At our most recent Social Advertising Masterclass we had attendees from beauty, interiors, fashion and travel brands. Pretty different industries with pretty different problems, right?
Wrong.
We ran a quick Facebook audit before the event and found that out of the 44 brands in the room, 35 had either set their pixel up incorrectly or (in a few cases) had no pixel at all.
In other words, 80% are doing it wrong.
That figure’s consistent across the board – in my experience only 20-25% of brands are using Facebook to its full potential. Which means that money gets spent on campaigns that aren’t as optimised as they could be and a lot of customers get left out in the cold.
We covered a lot in the session but I’ve summarised the main tips and tricks here:
1. Check your Facebook pixel
It’s a tricky thing to set up but once your pixel’s firing correctly, it’ll link in with your product catalogue so Facebook can see exactly what products are selling and what to promote.
2. Be more boring
Marketers like to try new creatives all the time. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t like newness. Facebook works by learning how ads perform over time so you need to let your campaigns run over long periods so Facebook can gather its learnings and target the best audiences.
3. Make your customer your unit of measurement
Your customers are the backbone of your business so everything you do needs to be about them. How many customers do you have on your database? How many new customers do you need to acquire to hit your growth targets? How many do you need to retain? The answers to these questions will help you work out how much you need to spend and how to plan your budgets.
4. Averages are not your friend
Now you know how many new customers you need to acquire this year, you need to figure out how much to spend to get them. But as we know, not all customers are created equal. Some may buy once and never be heard from again while others might buy like clockwork every payday. Based on a customer’s lifetime value and AOV, we can pinpoint exactly how much you can afford to spend to acquire (and retain) them, depending on how long you can wait to break even.
5. Press your data advantage
You have a wealth of data about your customers. You know when they shop, how much they spend, whether they buy online or instore and how they browse. This information is golden. You need to make sure your Facebook audiences are up to date so Facebook can find high-value lookalike audiences for your brand.
These are quite simple changes that will make a big difference to your performance and profitability – ultimately, if you keep your customer front of mind and get your pixels firing, you’ll be on the right track!
And if you’re worried about your Facebook pixel, get in touch and we can arrange a free audit to make sure you’re not leaving money on the table.
