andrewmacart hy.co m http://andrewmacarthy.com/andrew-macarthy-social-media/facebook-news-feed-ads-analysis

http://www.f lickr.com/photos/26104563@N00/11677907024

With organic reach on Facebook at an all- t ime low and recent changes to make its advertising platf ormmore user- f riendly than ever, there's no better t ime to start experimenting to see what a f ew ad dollarscould do f or your business on the site.

On desktop displays, News Feed ads are the most prominent and probably your best chance f or success.Just make sure you learn f rom some of the poor choices made in the f ollowing examples f rom big brands...

1. Inef fective ad image

Facebook recommends News Feed ad images be 600 x 225 pixels in order to take advantage of the biggerpreview mode. While EE's is that size, there is a ton of wasted white space and the post instantly screams"paid ad." A more natural, lif estyle-f ocussed shot would work much better.

2. Inef fective ad copy

When you create an ad, Facebook allows you to edit all sorts of copy, f rom the main status to the linkheadline and description. 02 pretty much f ails on all counts here. Despite a simple and direct message, thead includes no call to action, a f ail with the broken @prezzybox.com mention, and underused link copy.

3. Poor copy and image

Here, it appears that the image Udemy has used is not large enough to generate the bigger News Feedpreview (as seen in the other examples in this post). That leaves an ad dominated by text. As it 's of f ering adiscount code, this could have f eatured in an image along with a call- to-action button.

4. No call to action button

I really like notonthehighstreet's copy and image, but they missed a trick by not including one of Facebook's

"Shop Now" call to action buttons. The link copy could also be more appealing, instead of just listing thewebsite address twice.

5. Poor URL copy

At f irst glance, this ad doesn't look too bad... a bit corporate f or Facebook, maybe, but passable. However,take a closer look at the website it appears to be linking to: ADFARM.MEDIAPLEX.COM. Apparently this siteis used by brands to track where visit are coming f rom, but a quick search also shows many people justassume it is spammy or malicious - not good! Changing the address to something likebarclaycard.com/credit would work much better.

Conclusion

Facebook ads are one of the most powerf ul and cost-ef f ective ways of reaching your audience. Byavoiding some of the small mistakes like those above, their ef f ectiveness can be signif icantly increased.Have you seen any poor Facebook ads f rom big brands? Feel f ree to share them over at the 500 SocialMedia Marketing Tips Facebook page!

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