Facebook Advertising Tips and Tricks
Facebook Marketing appears, at least for beginners, to be somewhat mysterious and intractable. There are so many settings and so many things that need to be done that creating a Facebook ad can seem rather impossibly difficult. With over 2 billion users, the platform, nevertheless, represents a veritable goldmine to those who are willing to navigate through its murky waters. So, how do you create Facebook ads and what benefits can you derive from advertising on Facebook?
- Be clear about what you wish to achieve
This is the first thing that you need to do before even starting the process of creating a Facebook ad. Ask yourself; “what is it that I hope to achieve by marketing on Facebook?” The answer to this question can be anything; from driving traffic to your website, to increasing sales on one product or the other.
- Have a personal Facebook Account
Next, you need to create a personal Facebook Account. Let’s face it, most of us already have one. Although there are some who claim that you can circumvent this process, Facebook pretty much requires a personal account before you can do anything.
- Create a Facebook Page for your business
If you are worried about using your personal account for your business, a Facebook Page is how you can separate the two. Once you have signed up for a personal Facebook account, creating a Facebook Business Page should be simple enough.
How to Create Facebook Ads: The process
So, how, really, do your create Facebook Ads? The process of creating a Facebook Ad is composed of three steps;
- Create a Facebook Ad Campaign
- Create an Ad Set
- Create the Ad itself
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How to Create a Facebook Ad Campaign
In order to begin working on your Facebook Ad, all that you need to do is log into your personal Facebook Ad, account and click on the drop down arrow to the top right of your screen. Next, click on “Create Ads,” in the drop down menu. This takes you into Ads Manager, where you can begin working on your Facebook Ad. You can also get started by going to Facebook Business and clicking on the “Create an Ad,” button.
The Campaign is where it all begins, as far as the structure of a Facebook Ad is concerned. But, why should you bother creating a Facebook Ad Campaign?
Campaign Objectives
Remember what we have already said about having clear objectives for your Facebook Ad. The Campaign is where you set those objectives. As you can see in the above screenshot, you have a wide range of Objectives from which to choose when creating Facebook Ads for your business. These include;
- Brand Awareness
- Reach
- Engagement
- App Installs
- Video View
- Lead Generation
- Traffic
- Store Visits
- Product Catalog Sales
- Conversions
Brand Awareness
Raising brand awareness is, without doubt, every business’ dream. This is the objective that we are going to choose in this example. We are going to create Facebook Ads that enable us to reach out to people on the platform who are likely to be interested in what we have to offer as a business. Lets assume, for the sake of this example, that we own “Sniff,” a new line of perfume that is specifically targeted at professional women.
Naming a Facebook Campaign
Before you can create a Facebook Ad, you first need to give a name to your Campaign. This, in any case, is no big deal. The name that you choose for your Campaign does not appear in the Ad itself, but in reporting, insights and notifications. As you can see in the above screenshot, we have named ours “Brand awareness: Sniff Perfume.” Click on the “Continue,” button when done.
- Ad Set
This is the second step in the process of creating Facebook Ads for your business. In Facebook Marketing, you can think of an Ad Set as the vehicle that drives the Ad itself. An Ad Set is composed of three major settings;
- Audience
- Placements
- Budget and Schedule
Zooming in on your target audience
Facebook, as we have already noted, is a vast Social Media platform, that brings together various interest, demographic and behavioral groups. The trick to running a successful Facebook Marketing campaign lies in precisely targeting the people who would most likely be interested in what you have to offer. What we mean is, it would be foolhardy to try and reach out to all the 2 billion people who are on the platform. Its way better to narrow down your focus, and you can begin to do so in Ad Sets.
Naming your Ad Set
Your Ad Set has to have a name, which appears in reporting, insights and notifications. Again, there is no need for your to sweat over the name. It does not appear in the Ad itself. We have called ours “Sniff Perfume Ad Set.”
Audience
The ability to precisely define your target audience has, as we have already noted, a huge bearing on the success of your Facebook Ads. Facebook Advertising is all about getting noticed by the right kind of people, and having the right audience is where you get started.
Locations
Part of the process of defining an audience for your Facebook Advertisements involves choosing the geographical locations where you wish to have the Ads delivered. For this example, we are going to go with the capital of the United States. Depending on the scope of your business, your can include and exclude as many locations as you wish. You can also choose to have your ad delivered to;
- Everyone in the target location
- People who live in the target location
- People who have recently been in the target location
- Those who are traveling in the target location.
As you can see in the above screenshot, we have chosen to have our Perfume Ad delivered to women in Washington DC.
Age
Since our perfume is ostensibly targeted at professional women, we are going to go with an age group of between 30 and 50.
Gender
We have already stated that we wish to have the Ad for “Sniff,” our newly created perfume, delivered only to women. That is not to say men would not be interested in what we have to offer, but, for this ad, we are going to stick with our target audience; professional women.
Languages
If you would rather have your Facebook Ad delivered only to Spanish or Latin speakers (are there any of the latter remaining?), you can do so through this setting.
Detailed Targeting
You can, using this section, further zoom in on your target audience, using population, demographics and behaviors. If you think your business will do better by only targeting people who listen to a particular type of music, then this is where you make the specifications.
As you can see in the above screenshot, we have targeted, for our example, people who make between 50 and 70 thousand dollars a year. We have also targeted working women and women who describe themselves as being independent.
Estimated Daily Results
The settings that we have chosen so far give us an estimated reach of between 5750 and 20 000 people on a daily basis. That’s out of a potential 120 000 people.
Placements
If you want to have your Facebook Ads delivered on Instagram, Audience Network and in Messenger, then you can do so using this setting.
Budget and Schedule
The budget that you set for your Facebook Ads has a bearing on the number of people that you reach. You do need to, however, carry out some testing before settling on the optimum daily amount that should be spend on your Ads. For our example, we are going to start with $50 a day. Click on the “Continue,” button when done to begin creating your Facebook Ad
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Create a Facebook Ad for your Business
This is the culmination of all the steps that we have been laying out above. The Facebook Ad that we create here is, really, what will determine the success or failure of our venture. It’s imperative, therefore, that we work hard on making it the best that it can be.
Give your Ad a Name
First of all, you need to give your Ad a Name. The name does not, however, appear in the Ad itself, so there is no need for you to sweat over it. We are going to call our “Sniff Perfume Advertisement 1.”
Identity
Here, you need to add a Facebook Page that will be represent your business in Ads. As you can see in the above screenshot, we have added our Facebook Page. You can also add an Instagram account at this point.
Accepted Ad Formats for Facebook Ads
You have a wide range of choices when it comes to ad formats when creating Facebook Ads;
- Carousel
- Single Image
- Single Video
- Slideshow
Slideshow
For our example, we are going to create a Slideshow. Doing so is a simple matter of choosing the appropriate section in the above screenshot. Next, click on the “Create Slideshow,” button. Then click on “Add Images.” Here, you can either upload your own images or use stock photos for your Facebook ad. Once done, click on the Create button to compile your slideshow. Then, click on the “Create Slideshow,” button and you should be done.
Headline
The headline has a huge bearing on the success of your Facebook Ads. Its important, therefore, for you to come up with something that, in a few words, captures the attention of your target audience. Remember that people on Facebook have no time for the banal. In a world that is replete with fake news, you need to really work hard to get people to look at your Ads.
Text
The text that you add here appears at the top of your Ad. Use it to tell people what it is that your are advertising.
Ad Preview
Your Ad’s preview can be seen in a pane to the the right of your screen. You can see an example in the screenshot for this article.
Confirm your Ad
When done, click on the confirm button and you should now be able to launch your Facebook Ad. The thing to remember is that Facebook Advertising should be an ongoing process. Work on your targeting options and you should be able to hit a rich vein, as far as far as getting new customers for your business is concerned.
If you need to learn more about Instagram Marketing and how you can use it to help turn your business during the current year, just follow the article in the provided link. You can also learn more about Facebook Marketing by reading this article. If you have questions about boosting Facebook posts, read this article for more on the usefulness of this strategy.
