Have your ads ever gotten lazy? Let’s say an ad has amazing performance for a couple weeks (or even months) and then, performance disappears. It still does okay, but traffic has slowed, and as a result, conversions and clicks have dropped.
This is not a unique phenomenon for the Facebook Advertiser. There are three basic arguments for refreshing ad copy on a regular basis, but each reason surrounds around the simple idea that we want the best performance that we can get. The arguments boil down like this:
Facebook told me to
The simplest reason out there is that Facebook tells you to. One of their top advertiser questions is: “Why isn’t my ad performing as well as it used to?” The simplified answer is “Your ads are old and need to be refreshed.” Several things, such as bid, competition, audience, and performance history, decide distribution. However, though performance history is said to be important, if ads are run for an extended amount of time, Facebook admits that their system will slow down the ad’s distribution. If your ads have begun to be stale and attract less traffic, it is probably a result of Facebook’s subtle way of insisting on fresh ads.
Facebook advises refreshing your ads every two weeks; even a small change like a new title or image should be sufficient. It is good to run ad creative for at least 30 days to receive significant data to determine performance. If you do have a high-volume account, two weeks might be more than enough to get insights into performance.
People change
People change, which means what appealed to your audience two months ago may no longer be interesting. While Facebook directly affects the distribution of your ad, if it is left alone for too long, how people respond ultimately affects performance as well. If the ad is tired or your audience is small, refreshing the ad might be the way to draw your audience back in. A new feature or benefit might be more relevant to what your audience is currently looking for.
Ad testing is key
Part of online advertising is the idea that we always want to beat ourselves. There is always a better ad, a more relevant audience, or a more optimal type of bidding. It is an intense way to live, but it is a fact that performance can always be better. If we do not refresh our ads, how will we find that next big win? For the sake of outperforming ourselves, ad testing is the only way to do it.
I prefer to update my ads every 30 days for the reasons listed above because it all relates back to the performance of my account. If performance has begun to drag, it might be as simple of a fix as refreshing the ads that you are currently running.
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