Facebook has become a very effective marketing tool, especially with its Pixel technology that allows marketers to place pixels within their website in order to better track leads, sales or referrals from Facebook users who visit their site from ads.
However, this increased use of Facebook is not without problems. Over the past few years, users have become increasingly overwhelmed with seeing ads on the website, and now there is a general feeling of Facebook Ad fatigue in many different forms.
What is Facebook Ad Fatigue?
This fatigue is a phenomenon that has become increasingly common with marketers. It can be defined as a general feeling of boredom or malaise towards ads on Facebook, whether they are for products, services or posts.
It could be a great ad, awesome copy and a wonderful CTA but if it has been seen too much then no one will click it and your ad will fall flat.
When a user sees an ad more than three times in their feed, they are less likely to engage with it or click on it. They were also likely to share negative opinions of the ad after seeing it multiple times. This can be due to boredom, frustration or even irritation at being constantly marketed to.
With so much attention being given to Facebook Ads at this point in time, there has been an influx of marketers flooding into the platform. This has resulted in a saturated environment for advertising, and that can leave viewers feeling over exposed to ads.
This sentiment is shared by many marketers who are affected by this fatigue, that of which is a complex subject as it can be exacerbated by many factors such as:
Increase In Mobile Traffic
An apparently simple and often overlooked reason for the increase in ad fatigue is that many more people are accessing Facebook through mobile platforms rather than from computers, which results in advertising being less visible. As a result of increased adoption of smartphones, there are more people scrolling through their newsfeeds on their phones, glancing briefly at the ads that they are served.
Report after report has shown that impressions received by Facebook ads have decreased drastically, which in turn makes it harder to connect with consumers due to an increase in clutter, and some marketers even claim that their CTRs (click through rates) have dropped significantly as well.
The increasing popularity of mobile devices has made it much harder to capture the attention of users and has resulted in an increase in ad fatigue for many advertisers. This also means that ads need to be more effective since they are less visible, which makes creating high quality ads even more important.
The combination of increased mobile traffic, ad clutter on Facebook newsfeeds and decreased impressions have resulted in the feelings of ad fatigue that many marketers are currently experiencing.
Lack of Engagement
There are several reasons why this may occur. First of all, these ads use ‘dark patterns’ – where tricks and traps are used to get users to click on the ad. This can range from having an unlinked “x” button in order to close out of the pop-up (making someone more likely to click) or even using large letters that jump out at you, making it easier for them to grab your attention.
The bottom line is that these ads are attempting to force you to click on them, and not because they are interesting or of any use. This feeling of being forced can be a turn off and may make users feel like they need to work hard in order to get the message across – as opposed to simply conversing with friends or reading articles that they enjoy.
Other reasons why people are likely to experience ad fatigue include: being targeted with ads for things they have already purchased, having ads appear in inappropriate places and experiencing irrelevant or uninteresting ads. If your ad is not grabbing the attention of users, they will rapidly lose interest and develop an aversion towards what you are trying to sell.
Ads must be engaging enough to prevent ad fatigue, especially if they are being targeted at a specific group of users. If it is not interesting or relevant to them, then the user will feel like you have wasted their time – and they may refuse to interact with you in the future for fear of seeing another irrelevant or annoying ad.
Collateral Damage
Ads that are considered intrusive are more likely to experience ad fatigue – meaning that users will develop an aversion towards them and may even block or unfriend you if they view your page too frequently.
The most effective strategy for preventing this from happening is to make sure that your ads are relevant, useful and actually add to the user’s day rather than simply annoying them. There is a huge range of ways that you can accomplish this goal, including giving away free content in exchange for watching an ad or purchasing items at reduced rates so that they are more accessible to the average person.
Think about how your ad will look and feel to a user before making any final decisions! No matter what type of ads you use, if they are not relevant and engaging then you are going to make the user feel uncomfortable. It will be difficult for them to develop a relationship that lasts and when they decide to block your ads, it will have an impact on your bottom line.
Social media marketing agency owners and marketers must always ensure that they are tailoring ads accordingly since there may be certain groups of users that respond best to a specific approach!
To ensure that you are working to prevent ad fatigue, always remember: keep it interesting, relevant and engaging. This way, users will be more than happy to stick around and interact with your ads. And the better you are at targeting your ads to a specific group of people based on what they are likely to be interested in, the more engaged they will feel and the more willing they will be to keep interacting with you!
So how exactly do you combat this?
There are ways to encourage your audience to stop seeing those same ads every time they log on.
Brands should mix up their creative assets, making sure to use a variety of images and video formats. They should also tailor their ad placement so that each user only sees the ads they want to see. This is achieved by using targeting features like Placements, Interests & Behaviors or Ad Sets.
This ensures an environment where the viewer is only exposed to ads that are relevant to them, and therefore more likely to be engaged with.
There are also a number of steps Facebook has implemented in order to combat Facebook ad fatigue. These include;
- Promoting relevancy through improving targeting options
- Posting less frequently on Facebook
- Using engaging content in ads
- Offering customers ways to opt out of advertising
Obviously, as a marketer you can only do so much to remedy Facebook ad fatigue. You may not be able to alter the fact that users are tired of seeing the same old ads and it is up to them whether or not they want to engage with your brand.
Final Thoughts
Like the common cold, Facebook ad fatigue quickly spreads. It’s one of the many challenging aspects of running a Social media marketing agency that we’ve all encountered, but it’s easily fixed with a few easy tweaks.
The best thing you can do is be aware of the situation and take steps to avoid viewer fatigue, such as implementing creative assets that are proven to be engaging and drawing on data from Ad Set reports in order to better target your ads. By using targeted audience segments and ad placement options, you will be able to better focus your ad spend, so you aren’t wasting money on ads that don’t perform.
The post What is Facebook Ad Fatigue and How Can It Be Reversed? appeared first on Manners Biz.
