5 Completely Avoidable Mistakes with Social Ads + What to Do Instead

Okay, I’ll admit it, it pains me to say this, but organic social media is getting much harder to break through these days.

This is especially true with the advent of AI content (but, like, don’t tell them I said anything, okay? I want to be kind to our robot overlords). 

While I will always have a soft spot in my heart and a concrete spot in my marketing strategies for organic content, I’m starting to better understand the value of ongoing paid content in addition to organic (i.e. free to post but no guaranteed exposure) social media. 

For example, it’s estimated that sponsored content gets 2-3 times higher reach (how many peeps are exposed to content) than its organic brethren. Facebook seems to be suffering the most with around 2% of your audience seeing content, and Instagram, while better, is still only at 9%.

It’s also very difficult to grow your audience. The average growth rate tops out at 1% (a decided shift from about 10 years ago).

So, what’s an amazing social media strategist with great hair to do? Go paid, my friends. The good news is that it’s accessible to every single person who has a business page. The bad news is that mistakes are a little more costly (and visible) with paid content. So let’s cut those mistakes off at the pass, shall we?

Here are the most common issues I see when you’re starting off with paid ads + what to do instead:

1. Relying Solely on Organic Content

The Mistake

Organic content can do a lot of great things for your business:
1. Demonstrate authority in your industry
2. Showcase your values as an organization
3. Help viewers get to know, like, and trust you as a business

Unfortunately, it can’t do that at scale anymore, and it certainly can’t help you get in front of your target market. So, while your friends and family might love all your content (and don’t get me wrong, it’s soooo appreciated), those support likes don’t (necessarily) translate into what we all want: more business.

The Fix

Investing in high-quality, proven ad strategy. Note how I did not say to just start advertising. The challenge with ads is that you have to pay for the error part of trial and error, and I personally prefer my mistakes to be free. And painless. And fun. So you should most definitely (and only) invest in paid content that:

• Uses your ad spend efficiently
• Aligns with your organic content
• Addresses your target markets’ pain points
• Communicates your benefits and unique selling points
• Gets you in front of people who may become actual customers

2. Playing around with boosting posts

The Mistake

I’ve seen it, I’ve done it, and I didn’t even get the T-shirt. Many businesses’ first encounter with paid ads is the “playing around with boosting posts” kind. This could seem like a harmless way to get some traction for your content. And (spoiler alert): it is mainly harmless, but also mainly resultless. Not a huge deal, for sure, but an easy way to get a bad taste in your mouth about social media ads. Yo NO quiero, nawhatImean?

The Fix

Look, if you’re going to play around with boosting posts, at least be a little strategic about it. My recommendation is to choose a high-value, incredibly relevant post that is very reflective of your brand identity and has a clear call to action that drives users to your website. You can also use this strategy to grow your audience (more on that later).

But any post you boost should:
1. Reflect your brand
2. Provide value to the viewer
3. Have a clear CTA that drives users to find you on your own platform and not social.

3. Overplaying Follow Campaigns

The Mistake

My first social media marketing job 150 years ago made verrrrry effective use of follow campaigns. We would spend a few hundred bucks a month and come away with thousands of new followers consistently. Ahhhh, the good old days. Now the cost per follower (CPF) has gone wayyyy up, and you can spend anywhere from $.20-$1.00 per follower, and you don’t get the same organic reach boost as a lil bonus. I don’t personally recommend a follower campaign today because there’s a better way to do it.

The Fix
Choose a fantastic piece of content (see above for additional info) and run an engagement campaign for that content. Hint: it helps to use a piece of content that has already performed well for you. Then, you manually invite everyone who has engaged with your post to like your page. You can even take this as an opportunity to say “hello” and start a quick (read: no sales attached) convo, such as a “thanks for the like” or a “what’s your take?”

4. Promoting Terrible Offers

The Mistake

You can throw all the money in the world at offers that aren’t effective or relevant to your target market and not see results. Is that the ad’s fault? Of course not! What type of offer will resonate with your target market will vary largely by your industry, sales cycle, demographics, and price point. If you sell shoes, for example, your customers don’t need a guide on wearing pumps. They might just need to see a few demo pics and make sure you have their size. But if you’re selling enterprise-level software, your customers will definitely need helpful info before they’re ready to buy.

The Fix

The best people to tell you what your future customers will want are your current customers. If you’re testing out packages, look at your most popular deal and replicate that for prospects. If you want to see what kind of sales assets will work, put together a quick email series with a couple of options for free downloads and test which gets the most use. Or you could throw a quick survey together and offer respondents a 10% discount for answering a few quick questions. And have your sales team pay close attention to the info/sales points that get the most traction.

5. Overinvesting in Lead Magnets

The Mistake

This is another trend that is, sadly, going the way of the Dodo. And I’m genuinely heartbroken about it, tbh. Sure, it’s helpful to have checklists, eBooks, self assessments, and whitepapers in your back pocket (especially if you work with longer sales cycles for higher ticket items), but I’m a fan of a much more lucrative option, which is….

The Fix

… the self-liquidating offer (SLO). I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds (that’s better reserved for a phone convo), but this is where having a comprehensive value ladder (a tiered service menu) comes into play. Your first sale’s goal isn’t to max your customers’ revenue, it’s merely to cover the cost of the ad itself. Then you offer bigger ticket items and order bumps and/or add them to a nurture sequence for the main show. The difference is that instead of advertising a freebie (which I still love), you’re recouping your ad spend with a little purchase and leading them up the ladder to profit-producing (and value-receiving) customers.

Those are my tipppps! 

If you love the idea of all of this but don’t know how to implement it, we sure do. You lucky ducky, you! Click below to start!