Getting Started With Facebook Ads

Published on January 6, 2016

Sure, you use Facebook for fun and for your business. But have you started using it for advertising?

In addition to being a hugely popular social networking site, Facebook is a remarkable advertising platform that offers you the unique opportunity to closely target your ideal audience. And what’s more, Facebook ads have a proven history of success, with 70% of businesses reporting a 3X or better ROI on their campaigns.

Ready to use Facebook ads? Here’s what you need to know to get started:

How Do I Find My Audience?

It can be overwhelming to set up or launch a social media ad campaign, but don’t get overwhelmed. Facebook has a number of built-in tools and options that make it easy to get started targeting your new users.

Once your well-maintained Facebook business page is set up, you can begin by targeting your page’s fans. From there, Facebook allows you to target a “lookalike” audience – those users who are similar to your fans in terms of location, demographic information, or online behavior. You might also upload your business’ contact or email list to begin targeting users who are familiar with you (though who may not yet like your page), and even set up ads to target fans of other Facebook pages similar to your own.

Maybe the site’s most powerful feature, Facebook also allows you to set up “retargeting.” With retargeting techniques in place, once a visitor users your site, she will begin to see targeted ads for your content on her timeline.

What Should My Ad Look Like?

Facebook offers several different options for designing ads – Power Editor and the Ad Creator Tool. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. While Power Editor allows you unlimited text, we recommend starting with Ad Creator, as it’s by far the easier tool to master.

Begin by setting up a news feed ad, which will show up in a reader’s scrolling timeline, rather than off in their sidebar. Be sure to invest in mobile ads, as well.

Make sure your post is visual. Design an eye-catching graphic that speaks for your content – Facebook will allow you to test out images in its grid tool before locking one in.

Once you have the perfect visual element in place, you can focus on your copy. Strive to get your audience’s attention right off the bat: Open with a question with a positive “yes” answer, and then use the rest of your text – ideally no more than two sentences – to tell your audience what to do next. Be sure to include a link to your target in your text, or include a prominent teaser – like “click below!” – to guide your readers to your link.

What Should I Budget?

Social media marketing expert and podcast host Amy Porterfield recommends spending $5 per ad set per day at the start of the process. Once you can use analytics to track the success of your ads, you can increase or decrease your daily budget. At the outset, your cost per lead may be as high as $6 to $7 per lead; over time, this should ideally level off to $5 or less per lead (depending on your industry and product or service, of course.)

Be patient, as finding your audience can take time. But if you’re not happy with your cost per lead, try switching up your ad – change the way you’re targeting, your header image, or your body copy to see if any of these tweaks make a difference in engagement. Though it may be tempting, don’t change everything all at once – be scientific so that you can suss out exactly what the problem is and maximize your future advertising budget.

Are you looking to get started on a social marketing campaign for your business? Ready to generate high quality, sharable content that will drive users to your site? When you’re ready, drop us a line! We’d love to help jump start your social media presence in 2016.