5 Facebook Ad Mistakes Contractors Should Avoid

Our very own Ben Levesque joins us for our first episode of Marketing Minutes on The Contractor Success Academy! To kick things off, Ben walks us through the 5 Facebook ad mistakes contractors should avoid.

Watch the lesson below to find out how you can start generating more leads for your contracting business by avoiding these common mistakes.

This ongoing video series is going to dig deep into all things ‘digital marketing for contractors’ so that you have all the tools, tips, and knowledge needed to grow your business faster!

Ben unpacks the 5 Facebook ad mistakes contractors should avoid and how to fix them in order to make your marketing campaigns a success!

1. Non-existent/Unproper setup of the Facebook pixel

• The Facebook Pixel is crucial for measuring the success of your ad campaigns. By placing the code on your website, you can track users as they interact with your ads and your website. This not only lets you report on important marketing metrics, but also provides the Facebook algorithm with the data it needs to show your ads to the right people (your ideal customers). At a minimum, you want to be tracking page views (with the PageView event) and form submissions (with the Lead event) in order to train the Facebook algorithm on what’s important for your business. Using the Facebook pixel is crucial if you want to scale with Facebook ads!

2. Using the wrong objective

• The campaign level is where you select your marketing objective. There are many different choices, but the bulk of your campaigns should be conversion or lead generation campaigns. Facebook will give you what you ask it for, so if you want more contractor leads, be sure to use one of these two objectives before launching your ads.

3. Restrictive targeting

• Many times, contractors set up their targeted area and then layer on a ton of interests like HGTV, home improvement, etc. This is unnecessary at the start as it narrows down your audience size too much. Stick to the Zip codes that you serve, or alternatively your office address plus a mile radius, and leave it at that. You can narrow it down by age range (ie: 30-65+) which can be helpful as you want to be targeting homeowners but keep in mind that adding in any kind of interests or behavioral targeting options (such as household income) will minimize your audience size significantly. Keep things broad at the start, and then if you are getting too many leads, you can then play around with adding interests on top of your location targeting.

4. Poor ad quality

• Facebook is a visual platform. If you are just using stock images, or nothing that stands out in the newsfeed, you are not going to get the engagement or clickthrough rates that you want. You should be investing in quality photography and video. We love to tell all of our clients to actually get up on the roof and film an educational video. This allows you to gain more trust with your audience, and demonstrate your authority as a professional in the industry. You want to show that you are a great resource if they ever need help with their roof. It’s time to stop hiding behind stock images that aren’t getting you any traction!

5. What happens next?

• Facebook Ads are just one piece of the puzzle. Are you driving your leads to a specific landing page designed to convert? Are you using nurturing sequences? All of these things are going to help turn those leads into revenue which will justify your Facebook ad spend. You need to ensure that your “back end” (what happens after someone becomes a lead) is optimized as best as possible so that a higher percentage of leads turn into sales. Remember, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch with you!

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