7 common myths in digital advertising

Go ahead and Google “digital advertising best practices,” and you’ll come up with millions of results. Sometimes it can be difficult to know exactly which advice to follow, plus best practices can change with shifting algorithms, the rise of new networks, and more.

Today, we’re going to tackle some of the biggest myths in digital advertising: those things you tend to read and hear that might actually get you in trouble and make you lose time and money on your digital ads.

Here are some of the most common myths you may hear about digital advertising, and what you can do to avoid them.

Myth #1: More website traffic means more profits

Driving more website traffic with your ads is certainly a good thing, but it’s only part of the picture. What counts more is what all those users are doing on your website. Are they browsing and coming back to see more, or are they bouncing right away? Traffic volume alone won’t make you money. As an advertiser, you should be after high-quality rather than high-volume traffic. If you are getting lots of visitors who don’t convert, there just isn’t much value in that for your business.

Myth #2: Your ads should aim to reach as many people as possible

Ads that have a broad, universal appeal are better since they’ll help you reach lots of people, right? Not so fast. The most important people to reach are your target audience, even if that translates to a restricted number of people. Personalized ad experiences are generally better at driving conversions.

It makes sense: if you see something that speaks to your interests or your concerns as a consumer, you’re more likely to slow down, pay attention, and click through. Always design your creatives with your specific audience in mind, rather than designing for a more general audience. This will help you reach the exact people most interested in your offer or your products.

Myth #3: Highly produced creatives work best

You may think you need to spend a lot of money on the perfectly crafted creative to earn the attention of your audience. We’re here to tell you that’s not necessarily true. As we mention above, your creatives should be designed to appeal to your specific target audience.

You should also keep in mind the network you’re advertising on, and design with that in mind. On some networks, like Snapchat, you’ll do better with highly polished creatives. But if you’re advertising in Facebook or Instagram Stories, you may have more luck with creatives shot on a smartphone, that will blend with the kinds of things peoples’ friends are sharing.

Check out our case study with Birchbox to read more about this.

Myth #4: You just need one good campaign

Developing one really good campaign is great, but one click on one network won’t get you far these days. We’ve written about this a lot. Your customers are using multiple networks every day to stay in touch with their friends—and to research products and make purchasing decisions. You need to be where your customers are, which often means on multiple social channels.

You also need to nurture your audience and help them along their path to purchase, which means reaching them multiple times with your ads, sometimes with different offers to pique their interest in your brand. This leads us to our next point!

Myth #5: Retargeting is creepy

People don’t like it when they have the impression that ads are “following them around the internet.” But retargeting really works in driving conversions, and there are ways to do it right. An ad product like Facebook Dynamic Ads is great for reaching warm audiences based on their interaction with your website, helping you generate conversions from existing ones faster, more efficiently and at a greater scale than ever before.

Myth #6: Advertising on one network is enough

As we said above, one campaign on one network won’t be enough to find and convert the customers who are interested in what you have to offer. The customer journey is complex. To reach your customers, you need to be where they are, which often means advertising on multiple networks.

Centralizing your campaigns on a platform like MakeMeReach can be a great way to simplify both your campaign management and analysis and save time since it gives you the power to see everything in one single location.

Myth #7: Social media ads aren’t for every industry

With billions of users around the globe, there is a social media ads solution for every business in every industry. Across networks, there are ad tools and formats for industries ranging from gaming to entertainment to automotive and more.

Each network also has different strengths and different audiences. Maybe your target audience is active on Twitter or Pinterest. Or maybe you should try a different type of ad to reach your customers. The huge choice in social ads means there’s really something out there for every business.