Ads are often a whole new area of learning for brands who have experienced success with organic marketing. What gets us from Point A to Point B, doesn’t always get us from Point B to Point C! Consider this your cheat sheet for avoiding common mistakes that we see in the paid ad space.

As Australia’s leading ads management house for lifestyle brands, we’ve seen it all. The good, the bad and the ugly. With over eight years of Google, Facebook and Pinterest advertising, our obsession with numbers, trends, patterns and stories has given us a unique insight into top performing ad strategies and we’re here to break it down for you.

Not only will these tips save you time, they’ll also save you money. When your brand pays for ads, it’s so important that each element of the ads is approached with proven strategy, so your investment is wisely spent.

That’s why we’ve created a this short list of common mistakes your brand should avoid. Use them as a guiding reference for success, we’ll be cheering you on!

— The Cali Social Team

MISTAKE #1

Your Budget
Is Too Low

Invest in testing to see a profitable return on your ad spend.

When you have a really small budget, it naturally limits the amount of testing you can complete and variables you can play around with in your ad campaigns. When you allocate more money to your ad budget, you can test out ad placement, creative and all the other pieces that make an excellent ad much faster than you could do with a lower budget. Time is money in advertising, it’s worth the spend to work with efficiency and move through testing quickly.

Pro Tip

We recommend a starting budget of $2,000 because this allows robust testing to see what provides a profitable return on your investment and for your ads to start generating revenue. Once revenue grows, your ad budget can grow, too! With proven ads, the more money you spend, the more revenue you’ll generate.

MISTAKE #2

You’re Changing Ads Up Too Quickly

Step back and let your ads run so Facebook and Google can learn them.

It’s incredibly tempting to watch your ads like a hawk for the first few days, and if you don’t see an immediate result, switch them up. What’s wild about profitable paid ad strategy is you actually want to do the opposite! The best thing you can do is to leave an ad alone once it’s live. Both Facebook and Google have “learning” phases where the platform absorbs your ad and figures out when and where to show it. For every interaction your ad gets, the AI within each platform learns a bit more and becomes more efficient at showing your ad to the right people.

Pro Tip

We recommend leaving your ads for at least seven days before making any changes. (We actually leave ours for 14 days!) With at least a week of the algorithm learning your ads, they become much more effective.

MISTAKE #3

You’re Showing Ads To Everyone

Only show ads to the people you know will buy from you.

At first glance, it seems effective to show ads to a very large audience. After all, if more people see your ads, more people will buy, right? In reality, showing ads to a broad audience ends up with very poor results. The algorithm ends up having a difficult time showing your ads to your ideal buyer because it doesn’t know who that is.

Pro Tip

Use the data you already have to build a target audience! Import your email list into Facebook and Google. This allows you to show ads to people already aware of your brand. You can go one step further and segment your email list into people who have purchased from you and people who haven’t yet. Then, you can show specific ads to those groups.

MISTAKE #4

You’re Going Straight To The Sale

Nurture your ideal buyers so they know, like and trust your brand.

When you spend money on ads, it’s natural to crave that immediate return on the money you’ve invested. You might even push for a sale immediately to see an immediate return. But in today’s online space, our brains often switch off when we see a “typical ad”, one that asks for your money right away. It’s important to have touch points in your ad strategy that entertain, build trust and bond the ad viewer with your brand. Only then should you go straight to the sale.

Pro Tip

Here’s what we’ve seen work, time and time again: aim to educate your ideal buyer on your company, show them what makes you stand out, make them laugh, show your product in use and then go for the sale.

MISTAKE #5

Not Using User Generated Content A.K.A. “UGC “

Realistic and everyday product use builds trust faster in paid ads.

When launching your brand, it’s crucial to invest in polished, aesthetic and professional quality images and videos for your website. But should that same content be used in paid ads, particularly on Facebook and Instagram? Not necessarily. Our brains are so conditioned to ignore content that feels like a “typical ad”, it’s more effective to use UGC to create realistic content that doesn’t feel airbrushed or edited.

Top 5 Mistakes That might just be holding your ads back from success.

(And here’s how to fix them, from an ad expert.)

Ads are often a whole new area of learning for brands who have experienced success with organic marketing. What gets us from Point A to Point B, doesn’t always get us from Point B to Point C! Consider this your cheat sheet for avoiding common mistakes that we see in the paid ad space.

Your Budget
Is Too Low

You’re Changing Ads Up Too Quickly

You’re Showing Ads To Everyone

You’re Going Straight To The Sale

Not Using User Generated Content A.K.A. “UGC “

Top 5 Mistakes That might just be holding your ads back from success.

(And here’s how to fix them, from an ad expert.)

Ads are often a whole new area of learning for brands who have experienced success with organic marketing. What gets us from Point A to Point B, doesn’t always get us from Point B to Point C! Consider this your cheat sheet for avoiding common mistakes that we see in the paid ad space.

Your Budget Is Too Low

You’re Changing Ads Up Too Quickly

You’re Showing Ads To Everyone

You’re Going Straight To The Sale

Not Using User Generated Content A.K.A. “UGC “

Your Budget
Is Too Low