The Beginner’s Guide to Using Facebook Ads for Your Business
Facebook Advertising sounds much more complicated than it actually is. Thanks to the social media giant’s user-friendly platform, creating and running campaigns that will build traffic to your business or online shop, tracking their success, and putting together analytics reports is something you are totally capable of, no matter what your experience or skill level. Here’s a quick and easy guide to setting your’s up and if you’re interested, first-hand advice for growing your Facebook Business page.
Step 1: Choose Marketing Goals That Align With Your Brand
Holding yourself accountable with goals whether they’re traffic-related or purchase-oriented makes it easier to evaluate the effectiveness of your ads later. Before purchasing Facebook Ads, do proper research with your general objectives in mind. If you want people to subscribe to an online course, purchase from your shop, or build brand awareness, the ads you create should reflect what you’re working toward.
Step 2: Choose Your Objective
Once you dive in to set up your ads, Facebook populates a list of possible objectives for you to choose from. The Marketing Goal you chose in the previous step should inform the Objective. For instance, if you’re hoping to increase your reach, you should select the Reach option. If you’re looking to build brand awareness, pick the Brand Awareness option. You get the picture!
Step 3: Select Your Audience
Consider your target audience. In fact, this info should have already helped inform how you moved through the previous two steps.
Facebook also prompts you to choose the location in which you’d like your ads to run, the age range you’d like to target, as well as gender, languages, and more. The good news is that once you’ve decided on your audience settings, you can save them in the Saved Audiences section. That way you can always return to them and not have to redo this part every time.
Step 4: Pick Where Your Ad Will Run
Facebook offers you two options: Automatic Placements and Edit Placements. The platform recommends Automatic, as that way your ads are better guaranteed to collide with your intended target audience.
Step 5: Put Your Money Where Your Marketing Is
Facebook allows you to design your own budget behind your ads. Decide what you can afford and how you’ll reach the most people, and the platform will automatically generate a sample budget for you. You can enter a daily budget maximum or a lifetime budget maximum. This ensures you’ll never exceed what you are able to spend.
Step 6: Pick a Format and Make it Pretty!
Don’t put anything out into the world you wouldn’t click on yourself. Consider who your consumer is, why your product or brand should interest them, and how the ad should convince them to want to engage with your content.
Facebook offers six templates, including a short-form video option, that you can choose from. Spend some time customizing your template choice, otherwise, it isn’t money well spent. I highly recommend giving a free design app like Canva a try for creating marketing materials in a pinch.
Step 7: Place Your Order
You’ve done the hard work! Now it’s time to sit back and watch the stats roll in. Remember that part of successful advertising is the oft-dreaded trial and error period.
If you don’t reach your goal after the first round, consider not only what may need adjusting but whether or not the goal you set was fair, to begin with. Adjust your expectations and budget accordingly, and you’ll set yourself up for success next time around.
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