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How to Know if You’re Wasting Money on Social Media Ads

Posted on July 3, 2022

By Jennifer McDougall

If you’ve been spending money on social media ads, you’ve likely seen a return on your investment. But how do you know if what you’re doing is working? In this post, I will walk you through the steps of knowing whether or not your ads are effective—and what to do if they’re not.

Are You Running Ads on the Best Platforms?

You’ll want to choose the best platform for your business.

You may want to focus on LinkedIn if you are a B2B business. On the other hand, if you are a B2C business, you may want to focus on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Do You Have Clear Goals?

Defining your goals is the first step to knowing if you’re wasting money on social media ads. What are you trying to achieve with your ads? Are you trying to drive website traffic or increase e-commerce sales? Do you want more conversions from a given ad spend? If so, what kind of conversion rate would be considered successful?

Setting these goals before beginning any campaign is essential—not after it’s already underway. Not only will this help guide your strategy as the campaign progresses (more on that later), but it will also allow you to assess whether the results of a particular campaign were worthwhile once they’re in front of you. For example, “During my last Facebook ad campaign, I spent $5k over three months and saw an average ROI of 10%.” Or, “I placed banner ads across 25 different sites throughout six months at a cost per click (CPC) of $0.20 each time.”

Are You Targeting the Right Audience?

Social media ads have many targeting options. You can target them by age range, gender, location, interests, etc. If you don’t know the exact audience for your product or service yet (or even if you do), it makes sense to start with broader targeting parameters and then narrow them down once you see how people react to your ad campaigns.

When I started focusing on building an email list of subscribers through my writing business, I did so by creating ads that appeared in places where my ideal readers might be looking—like Facebook groups related to blogging and small business marketing—and bought clicks at $0.15 each (you can read more about this strategy here).

Do You Have a Detailed Budget?

When setting a budget for your social media ads, there are a few things to consider. First, how much money do you want to spend? If this is your first time launching an ad campaign, it’s best to start small and work your way up.

Second, how do you calculate ROI (return on investment)? What does that mean exactly? It’s the amount of money spent divided by the number of sales made from those ads.

In other words: if I spend $100 and make $200 in revenue from my ad campaign, my ROI would be 2x—a positive return on investment!

  • Note: If someone clicks on one of these links and makes a purchase without coming back here before hitting “purchase,” I’ll make 50 cents off them. This is why it’s so important to use tracking codes when sending traffic away from your site.

Do You Review Your Results Weekly?

  • If not, why not?

Many people aren’t reviewing their results regularly because they lack time or resources. But if you want to make sure that your social media advertising efforts are getting the best ROI possible, it’s imperative that you do this regularly. When I say “regular,” I mean weekly or monthly. By reviewing your ads’ performance in real-time and updating them as needed, you’ll be able to identify what is working and what isn’t—and make changes accordingly.

Are Your Ads Connected to Your Website?

  • Are Your Ads Connected to Your Website?

A great way to know if your advertising efforts are working is to see if the website that they’re leading people to has an increase in traffic. If your ads are not connected with your website, then it’s unlikely that any conversions will be taking place.

  • Are You Linking Ads Directly and Consistently?

The more direct and consistent your links are, the more likely people will click on them. This means that when making changes to a campaign or ad, it’s essential not only for all ads within the same campaign (or targeting) but also across other campaigns/targeting types, if possible, as well as on social media profiles themselves when applicable (e.g., Facebook).

Did You Plan for Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a great way to market your brand. It can be more effective than other forms of marketing, more cost-effective than other forms of marketing, more time-efficient than other forms of marketing, and, in some cases, even more fun!

But if you’re going to do influencer marketing well, it will require some planning.

Here are some tips on how to plan for your influencer marketing campaign:

Social media ads should be used as part of your marketing strategy, not as an optional extra.

If you think your business could benefit from using social media ads but aren’t quite sure how they work, we’re here to help you understand exactly what they can do for your business and how much it costs to run them.

Social media ads are a great way to reach new customers and get the word about your company or product. For example, if a brand has just launched a new product and wants to make people aware of its availability, social media will be the perfect place to advertise its wares. Social media advertising is also helpful for businesses who want feedback on existing products; this way, potential customers get an idea about what’s being sold before making any purchases (and hopefully through the ad).

Conclusion

Whether you’re just starting with social media ads or running them for years, it’s essential to keep an eye on your results. Reviewing the data and making necessary changes will help ensure that you get the most out of each campaign. In addition to understanding what works best for your business goals and audience, it’s also vital to stay up-to-date on industry trends and new technologies to create an effective strategy today while preparing for tomorrow’s challenges!

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