Spent $300 on a Facebook ad course and it just made me more confused...

I bought this online course about making better Facebook ads because my small business page wasn't getting any clicks. The guy teaching it talked really fast and used a bunch of words I didn't know. I followed his steps to set up a campaign, but after a week I only got two website visits. Now I'm not sure if I did it wrong or if the advice was just bad. Has anyone found a simpler guide that actually works for beginners?

4 comments

4 Comments

bennett.harper1mo ago

Maybe the problem is you're trying to run before you can walk. Those courses teach you campaign structure and bidding strategies, but they skip the part where you actually test your product idea first. A friend of mine spent months perfecting her ads for handmade candles and got nowhere. Then she just posted a blurry phone pic in a local Facebook group asking if anyone wanted to buy one, got forty comments in two hours, and realized her whole product was fine but her original ad was just boring. Sometimes the simpler path is to prove someone will buy what you're selling before you even touch the ads manager. That $300 course might work great for someone who already knows their customers, but for a beginner it's like learning calculus before you can add.

park.miles3mo ago

Man, that's rough. I heard a marketing podcast say a lot of those courses overcomplicate things to seem valuable. The host kept saying to just focus on a single clear picture and a short sentence asking a question to your exact customer. All the fancy targeting and buzzwords just waste money at the start.

baker.holly3mo ago

Actually think that advice misses a key step. You need to know who your exact customer is before you can ask them a question, and finding that out takes some work. The podcast makes it sound like you just pick a picture, but figuring out where your customer hangs out online is the real first move. Otherwise, you're just shouting into the void.

karencampbell3mo ago

Yeah, I read a blog post that said the same thing. It basically called all that extra stuff "marketing glitter." Just makes a mess and costs more.