Big mistake, small ad accounts
Based on over 250 audits
TL;DR
Small spenders on Meta often overcomplicate their account setups. You probably only need one campaign that excludes your existing customers. Focus all your time on creative experimentation.
We audit multiple businesses each week at Ballpoint. A lot of the time, these end up being too small for us to work with and we recommend they manage it in-house until they’re big enough for growth.
Of the last 250 audits we’ve completed, these are the biggest problems we see on ‘small scale’ accounts (those spending less than £30,000 or $50,000 per month).
10 biggest mistakes in small Meta accounts
1. Running traffic or reach or any non-purchase optimised event
This is spend you do when you’ve fully capped out your purchase-only stuff, anything before is inefficient.
2. Not excluding existing customers
If you don’t exclude your CPA isn’t real. You’ll be acquiring existing customers.
3. Using interest targeting or lookalikes
Go broad. Broad is the only way that works.
4. Too many campaigns where none get over 50 conversions per week
Got 5 campaigns with 10 conversions each? Consolidate into one. Meta’s auction works better above 50/week.
5. New creative that is just iterations on old creative
Iterations are how you eek out performance and do 1% maintenance, they don’t improve CPA or allow you to scale.
6. No new creative at all but lots of audience fiddling
Creative is the only way to grow your account.
7. Adjusting budgets on a daily basis – stop day trading
Buying behaviour changes significantly throughout the week. Your best ad might have a few “bad days” that’s ok. Also that Tuesday impression may create the Saturday morning sale.
8. All creative is on-brand and looks the same
At this stage you shouldn’t have strict brand guidelines. You are still a newborn company, you haven’t grown up yet. Brand develops as you become an adult.
9. No evidence of testing
Testing is how you win. Read Test, don’t debate.
10. TOFU MOFU BOFU UGH (trying to break out the funnel)
You’re partying tonight like it’s 1999 (or at least running your ad accounts like they are).
Keep Meta simple. Your job is to play with creative, get out of the ad account.
If you are spending less than £10k per month on your ads, you may want to run them yourself. We recently completed a webinar that contains the starter guide to running small accounts.
🔗 When you’re ready, here’s how Ballpoint can help you
→ Profitably grow paid social spend from £30k/m → £300k/m
→ Create full funnel, jobs to be done-focused creative: Meta, TikTok, YouTube
→ Improve your conversion rate with landing pages and fully managed CRO
→ Maximise LTV through strategic retention and CRM - not just sending out your emails
Email me – or visit Ballpoint to find out more.
NB: We support brands spending above £20k/month.
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