In theory, you did everything right. In practice, you did everything wrong. You shouldn’t beat yourself up, though - creating ads for paid socials is a mysterious endeavor. It’s almost as if all advertising platforms use insane algorithms that no one knows anything about. So, if you’re treating paid social channels like a science lab, where you think you can do clinical tests and have full control over the experiment you’re conducting - you’re way off.
So, what else are you doing when producing ad creatives that you shouldn’t be doing anymore? Here are 5 mind-blowing truths that will help to get you on the right track:
- Obnoxious A/B testing is dead!
If you find yourself trying to understand whether your potential users prefer a pink or a purple background in an ad creative, maybe, just maybe, you’re trying to find the answers to the wrong questions. Instead, high-tempo testing is the new black.
Here’s (roughly) how high-tempo testing of ad creatives work:
Produce and launch two utterly different ad concepts with five ad variations each, and launch on a weekly basis. Monitor their performance closely, turn off losers, and scale winners in real-time. If you find a winner, launch ten variations of that winner next week. If you don’t find a winner - go back to square one. Repeating this process will eventually get you to success.
- Perfection = boring!
Does it matter that your design or video looks perfect if no one gives a f**k about it? Nope! Being 100% polished all the time is just so…unsexy. Well, sure, if you’re looking to build your brand - create a flawlessly executed brand piece. If you’re looking to acquire users through paid channels - blast out highly engaging content even though it might be a little bit rugged around the edges. - You’re dehumanizing your target audience!
They. Are. Not. Robots. So you shouldn’t be one either. You might think you know what your target audience wants, but in reality, they don’t even know what they want (again, they’re humans, the most contradictory species on planet earth). Don’t expect rational decision-making from people. Instead, create something that leaves an impression. Make people laugh (you need to be genuinely funny, though), make people think for themselves, “WTF am I looking at,” or make people feel like they’re winning when seeing your ads. - You’re scared of getting negative comments!
We hate to break it to you, but every mega-successful ad ever has gotten tons of negative comments. No matter what you do, it will happen. Merely your existence as a company irritates people, so don’t be surprised that these people get annoyed by your ads. Of course, being offensive isn’t a good way to go about it, but you need to dare to be a tiny bit spicy in your ads. And you know what? The ads we’ve produced with the highest amount of negative comments have always turned out to be our most converting ads (but don’t tell anyone about that). - Ads that look like ads are hated by default!
If your ad looks like an ad, feels like an ad, sits like an ad, and talks like an ad - people will hate it! Let’s be honest, who actually likes ads? Do you? Instead of creating ads - imitate formats that your target audience already likes and interacts with on social media. Don’t be afraid to go wild with ad creatives that rather look like the opposite of an ad, something that comes off as highly organic. Buh-bye banner blindness, hello feed-stopping ads!
There are billions of ways to create ads for paid socials that convert people into users of your app - you just didn’t explore them yet. And guess what? This is exactly what we at Paintgun help companies with. Whether you lack time, team, or know-how, we boost your user acquisition through high-tempo testing and weekly creative refresh to make sure we cover all of the possible ways to convert your potential users.
If you want to learn more about our methods - don’t hesitate to reach out!
