I often think that I should sit down, just for fun, and figure out how many ad campaigns my team and I have worked on.

Because, like, it’s a lot.

However, I’m just gonna settle (for now) for saying this: we’ve made some mistakes along the way. We’ve also made a LOT of wins along the way, too. So, just because, I want to dive into a few of the biggest mistakes we’ve either A) made, B) seen our clients make, or C) seen others in the online space make.

Specifically, we’re going to show you a few of the biggest Facebook ad mistakes we see while people are trying to SCALE their ad campaigns — so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes. Of course.

Don’t Make These Top 4 Facebook Ads Mistakes: Scaling Edition

Don’t segment your audiences too small: You might think that segmenting your audience is a good thing to test, but it’s actually the opposite of what you want to do. Instead of wasting your ad spend, focus on:

• Building strong warm audiences from engaged users
• Leveraging lookalike audiences
• Testing creative, messaging, and offers within a larger, more stable audience

When you try to narrow in on an audience that is too small, your ad frequency will get way too high and your ads won’t deliver the way you want them to. 

Don’t get lost in the number sauce: Facebook Ads Manager throws a lot of numbers at you, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. If you’re checking every metric under the sun — click-through rates, cost per click, reach, impressions, frequency, conversion rate, and a dozen others — you’ll drive yourself crazy. Even worse, you might misinterpret what really matters.

Focus on these instead:

• Choosing 2-3 key performance indicators (KPIs) that actually align with your goal (e.g., cost per purchase, return on ad spend, lead conversions)
• Tracking trends over time instead of obsessing over daily fluctuations
• Understanding that not all metrics matter equally — some are vanity numbers, while others directly impact your bottom line

We like to look at weekly metrics and monthly results. During a launch, we do look at daily results to track performance, but often we’re watching for days to make sure results are stable before making any changes. 

Don’t forget to optimize your ads by platform: When running an ad campaign, don’t simply use one ad for every platform! Make sure you:

• Optimize your ad format, aspect ratio, and messaging for each platform. For example, Pinterest’s aspect ratio is slightly different than FB/IG, so you don’t want your ad to be cut off/cropped 
• Keep videos short, snappy, and attention-grabbing for Instagram Stories, TikToks, and Reels
• Test carousels, static images, and videos separately to see what works best where

Don’t expect higher spending to work: So, SO often, people think that spending more on an ad budget will yield a higher result. This, my friends, is not even close to true. If your creative, messaging, or audience targeting isn’t dialed in, increasing your spending will just magnify those issues — not fix them.

To scale strategically, do these first:

• Strengthen your engagement and audience trust FIRST
• Test and optimize at lower budgets before ramping up spending
• Adjust your budget in increments

Scaling your Facebook ads is all about working smarter, not just spending more, digging into a million numbers, or throwing things at the wall. Avoid these mistakes, and you’ll actually be able to set yourself up for stronger performance, better engagement, and real growth.

Promise.

To no one’s surprise, there’s nothing that makes us more excited than a successful client launch. (Literally DUH.)

Well, okay — actually, there may be one thing that does make us more excited than that. And it’s being able to share HOW our client launches have gone off without a hitch…

… so that you can copy, paste, and do the same.

So settle on in — because we have a new case study for ya.

Who: System Envy client who has a hugely successful personal brand, educational business, podcast, book, and, well, everything. (She’s the best.) She was prepping to re-launch a course that we’ve helped her launch several times — and nobody was looking to reinvent the wheel.

How: For this launch, we really wanted to lean into the idea of re-using and reworking content where it works. This client has a big online presence and a majorly engaged community, and we’ve done the work over years and years to get to this place — so we wanted to lean into it! Instead of creating a bunch of net-new launch content, our primary focus was to reflect her impact.

Wondering how this looked? We utilized ads like:

• Simple, previously successful video ads
• Text-on-image overlay videos
• Engaging B-roll style videos
• “Hot take” videos

The numbers:

• Estimated return on ad spend: ~200%
• The most successful ad gathered 7K leads
• Cost per lead: around $5

The takeaways:
In this launch, we were really able to see the fruits of (so many) labors of love — and we were also able to see the results of TIME! By tracking, testing, and iterating on what we knew worked, we got to see some big results. Here are a few of our takeaways:

• People are LOVING B-roll-style videos with engaging, “controversial”/hot-take styles of text
• Successful videos usually involve something immediately eye-catching, paired with trending music (pro tip: our most successful hook template read “It took me X years to realize…”)
• Re-using and re-working content that works is an excellent strategy — and for us, it’s gathered thousands of leads! (For us, this looked like re-using a top-performing ad from 2023… and then it looked like watching as it became a top-performing ad all over again!)

It’s the simple things that are the most effective, friends — and this is something we SWEAR by over here. Just lean into the good stuff, test what you can, and let things work.

Promise.

And, psst… stay tuned — we’ll be back with a new case study so soon!

One of my VERY favorite things as an ads agency owner is when my clients get to advertise with creativity. After all, that’s what makes it all fun — and it’s why I love Pinterest ads. Pinterest is such an incredible place to grow your business with like-minded people who want to be BETTER…

…and it’s also a top-tier way to reach a really, really aligned audience.

However, advertising on Pinterest comes with its own set of best practices. To really succeed and lower your cost-per-lead, you’re going to want to avoid these Pinterest ad mistakes.

4 Pinterest ad mistakes you might be making

Mistake #1: You’re going too broad.
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make with Pinterest ads is actually a pretty simple one — AKA, not targeting a narrow enough audience. This saturates your ad with a ton of content from others and makes it expensive to land the clients and customers you’re looking for.
To succeed with Pinterest ads, make sure you’re using Pinterest’s interest categories and taking advantage of its detailed targeting options. Wondering what this means? On Pinterest, you can target based on:

• Audiences
• Actalike audiences (similar to Meta’s lookalike audiences)
• Interests
• Keywords
• Demographics (gender, age, location, language, device)
• Ad placement

Plus, you can make this easy by setting up targeting templates and utilizing your insights. Here are some good tips from our pals at Pinterest!

Mistake #2: You’re not tailoring your SEO or CTAs the right way.
In its own unique way, Pinterest really does act like a search engine — and it follows search engine logic for its users.

I’m going to give you a really simple example here to spark your imagination. Just think about it: if you’re looking for an apple crisp recipe, what are you going to look for?

(Correct. You’re going to search for an apple crisp recipe.)

Now, if you’re a food blogger trying to push ads to your apple crisp recipe, you wouldn’t caption it “Delicious dessert! Tap the link to try.” Instead, you’d caption it “Try this delicious apple crisp recipe! It’s a low-sugar, easy dessert that can be made in 20 minutes.” That way, you’d attract views from those looking for apple crisps AND from those looking for low-sugar, easy desserts.

It’s truly SEO, baby. Those tiny, strategic details — read: keywords — can really impact performance.

At the same time, you don’t want an audience to be confused about what to do once they click on your ad. Your CTAs need to be strong — with actionable steps — in order to work.

(They also need to be followed by solid landing pages or funnels. Just sayin.’)

Mistake #3: You’re setting unrealistic budget expectations.
Setting an ad budget can be really frustrating — especially when you’re already seeing success on another platform. I see this a lot with Pinterest specifically, since it tends to cost more per lead than things like Meta (especially at first).

However, trust me here: you just need to give it some time! Pinterest tends to learn slowly compared to some platforms — it typically takes up to a month to really optimize an ad. Monitor your performance closely and adjust as you go, but resist starting with a really low budget. You won’t get the results you want that way.

Mistake #4: You’re forgetting about consistency.
Pinterest is an example of a platform that functions best off of consistent, fresh content… and consistency is absolutely key in seeing results from your ads. Continue pinning new content, regularly launch campaigns, and stay agile with performance adjustments as you go. The more you experiment, play around, and try new results, the more ROI you’ll see.

—

At the end of the day, every single platform has its quirks — and running ads online can be tricky. However, I have lots of experience around these parts… and I can promise you that fixing these mistakes will help you to absolutely accelerate your Pinterest ad performance.

You’ve got this, friend.

And, as always, I’m here to help ya.

In the social media world, going viral seems like it would be THE gold standard.

Just imagine… millions of views? Millions of likes?

Can’t you imagine the impact it could have on your business?!

Well, I have some news: it’s not usually as easy as that. While millions of views and likes are fun (and validating), they don’t typically lead to much higher engagement. If you’ve experienced a post go viral on social media, you probably know what I’m talking about. Once the hype settles down, you’re most likely going to have the same community as you did before — or a slightly larger one that may even be less engaged.

It’s why I’m a HUGE proponent over here of organic growth. In fact, it’s why — as an ad agency owner — I almost insist that my clients run purely community-focused ads (engagement ads) online alongside their conversion-focused ads.

After all, your PEOPLE are what matters. And, at the end of the day, your buyers are a group of people cultivated over time. See, at least most of the time, a brand-new follower isn’t the one buying from you. Instead, your plugged-in, loyal-to-you audience members are.

Something to think about, huh?

How to future-proof your business with organic growth
As the news (hello, TikTok…) is constantly showing us all, putting proof in singular apps and viral videos just isn’t the way to ensure success. Instead, you can future-proof (and viral-proof!) your business by focusing on consistent lead generation, boosting your engagement rates, and creating content you’d love.

THAT is how organic growth happens. Let’s talk about it.

First up? Make sure leads are something you’re constantly generating — not just something you’re relying on random social media numbers for. If you’re wondering how you have a TON of options. Promise! You can run ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest (hellooo), you can pour time into your email list, and you can make consistency your middle name. These are all things we recommend to our clients over here because they WORK. So, here’s your homework: choose a lead generation strategy to focus on! Here are some ideas:

• Create a weekly newsletter
• Run ads on Meta
• Run ads on Pinterest
• Level up your website SEO with long-form content
• Show your face on Instagram stories
• Re-do your email marketing funnels

Then, start thinking about — and working to improve — your engagement rates. The thing is, followers don’t equal buyers… but engagement DOES. And, in the simplest terms, this either means you’re connecting with your audience or you’re not. When you do connect with your audience by creating impeccable content, you’re so much more likely to grow a loyal following who will engage…

…and buy.

An easy way to do this is by simply giving a litmus test to your content creation (and your ads) with these questions:

1. Does this align with the audience that I have?
2. Am I showing up consistently already, or does this seem random?
3. Would I like this content? Would I follow me?
4. Am I clearly answering the questions I would have about this?

Once you’ve answered “YES” to all of the above and started doing it consistently, you’ve unlocked a winning organic growth strategy.

Sound simple? It’s because, well, it IS.
See, we love to complicate social media. We love to give things like virality WAY more attention than they deserve. And, don’t get me wrong here — the algorithm can be tricky. Engagement isn’t always easy to create. But when you focus on future-proofing your business by focusing on PEOPLE, you’re in a way better spot.

And I, for one, can’t wait to watch it.

Something I love? When Meta tries to make life easier, especially with (thoughtful!) AI tools.

Something I love a little more? Make sure that we approach these things with a healthy dose of caution before diving in.

Lemme explain.

See, we are pretty deep in the era of AI here— and this era isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s time to lean in. I’m very here for that and have leaned in in a whole myriad of ways.

Enter: Meta’s AI tools, which are a perfect example of this.

It’s why I’m a big fan of most of what Advantage+ (or Advantage Plus) offers. For those who aren’t knee-deep in the ads world at all times, Advantage+ is Meta’s suite of all things AI. These are tools designed to simplify ad management, optimize performance, and (in theory) make marketers’ lives much easier.

But, here’s the catch. While there’s a lot to love about Advantage+, it’s not ALL sunshine and ROI.

Let’s chat about it.

First up, here’s why Advantage+ is (mostly) worth the hype:
When it comes to the value props of Advantage+, Meta really does have something good going on. Think…

… smarter targeting that identifies your ideal audience faster.
… custom creative that’s tailored to individual users.
… real-time optimization that tweaks performance as it learns.

All of these features are a GOOD thing, sure — especially if you’re a busy entrepreneur without a team.

But, here’s a reality check: use Advantage+ with caution
See, here’s where things get tricky. Honestly, AI is only as good as the data it has on the exact hand. It doesn’t have context, or know you, or know your audience on a different level. Since it operates on data and not intuition, it lacks human nuance — and this means that sometimes, it can make some, well, questionable decisions and suggestions.

Here’s what that might mean:

• Adding bright, off-brand colors to your creative
• Picking music that doesn’t match your brand’s vibe
• Tweaking messaging to something that doesn’t feel like you (because it’s not!)
• Flipping images upside down in a way that’s more… chaos than cleverness

So… should you use Advantage+?
It’s an absolute YES… but you have to do it the smart way. These AI tools like Advantage+ are very much here to stay and will continue to get better, but that doesn’t mean you should blindly trust them out of the gate (or blindly trust them EVER…).

Wondering how to use Advantage+ the right way?
Test! Start small when it comes to the AI features, let it actually learn what works for you AND your audience, and allow it to learn slowly. That’s how it will pull in a bit more context for you, and it will also allow YOU to see the suggestions a bit more clearly. And, more importantly, keep your proven strategies in play! Don’t abandon your Lookalike Audiences or warm audiences JUST because AI is new and shiny and seems perfect.

Start experimenting with Advantage+ today, but remember: the best campaigns combine AI’s efficiency with YOUR knowledge and incredible expertise.

The trick is to guide the tools SO they can guide you. You’ve got this.

Y’all, we’ve (almost) done it — we’ve almost made it through 2024!

*happy dance*

And, let’s be honest: a LOT has happened this year. In a year of AI innovations, elections, new tech, and beyond, there’s been something to look at, try, or test every single time we turn our heads.

But, guess what? That’s the kind of year that creates big-time growth.

Come along with us for a recap of 2024 Facebook ads innovation — and then let’s start thinking ahead to 2025!

Facebook ads: what changed in 2024?
When it comes to ads, Meta is always on the front of innovation — and 2024 was no different. From boosting targeting capabilities to allowing for more personalization, we saw a lot of changes for the better this year.

Here are some of our favorite 2024 Facebook ad level-ups:

• The embrace of AI: If “artificial intelligence” isn’t TIME’s word of the year, I’m confused. Honestly, after all, AI has been a HUGE part of this year’s tech reckoning, and Facebook ads are no different. This year, Meta added AI-powered ad tools into the ad platform… and we’re obsessed. Now, you can edit images, customize text, create variations, forecast performance, and so much more. It’s been a game-changer for efficiency, for ad spend, and for overall ad performance.
• More personalization opportunities: The internet is a crowded place, and people NEED to feel like something is meant for them — which is why the fact that Facebook has leaned into personalization makes SUCH a big difference. This year, we saw the ability to lean heavily into audience preferences with a big uptick in dynamic ad capabilities — meaning that you can customize ads in real-time, make audience-centric adjustments, and even tailor them to the seasons. Yes, please!
• Deeper insights: As an FB ads agency, we’re (obviously) always looking for more data — and so are our clients! Updates to the Audience Insights dashboard have given us all a much deeper capability into data dives, which we’re all obsessed with. You can now see enhanced behavior tracking, predictive analytics, privacy-focused insights, and so much more. This has been key for optimizing budgets and improving ROI.

Some top System Envy moments
While the Metadata wizards have been spinning up new things, so have we! This has been a campaign-heavy year (packed with some BIG results), and we’ve had an infinite amount of fun trying different platforms, shaking up our strategies, and helping our clients make their biggest dreams come true.

Here are a few of our top moments and practices:

• Obsessing over Pinterest: Our entire team has been biggggg fans of  Pinterest forever and ever, and we really embraced the Pinterest ad game this year! And, trust us here — if you haven’t tried Pinterest ads, you’re going to want to! Data shows that over 80% of Pinterest users have made a purchase based on their Pins before, and the longevity is insane. (Wondering what we mean? The average Pin is re-pinned 11 times, which points to how long its reach can grow!) Here’s what we’ve learned this year.
• Making $1.4M for our new client: We have so much fun with every single client launch we support (I mean, hello… we have the best clients EVER!), but we really can’t stop thinking about one of the launches that we started with last year and re-did this year. Long story short? We helped get a 725%+ return on ad spend for a whopping $1.4 million return on investment! This was a course launch for a brand new course and involved a quickfire engagement strategy AND launch strategy to work. You can learn more about it our first go-round here!
• Dipping our toes in the TikTok water: Leaning into the TikTok ads game was a huge priority for us this year, and it’s one we’re really glad to have leaned into. Likely, TikTok is going to be a huge moneymaker — especially for younger audiences — for quite a while. By taking the leap this year, we’ve been able to prime our clients for some big successes. Here’s what you need to know.

And, guys… we have to be honest with you — all of the above is BARELY even scratching the surface. This year has been huge, and we know next year will be, too.

We just can’t WAIT for it! Let’s do it together, yeah?