Infuriating Facebook

[columbo]

Does anyone else find Facebook advertising frustrating to use?

One would think that for such a big company that it's advertising functionality would be
flawless but changing basic parameters like demographics etc can be fraught with error messages, glitches and just plain annoyances.

Other times, Facebook does not give any error messages, it just does not work. For example, at the moment I need to add more budget to a FB campaign...when I click on "Save" absolutely nothing happens. Even if I add a budget of a £1000 - nothing happens. I've even tried it with a different browser but get the same result.

Anyone else experience this with FB advertising?

 

[EcomAlistair]

Do you have an AdBlocker enabled in your browser Columbo? Sometimes that messes with the code in the ad manager interface!

Let me know - there may be other reasons.

Alistair

 

[Paul Norman]

I am entirely relaxed about Facebook advertising.

I receive a free platform, which has many uses for me. It is paid for by advertising, and I am not upset by having to see some of it.

 

[EcomAlistair]

I am entirely relaxed about Facebook advertising.

I receive a free platform, which has many uses for me. It is paid for by advertising, and I am not upset by having to see some of it.

Paul - I think you've totally missed my point here my friend.

AdBlocker prevents Google Ads Manager from working properly, therefore I am advising @columbo to turn it off if He/She has it on ... I'm not stating an opinion about Facebook advertising.

 

[columbo]

Thanks guys for the responses but there is no Adblocker installed?

Hoping some Facebookers out here might be able to help.

 

[EcomAlistair]

@columbo - tried emptying the cache on your browsers?

 

[Opinion87]

I get glitches similar to what you're talking about every now and then. Usually closing browser and/or reboot seems to sort it.

 

[BustersDogs]

Yes I get frustrated, especially when it lies to me or recommends I boost a post which is doing 'better' than other posts (when it's not showing that on the insights it gives me) then whinges there's too much text in the photo - of my logo! Never had it not really work though.

Oh I get frustrated because they've got a really great service that looks at the demographics of your customers, and will let you know the common factors to help us understand our audience so we can target new ones better - and apparently I haven't got enough customers to make it work. So that annoys me.

 

[titanium]

Yes I get frustrated, especially when it lies to me or recommends I boost a post which is doing 'better' than other posts (when it's not showing that on the insights it gives me) then whinges there's too much text in the photo.

This! Gets me every time. FB considers I have text when I have a photo of a musical score with words like "allegro" and "crescendo" written on it in teeny script.

 

[beasty]

The too much text thing drives me crazy also.. they should calm it down..
One other thing i do not like about FB in general is there is not an easy way to report fakes of other brands unless you are the brand owner, so re-sellers cannot flag up fakes directly

 

[Ian J]

I get frustrated because they've got a really great service that looks at the demographics of your customers, and will let you know the common factors to help us understand our audience me.

That's if the Facebook members tell the truth in their profiles which I certainly don't.

I took the decision initially that my date of birth was none of their business so I set it at 1st January 1900 and all of the adverts that I saw were to do with stairlifts and incontinence products etc so I changed my date of birth to make me just 21 and started receiving offers for One Direction tickets.

The amusing thing was that I received a warning from Facebook telling me that I could only change my date of birth a limited number of times

 

[beasty]

I too use a fake DOB on FB, probably on here too, i use the same fake info on many many sites, it means i do randomly get birthday wishes on skype and fb etc and wonder wtf people are talking about.

Pretty funny you can only change your DOB a certain number of times!

 

[Joe Fos]

Yes I get frustrated, especially when it lies to me or recommends I boost a post which is doing 'better' than other posts (when it's not showing that on the insights it gives me) then whinges there's too much text in the photo - of my logo! Never had it not really work though.

Oh I get frustrated because they've got a really great service that looks at the demographics of your customers, and will let you know the common factors to help us understand our audience so we can target new ones better - and apparently I haven't got enough customers to make it work. So that annoys me.

Facebook doesn't convert to sale even what you do advertise. What's most ironic is that if you have a PAGE on FB you have to pay to reach the very fans you got to "Like" you in the first place. Without "Boosting" you post you will reach about 1% of them.

 

[vibrantcolour]

Facebook doesn't convert to sale even what you do advertise. What's most ironic is that if you have a PAGE on FB you have to pay to reach the very fans you got to "Like" you in the first place. Without "Boosting" you post you will reach about 1% of them.

It does seem to depend, on a community event page I admin of, posts (though infrequent) regularly achieve reach in excess of the page likes without paid reach.

 

[obscure]

As with any online sites it is about engagement. Having your site tweaked by an SEO expert is always going to be second best to just posting regular interesting content. Same on FB. As Joe points out FB will only show your posts to a tiny % of your fans but if those fans actually find a post interesting and engage with it (likes and shares) then FB starts to show it to more people who in turn engage with it.....

 

[deniser]

I don't use the advertising feature anymore since the last time I set the audience demographic and then some kind of glitch totally ignored it and showed my ad to anyone. As you are paying for views not clicks this is infuriating.

That was the final straw for me.

 

[columbo]

I don't use the advertising feature anymore since the last time I set the audience demographic and then some kind of glitch totally ignored it and showed my ad to anyone. As you are paying for views not clicks this is infuriating.

That was the final straw for me.

yeah, I've seen this problem happen also with FB advertising...

I also detest the way when a campaign is running they lock down most campaign settings except for the increase budget setting...how convenient for them...You really have to "open the hood" to change settings when a campaign is running but even then things can't be changed.

I still think FB is a good tool but I really really hate administering it.

If anyone knows any tricks which makes it easier - please post them