Facebook Ads: A Quick Guide
Facebook reaches more than 2.3 billion people in a month. Imagine the reach that can be achieved by capitalizing on the opportunities through Facebook ads.
Even though a lot of the businesses are overwhelmed by the numerous options available in the Facebook ads, they invest in it and then fail at it miserably. Without a proper understanding of the target audience, ads end up being placed in the news feeds of the wrong people.
If used correctly, smaller companies gain a competitive advantage with Facebook advertising. Facebook ads offer immense customization and creative control giving you the ability to set targets with precision.
Here’s a quick and tiny version of the Facebook Ads.
Despite all the options and placements, Facebook can be divided into three:
- Campaigns
- Ad sets
- Ads
The Campaigns have all your campaigns together under one roof. The Ad sets formed can have separate audiences with different characteristics. You will need a single ad set for each. Numerous ads that vary in color, text, images, etc can be added in an ad set.
1. Creating Ads
You create ads using Facebook’s Ads Manager. You are provided with a dashboard that gives detailed information on the campaigns, ad sets, ads, and their metrics and values. To begin a campaign or ad, click on a highlighted ‘green’ button on the Campaigns page.
2. Select an Objective
As we know, campaigns have an objective or an aim. The Ads Manager will ask you to choose an objective. Facebook offers eleven objectives and they are:
- Reach
- Brand Awareness
- Website Traffic
- Engagement
- App Installs
- Video views
- Lead generation
- Messages
- Conversions
- Catalog sales
- Store traffic
3. Target Audience
The target audience for each ad set of the same campaign can be configured with different targeting options. Facebook’s targeting option has an audience defining gauge. While working on your objective, remember that for driving traffic, you will need to focus on the type of people that are interested in your work. And for brand awareness, it would be better to focus on a general audience.
The targeting options can be narrowed down to tiny specifics or interests like location, age, gender, ethnic affinity, behaviors, connections, and more.
4. Budgeting
Facebook has two options: a daily budget and a lifetime budget. Daily budgeting allows your ad to be run continuously for the day. Lifetime budget is when an ad has to be run for a specific period. The advanced options include scheduling, optimization & pricing, and delivery.
5. Choose Ad Format
There are several ad formats to select from. They are:
- Single image ads
- Video ads
- Canvas ads
- Carousel ads
- Collections for a full-screen mobile experience
Even though each ad has its own special benefits, the video and carousel ads have the highest engagement and CTR rates.
6. Pay Attention
There are a lot of details that you can miss like the CTAs and URL descriptions as they too can drive a lot of conversions. Pay close attention to your ads and look out for CPC, frequency, relevance scores, and the other crucial metrics.
Facebook has great options to choose from but that requires experience and familiarity. Devise a plan to make the process much easier. But if you have quit Facebook ads because it’s overwhelming, don’t worry. We can help you sail through the tough spots.