How To Launch Your First

FACEBOOK AD CAMPAIGN

GETTING STARTED

Though organic social media success is still an ideal, much-feted ambition for many business owners, it simply isn’t viable if you truly want to expand your reach as quickly as possible. Facebook’s paid advertising options are effective, extremely customizable, and marketer-friendly.

Head over to the Facebook Ads Manager. Here is where you create and edit your ads, as well as analyze the results. Real-time reporting allows you to spot trends as they happen.

Facebook is pretty much adept at giving you a smooth, guided experience when it comes to creating ad campaigns with them. However, we’ve put together this guide to help you make the big decisions — the ones that will breathe life into your Facebook marketing.

H O W T O L A U N C H Y O U R F I R S T F A C E B O O K A D C A M P A I G N2

You will be asked: What’s your marketing objective?

OBJECTIVE:What do you want to accomplish?1

You want to tell people you exist, and generate their interest, with your Facebook ads. Choosing this will yield results that lean towards:

Awareness

○ Brand awareness○ Reach

You want people to make purchases because of your Facebook ads. Choosing this will yield results that lean towards:

Conversion

○ Conversions○ Catalogue sales○ Store visits

You want people to try to find out more about you because of your Facebook ads. Choosing this will yield results that lean towards:

Consideration

○ Traffic○ Engagement○ App Installs○ Video views○ Lead generation○ Messages

Don’t be in a hurry to choose conversion because it’s the only option that exhorts people to make purchases directly. Note that in the end, all these options aim for eventual sales. Analyze your product or service, target audience, and current standing before choosing the marketing objective that’s right for you.

PRO TIP:

H O W T O L A U N C H Y O U R F I R S T F A C E B O O K A D C A M P A I G N3

Facebook will now ask you to define who you want to see your ads. The social network has around two billion users: targeting everyone will be much the same as targeting no one. Facebook allows you to select and customize based on three types of audiences:

AUDIENCE:Who are you targeting?2

Manual set criteria for your target audience.Core audiences

Facebook “discovers” an existing audience by pulling up your contact list.

Custom audiences

Facebook finds a “sister audience” by specifying people similar to an existing target audience.

Lookalike audiences

It’s highly recommended to narrowly specify your target audience. By hyper-targeting your audience, you’re increasing your chances for engagement.

PRO TIP:

H O W T O L A U N C H Y O U R F I R S T F A C E B O O K A D C A M P A I G N4

Facebook ads aren’t limited to the Facebook website or app. You can opt to be seen on Instagram, Messenger, or other mobile apps in Facebook’s Audience Network.

The great thing about Facebook’s ad campaigns is that you get to customize the cost according to the results and your budget — and you can adjust things at any time in the process.

PLATFORM:Where do you want to be seen?3

BUDGET:How much are you willing to spend?4

H O W T O L A U N C H Y O U R F I R S T F A C E B O O K A D C A M P A I G N5

You can opt to use images or videos in your ad campaigns. The format may depend on the platform/s you choose:

On Facebook, you can choose among a variety of formats:

FORMAT:What will your ad look like?5

On Facebook

○ Feeds ○ Instant Articles ○ In-Stream Videos ○ Suggested Videos (Right Column)

On Instagram

○ Feed ○ Stories

Through Audience Networks

○ Native, Banner, and Interstitial ○ In-Stream Videos

On Messenger

○ Home ○ Sponsored Messages

○ Carousel ○ Slideshow ○ Collection ○ Canvas

○ Lead Ads ○ Dynamic Ads ○ Link Ads

H O W T O L A U N C H Y O U R F I R S T F A C E B O O K A D C A M P A I G N6

Your ad is now moving, and you’re seeing some results. Hover your mouse over an ad you want to analyze, and click on View Charts. Here, you can observe where you’re getting the clicks you’re getting — the demographics of who’s engaging with you. Based on this information, you can deduce what’s working and what can be improved.

PLACE YOUR ORDER:If all the above steps are in order, you’re good to go!6

MEASURE:Study your ad’s performance7

GETSTARTEDWhile the process is relatively straightforward, the success of your Facebook ad campaigns relies on the decisions you make when creating them. The ad creation is technically easy — something any business owner can do. Facebook ads are only powerful with imagination and creativity from you, the marketer.

According to a study of more than 100,000 Facebook ads, images account for 75-90% of ad performance. Now it’s your turn to stay relevant and launch your own online campaign.

If you’re looking for help creating Facebook ads for your next campaign, Design Pickle's flat-rate graphic design service is a complete solution for getting the creative content you need. Sign up today with an unlimited monthly subscription or get started with a single design for just $75.

CREATE MORE WITH DESIGN PICKLE

Learn More