As of March 2017, Facebook reported an average of 1.28 billion daily, active users. These users are busy reading their news feeds, catching up with fellow Facebookers, and finding content and pages that reflect their interests, including some of the 40 million active small business pages.
As the user community continues to grow, more and more businesses are turning to Facebook to reach their customers. The availability of efficient targeting tools allow for precision over blunt force. Advertisers are able to define the exact audience they wish to reach by targeting a user’s location, interests, age and gender. Budgeting flexibility is also a big plus, allowing even small businesses with modest budgets to benefit from Facebook advertising.
Creating a Facebook ad is simpler than you may think. But if you don’t know where to get started, the steps below will guide you through setting up your first campaign. You’ll start the process in Facebook Ads Manager tool. Once you’re there, select “Create Ad” to get started.
1) Choose your objective.
What is your goal for this ad? Is it to build brand awareness? Or, are you trying to get users to take valuable action on your site? Here’s a list of options you can choose from to define your objective.
Awareness
- Brand Awareness – Reach people more likely to pay attention to your ads and increase recognition of your brand.
- Reach – Show your ad to the maximum number of people.
Consideration
- Traffic – Send more people to a destination on or off Facebook.
- Engagement – Get more people to see and interact with your post or page. This can include comments, shares, likes, event responses and offer claims.
- App installs – Send people to the store where they can purchase or download your app.
- Video views – Promote videos to raise awareness for your brand.
- Lead generation – Collect lead information from people interested in your business.
Conversion
- Conversions – Get people to take valuable action on your site.
- Store visits – Promote store hours and other offers to users.
2) Define your audience.
Once you’ve chosen your objective, you’ll want to define your audience, aka users who are likely interested in your brand or business. Selecting a targeted audience will maximize the impact of your ad. Once complete, your Ad Manager will show you the estimated maximum amount of people that your ad will reach.
- Target by location – Select a specific location to which your ad will run, or select multiple locations within a certain mile radius.
- Target by age – Select the age range you wish to distribute this ad to better suit your business audience.
- Target by interest – Enter keywords, interests or demographics you wish to specifically target your ad towards.
3) Define your budget & schedule.
After selecting your audience, you’ll want to determine the length and budget of your ad campaign. Ad Manager allows users to specify exact run dates and budget amounts, making integration with a larger marketing campaign simple and convenient.
- Budget: Set the amount of money that you wish you spend on this ad. Choose from a defined daily budget or a total budget for the duration of your ad run.
- Schedule: Set a specific start and end date for your ad, or set your ad to run continuously until your budget is exhausted.
4) Format, Image and Text.
Facebook provides several formats for ads, which can feature one image, two images, a video or a screen grab. The formatting tool will help you visualize how your ad will appear to users. It’s important to note that Facebook does not allow images that include more than 20% text in the graphic. This is to help ad content blend seamlessly into users’ news feeds. So, keep your messaging in the copy text portion of the ad short. Facebook also provides a selection of stock images for ads, which can be a convenient resource for small businesses.
5) Preview and Submit.
You’re almost done! Facebook Ads Manager will give you one last preview and a summary who it will target and how long it will run for under your budget. Once you are satisfied, hit submit. Ads Manager will then review your ad and you will be notified once your ad has been approved.