Ever get tired of hearing the same old ad play on the radio or watching the same commercial every time you turn on the television? If these ads are starting to bore you – or outright annoy you – then you’re familiar with the phenomenon of ad fatigue.

Your Facebook followers can experience that same feeling, and it can impact how well your ads perform and even how your brand is perceived. Learning more about Facebook ad fatigue and how to fight it can help you get the best possible return on your Facebook marketing investment.

How to Avoid Facebook Ad Fatigue

Recognizing the signs of ad fatigue is the first step to averting this growing phenomenon. If your campaigns are launching with great results and then declining rapidly, you could be experiencing ad fatigue, which could negatively impact your brand.

Here are a few signs that your followers are experiencing Facebook ad fatigue:

• High Frequency Rates: Your frequency rate matters; if this metric is too high, then your audience is seeing your ad too many times. According to Social Media Examiner, a frequency of four or higher is too high for most audiences. You can tell what your upper limit is by watching your Click Through Rates (CTR) to see when they plateau or drop.
• Dropping Click Through Rates: If you start out with high CTRs, and then they plummet, your ad has probably peaked and it is time to change your message, image or targeting.
• Higher Cost Per Action (CPA) Figures: Your costs go up as your ad becomes less effective; soaring rates could be a sign of trouble. Try a Lookalike Audience to find similar new target markets.

These metrics are available on your Facebook dashboard as part of your ongoing ad reports and should be reviewed regularly.

Fight Back Against Facebook Ad Fatigue

You can improve your overall success and ROI by fighting back against ad fatigue; these simple steps are all you need to keep things fresh:

Rotate Ads Regularly: You may have worked hard to create an amazing ad, but you need to have more than one. It’s easy to get married to your most successful advertisement, but that effectiveness will deteriorate over time. Rotate ads every few weeks to keep things fresh and appealing for viewers.

Correctly Target Your Audience: Aiming ads at specific target demographics not only increases their effectiveness; it reduces the risk of ad fatigue, too. You can experiment with making an ad perform more effectively by segmenting the population who sees it and targeting those segments individually. Rotate your ad through several populations and you’ll get plenty of use from it without fatiguing your prospects.

Balance Audience Size and Budget: Your audience size and budget need to be balanced. If you choose a small audience, but specify a large advertising budget, then your ads will naturally run more often. This not only raises your costs, it increases your chances of ad fatigue as well. Smaller audience targets need smaller budgets for best results.

Change Your Images Regularly: Even if the core message remains the same, your ad will look different if you change the way it looks. Consider swapping out images or even changing the typeface in your images to see if your metrics improve.

Simply being aware of the ad fatigue phenomenon and how it works can help you take steps to alleviate it; even minor changes, such as trying a new ad type, can help combat Facebook ad fatigue and help you maximize your ROI when it comes to Facebook advertising.