feed, it's no longer easy to successfully reach your customers just with organic posts. So, ensuring your paid content works effectively is vital.

Here are a few easy-to-adopt dos and don'ts when it comes to creating Facebook ads for your business.

Do's for Facebook advertising

1. DO: Learn about your audiences

One of the greatest strengths of social media marketing is the way it can narrowly target your audience. The more you can learn about the different parts of your customer base, the easier it will be to develop Facebook ads that accurately deliver what people are looking for.

Use Facebook's many clever tools (as well as your own research) to find out what you can about their age ranges, their location, their income and relationship status, and what they like and don't like.

2. DO: Connect with your target audiences

You don't need to be all things to all people. With Facebook advertising, you can easily create different versions of the same ad, tweaked to appeal to different segments or age groups. Or you can create a suite of totally different ads for different audiences or products. See what works and what doesn't and adjust your advertising on the fly.

3. DO: Make images work for you

Facebook users are much more likely to engage with ads that feature high quality images, so don't compromise.

4. DO: Harness the power of video

Video content in Facebook ads can take audience engagement to the next level. Usually, video ads are viewed for longer and are more likely to convert into a sale or persuade users to click through to the website.

5. DO: Ask for sales or sign-ups

Facebook offers a choice of call-to-action buttons (such as ‘learn more’ or ‘get quote’). Use them effectively by ensuring they click through to a relevant app or webpage that continues to hold the audience’s interest.

6. DO: Let people who like you, speak up for you

This is true for every corner of the internet: third party reviews exert a powerful influence on new customers when it comes time to make a decision. Consider working positive customer reviews or testimonials into your Facebook ads, wherever it's relevant. Promoting the voice of your customers helps build authenticity and saves you from the hard work of writing every post from scratch. 

Don'ts for Facebook advertising

1. DON’T: Just guess what works

The flexibility and fast pace of the Facebook environment lets you place a lot more ads for less money than if you were using traditional media like magazines or radio. Use this to your advantage.

Do your research and develop some solid concepts, then put them out there and see what works. Measure your results constantly, and adjust or remove ads that aren't performing well. It's fine to use a little trial and error.

If you want to get a little more scientific, do A-B testing where you just change one part of the ad - a headline, the image, or the offer - at a time, so you know for sure what's effective.

2. DON’T: Overcomplicate things

Don't be tempted to use Facebook ads to tell your business's life story. You'll lose your audience.

Keep it short and sweet, cut right to the offer, and avoid long copy or videos that run for more than 30 seconds.

3. DON’T: Settle on content and stick with it

Audiences tire of the same old messages pretty quickly, it’s worth refreshing your ad content frequently.

This also applies to your organic content, that is, unpaid posts you put on your business page. In fact, it's doubly important that you keep your organic posts fresh. If your ads start to work, people tend to go to your page to find out more and to test the credibility of your claims and your brand.

4. DON’T: Forget to double-check everything

It's surprising how many ads appear on Facebook with mistakes. A missed word or sentence can turn a good ad into something that makes no sense. Worse still, a typo can undermine your credibility as a quality business.

Proofread everything! Every time.

Next steps

Need to create or refresh your marketing plan? Start by reading our guide "Why every business needs a marketing strategy and a plan."

For tips on how to market your business cost effectively, download our Marketing on a shoestring action plan template (PDF 50kB).