Facebook is a powerhouse of an advertising platform with over 2 billion monthly users and a suite of tools that make it easy for businesses to target their desired audience. But, what if you’re new to Facebook Advertising and aren’t sure where to begin?
For many businesses, the idea of diving headfirst into creating custom ads can feel overwhelming. However, advertising on Facebook doesn’t have to be scary or difficult. With just a basic understanding of how targeting works and some fundamental best practices, you can get up and running quickly.
Here are some helpful tips for getting started with Facebook Ads if you’re new to this world. Even if you’re already experienced in other forms of digital advertising such as Google Ads or Twitter Ads, there are bound to be plenty of useful insider tips that will help your next advertising campaign perform even better than before.
The advertising industry is overflowing with both novice and experienced professionals. If you’re just getting your feet wet in the world of digital marketing, it can be challenging to break through all the noise and find effective strategies to promote your business. Fortunately, there are several ways to effectively advertise your business without breaking the bank.
A relatively affordable and increasingly popular form of advertising is social media ad campaigns. In this blog post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Facebook advertising as a beginner and some best practices for beginners that will help you get the most bang for your buck when investing in Facebook ads.
What Is Facebook Advertising?
Facebook advertising is a paid form of advertising where you can select a specific type of audience to target and then place an ad in that user’s newsfeed. The most known type of advertising on Facebook is the standard display or click-to-play ad that appears in the newsfeed of people who are not your friends or fans.
You can choose to target a specific demographic, such as men or women between the ages of 18 and 35, and you can choose to promote your ad to a specific region. Facebook also gives you the option to choose which type of device the audience members are using to access the internet.
The second, and less known, type of Facebook advertising is the Facebook Exchange (FBX). When you use Facebook Exchange to advertise, your ad appears in the newsfeed of your fans and non-fans on third-party websites. This type of Facebook advertising is often used for retargeting campaigns with specific ads and products that a person has viewed on a website.
Why Facebook Advertising Works
Customers are more likely to click on an ad from a brand they like, and Facebook’s network is one of the most popular and active social networks in the world. Therefore, people are more likely to see your ads and click on them.
Facebook advertising also has extremely high conversion rates compared to other digital advertising methods. From one ad campaign, you can expect hundreds to thousands of clicks and conversions.
When you use Facebook advertising correctly, it’s a great way to build your brand and drive traffic to your site. You can also use it to find new leads, increase sales, and engage with your audience on a much more personal level.
How To Create A Facebook Advertising Campaign
There are several key steps to creating an effective Facebook advertising campaign for beginners. Before you get started, it’s important to note that Facebook has an extremely strict content policy.
They don’t allow any content that contains nudity, sexual content, or drug use. You also can’t promote products or services that encourage illegal activities or discriminate against people based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, disability or medical condition. Here are the steps you should follow to create a successful campaign:
- Define your goals – Before you create your ad campaign, it’s important to understand your goals and set realistic expectations. What are you trying to achieve with your ad campaign? Are you trying to drive traffic to a website or promote a product or service? Are you trying to boost your social media engagement or build brand awareness? Once you have a goal in mind, you can create a campaign that meets those goals.
- Define your customer personas – Do you know your customer personas? If not, you need to understand who your customers are. This will help you create more targeted ads that will appeal to the people most likely to buy from your business.
- Create a marketing plan – Building a comprehensive marketing plan is the best way to ensure that your ad campaign is successful. You’ll need to consider things like the type of ad, where you’ll place it, how much the ad cost, and what your overall goal is.
Targeting And Audience Selection
While you’re creating your ad campaign, you also need to think about your target demographics. Facebook allows you to select specific demographics, such as age, gender, language, location, interest, relationship status, work affiliation, and education level.
If you select too narrow of a group, your ad may not be successful because it won’t appeal to enough people. However, if you choose too broad of a group, your ad won’t be relevant to anyone and therefore won’t get any clicks.
While you’re selecting your ad targeting options, don’t just select random options. Instead, consider how each of your target demographics relates to your business and find ways to appeal to each of them with your ad.
For example, if you’re a brand new business, you probably want to focus on finding new customers as opposed to engaging with your current ones.
Ad Types: Which Works Best For Beginners?
There are a few different ad types that you can select when creating your Facebook ad campaign. The ad type you choose will depend on your goals, but one ad type is generally better than the others.
You can select between click to play or display ads. Click to play ads are better for conversions, while display ads are better for engagement and brand awareness. You can also choose to create an event ad or a carousel ad.
- Event ads – These are best for promoting an upcoming event or product launch. You can also use event ads to promote your website by promoting a special offer or discount that people can redeem when they visit your website.
- Carousel ads – These are similar to slideshow ads and are best for promoting products that have several features. Carousel ads are also useful for building engagement and brand awareness by creating a slideshow where each image is related to your brand.
Dark Posts: Know Before You Jump In
If you’re new to Facebook advertising, you should know about dark posts before you get started. A dark post is an ad that is only visible to people who are not your friends or fans. You can create a post just like you would a normal post, but it won’t show up in your feed.
Dark posts are useful to test different ad types and targeting options before showing your ads to the entire world. You can create multiple dark posts and choose which one performs the best. After testing your options, you can use the winning ad as a normal ad that is visible to all of your fans or non-fans.
Facebook Ad Best Practices For Beginners
Now that you understand what Facebook ads are and how they work, it’s important to keep these best practices in mind when creating your campaign:
- Don’t spend too much, too quickly – While Facebook advertising is extremely effective, you need to be smart about how much you spend. You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on ads without knowing how effective they are. Start small and scale up as needed.
- Pick the right type of ad – There are several different types of ads you can create. The ad type you choose will depend on your goals.
- Keep your ad short and sweet – A lot of people will see your ad without reading the entire thing. Make sure that your ad gets its point across quickly so that people know what it is about.
- Keep it real – Facebook is a social network, so you want your ads to be as real and human as possible. Don’t try to be something that you’re not. Show your personality and engage with your audience in a genuine way.
- Be consistent – Once you have created an ad, you need to be consistent with it. You can rotate different variations of the same ad, but make sure that you don’t change the ad so much that it is unrecognizable.
Facebook Ads for Lead Generation
There are many different types of businesses, including B2B and B2C brands, that can benefit from Facebook ads for lead generation. While you can use the tips outlined above to create an effective ad for lead generation, it’s important to understand the differences between B2B and B2C ads.
B2B Facebook ads are best for targeting people who are more likely to be interested in your products and services based on their position in their company. If you’re a service provider, B2B ads are a great way to get your name out there and find new customers.
B2C Facebook ads are best for targeting people who are actively looking to buy products. If you have physical products for sale, B2C ads are a great way to get your name out there and drive sales.
Which Audience Should You Target?
The first step towards creating a successful Facebook ad campaign is to determine which audience you want to target. This will largely depend on your business and the product or service you’re promoting, but there are a few core elements you should consider when selecting an audience:
- Psychographic – What are the values and personality traits of your ideal customer? What are their goals and motivations?
- Behaviors – What are your customers’ habits and routines? What are they interested in? What do they do every day?
- Demographics – What is your customer’s age, gender, and location? Is your product or service applicable to a wide audience or a narrower group?
Facebook Ad Design Basics
There are plenty of articles that break down the best practices for creating stunning imagery for your Facebook ads. But, to save you the trouble of digging through endless Google results, we’ve listed a few quick tips for creating attention-grabbing ad images:
- Keep it simple – The visual elements in your ad should be easy to understand at a glance. Avoid overly complex designs, as these can be difficult to process and are less likely to be noticed by prospective customers.
- Keep it consistent – Visual consistency across all your ads is essential. You don’t want your customers to see one ad and then another ad that looks completely different. Instead, your ads should look like they belong together.
- Be descriptive – Although you don’t want to include too much text in your ad, you will want to include text that describes your product or service and the benefits it offers.
Facebook Ad Video Best Practices
While still images are a popular choice for creating Facebook ads, many advertisers are finding that video ads are particularly effective. There is plenty of research that suggests video ads are more engaging and lead to higher click-through rates than static images.
An effective video ad should be short and to the point. Avoid spending too much time trying to explain your product or service in detail. Instead, try to condense your message into a 30-second video that offers a quick overview of what you’re selling.
How Can Facebook Advertising Help My Business?
Facebook advertising can help your business in a variety of ways. It provides you with a direct line of communication to your customers, which is especially helpful when you’re trying to reach out to a specific group of people. When you create an ad, you can target a specific audience, which means you can specifically reach the people in your niche.
This is an invaluable opportunity to get your name out there, since you can create ads that are shown to people who may not know about your business yet.
Facebook ads allow you to target specific demographics, so you can focus on groups of people who are most likely to use your product or service. This allows you to cut through some of the noise and really focus on your target audience.
Which Ads Are Best for Beginners?
All Facebook ads fall under the “Sponsored” tab, which means all ads are paid. Before you start creating ads, you’ll need to decide how much you plan to spend each month. While there’s no set amount that’s appropriate for every business, a good rule of thumb is to invest between $10 and $50 per ad per day.
Note that this is the amount you spend per ad per day, not per day per ad. If you’re just getting started with Facebook advertising, it’s a good idea to start out with cheaper ads until you find a formula that works.
How Does Facebook Advertising Work?
To get started with Facebook advertising, you’ll need to create an ad campaign. Facebook provides a few options for creating your first ad campaign. You can select “Create New Ad” from the Facebook ad menu, or select “Edit Existing Ad” if you’re creating a new ad within an existing campaign.
Once you’ve selected “Create New Ad,” Facebook will walk you through a few questions that will help you create your first ad. They’ll first ask you about your business, followed by your ad goal.
Once you’ve selected your ad goal, Facebook will ask you to choose your audience. This is an essential part of creating an ad, since it will determine who sees your ad.
6 Best Practices For Beginners When Auditing Facebook Ads
Once you’ve selected a few ad campaigns to audit, there are a few best practices that are helpful for beginners:
- Check ad headlines – The first thing you’ll want to do is check the headlines of each ad. Make sure the headline is attention-grabbing and concise. If you’re stumped on how to write an attention-grabbing headline, try To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
- Check ad images – The next thing you’ll want to do is check the images used in each ad. Make sure the images relate to the headline and are consistent with the ad copy.
- Check ad copy – After that, you’ll want to check the ad copy. Make sure it answers the customer’s question and that it’s compelling.
- Check targeting options – Next, you’ll want to check the targeting options of each ad. Make sure each ad is targeting the appropriate audience.
- Check budget and schedule – Finally, you’ll want to check the budget and schedule associated with each ad. Make sure each ad has enough budget to be effective.
2 Pro Tips To Save Time And Money When Auditing Ads
If you’re just getting started with Facebook advertising, there are a few pro tips that can save you time and money:
- Create a spreadsheet – One of the best ways to save time when auditing ads is to create an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet that keeps track of ad campaigns and ad groups. This way, you can see which campaigns and ad groups are the most effective and which ones need some extra attention.
- Learn from other advertisers – Another way to save time and money is to learn from other advertisers. Pay attention to what other people are doing, and consider ways that you can learn from their success.
Conclusion
From designing compelling ad images to targeting your ideal customer, there’s a lot that goes into creating a successful Facebook ad campaign. When you’re just getting started with digital advertising, it can be helpful to break things down into smaller, more manageable goals.
On that note, if you’re just getting started with Facebook advertising, we hope this article has equipped you with the knowledge you need to create an effective ad campaign and effectively reach a wide audience.
Whether you’re promoting your business or crowdfunding a project, Facebook ads can be a helpful tool in growing your audience and driving engagement. These best practices for beginners will help you create ads that are engaging and relevant, increasing the likelihood of your ads achieving success.