When done right, Facebook ads can build brand awareness and give you the opportunity to engage with new and existing customers.
They can even give you an outlet for direct sales.
But to make sure your message gets in front of the right person at the right time, you need to properly structure your ad campaign, choose your audience and set your budget.
In part 1 we covered:
- Why you should be advertising on Facebook
- How to choose between the various ad formats available
- And the components of a successful ad based on where your target is in the buyer’s journey
If you missed last weeks episode How-To Run Facebook Ads For Massive Gains part 1, you should go back and check it out.
At this point, we’re going to assume you know the kind of ad you need.
Creating An Ad — Facebook Ads Manager
Head over to the Facebook Ads Manager page.
You should see tabs with the following 4 options:
- Account Overview
- Campaigns
- Ad Sets
- and Ads.
Account overview
Just what it sounds like
A directory of info related to your ads.
Campaigns
This is where you create ads for a single objective
Using Facebook’s pre-determined options:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- and Conversion.
Ad sets
- Set the schedule for ad duration
- Select the target audience.
- Organize the different ads you’re running in each ad campaign.
Example:
You are running an awareness stage campaign
You might be running:
- an image ad to ungated content and
- a promotional offer
Running simultaneously to two different target audiences.
You can group the awareness campaigns together,
or organize by audience, etc.
Ads
This is where you choose the ad format (Static image, Video, Carousel, etc)
Ads in this section represent the final version of what users will see on their Facebook feed.
Here’s a visual explanation of this hierarchy:
Let’s take a look at the steps required to create a Facebook ad:
Step 1: Select Your Campaign Objective
We went over this in detail in the last episode
Again, each ad should have a SINGLE objective
Tied to where the person seeing the ad is in their buyer journey
Example:
- If you don’t have an established brand with existing followers, start with awareness
- If you’re targeting existing customers already familiar with your brand, you can opt for a Consideration or Conversion objective
You may intend to have multiple ad campaigns run concurrently
BUT let’s focus on one at a time.
Step 2: Give Your Campaign a Name
This seems mundane, but it’s really important
When you’re running several ads with different objectives, targets, and messages, it can be hard to distinguish one ad from another.
There’s no thumbnail
You can’t preview the ad from this tab on Ad Manager
Include enough info in your campaign name to identify it at a glance
Use whatever naming convention that works for you
Plan to be consistent
We name ad campaigns to include:
- Its objective
- Type of ad (image, video, etc)
- Describe the audience you’re targeting (cold, warm, hot)
- A relevant keyword or two
Three years from now
You may have a lot of ads
You may want to re-work a successful campaign
Or overhaul a dud
Step 3: Select an Audience To Target
The audience you choose can make or break an ad’s success.
Your ad should be as relevant as possible to the people who see it.
Audience selection determines if your ad will be shown to:
- a large general audience
- or a narrow, custom group of people.
Facebook gives you lots of options to create an audience.
- Age,
- gender,
- location,
- interests,
- behaviors,
- income level, and much more.
Tempting to show your ad to a large swath of people
BUT it’s best to start small and targeted
Test an ad’s CTR and conversion before you roll it out to a mass audience.
It’s rare that one message will resonate with all people.
Hone your message to speak directly to fewer people
Your ad will convert better than a generic ad pushed out to the masses.
Step 4: Select your Ad Placement
This is where you select where your ads will display within Facebook:
Newsfeed
Sidebar
Audience Network
We went over this last episode
Remember: sidebar ads show on desktop only.
A LOT of Facebook users access only via the mobile platform
You’ll limit your reach selecting this option.
Selecting a Budget
Pivotal to the success of your campaign
Determines the costs related to running your Facebook ad campaigns.
In most markets, there are thousands of others running the same ads as you and trying to achieve the same goals.
Spending factors heavily into ad visibility.
Here’s a glimpse of what the budget page looks like:
The Budget & Schedule
First:
Define if your budget is daily or lifetime.
Daily budget:
How much you’re willing to spend on an ad campaign each day
You can run the ad continuously
Or choose a start and end date.
Lifetime budget:
The total amount you’re willing to spend over a period of time on this specific ad.
You’ll need to set a start and end time.
Optimization for Ad Delivery
This is how you tell Facebook what you hope to gain through this campaign.
Choosing “Conversions”
Tells Facebook to determine which users it thinks:
- will find your ad most relevant
- and be most likely to complete your goal action (giving you an email address, purchasing a product, etc).
Choosing “Link Clicks to your Website”
Similar to conversions
You’re telling Facebook’s algorithm to pick the people most likely to click through your ad to your website.
“Impressions” or “Daily Unique Reach”
Best for an awareness campaign
When you want to maximize the number of times your ad is shown.
Bid Amount
Facebook ad placement is chosen like an auction.
In the bid section, you say what you’re willing to pay
- Per click,
- Per impression,
- OR per conversion from an ad.
This tells Facebook how much you’re willing to pay per action defined.
Facebook compares this value with what others are willing to pay and adjusts ad visibility.
You get two options when bidding – automatic and manual.
If you’re a novice, choose automatic.
You can limit your reach by bidding too low
or spend more than needed by bidding too high.
Facebook wants to keep you advertising on their platform.
They are very careful with your bids.
This is in direct contrast to Adwords
Google blows through your budget as quickly as possible under the ad parameters you set.
Use your daily or lifetime ad budget to set the limits of your ad spend.
Delivery Type
This is where you control how often and how fast your ads are displayed.
Standard vs. Accelerated
Accelerated is best for
If you’re only running ads for a few hours a day
or have a time-sensitive offer.
Otherwise, use the standard delivery method.
Don’t stop at one…
It’s always best to A/B test ad formats
Split your budget
Run at least two ads with the same objective but with a different:
- Style (ex, one static image, one video)
- CTA
- Or wording
This is the classic motto: don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Don’t assume you 100% know your audience
What if you could have gotten 20% higher conversion with a video ad but you just ran a carousel ad?
Measure Ad Performance And Optimize
One of the biggest benefits of Facebook Ads is real-time analytics
Can see ad performance within days, or hours
(Usually, you need to let the ad run 3-5 days for the FB algorithm to work)
Depending on the volume you can see results quickly and optimize ads
Click on Account > Campaigns tab.
Select a date range for the length of time you want to analyze ad performance.
You’ll see a bunch of metrics like:
- cost-per-click,
- cost-per-conversion,
- impressions,
- and unique link clicks
Or you can customize the metrics you see:
- Click on the ‘Columns’ option
- Select between different ad reports
- Change the metrics shown in your reports.
The choice of ad metrics you want to see depends on your campaign goal.
Gauge the success of your campaign
Relative to the goals you set for that specific ad.
Use this data to optimize your campaign.
AdEspresso by Hootsuite analyzed 37,259 Facebook ads
Determined that:
Most companies run only one ad,
BUT the most successful Facebook marketers have hundreds.
Options for tweaking your ads to create an A/B test
- Try different phrasing
- Shorten or expand your message
- Change your image
Identify the ads that resonate best with your fans and customers.
Track modifications!
If a tweak results in a decrease in performance, you can revert back easily.
Change one thing at a time!
You can more easily ID the cause of an increase or decrease in performance.
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Facebook may be facing increased competition from other social media challengers, but it’s still a rockstar tool for marketers.
You can tailor ad parameters to fit your objectives, budget, and time constraints.
Whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness, gather leads or solicit direct sales, Facebook offers a variety of ad types and targeting to allow you to get your message in front of your future customers.