A Guide to Using Facebook Ads

With over a billion active users globally, Facebook offers businesses an incredible opportunity to reach potential customers, grow brand awareness and increase revenue. In today’s “always-on” world, where people access products and services via smartphones and tablets, Facebook Ads provide an effective way to engage with your target markets.

But, before you dive in, you need a plan.

What’s Your Plan?

Before running Facebook Ads, having a well-thought-out strategy is crucial. You need to know who you’re targeting, what message you want to convey, and what result you hope to achieve. The most common reason online advertising campaigns fail is a lack of planning and unclear goals. If you know your product well and understand your audience, creating a focused ad campaign should be straightforward, but it’s not something to rush into.

Here are a few things to consider:

Are your visuals compelling? Known as Creatives on Facebook, the images or videos you use can significantly impact whether your ad is noticed.
Do you have a clear understanding of your target market? It’s better to be specific than generic. If you serve multiple audiences, you may need different campaigns.
What is the objective of your campaign? Are you promoting a product, increasing brand awareness, advertising an event or simply boosting a post?
Have you researched the market and competitors to see what’s already being done?
Does your message resonate with your audience? Make sure you’re speaking their language rather than using internal jargon.
Is your website ready to handle the increased traffic if your campaign is a success?
Do you have a plan for what happens next? For example, do you need additional stock, or do you need more staff to handle increased demand?

Signing Up for Facebook Ads

Once you’ve sorted out your plan, it’s time to sign up for Facebook Ads. This is very simple. Once your Facebook page is set up, click the arrow at the top right of the screen and select Create Ads.

There are two ways to run Facebook Ads: through the Ads Manager or using Power Editor. For most small businesses, Ads Manager is the best option, while Power Editor is more suited for large campaigns. When you click Create Ads, you will be taken to the Ads Manager where you can select your campaign objectives:

Boost your posts
Promote your Page
Send people to your website
Increase conversions on your website
Get app installs
Increase engagement in your app
Reach people near your business
Raise attendance at your event
Get people to claim your offer
Get video views

Let’s say your objective is to drive traffic to your website. After selecting this, Facebook will ask for your URL, give you the option to create a tracking pixel and assign a campaign name.

How to Reach the Right People

This next stage is critical to your ad’s success. On the right side, you’ll see an audience gauge that provides an estimate of how many people you could reach based on the parameters you set. This value changes as you add more parameters, so you can gauge your potential reach in real time.

You’ll need to take some time to set the right parameters, and a little trial and error is often required to maximise the effectiveness of your ads. Here are a few key parameters to consider:

Location: You can target people by country, region or postcode.
Age range and gender
Language
Demographics: This can include education level, job type, financial status and more.
Interests: Select from categories such as entertainment, food and drink, hobbies and more.
Behaviours: This could include habits like mobile phone use or engagement with gaming.
Connections: You can include or exclude people who are already engaging with your business or page.

Once you’ve defined your target audience, you can save this for future ad campaigns. Fine-tuning your parameters can make a big difference, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right.

Setting Your Budget

Next, set your budget. Facebook allows you to set a daily budget or specify a total budget for a set period. The good news is you can ensure you don’t exceed your budget. You’ll also have options for how your ads are delivered and optimised, such as by clicks or impressions.

We recommend starting with a small budget, testing the waters and then scaling up based on performance.

Creating Your Facebook Ads

Now it’s time to create and upload your ads. Facebook allows you to use either images or videos and you can choose between single-image ads or carousel ads (which display multiple images). Stick to Facebook’s guidelines for image and text size and remember to keep your message short and punchy—especially if you’re trying to drive traffic to your website.

You can also optimise your ads for different devices such as mobile or desktop. Once everything is set, you’re ready to go live!

Measuring Your Results

Running an ad campaign without monitoring performance is a waste of time and money. Facebook Ads Manager makes it easy to track important metrics like frequency, cost and conversions, depending on the objective you set at the start of the campaign. For example, if your ad aims to drive traffic to your website, you can track actions such as completed checkouts or downloads.

Refining Your Strategy

Once your campaign is live, monitor the results and tweak the parameters if necessary. This is where the real work begins—adjusting your ads based on performance data will allow you to continually optimise and improve the campaign’s effectiveness. With time, you’ll see what works best for your target audience.