10 Facebook Ads Mistakes That Waste Your Budget
Common beginner errors and how to fix them before they cost you
Even experienced marketers make these mistakes. Avoid them and your campaigns will perform better.
Let me save you some money by showing you the most common Facebook ads mistakes beginners make.
Mistake 1: Targeting Too Broad or Too Narrow
The mistake: Targeting everyone ages 18-65+ in your country. Or targeting such a specific niche you only reach 5,000 people.
Why it's bad: Too broad and your ad tries to be relevant to everyone, so it's relevant to no one. Too narrow and you don't get enough reach for Facebook's algorithm to optimize.
The fix: Aim for 50,000-300,000 people in your target audience. Specific enough to be relevant, broad enough to give Facebook room to optimize.
Mistake 2: Not Using Lead Gen Forms
The mistake: Sending people to your website to fill out a form when you could use Facebook's native Lead Ads.
Why it's bad: Every step you add loses conversions. Sending people off Facebook, waiting for your website to load, making them manually type their info - each step loses people.
The fix: Use Facebook Lead Gen Forms when possible. They're pre-filled with Facebook data. Higher conversion rates, lower cost per lead.
Mistake 3: Writing Ads for Everyone
The mistake: Generic messages like "We have great products for everyone!"
Why it's bad: When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. Generic doesn't resonate.
The fix: Write specifically for your target audience's pain points. "Busy moms: get healthy dinners on the table in 15 minutes" beats "Fast, healthy food."
Mistake 4: Ignoring Mobile
The mistake: Creating ads that look great on your desktop but terrible on phones.
Why it's bad: Over 90% of Facebook traffic is mobile. If your ad doesn't work on phones, you're losing most of your audience.
The fix: Always preview ads on mobile before publishing. Use square or vertical images. Keep text short. Test your landing page on your phone.
Mistake 5: Testing Too Many Things at Once
The mistake: Changing your headline, image, and audience all at the same time.
Why it's bad: You won't know what made the difference. Was it the new headline? The new image? The new audience? No idea.
The fix: Test one variable at a time. Change just the headline and see what happens. Then test a different image with the winning headline.
Mistake 6: Not Giving Campaigns Time to Learn
The mistake: Making changes after 2 days because results aren't perfect yet.
Why it's bad: Facebook's algorithm needs 3-7 days to learn who responds to your ad. Every change restarts this learning phase.
The fix: Set your campaign and leave it alone for at least 5-7 days. Then review and make small adjustments. Patience pays off.
Mistake 7: Using Stock Photos That Scream Stock Photo
The mistake: Using obvious generic stock photos. You know the ones - overly perfect people with fake smiles.
Why it's bad: People scroll past stock photos. They don't feel authentic. Real, genuine imagery performs better.
The fix: Use real photos of your products, your team, your customers. Phone camera photos often outperform professional stock images.
Mistake 8: Writing Weak Calls-to-Action
The mistake: Vague CTAs like "Learn More" or "Click Here."
Why it's bad: Generic CTAs don't tell people exactly what will happen or why they should act.
The fix: Be specific. "Download Your Free Guide," "Book Your Free Consultation," "Get 20% Off Today." Tell people exactly what they're getting.
Mistake 9: Not Tracking Conversions Properly
The mistake: Running ads without setting up the Facebook Pixel or conversion tracking.
Why it's bad: If you can't measure what's working, you can't improve. You're flying blind.
The fix: Install the Facebook Pixel before running ads. Set up conversion tracking for purchases, signups, or whatever matters to your business. Track everything.
Mistake 10: Set It and Forget It
The mistake: Launching campaigns and not checking them for weeks.
Why it's bad: Even great campaigns eventually fatigue. Costs can increase. Delivery can stop. Billing issues happen.
The fix: Review campaigns weekly at minimum. Check performance. Make small optimizations. Keep things fresh. Active management makes the difference.
Bonus Mistakes to Avoid
Not excluding existing customers from acquisition campaigns. Why pay to show ads to people who already bought? Exclude them.
Running campaigns without a clear objective. Every campaign needs one specific goal.
Creating only one ad variation. Always test at least 2-3 versions.
Ignoring the data and going with gut feeling. Let numbers guide your decisions.
Not having a follow-up plan for leads. Getting leads is only half the battle. You need to convert them.
The Good News
These mistakes are all fixable. Most are simple to correct once you know about them.
Recognize them in your campaigns, fix them, and watch your performance improve.
Common Patterns
Notice how most mistakes fall into three categories:
Impatience: Changing things too fast, not giving Facebook time to optimize.
Lack of focus: Targeting too broad, testing too many things, unclear objectives.
Poor fundamentals: Bad tracking, weak creative, no mobile optimization.
Fix the fundamentals first. Then be patient and focused.
Learn from Others' Mistakes
Every expert started by making these exact mistakes. The difference is they learned from them.
You now know what to avoid before wasting money learning the hard way.
Avoid Mistakes from the Start
One of the biggest mistakes is spending hours creating ads that won't perform well.
Stirling helps you avoid creative mistakes by generating ad variations that follow best practices. It's like having an expert double-check your work before you launch.
Start with better ads. Avoid common pitfalls. Get results faster.
Everyone makes mistakes. Smart marketers learn from them quickly.
