The 3 deadly sins of ‘low-quality’ Facebook ads
No one likes a flop of a Facebook ad right? It’s a total waste of your time, your money, and is embarrassing for you, or your brand.
But don’t fear, there are some super clear guidelines on how best to optimise your Facebook ads so that they are not only seen by the right people, utilise your campaign budget most efficiently, but also avoid Facebook’s increased penalties for ads they deem as 'low-quality’.
What are low-quality ads?
As explained by Facebook: “Low-quality ads on Facebook, such as ones that include clickbait or direct people to unexpected content, create bad experiences for people and don't align with our goal of creating meaningful connections between people and businesses.”
“Ads must not contain content leading to external landing pages that provide an unexpected or disruptive experience. This includes misleading ad positioning, such as overly sensationalised headlines or prompts for users to inauthentically interact with the ad, and leading people to landing pages that contain minimal original content and a majority of unrelated or low-quality ad content.”
Increased Penalties?
Facebook are cracking down in their efforts to limit low-quality ads on their platforms by disapproving more of them and reducing distribution for more ads in their auction. Put simply, if Facebook thinks your ad is ‘low-quality’, they will cap it’s potential reach, meaning higher costs for performance, or even prevent the ad from running altogether.
If multiple ads are flagged with low-quality attributes, the performance of all ads from that advertiser may become impacted.
Now that all the jargon is out of the way, here’s 3 super simple ways you can avoid low-quality ads.
#1 Engagement bait
Ads with spammy content asking people to engage with it in specific ways, such as requesting likes, comments and shares is an absolute no-no. It makes sense why brands would want to use these tactics, particularly given that engagement is key to maximising reach within the News Feed algorithm. But don’t get it twisted, it’s all about delivery.
TIP: When crafting your ads, ask yourself - is this encouraging conversation or demanding an action?
#2 Withholding information
It’s no secret that ads that purposefully withhold information to entice people to click in order to understand the full context is the epitome of low-quality content. Not only does the audience see right through it, creating a negative connection with your brand, but Facebook also dislikes ads that lure clicks by alluding to the full detail of the post without being clear on what that detail actually is.
TIP: Provide the audience with all the necessary information right from the get go, and promote further click-through through via the quality of content rather than dangling a carrot.
#3 Sensationalised language
And the last Facebook ad approach in the firing line is 'ads which use exaggerated headlines or command a reaction from people but don't deliver on the landing page'.
TIP: Hype is good, but it can also be unnecessary, untruthful, and again, lead to a poor user experience. Can you walk the walk? Avoid overselling your products and services through capitalised words and overdramatic superlatives.
If you're running a Facebook ad campaign, your best bet is to be upfront about your products and services and avoid any sensationalised clickbait and spammy approaches. Quality and relevancy is key.
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