Should You Pull Back Your Facebook Ads This Holiday Season?

We’re entering one of the biggest weeks and months of Facebook advertising for the year. Consider pulling back.

I’m not suggesting everyone should pull back. It’s just that this period of time isn’t ideal for everyone.

Let me explain…

What’s Happening?

As I type this, we’re a couple of days from Black Friday. Next week is Cyber Monday. Even when those “days” expire, there will be a push for sales throughout the rest of the year.

Some brands will be jumping into Facebook ads for the first time this year to increase sales. Some will be increasing their budgets.

The common theme here, though, is that you will be seeing ads for retail products at significant discounts.

Deals, deals, and more deals.

Who is This Bad For?

Look, if you’re an e-comm brand, this is your time of the year. Consumers are looking to buy gifts. People actually want to see your ads and will engage with them at a high rate.

That said, you may have trouble standing out in e-comm if you are unable to offer a discount. People are bargain shopping right now. Your ad will not stand out if you can’t offer a good deal.

Additionally, this is potentially a bad time to advertise if you aren’t an e-comm brand that can sell something that can be given as a gift.

B2B isn’t ideal. Service companies can be good if you offer gift cards. But otherwise, it could be a struggle.

Why Pull Back?

You may have trouble standing out right now if you can’t offer a discount and you aren’t selling a product that’s given as a gift. But beyond that, consider that the increased competition right now is likely to lead to an increase in CPM.

In other words, it’s going to get more expensive to reach your target audience. You’re already at a disadvantage, and now it’s more expensive to run the ads you’d normally run.

Suddenly, things aren’t looking so great.

What Should You Do?

First, don’t assume the worst. Early indications are that CPMs are down year over year. It may not get that bad.

Second, get creative. Consider all of the possible ways to position an ad to make you stand out, even if you can’t offer a discount and it’s not the prototypical gift.

Third, monitor your results. Keep a close eye on the CPM.

@jonloomer Two ways to check whether your Facebook ads CPMs are going up over time, leading to bad results. #facebookads ♬ Old School Boom Bap Hip-hop – Friends_House

But, most importantly, monitor your Cost Per Desired Action.

If the performance of your ads is suffering, you need to do something. You can’t just push through. Or, you can. But you may not want to waste that money.

Consider one of the following options:

1. Turn Off Certain Objectives.

Maybe you are running some ads for awareness, some for leads, and some for sales. Consider turning off one of the campaigns.

2. Lower Budgets.

You can keep doing what you’re doing, but simply lower the amount of budget you’ll burn through. Sometimes, you can’t risk turning off ads entirely if it will also turn off your revenue.

3. Go on Pause.

Depending on your brand goals, you may be best served to simply turn off your ads for now. Save that money and go back at it in January.

Your Turn

This period of time isn’t for everyone. Pulling back isn’t an acknowledgment of failure. In some cases, it’s the smart thing to do.

How will you be treating this period of advertising?

Let me know in the comments below!