31 Oct The Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Ads
New to Facebook ads? Welcome to the club! Not only are they easy to create, you don’t have to spend a fortune to see results.
Here’s how to get started:
Understand how Facebook ads work
You can advertise on Facebook in one of two ways: boost a post or create an ad from scratch. If you click on “promote”, Facebook will walk you through the steps to create an ad.
When you click on the promote button, you’ll have several options to choose from.
We are going to use the “Get more website visitors” option for the purposes of this article.
But before we go any further, first we are going to be good marketers and choose a goal.
Choose one goal
Facebook ads should help you reach a marketing or sales goal. I highly recommend using it to drive people to your website. You own your website; you do not own your Facebook page. You just borrow it from Facebook.
Send people to your website to:
- Learn more about a product or service – and then contact you
- Schedule a demo
- Make a purchase
- Subscribe to your newsletter
- Download a free resource, like an ebook
- Get a coupon code
- Enter a contest
The end goal is to either convert them into a lead or new customer/client.
Create your Facebook ad
Ok, now that we know what we’re doing with the ad, it’s time to write the copy. Like I said above, Facebook walks you through this.
Here’s what you’ll see once you click on the “promote” button:
Choose the landing page and an image. Then write a headline and text and select a call-to-action.
You have a lot of options for the call-to-action:
Build an audience
This is the fun part! Who are you trying to reach? The more targeted your ad, the better your response rate.
I like to build an audience from scratch, and then keep that audience for future use.
Start by naming your audience and selecting gender and age range.
Then turn your attention to location. You can filter by country, state/region, city, zip codes, addresses, DMAs and congressional districts. You are not limited to just one. You can select several cities or zip codes for one ad.
Once you’re all set with location, you can further refine your audience via demographics, interests and behaviors. Click on “suggestions”. Based on the web page you’re sending people to, Facebook does a good job of providing suggested targeting parameters.
When you’re finished, click Save and you’ll go back to your main ad page.
Set your budget and duration
There’s no right or wrong budget or ad duration. All marketing is experimenting to see what works. Your first ad will serve as a benchmark for future ads.
I typically have clients start with a 7-day ad at $25 or $50. As you play around with the duration and budget, the estimated number of people you’ll reach will keep changing. Pick a combination that feels right to you.
Remember, once your first ad runs, you’ll have insights (aka, analytics) to help you improve on your efforts.
OK, hit the promote button! Your ad is now live.
Look at Insights
Insights is Facebook’s analytics tool, which means it’s your BF when you’re running ads.
Insights shows you a ton of data, including post reach and engagement. I highly recommend looking at it while the ad is running, not just when the ad ends.
Once the ad is finished, study your results. What worked, what didn’t, and how can you improve your next ad?
If you need help, we’re here for you. Give us a shout, and we’ll help you improve your Facebook ad strategy.
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