Get Started with Facebook Ads: The Complete Guide

get started with Facebook ads the complete guide

Knowledge of how to manage Facebook ads has become an essential part of every successful social media strategy.  If you want to get your content seen on Facebook, then it is clear that you need to pay for Facebook ads in order to receive visibility and get more reach for your posts.

Paid Facebook advertisements are considered as one of the most efficient methods to influence your content’s reach. However, some questions still arise. How does it work? What results can I expect for my invested money?

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Don’t miss: Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Advertise on Facebook

In today’s guide I’m going to share with you everything you need to know about Facebook ads in order to run your outstanding first campaign.

Let’s dive right in!

Step 1: Develop your strategy

Before you start looking at Facebook ads manager and setting up your ad campaign, the first thing you need to consider is whether you have a well-defined strategy in place. Without understanding why you are advertising and what you want to accomplish, you will be lost among all options and then you may create the ad campaign which doesn’t focus on your target audience and doesn’t bring value to them, that means your ad campaign is going to be useless.

In this case, for each ad campaign that you are going to create it is advised to set the aim that will help to measure the success of your performance. For instance, if you plan to boost traffic to your webpage from Facebook using advertisements, then you may set a goal of 500 unique visitors in the first month.

What is more, having a clear strategy will perfectly assist when it comes to selection of the right objective for your Facebook ad campaign. Consequently, it means that you will be able to create the strong ad which should bring you successful results.

Develop your plan first and only then act.

Step 2: Start with Facebook ads manager

It is not a secret that all Facebook ad campaigns run through Facebook ads manager tool, to which you can easily log in using a link facebook.com/ads or choosing “Advertising on Facebook” in the drop-down menu on your Facebook profile. To get started with your first advertisement, click the green button “Create an Ad”.

Then you will be transferred to Facebook ads manager page, use the menu on the left side of the screen in order to control all steps in creation of your advertisement.

Step 3: Choose your objective

The first thing, which you need to do when you start creating an ad, is to choose an objective for your campaign. Facebook suggests 11 options of objectives based on what you want your ad to achieve.

It is significant to select the right one because Facebook will optimize your ad placement according to your objective. Here is how Facebook offered objectives can adjust with your business goals:

  • Brand awareness means to introduce your brand to a new target audience.
  • Reach means to show your ad to as bigger audience as possible.
  • Traffic means to boost count of visitors to your website.
  • Engagement means to reach a target audience in order to induce them to like your page, leave a comment on your post, re-share your content, press button of attendance at your event or encourage them to claim a special offer.
  • App installs mean to induce users to install your app.
  • Video views mean to induce more users to watch your video.
  • Lead generation means to receive new prospects into your sales funnel.
  • Messages mean to encourage users to contact you as a brand through Facebook messenger.
  • Conversions mean to get users to go to your webpage and take a particular action on it.
  • Catalog sales mean to collect all your Facebook ads into one product catalog in order to show users the products’ ads they most likely want to purchase.
  • Store visits mean to drive nearby customers to visit your store.

Probably, now it is a little bit more clear what objectives can mostly align with your particular ad strategic goal. Keep in mind that if you run a video campaign in order to boost sales, it is better to choose conversions objective rather than traffic or views, because in this case you will pay per action, not for impressions.

Step 4: Name your campaign

Once you choose your ad objective, you will be asked to name your campaign. Moreover, you will be able to turn on budget optimization. Actually, this action can be convenient when you have several ads campaigns, so for now you may leave it turned off.

After filling in your campaign’s name, click on the “Set Up Ad Account” button.

Step 5: Target your audience

This step is extremely significant for the success of your Facebook ads campaigns. You need to have a strong knowledge of which audience you want to focus on. Now it is the time to build your ideal target audience. Don’t miss a chance.

Start with choosing your target’s age, gender, location and language. After filling in all these demographics, notice the audience size on the right side of the page, which provides you with a sense of potential reach of your advertisements. 

As efficient targeting is crucial to the higher return on investment, then use all opportunities to define your audience more specifically.

You can use detailed targeting. It means that this field helps you to exclude and include users based on their demographics, interests. For example, you may choose to focus on users who are interesting in dancing, however, eliminate tango dancing fans.

Moreover, you have a chance to use connections targeting, which is useful when you want to show your ad to the audience whom is not connected with your brand or on the contrarily include only your existing fans. For instance, if you want to reach a new audience, then select “Exclude people who like your Facebook page”. However, if you want to promote the new product to your followers, in this case choose “People who like your Facebook page”.

Step 6: Set your budget and schedule

At this stage, you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your Facebook ad. You have an opportunity to select a daily or a lifetime budget, set a start and end dates, if you want to make your ad appear at the specific period.

Remember that schedule your ads is the most effective method to spend your ad budget because you may choose the period of time when the majority of your target audience is active.

What is more, you can choose the optimization of your ads. It means you can change for what you are charged: impressions or link clicks.

Step 7: Choose your ad placement

Ad placement determines where your advertisement will appear. It can be displayed in Facebook desktop or mobile newsfeeds, Instagram and messenger.

However, if you are new to Facebook advertising, it is recommended to choose the default placements based on your determined objective. In this way, Facebook optimizes your ad placements and you receive the best results at the lowest cost.

If you are more experienced, then you may place your Facebook advertisement in the specific locations. For example, it is advised to use Facebook when you want to encourage users to go to your website. However, in order to boost awareness of your brand, it is better to use Facebook and Instagram.

Step 8: Create your ad

First thing, which you need to choose while creating an ad, is format. Facebook currently suggests you 5 different formats for your ad:

  • single image ad
  • video ad
  • carousel ad allows you to show several images or videos
  • slideshow ad lets you to create a video ad with up to 10 pictures
  • canvas ad gives you an opportunity to tell story by combining videos and pictures.

Each type of format gives you it’s own advantages, however, according to social media studies, video or carousel ads create the highest engagement level and click-through rates. What is more, remember that the types of suggested formats depend on the objective, which you chose at the beginning of the ad creation process.

After selection of the format, you should upload your content (video or image) which must stand out in Facebook newsfeeds because only then your ad will bring successful results.

Step 9: Place your order           

Now, when you went through all the stages, your Facebook ad is ready to go. So, submit your advertisement by clicking on the “Place Order” button. Firstly, before going live, your ad will be reviewed and confirmed by Facebook.

In conclusion, if Facebook advertising is a part of the marketing strategy, then it helps to receive much better performance results. As long as you have well-defined goals, the process of ad campaign creation is easier and faster, and the outcome – you run stronger ads.

I hope that this guide was useful for you in order to set up the first Facebook ad. If you have questions or just want to leave your feedback, please drop a line in the comments’ box below!

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