Long gone are the days of boosting a post and hoping for the best.  Even creating an ad through your Business Facebook page just doesn’t cut it. If you want your paid social media campaigns to work, you need to up the ante.  And that includes getting your business set up on Facebook Business .

Below are just some of the reasons your Facebook ads don’t work (and what you can do to combat it!)

You’re not solving a problem

Audiences know when they’re being sold to. There’s no point listing the ‘benefits’ of a product or service – you’ll fall on deaf ears. Instead, focus on reasons why someone would need your product or service? Solve a problem that your target audience is having and you’re more likely to convert.

You’re not using the audience targeting facility correctly

The whole benefit of using social media to advertise is so that you can really drill down and target your ideal demographic. You now have the ability to drill down to include job title, interests and behaviours as well as age, gender and location.

Put some effort into selecting an image or video that will capture the attention of your audience!

You have so many options with the creative, from slideshows to carousels to videos that you can create directly in Facebook Business Manager. And when it comes to your copy – you need to grab someone’s attention in the first 2 – 3 seconds or they will keep on scrolling. Some excellent options include a customer testimonial specifically on the post you’re promoting, addressing a pain point OR injecting some urgency into the offer.

Your offer isn’t enticing enough

If you really want to generate action, you need to make the offer good enough that someone will click through and take advantage of it!  For example, if you’re trying to move stock and you only have 5 of that product left, look to move those 5 products by offering a substantial discount for 24 hours only. Your potential customers will know they have to act fast to take advantage of the offer.

You’re not using funnels

Funnels are definitely the best way of targeting the correct audience and guiding them to a conversion. Creating specific ads for different stages of the buyers’ journey and using custom audiences to move your audience along that journey, from awareness, to consideration to conversion. This does require you to set up a Facebook Pixel on your website.