Facebook Ads Best Practices

It’s 2022 and with the introduction of Apple’s operating software, iO14.5, the best practices for Facebook Ads has shifted tremendously - if you’re experiencing the impact of lower conversion rates, it may be time to shake up your FB ads practices. 

If you want to continue boosting brand awareness, reaching wider audiences, and attracting qualified leads on Facebook, you’ll not only have to invest in the platform’s advertising offerings, you’ll also have to be more creative with your efforts.

Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’re giving you the secret sauce to achieving mouth-watering conversions. 

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It’s time for Facebook Ads Best Practices 2022

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1. Invest in Server-Side Tracking

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Now this is an important one - because iOS 14.5 allows users to opt-out of 3rd party tracking (which you can read about here), Facebook Ads Manager has less insights and less real-time data available. 

Server-side tracking services are different softwares that you can integrate into FB ads manager as another way of accessing information on ad traffic - which ads are more profitable, where your customers are coming from, what actions are being taken etc. 

How's this done? Well, the website's server (rather than the browser) tracks what actions users take on the site (purchase, lead, add to cart), and sends this information back to Facebook. 

While most of these server-side tracking services come at an additional cost, having access to this kind of information is invaluable for any online business, and something we strongly recommend to almost all of our account partnerships.

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2. Who owns your assets? It should be you! 

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When creating your Ads Manager account, ensure that all assets attributed to the account are owned by your business. 

This is something that’s super important when you’re first setting up your business's ad account, particularly if an agency is setting it up. 

Why’s that? Well, if you decide to part ways with that agency,  transferring ownership back to your business is an arduous task - and can result in you being unable to access your own data!

Take a leaf out of your mum’s book: Take ownership of your assets with the same scrupulous dedication she had when labelling all of your socks before school camp. 

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3. Make sure you use all of your retargeting audiences

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The reasoning behind this one is pretty straightforward - you need to be reaching all of your audiences, especially ones that are easy to reach. 

These pools of people are your low-hanging fruit - they’ve already shown interest in your business or product, so continuing to nurture their customer journey through retargeting is a sure-fire and easy way to increase conversions. 

Importantly, make sure you’re retargeting across all of your campaign types (instant experiences, videos, etc.)

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4. Have custom thumbnails for video content 

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Consumers are increasingly watching videos on Facebook. Optimising your videos is super important, and you should be taking every opportunity to add more content to your ad campaigns -  which you can do through custom thumbnails. 

Thumbnails act as previews to your videos - so pick images that are scroll-stoppers, and make someone stick around long enough to watch your video. 

Another hot tip: Test thumbnails to see which ones are the most effective.

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 5. Use the correct sizing formats

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Your creative gets used across a range of platforms -  make sure that you’ve made different versions which fit the correct formatting of Instagram stories, FB etc. This helps maximising visual appearance.

As unprofessional as wearing hot pink chaps to work, having stretched out/ ill-fitting campaigns make your ads unreadable, and your business appear a bit amateurish. 

How to avoid it? Follow the 4x5 and 9x16 placement formatting, and always make different versions of the same creative. 

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6. Use questions in headlines

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Q: Why are questions so enticing? 

A: They engage the audience! If you’re asking a question directly, you’re personalising the ad directly to the user reading. 

The best ones can be obvious - ie. tired of back pain? The customer reads this and thinks “yes!”.  

Engaging users like this creates a more personalised experience between you and your potential customer, directly relating your product to their lifestyle, or relating your product as the solution to their personal problem.  

You can also be a bit sensationalist - “Did you know that 100% of people love our product?” 

But keep in mind when writing these questions to follow the character limits: 

Headline: 40 Characters

Body Text:  125 characters (bit more leeway here, but most enticing info should be within the first 125 characters) 

Preview: 30 characters

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7. Cost Capping

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Have a really good video and a really good audience?

You should be using the cost capping bidding strategy. This allows you to stabilise your cost per acquisition. 

Let us explain further: 

Let's say you don’t want to pay more than $50 for a purchase, but CPAs are high - adding cost capping avoids overspend, so you're ROAS doesn't crash.

But, remember to gather enough data before you add a maximum- ie., pre-empt your costs. If you need a fixed ROAS, and understand what your AOV is, then you can determine your ad spend, and set the cost capping in place.

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8. UTM parameters

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Use Google Analytics to gain greater insight to your online marketing campaigns - including Facebook ads.

This has become even more important since the introduction of iOS 14.5, as you won’t get that same data as before. 

Urchin Tracking Module parameters, or UTMS, are five variants of URL parameters used to track the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns across traffic sources. 

This way, you can see where your customers are coming from, and where they’re converting along the funnel - so you’ll be able to see if your FB ads are working the way you want them to. 

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9. Set up post-purchase + exclude people who have purchased 

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Create targeting rules that exclude people who have purchased. This way you can re-target people who have visited your site and taken action, but have not completed a purchase.

For example, you could set up a targeting rule that excludes purchases from your website in the past 30 days.

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10. Take advantage of Instant Experiences 

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Instant Experiences turn your ads into interactive, immersive digital experiences on mobile. Audiences can watch videos, swipe through carousels, complete a form and quickly view your products.

Using instant experiences on FB is a super engaging way to promote your products, as it give a power-punch of your business’s brand identity, without leaving FB.

Why's that important you ask? In the days of iOS 14.5, we we don't have the same access to data when tracking external website. Instant experiences let you mirror an external experience while being able to track users behaviour - which means you can re-target your audiences effectively and see what's making an impact.

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So there you have it, 10 best practices for FB Ads. Need more help? it's time to call in the experts (that's us!) and see if working with an agency is the right fit for your business.