Why Is My Company’s Ad Not Showing in My Facebook Feed?

We recently had a client send us a few images of competitor company ads he was seeing in his Facebook feed. Naturally, he was concerned and wanted to know why his company wasn’t showing at the top. After answering, we realized that it’s a common question. “Why is my company’s ad not showing at the top of my Facebook feed?” Keep reading for our analysis.

The posts our client was seeing were sponsored ads paid for by three competitors. The reason he saw them at the top of his feed is because he (understandably) spends a lot of time on the internet looking at content that relates to his industry.

We looked into those competitors a bit. While we couldn’t see any detail regarding how much they were paying for those ads or what other ads they might be running (Facebook's ad library wasn’t returning any results at the time), we did have enough information to know that at least two of them were wasting their money.

Before any other detail, we need to talk about the Facebook Pixel. The short story is that the Pixel is a snippet of code installed above the header of a company's website that allows Facebook to track site visitors. It algorithmically makes that company's ads more effective over time. For that reason, it can turn money-wasting ads into more effective lead sources.

Here Are the 3 Competitors We Analyzed

We visited each of their websites to look for several pieces of info: service area, website quality, Facebook Pixel usage, and likely budget.

Competitor 1

• This company does not have a Facebook pixel installed on their site.
• Their site barely gives any information at all.
• The ad was showing within their service area.
• They’re wasting their ad budget because they lack a helpful website and aren’t using the Pixel to improve their ads.

Competitor 2

• This company does not have a Facebook pixel installed on their site.
• They serve Nashville and surrounding areas. The ad is showing outside their market.
• Their site is the bare minimum.
• They’re wasting their money on Facebook ads because of ineffective targeting, no Pixel, and lack of a helpful website.

Competitor 3

• This is a franchised company with a potentially large advertising budget.
• Their site has the Facebook pixel installed.
  
  
  
  
• It's a mature pixel that has collected a good amount of data and they have likely built lookalike campaigns.
• Their site is effective in communicating information.
• This is the only company whose ads our client saw that is potentially getting a decent ROI. That always depends on the balance between their Cost Per Lead and Lead Value.

So, Why Is My Company’s Ad Not Showing in My Facebook Feed?

Right now, our client doesn't have any Facebook ads or boosted posts running. That's the only reason they didn't see one of their ads in their feed.

In addition, their company hasn't chosen to run any ads in the past. Occasional boosted posts are different from "Ads" in that they go to a broad area and aren't targeted using the Pixel. They also are usually Business Page posts, which don’t show in user feeds unless those users have selected “Most Recent” as their feed view preference. In addition, setting up a boosted post doesn’t require using the Facebook Ads Manager, while running an Ad campaign does. Our client’s site doesn't have the Pixel installed yet for that reason. However, if they ever decide that running a Facebook Ad campaign is a step they’d like to take, we'll be happy to help with that.

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In closing, we’d like to mention that Facebook Ads aren’t for everyone. They can indeed be effective to drive leads when combined with a purposeful budget, a quality website, proper analytics, and patience. However, simply throwing money at ads is bound to yield unsatisfactory results.