I ran a TikTok ad for my dog's bandana shop and accidentally targeted the wrong city.

I meant to target Austin, Texas but typed in Austin, Minnesota, so my ad budget went to a town of 25,000 people. The engagement was weirdly high, but I sold exactly zero bandanas. Has anyone else ever had a targeting fail this spectacular?

3 comments

3 Comments

river9522d ago

Oh man, that's a classic. I did something like that once, targeting a tiny town in Maine instead of the whole state. Honestly, I just leaned into it and posted a funny "thanks for the likes, wrong town" story on my own page. It got shared a bunch and actually brought some real customers over from the mix up. Turning the fail into a joke sort of saved it for me.

michael_green442d ago

Have you ever noticed how often the best marketing comes from honest mistakes? I read a piece last year about a bakery that put the wrong city on a big online ad. They did exactly what you did, made a joke about it, and it went small-time viral. The article said people trust that kind of realness more than a perfect, planned post. It sticks in your mind because it's human. Your story proves that idea right. Trying to hide a goof seems to backfire more than just owning it with a laugh.

max_brown2d ago

That "turning the fail into a joke" move @river952 did is textbook good damage control.