Hi there,
Really happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance regarding your Meta ads issue. It sounds like you're running into a bit of a headache with ad frequency and audience overlap. It's a pretty common issue, especially when you're juggling multiple products with potentially overlapping target audiences. I've seen this quite a few times, so hopefully I can suggest some things to check.
We'll need to look at frequency capping...
Firstly, let's talk about frequency capping. This is your first line of defence against bombarding the same people with your ads. Basically, it allows you to control how many times an individual user sees your ad within a specified period. I'd say this is probably the easiest and quickest thing to implement. You'll find frequency capping settings in Meta Ads Manager, usually within the ad set settings, under a section like 'Optimisation & Delivery'. The exact wording might vary slightly depending on your ad account setup and what version of the platform you're using.
I'd advise you to start with a relatively conservative cap. Something like 3 impressions per person per week, per campaign, should be a good starting point. See how that affects your reach and engagement. You might need to tweak it depending on your audience size and campaign goals. The trick is to strike a balance between getting your message across and annoying people. I have seen cases were overly aggressively frequency capping really restricts your add delivery so you have to increase the budgets again to get more traffic.
It's worth remembering that frequency capping is applied at the campaign level. So, if you're running separate campaigns for each product, you'll need to set the cap individually in each one. It's also worth noting that Meta's frequency capping isn't always perfect. It relies on accurately identifying users across devices and browsers, which isn't always possible. But it's still a valuable tool to have.
I'd say you need to reduce audience overlap...
Next, let's talk about audience overlap. This is where things can get a bit more complicated. If you're using broad targeting options or retargeting similar website visitors for both products, it's highly likely that there's significant overlap between your audiences. This means you're essentially showing the same ads to the same people, regardless of which product they might be interested in. I remember one campaign we worked on, they had this exact problem. It was solved by audience exclusion. It might be what you need too.
The best way to deal with audience overlap is to create custom audiences and exclude them from each other's campaigns. For example, you could create a custom audience of people who have engaged with your ads for Product A and then exclude that audience from your campaign for Product B. Conversely, you could create a custom audience of people who have engaged with your ads for Product B and exclude them from your campaign for Product A. This will ensure that people only see ads for products they haven't already shown interest in.
You can create custom audiences based on various factors, such as website visitors, ad engagers, email lists, and more. Experiment with different audience types to see what works best for you. It's also worth considering using lookalike audiences to expand your reach while still targeting people who are likely to be interested in your products. It's a bit of an art mixing and matching these different tactics and audiences.
You probably should use different ad creatives...
It's possible that your issue is that you are using the same creative for both products. If people recognise the visual style of your ads (the same fonts, colours, layouts etc.) then they might just engage with them regardless of the products advertised in them. Even if the creative is completely different but your style is recognisable, people may interact.
As people recognise your ads they may comment on them regardless of the product, so the same people may simply be commenting and writing the ads. So try different creatives with different styles. This is important to test anyway and often gets neglected in favour of other features of your campaigns.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
| Recommendation | Details |
|---|---|
| Frequency Capping | Limit impressions to 3 times a week, per person, per campaign to reduce ad fatigue. |
| Audience Exclusion | Create custom audiences of engagers for each product and exclude them from the other product's campaign. |
| Creative Variety | Use different creative styles for each product to prevent recognition and maintain engagement. |
Implementing these changes should hopefully alleviate the issue you're experiencing. It's also important to keep a close eye on your ad performance metrics, such as reach, frequency, and engagement, to see how the changes are affecting your results. Don't be afraid to experiment and iterate on your strategy until you find what works best for you.
Scaling and optimising paid social campaigns can be tricky, especially when managing multiple product lines and target audiences. If you'd like to explore this in more detail, feel free to get in touch for a free consultation. We can do a deep dive in your account and see what can be optimised. This will give you a better overview of what you could be doing and how much budget you need to allocate to get the best out of the campaign.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
