One way of advertising our businesses and services online is through social media, and so many of us do this.
And the number of companies using social media platforms like Facebook to advertise their products and services keeps growing day by day – but there is one problem.
When you follow up with the leads who actually filled up your form, only to find out that they don’t even know who you are!
Fake leads can be a problem not just to companies and business owners, but to the marketers who actually put these ads out there as well.
If this is happening to you, you might be wondering how to put an end to these fake leads.
Unfortunately, it is literally impossible to COMPLETELY stop these fake leads. But there are a few ways to reduce them.
In this article, I’ll show you how to stop fake leads on Facebook, how to avoid those pesky bots who put you in this misery in the first place, and what to do about Facebook ad fake clicks.
⚡Also Read: Facebook Ads Active But Not Spending
How To Stop Fake Leads On Facebook
Here are some of the most effective ways to reduce fake leads on Facebook:
Disable Audience Network
One thing you must know is that it is really difficult for fraudulent stuff to happen inside Facebook because so many anti-fraud mechanisms are put in place.
However, if the ‘Audience Network’ option is enabled in your campaign settings, the ads you are running WILL be displayed on Meta’s partner apps and platforms.
What happens then is that these apps and platforms will create their own bot interactions and lead to these false leads.
Your stats will look great, but only for a bunch of useless leads that will take you nowhere.
So, disable the Audience Network ASAP.
Adding More Qualifying Questions
Whatever forms you are creating to get leads and potential client information, make sure you add a couple of more questions.
This will instantly let you filter out people who are only filling the form halfheartedly, and the pesky bots who are pretending to be leads, from the actual leads who want your services.
You can even have a set of multiple choice answers, crafted carefully to tell you if they are interested in getting your service right away or not.
Answers like ‘I’m interested, but not in a hurry’, or ‘I’m interested, I would like to know more details soon’, and others across the spectrum will let you filter potential leads who are actually interested.
Add answers like that to your form, and it will make it MUCH easier for you.
Plus, it won’t deter leads who don’t want to spend a lot of time typing out everything.
Make A Good Ad With All The Details
If your adverts do NOT have all the information people need, they will end up clicking just out of curiosity, and not with particular interest in GETTING your services.
⚡Also Read: Pressure washing Facebook ads
Even if they are interested in your services or products, once they see the full picture they might get a change of heart.
So to prevent this from happening, put all the essential details on the ad before publishing it, so you don’t get any window-shoppers on your lead list!
Follow Through With Your Leads Soon!
We know this sounds a little bit counter-intuitive because that’s why you are here in the first place.
But following up with your leads quickly will help you get to them in time BEFORE they change their minds which is a VERY real thing that can happen to a lot of potential customers.
So once you reach out to them while you are fresh in their memory, you have a high chance of NOT getting dismissed.
Opt For Messages
Set your ad goals to messages so that you get direct messages from potential customers instead.
You can then get into a conversation about your services and products.
Yes, this IS time-consuming, but this will make sure that you handle the direction of your conversation, and will help you quickly understand if a person is actually interested or not!
Plus, it’s cheaper than running conversion based ad goals.
How To Avoid Bots On Facebook Ads
You can start off by learning about Facebook Ads, and how exactly they work on the platform.
Many advertisers who launch campaigns do NOT have a proper idea about how Facebook Ads function, which audiences and demographics to target, and so on.
⚡Also Read: Reach and frequency vs auction
You can also hide your ads from certain audiences and entire countries if you want, using the block list.
This way, you can avoid entire demographics that are famous for using bots and scammers, and have a better reach to the people you ACTUALLY want to reach.
You must also, if possible, try your very best not to outsource your ad campaigns to other companies, because chances are they have NO CLUE what they are doing.
At least check if they have a proven track record.
Anyways, I recommend learning how to take care of things on your own at the beginning if you don’t want to end up spending a fortune on fake leads and messy ad campaigns that get you nowhere.
Preventing Facebook Ads Fake Clicks
In addition to all the manual ad settings stuff we talked about, you can also use software to prevent facebook ads fake clicks too.
Apps like ClickGuard, Clixtell and Click Fraud Monitoring, can help you out with preventing any fake ad clicks from happening.
On most of these apps, you will get notified when they suspect a fake ad click, and will also collect enough data for you to further optimize YOUR ads and make sure you don’t fall for fake leads anymore!
Do Bots Click On Facebook Ads?
Yes, bots click on Facebook Ads. A LOT! Infact, according to some sources almost 4% of all the clicks on FB ads are bot clicks. It’s a huge problem.
Fake Comments On Facebook Ads
Sometimes the comments on Facebook ads are fake. You can easily spot them by the repetitive style and structure of the comments. You can even check out a few of these accounts and see if they are bot accounts.
Nevertheless, always do your research outside of Facebook. Google for reviews.
