Social media is a part of life. And if you’re a smart business owner, it’s part of your business too. It takes the right mix of education, promotion and entertainment to use digital media like Facebook effectively.

Managing your social media can be time consuming. It can also become less effective over time. The same is true for Facebook advertising. Here are a few great ways to avoid ad fatigue.

Why is ad fatigue bad?

Marketers place ads with effective frequency in mind. Effective frequency is the number of times you need to see an ad before you recall that product or brand when you are ready to make a purchase or decision. Statistically, effective frequency is usually seven times. That, of course, is not 100% set in stone. Some ads you see once and immediately remember. Others… not so much.

Facebook ad frequency can be viewed like a mountain.

• 1st View: You don’t notice the ad.
• 2nd View: You notice it.
• 3rd View: You recognize the brand.
• 4th View: You commit the brand to memory.
• 5th View: You see it again and don’t really read it.
• 6th View: You see it again and move past it because it’s old information.
• 7th View: You completely ignore it.

Ad Fatigue has set in… what does this mean?

On Facebook, among many other digital platforms, it means you are actually paying MORE for that ad. So it is important to monitor your metrics throughout the campaign, but also to review the month-over-month metrics to notice changes in how much your ad views are costing you.

How do you know if your ad is in the ad fatigue zone?

One metric to see if your ads are in the ad fatigue zone is ad frequency.

Facebook recommends an ad frequency of 1.5 – 2.5 for a given audience/campaign. When you begin to exceed a frequency of 3, 4, and 5, this is when you are going to see a higher CPA (Cost Per Acquisition). Basically, Facebook recognizes that people are not engaging with your ads, so you have to pay more to continue to push it out to people.

An additional metric to view is your Cost Per Result. In a campaign where the objective is landing page views, this means you need to review landing page views and cost per landing page view. If your landing page views per month stay relatively the same, but your cost per landing page view is increasing, this may be in direct response to ad fatigue.

9 Tips to Overcome Ad Fatigue with Facebook Advertising

1. Mix up your creative.

Get creative while still promoting the same thing. When creating your ad, mix up your headlines, images and text. Make your ad appear different than it did before and you can gain some extra life. Add in a call-to-action to garner more clicks from your audience.

2. Consider video ads.

Sometimes mixing up your creative just isn’t enough to improve your ad’s performance. You need to mix up your format. If you’ve been running ‘static’ display ads, Facebook video ads are a great alternative. They can increase your results and help you overcome ad fatigue.

3. Change your product or service.

If you’ve been consistently promoting the same thing over time, this could be part of your problem. Even if a particular product or service is selling well, it’s good to rotate your ads. Advertising something else is a great way to make sure your audience isn’t bored. And you can always return to popular items with a new creative layout.

4. Spice it up for the holidays.

People are generally prepared to spend during the holidays. So use holiday-themed ads. They not only add a little bit of fun to your Facebook advertising, but they can also help move substantial product.

5. Don’t overdo the retargeting ads.

Retargeting ads are popular and they should be part of your mix. But don’t overdo it. Retargeting ads go to custom audiences. That means those audiences are typically smaller. Too much frequency with that small of an audience makes ad fatigue set in sooner.

6. Set a Frequency Cap.

If you switch the objective of the ad to Reach, an option to set a Frequency Cap appears. The Frequency Cap will then limit how often members of your audience can view your ad. This can be set up within the ad set level for ad delivery.

7. Target a new audience.

Sometimes audiences just naturally get fatigued over time. To mix up the targeting, try a Lookalike Audience. A Lookalike Audience will consist of people that are similar to another group based on demographic characteristics or online behavior. For example, you could set up a Lookalike Audience based on a list of your existing customers.

8. Limit the ad deliverability.

By running ads on a set schedule, you’re able to do dayparting effectively. Maximize the time your ads are being delivered by only running the campaign during the best days or times of the week. Within the ad set, you can select the option to run ads on a schedule.

9. Remember social advertising is just part of the mix

Early results of social advertising can be very addictive. When you merit instant returns from a small investment, there’s a temptation to believe it will always be that way. Mixing it up helps.

Change Up Your Marketing Mix to Reach Others

However, don’t rely solely on your social media presence. Traditional advertising, branding, word of mouth and good old fashioned customer service are important too. When used together, they are a very powerful combination.

Do you feel like your Facebook or other digital advertising is in need of a refresh? Follow the above tips or contact a HenkinSchultz digital specialist to learn how you can avoid ad fatigue.