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With over 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook remains one of the most powerful advertising platforms for brands looking to drive results. But simply creating ads and increasing your budget doesn’t guarantee success. You need a data-driven approach to scale campaigns efficiently.
In this guide, we’ll explore key strategies to boost Facebook ad performance through vertical and horizontal scaling. By taking the time to test and optimize, you can expand your reach and revenue without losing efficiency. Let’s dive in.
Lay The Groundwork With Split Testing
Before rapidly scaling budgets or audiences, first identify your best-performing ad sets through split testing. This involves creating two versions of an ad and comparing them side-by-side.
Focus on testing one variable at a time - the creative, audience, placement, etc. Facebook's built-in A/B testing tool makes it easy to duplicate an existing ad set and test variations.
Be sure to choose a key performance indicator (KPI) like cost per conversion to judge the winner. After sufficient time, the variant that meets your goals most efficiently wins.
For example, you may test two versions of a video ad - one 15 seconds and one 60 seconds. If the shorter video drives more conversions for less spend, that's your winner.
Testing one change at a time provides clear data, so you know what’s working. Refine elements like targeting and messaging before scaling up budgets. Dialing in your ads first prevents wasted ad spend later.
Gradually Increase Budgets
Once you’ve optimized your ads, it’s time to scale vertically by raising budgets. This gives Facebook more spend to show your ads to a larger portion of your audience.
But avoid drastically increasing budgets all at once. Any major change will kick the ad set back into the learning phase where delivery and performance become unpredictable.
Instead, grow budgets slowly over time - around 10-20% increments per week. So if you’re currently spending $100 per day, bump it to $110 next week, $121 the following week, and so on.
Small, gradual increases allow your ad set to remain optimized without disrupting performance. You can use Facebook’s automated rules tool to schedule periodic budget increases automatically.
The key is scaling budgets just enough to improve results while avoiding learning phases. Monitor KPIs closely as you scale to ensure you’re still getting value. Pace your spending to match your revenue growth.
Diversify Ad Placements
In addition to vertical scaling, also consider expanding placement horizontally to open up more opportunity.
Facebook automatically shows your ads in optimal placements, but you can further diversify by manually adding more options like Stories, Reels and Facebook Audience Network.
Test new placements individually before expanding your campaign. Ensure any new placement meets your KPI goals before sending more budget its way.
Adjust creative assets for different formats using Facebook's ad tools. For Reels and Stories, you’ll likely need video content tailored to mobile screens and short attention spans.
Facebook reporting breaks down performance by placement, so you can easily identify the lowest cost and highest converting options to scale. Cast a wide net across placements to tap into more avenues for growth.
Expand Your Audience Gradually
Who you show ads to is just as crucial as where you show them. Start with a tightly targeted audience, but be ready to expand as you exhaust your core segments.
Adding more interests, demographics, behaviors and lookalike audiences are all ways to scale horizontally. Take care not to drastically broaden your audience all at once. When testing potential audience segments, multi-account management tools like morelogin can be used to run multiple test profiles in separate ad campaigns. Its secure and reliable environment enables teams to efficiently test different audience splits without being restricted by associations between accounts.
Test potential segments first in a separate campaign or ad set. See if they meet your KPI goals before shifting significant budgets their way.
Facebook’s automated Audience Expansion tool can simplify this process, but still exercise caution. Only enable expanded detailed targeting for interests that closely relate to your core audience.
Monitor audience overlap to avoid showing ads to the same users repeatedly across segments. Shaking up the mix with new audiences keeps engagement high as you scale.
Craft Fresh Ad Creatives
Your audiences can also grow weary of seeing the same ads over and over. Even the most engaging creative will cause fatigue if not refreshed.
Fight ad fatigue through a process called sequential messaging. Create multiple versions of your ads that speak to customers at different points in their journey.
For example, target cold audiences with educational and promotional messaging. Then develop relatable lifestyle ads for those already familiar with your brand.
Use Facebook's Creative Hub to access data on the highest performing creatives. Identify what resonates best with each audience segment and serve those variants more often.
Monitor frequency caps to avoid oversaturating users. Consider 2-3 exposures per week or less for existing customers, and 4-6 for new audiences.
The Power Of 1% Improvements
Scaling successfully on Facebook requires an incremental approach driven by data. Don't expect to double budgets or audiences overnight without consequences.
Focus on making small 1% optimizations - tweaking targeting here, testing a new placement there. Compounding minor improvements consistently over time leads to major impact.
Maintain a spirit of testing. No ad set is ever truly "complete." There are always opportunities to improve through the strategies above.
With the right data-driven foundation, you can scale Facebook ads smoothly without sacrificing the efficiency and returns you’ve worked hard to achieve. Just take it one step at a time.
In this guide, we’ll explore key strategies to boost Facebook ad performance through vertical and horizontal scaling. By taking the time to test and optimize, you can expand your reach and revenue without losing efficiency. Let’s dive in.
Lay The Groundwork With Split Testing
Before rapidly scaling budgets or audiences, first identify your best-performing ad sets through split testing. This involves creating two versions of an ad and comparing them side-by-side.
Focus on testing one variable at a time - the creative, audience, placement, etc. Facebook's built-in A/B testing tool makes it easy to duplicate an existing ad set and test variations.
Be sure to choose a key performance indicator (KPI) like cost per conversion to judge the winner. After sufficient time, the variant that meets your goals most efficiently wins.
For example, you may test two versions of a video ad - one 15 seconds and one 60 seconds. If the shorter video drives more conversions for less spend, that's your winner.
Testing one change at a time provides clear data, so you know what’s working. Refine elements like targeting and messaging before scaling up budgets. Dialing in your ads first prevents wasted ad spend later.
Gradually Increase Budgets
Once you’ve optimized your ads, it’s time to scale vertically by raising budgets. This gives Facebook more spend to show your ads to a larger portion of your audience.
But avoid drastically increasing budgets all at once. Any major change will kick the ad set back into the learning phase where delivery and performance become unpredictable.
Instead, grow budgets slowly over time - around 10-20% increments per week. So if you’re currently spending $100 per day, bump it to $110 next week, $121 the following week, and so on.
Small, gradual increases allow your ad set to remain optimized without disrupting performance. You can use Facebook’s automated rules tool to schedule periodic budget increases automatically.
The key is scaling budgets just enough to improve results while avoiding learning phases. Monitor KPIs closely as you scale to ensure you’re still getting value. Pace your spending to match your revenue growth.
Diversify Ad Placements
In addition to vertical scaling, also consider expanding placement horizontally to open up more opportunity.
Facebook automatically shows your ads in optimal placements, but you can further diversify by manually adding more options like Stories, Reels and Facebook Audience Network.
Test new placements individually before expanding your campaign. Ensure any new placement meets your KPI goals before sending more budget its way.
Adjust creative assets for different formats using Facebook's ad tools. For Reels and Stories, you’ll likely need video content tailored to mobile screens and short attention spans.
Facebook reporting breaks down performance by placement, so you can easily identify the lowest cost and highest converting options to scale. Cast a wide net across placements to tap into more avenues for growth.
Expand Your Audience Gradually
Who you show ads to is just as crucial as where you show them. Start with a tightly targeted audience, but be ready to expand as you exhaust your core segments.
Adding more interests, demographics, behaviors and lookalike audiences are all ways to scale horizontally. Take care not to drastically broaden your audience all at once. When testing potential audience segments, multi-account management tools like morelogin can be used to run multiple test profiles in separate ad campaigns. Its secure and reliable environment enables teams to efficiently test different audience splits without being restricted by associations between accounts.
Test potential segments first in a separate campaign or ad set. See if they meet your KPI goals before shifting significant budgets their way.
Facebook’s automated Audience Expansion tool can simplify this process, but still exercise caution. Only enable expanded detailed targeting for interests that closely relate to your core audience.
Monitor audience overlap to avoid showing ads to the same users repeatedly across segments. Shaking up the mix with new audiences keeps engagement high as you scale.
Craft Fresh Ad Creatives
Your audiences can also grow weary of seeing the same ads over and over. Even the most engaging creative will cause fatigue if not refreshed.
Fight ad fatigue through a process called sequential messaging. Create multiple versions of your ads that speak to customers at different points in their journey.
For example, target cold audiences with educational and promotional messaging. Then develop relatable lifestyle ads for those already familiar with your brand.
Use Facebook's Creative Hub to access data on the highest performing creatives. Identify what resonates best with each audience segment and serve those variants more often.
Monitor frequency caps to avoid oversaturating users. Consider 2-3 exposures per week or less for existing customers, and 4-6 for new audiences.
The Power Of 1% Improvements
Scaling successfully on Facebook requires an incremental approach driven by data. Don't expect to double budgets or audiences overnight without consequences.
Focus on making small 1% optimizations - tweaking targeting here, testing a new placement there. Compounding minor improvements consistently over time leads to major impact.
Maintain a spirit of testing. No ad set is ever truly "complete." There are always opportunities to improve through the strategies above.
With the right data-driven foundation, you can scale Facebook ads smoothly without sacrificing the efficiency and returns you’ve worked hard to achieve. Just take it one step at a time.
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