5 Social Media Ad Mistakes You Could Be Making

Social media ads are a great addition to your digital marketing strategy, but are you making the most out of your ads? There are several social media ad best practices to help you manage and track a successful social media campaign. To help you get started, I’ve laid out a few common mistakes to avoid when setting up your next campaign:

1.    Tracking pixels are not set up (Facebook Pixel or LinkedIn Insight tag)

One of the biggest Facebook ad mistakes (or any platform for that matter) is the tracking pixel is not set up. These pieces of tracking code are crucial in your campaigns. They allow you to set up remarketing lists to target (or exclude) and set up proper conversion tracking on each platform. This can be a learning curve to set it all up, but I promise you’ll thank yourself later!

2.    UTM codes are not being used

UTM Codes are a great way to track what specific areas of social media your website traffic came from. At Top Floor we use UTM codes any time we post a link to social media. This way we know if our website traffic came from an organic post or an ad in addition to the specific platform. You are also able to track the specific campaign or ad caused the user to click. There are plenty of free UTM code generators out there, the one I find myself using most often is Google’s Campaign URL Builder.

3.    The landing page could be better

Too often we are so caught up in deadlines that we forget to really take the time to curate a solid landing page so we send users to one that is “good enough” or worse, the homepage. Ensure your landing page corresponds with our ad with the same branding, messaging, and offer. Keep your landing page simple by giving the user the information they need without becoming long-winded. Then of course, a clear call-to-action above the fold.

4.    You’re stuck on 1 ad type

This tends to be one of the more common LinkedIn and Facebook ad mistakes that happen. Social ad platforms have so many ad types to take advantage of. Too often, we find something that works we are afraid to try anything new. From single images and carousels to videos and collection ads, it’s definitely worth a few A/B tests to see if your ads can perform even better than before!

5.    Marketing to the wrong audience

The last social media ad best practice is really the most important. Make sure you’re targeting the right audience! Think about your offer and who it is relevant to, beyond demographics. Is it only relevant to your current customers? Maybe it’s better for customers who haven’t heard of you, or maybe its best for your prospects. Take advantage of custom audience lists and make a list of your current customers and a list of your prospects. This allows you to target or exclude them from your targeting so you can really hone in on the highest quality audience.

Most importantly – you don’t want to show an ad to someone who has already inquired or purchased your offer you’re advertising. I’d recommend setting up an audience exclusion for anyone who has reached your designated thank-you page.

That’s all for now!

So there you have it – 5 social media ad best practices to kick off your next campaign! I think that’s enough to get you started. I know. It’s a lot to unpack, especially if you’re new to the social media ad game. That’s why we’re always here to help! Send us a message and we can point you in the right direction.

You’ve got this!

-Emily