Have you checked out the ads that Facebook has been serving up to you lately?
I don’t know about you, but the ads I have been seeing on my Facebook range from offensive to irrelevant, and they are hardly ever timely or targeted toward me. Which makes little sense because of how highly targeted Facebook advertising is supposed to be. According to the New York Times, “The self-service ad system offers any person or company the opportunity to quickly design an ad and aim it toward finely segmented groups of Facebook’s 400 million members, based on gender, age, location and preferences like favorite movies and activities.”
Of all the advertising options in the world, Facebook should be the one most targeted at me. I give Facebook, for free, all of my personal information, and their advertisers still can’t get it right.
Just take a look at the ads below:
Make a love child? Seriously?
But it makes sense that Facebook ads wouldn’t be appropriate because, ”Facebook does not have employees to review each ad, but relies largely on member feedback to flag inappropriate messages.” But Facebook users, as far as I know, spend little of their time flagging posts that are offensive or just plain terrible.
You just can’t blame advertisers for wanting to use Facebook as a platform, but here are a few things everyone should remember before when using Facebook ads:
1. Be extremely specific in targeting- Facebook allows for very, very specific targeting. Use it! If you sell wedding cakes in Atlanta, and you are targeting newly engaged people in Atlanta then you have done it right. If you sell engagement rings and you are targeting college students, you are doing it wrong.
2. Make it interesting, but not stupid- You obviously want to have a great Facebook ad, but don’t do something shocking just to be shocking. Instead, make your ad super interesting. If it’s interesting I will click on it, if it’s shocking/offensive I will just be turned off by it.
3. Continue to evaluate your program- Many advertisers think that if they just throw their ad up on Facebook that it will be perfect forever. This is not true! Continue to evaluate your program for how you can make your ad better, and continue to look into other platforms for advertising.
Facebook advertisers continue to miss the mark for me! What do you think advertisers on Facebook can do to make it better?
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