Getting started with Facebook and Instagram ads can be a bit scary for small business owners. Does it work to boost a post? What’s Facebook Ads Manager? What objective do I need? Pixels?!
It can be a little daunting to get your head around. Which is why people like me study for months to get to grips with it! But there are a few steps you can take to put you on a good footing. Then if you do decide to outsource your paid ads to an expert, you’ll understand more about what you’re doing. And you’ll make them smile from ear to ear if you have your Pixel installed!
Here are 5 steps to get started with Facebook Ads.
1 – Ensure you have an Ads Manager account
There are three ways you can run paid campaigns on Facebook; by boosting posts, using Ads Centre, or by using Ads Manager. Boosting posts can be a waste of your budget as the targeting available is very limited. If a post isn’t performing in the first place, there’s a high likelihood that it’s not valuable content. And if it ain’t adding value, your audience won’t react to it. I’ll write more on boosting posts soon!
Ads Centre was introduced as a middle ground between boosting and Ads Manager. People were discovering boosting wasn’t working but were struggling to navigate Ads Manager. However, the targeting still isn’t amazing and it doesn’t allow you to do all the amazing things you can do in Ads Manager.
So the lesson here is, get yourself on Ads Manager! Head to https://facebook.com/business/tools/ads-manager to sign up with your business Facebook page.
2 – Install the pixel
If you have a website, it’s worth installing the Facebook pixel if you intend to ever dabble with Facebook or Instagram ads. It’s a little bit of code that you install on your site that will collect data on website visitors, meaning you can retarget warm leads. These are people that have already expressed an interest in what you do.
People are often frightened by it as they can’t code but most hosts have plugins that make it super easy. And Facebook’s instructions are great. The installation is not something that your Ads Manager will usually deal with so it’s a good idea to get it sorted as soon as you can so that you’re ready to go should you outsource your Ads management. It also means you can start seasoning that pixel with valuable data!
3 – Know what you want to achieve
This is a biggie. Knowing and understanding your objective when it comes to Facebook ads is the first part of setting up a campaign. It’s easy to say you want more sales or leads or that you just want more people to know about your brand but think about why, and you’ll need to consider whether that objective is realistic.
For example, we all want more sales, but conversions is the hardest objective for Facebook to achieve, so you’ll need a hefty budget. Consider whether a traffic objective will work instead. If your site converts well organically, then this may be cheaper option and still achieve sales. A reach objective is all well and good but you’ll really need to nail your targeting to avoid your ads reaching the wrong audience.
4 – Ensure your images and creative is scroll stopping!
There is a lot of noise on people’s newsfeeds and if you want your audience to stop scrolling and read what you have to say, you’re going to need amazing visuals!
The other thing to note is that you will need your creative to be optimised for different places your Facebook ads will be shown. We all know how popular Instagram and Facebook stories are nowadays right? Create a version of your ad especially for Stories.
5 – Don’t interrupt the learning phase
When you press go on a Facebook Ads campaign your delivery column will report to be in learning mode. This means that Facebook’s bots will be looking for your audience, serving your ads to them and figuring out how people are reacting to them; which are clicking through, engaging or doing what you want them to do. You’ll only exit this phase when you hit 50 of whatever your objective is (link clicks, page views, conversions etc) and it’s super important that you sit on your hands and let Facebook do its thing.
If you begin getting impatient and trying to edit your ads or switching them off before learning is up, when you click go again you’ll go right back to the start of the learning phase. So trust in the process, be patient, and wait! If you’ve designed a great campaign, the results will come!
If you’d like any info about how I can help you nail your first Facebook Ads campaign, or if you’d like me to manage your ads for you, get in touch via my Contact Me page.
