Facebook ads are an incredible online advertising tool.

• Incredible targeting options
• Incredibly affordable
• Incredibly flexible, allowing tweaks to text, imagery, and targeting “on the fly”

I will sing the praises of Facebook ads all day long.

But are Facebook ads the guaranteed magic bullet?

No.

Not by a long shot.

Though probably not for the reason you think.

One of the biggest misconceptions about social media, online ads, and online business activities in general is that results will happen fast because the online world moves fast.

But that simply is not the case.

Your Facebook Ads Aren’t Doing Well Because You Have No Ad Strategy

You can’t throw up an ad – even with stellar targeting, copy, and imagery – and expect to make a bunch of sales.

Why?

Because the sales process of getting to know you, beginning to trust you, having a need for what you are selling, and then deciding to choose your business over someone else’s, works exactly the same online as it does offline.

And that’s exactly why you can’t decide you want to make a bunch of sales for your small business, run an ad, and then feel disappointed that Facebook ads are not working for you.

In fact, direct selling on Facebook (to a cold audience) is very difficult for most businesses.

You need a long term, consistent strategy for your social media, social selling, and Facebook ads.

You also need to nurture your ideal audience for a while before pitching them and expecting sales to follow.

This is not meant to dissuade you from advertising on Facebook, but it should help you to understand that you can’t blindly jump in to Facebook ads and expect to see immediate results. In fact, it will probably take a handful of Facebook ads to allow for some testing and begin to notice audience trends that work, before you really dive deep with your Facebook advertising.

What you should do is develop a long term content and advertising strategy to first get your experience, content, expertise, products or services, and testimonials in front of your ideal customer on Facebook before trying to sell to them. Sit down and write out your plan, step by step. If you have an email newsletter, develop a free content download to gather email addresses, and make a content plan for your subscribers. Use Facebook ads to send people to your website by promoting blog posts and website pages, allowing them the opportunity to build the Know, Like, Trust factor. Make sure you install your website custom audience pixel before you do so you can start growing an audience made up of people who visited your site while logged in to Facebook. These website visitors automatically have more awareness and trust in your business and what you sell because they’ve visited your site, and will give you a warm audience to advertise to with your future Facebook ads.

Only after a well-executed, longer term Facebook ads approach will you see the type of sales success you desire from your Facebook ads.