However, learning how to use Facebook Ads can be a challenge for new users.
With so much information available in so many places, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the possibilities.
This in-depth beginner's guide to Facebook Ads is there to make your life learning and using the ad platform easier by bringing together only the most accurate and helpful information.
Here are some incredible stats that make a case for adding Facebook Ads to your marketing channel mix.
Facebook Ads are designed to support a variety of marketing goals. Let us look into the main ones.
You can use Facebook Ads to boost your online presence to get your business noticed. For instance, if you want to let more people discover what you do and think of your brand during their buying journey, you can use Facebook.
For example, a business can easily promote its social media page (Facebook or Instagram) on the platform and gain followers quickly. This strategy will increase its brand awareness and give greater organic reach to future content that it posts.
With personalized ads, you can reach the people most likely to buy. You can get them to check out your website and drive desired actions.
Get new users and retain existing customers by marketing your app online. You can increase downloads, discovery, and engagement with Facebook Ads multiple ad targeting options.
With Facebook Ads, you can attract new contacts and build profitable relationships.
For example, with Lead Ads, auto dealerships can encourage prospects to fill in their contact information to book a test ride seamlessly.
You can promote your local store to connect with customers in the neighborhood and increase in-store traffic and purchases.
Facebook Ads remarketing features can motivate people who have visited your website, app, or business to make a purchase.
For example, for real estate agents, Facebook's retargeting ads are a powerful way to follow up with prospective homebuyers who have shown interest in their listings.
Retargeting lets them stay top of mind as a trusted resource for their prospects when buying or selling their home. They also allow them to nurture leads over time, so they are not just one-and-done visitors.
Facebook's monetization tools can help you make more money no matter what you do, whether creating a blog or video.
For example, Facebook ads are an excellent way for musicians to monetize their content posted on Facebook and Instagram. They're a quick and easy way to promote their music, tickets, and other merchandise.
The best way to learn Facebook Ads is by actually running a campaign. However, the path to that gratifying moment requires multiple steps to be followed carefully. We deep dive into all these essential steps to ensure a smooth ride for you.
It is good to link your Facebook Ads Manager account to a Business Suite account, which includes Facebook Business Manager, to make it easy to manage later.
Meta Business Suite also allows you to create new ad accounts from its interface if you prefer that approach.
Ad accounts have unique ID numbers. If you want to add an ad account to Business Suite, its ID number comes in handy. You can find your ad account's ID from the accounts dropdown in the Ads Manager or the account ID string appended to the Ads Manager browser URL.
You need to add at least one payment method to run ads successfully.
You can add more users to your ads account from the Account setup screen in Facebook Ads Manager.
If your ad account is being managed under a Meta Business Suite account, you can add other users and define roles from there.
Now you are all set to press the "Create" button in the Facebook Ads Manager interface to initiate workflow for your first campaign. Let us be your online Facebook ads guide in this process.
You get the best results with Facebook ads when focusing on your goals. Having objectives for campaigns will help you clarify your goals. In Ads Manager, they're the first thing you select when creating an ad.
Ads Manager divides all objectives into three main buckets. Let us deep dive into each of these segments so that you can pick the one that works best for your marketing goals.
By choosing the brand awareness objective, you can expand your brand's overall awareness by showing advertisements to people who are more inclined to pay attention to them.
Stay within your budget while showing ads to as many people as possible. Additionally, you may choose to reach only people near your business location.
Increase the number of people visiting your website, app, or Messenger conversation, and increase the probability that they'll take action when they arrive.
Promote your Page or posts by encouraging Facebook users to follow you, share your posts, and like them. Additionally, you can optimize for more event responses to your Page or offers to your users.
Link directly to the App Store and Google Play Store to drive more app downloads. If you prefer, you can also target high-value users.
Ensure that you show your videos to people that are likely to be interested in them and that they watch them until the end.
Make it easy for people interested in your business to learn more. Ask them to register for more information or explore your website or app.
Motivate people to use Facebook Messenger more often. Increase your ability to converse with them so you can answer questions, collect leads, and increase sales.
Get more people to interact with your site or app. This objective gets people to act regardless of the type of conversion you want - purchases, leads, registrations, etc.
Sell more inventory by automatically promoting your most relevant products. You simply upload your catalog and set up a campaign - and the product will be shown to the right buyer.
Drive sales and other valuable actions at your physical stores by bridging the gap between people's online and offline shopping journeys.
Facebook offers three powerful audience selection options to improve your ad delivery for the best performance. Let us deep dive into each of them to find the best users for your next campaign.
Core audiences lets you specify where your ads are delivered. Your target audience can be as broad or as well-defined as possible, based on the following criteria.
Using custom audiences, you can reach out to people already familiar with your business, whether they are loyal customers, users of your app, or website visitors. These users can be from your:
You can learn more about using the Facebook Pixel to set up a custom audience here.
A lookalike audience is a smart way to reach people who are likely to be similar to your most desired customer profiles. The only thing you need to do is create a list of people who are your source audience. They will then see your ads based on their common interests.
You can learn more about creating lookalike audiences here.
Placements are the locations where you can run your ads. Ads can appear on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network, depending on the objective you select when setting up your campaign.
You can either allow Facebook to select the best placements automatically for you or choose manually where your ads should appear.
Let us go deeper into the many available placement options across Facebook's (Meta's) ad ecosystem.
Users can see feed ads while scrolling through their inbox, desktop, or mobile feeds. These include:
Create immersive, full-screen vertical ads that tell a rich, visual story. Placements include:
Capture people's attention while they are watching videos. Placements include:
Advertise with stickers or banners while people watch short-form content. Placements include:
Increase your business' visibility as people search on Facebook. Placements include:
Share offers or updates with people who are already familiar with your business. Placements include:
Reach out to people reading content published by publishers. Placements include:
Advertise in external apps and websites to reach a wider audience. Placements include:
You will need to enter your daily or lifetime budget and the time frame during which your ad will run. Additionally, you can set a bid - the maximum amount you're willing to pay when someone clicks on your Facebook ad copy or completes your desired action.
With these limits, you will never spend more than you can afford.
Facebook also allows you to define an account-level spending limit other than the campaign-level lifetime budget you set. This puts a blank upper limit over the cumulative spend across campaigns.
How much you wish to spend on Facebook advertising is up to you. Facebook tries to get you as many results as possible for your amount. You can pay $10 per day if you wish. If you prefer to spend $1000 a day, you can do that.
Please note: Some advanced ads require a minimum amount of spend. You will be notified of this during the creation process.
Facebook offers numerous ad types to convey your message in the most effective way possible. Let us deep dive into all the available ad formats accessible from Ads Manager so that you can pick the best one for your needs.
A photo ad offers a clean, simple format featuring images and copy. Put high-quality pictures or illustrations to work to convey who you are and what you do.
Bring your story to life with sound, sight, and motion. There are a variety of video ad lengths and styles available - from short feed-based videos watched on the go to longer videos viewed at home.
You can create a custom, edge-to-edge experience that immerses people in your content using Stories. Stories make it possible to encourage their action by understanding their interests.
Messenger ads encourage conversations between your business and your customers. They provide interactive features and a personal touch.
Here are some possible ways you can use Messenger ads to meet your goals:
The carousel ad format lets you show up to ten images or videos in one ad, each having its own link. Use it to tell a brand story that develops across cards or highlights different products.
Pro Tip: CopyAI's robust suite of copywriting tools can save you tons of time in creating quality copy for your ads. Give it a try for free now.
Slideshow ads are similar to videos, with motion, sound, and text. They can help you convey your message across different devices and connection speeds.
Ads in the collection format let people go from discovery to purchase in a smooth and immersive way. A collection ad consists of a central video or image with three smaller images underneath in a grid-like structure.
Whenever your audience taps on a collection ad, it will take them straight to a fast-loading visual post-click experience powered by Instant Experience, so they don't need to leave Facebook or Instagram.
You can learn more about creating a collection ad from Ads Manager here.
A playable ad format for Facebook and Audience Network is an interactive video ad that allows marketers to drive more quality and higher-intent users to their mobile app with a try-before-you-buy experience.
You can learn more about how the Facebook ad auction works here.
First of all, congratulations on taking the time and effort to put your Facebook Ads learning in motion.
Now it is time to track the performance of your ads based on the constant stream of data and insights that will be generated.
Depending on your goals, you can configure the columns you want to see in your reporting table. Define key metrics that you care about, monitor them, and make changes at the campaign, ad set, or ad level to improve the numbers.
Testing is an integral part of running any successful ad campaign in the long run, and you should make the most of it by connecting your hypothesis to numbers.
Facebook has become the most popular social network globally, with more than 2 billion monthly users. With such a large audience, it's no surprise businesses want to use Facebook ads as part of their marketing strategy.
Taking the time to learn the ins and outs of Facebook Ads can give you the confidence to spend your marketing budget on this platform and drive results.
After consuming this in-depth beginner's guide to Facebook Ads, we hope that you are eager to plan and run more Facebook ad campaigns, along with Instagram ads, without the anxiety of feeling lost in the numerous features the Ads Manager platform offers.
Go ahead and turn Facebook Ads into a money-making channel for your business.
By the way, if you want to take your Facebook Ads game a level up, you should also focus on creating engaging ad copies.
This is where CopyAI's free-to-start suite of copywriting tools can do wonders for you by generating tons of ad copy in seconds.
Write 10x faster, engage your audience, & never struggle with the blank page again.