Facebook advertising is one of the best ways to reach customers online. With over 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook remains the most-used social network. This huge audience gives businesses a real chance to connect with potential customers.
Businesses are putting their money where the results are. What makes Facebook ads special is how they let you target exactly who you want to reach. You can show your ads to people based on their age, location, interests, and their online activities. This means you’re not wasting money showing ads to people who won’t buy from you.
In this article, you’ll learn the step-by-step process to create and run your Facebook ad. We’ll cover everything from setting up your account to measuring your results. By the end, you’ll know how to get your business in front of the right people on Facebook.
What You Need to Get Started
Before you can start advertising on Facebook, you need to set up a few things. Having these setups ready will make the process much smoother.
Facebook Business Page
First, you need a Facebook business page to use Ads Manager for your company. If you don’t already have one, create a new page. Make sure your business page has complete information. Add your business name, description, contact details, and website.
Facebook Business Manager Account
Next, you need a Business Manager account. This is Facebook’s tool that lets you manage your ads, pages, and team members all in one place. Fcebook Business Manager also keeps your business activities separate from your personal Facebook account.
Payment Method
You’ll need to add a payment method to run ads. Facebook accepts credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal in most countries.
Ad Budget Planning
Decide how much money you want to spend on ads. You can start small. Think about what you can afford to spend each month, and start with a small amount while you learn. You can always increase your budget later when you see what works.
Setting Up Facebook Ads Manager
Facebook Ads Manager is where you’ll create and manage all your ads. Think of it as your control center for advertising on Facebook.
Begin by logging into the Facebook platform. Once inside, look for the ‘Ads Manager’ option in the main menu. You can also go directly to [business.facebook.com] and log in with your Facebook account.
When you first open Ads Manager, it might look overwhelming. But it’s actually organized in a simple way. The interface has three main sections:
- Campaigns: These are your overall advertising goals
- Ad Sets: These control who sees your ads and how much you spend
- Ads: These are the actual images, videos, and text people will see
If you’re new or don’t have the time to manage campaigns, Socialander can be your ad partner. We set up ads, create, monitor, and optimize them to ensure you get measurable results without wasting your budget.
Step-by-Step for Creating Your Facebook Ad
Facebook makes the process of creating your ads simple by breaking it down into clear steps. Let’s walk through each one so you can launch your first campaign with confidence.
1. Choose Your Campaign Objective
Facebook offers 6 main campaign objectives: Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App Promotion, and Sales.
Here’s what each objective means and when to use it:
Awareness: Choose this when you want more people to know about your business. It’s perfect for new businesses or when launching a new product. Facebook will show your ads to people who are most likely to remember them.
Traffic: Pick this when you want people to visit your website, blog, or online store. Facebook will find people who usually click on links and are likely to visit your site.
Engagement: Use this to get more likes, comments, shares, or followers on your Facebook page. It’s great for building a community around your brand.
Leads: This objective helps you collect information from potential customers, like email addresses or phone numbers. Facebook can create forms that people fill out without leaving the platform.
App Promotion: Choose this if you have a mobile app and want more downloads or people to use it more often.
Sales: This is for businesses that want people to buy something. Facebook will show your ads to people who are most likely to make a purchase.
2. Set Your Target Audience
You can choose exactly who sees your ads based on where they live, how old they are, what they’re interested in, and how they behave online.
Demographics (Age, Gender, Location)
Pick the age range of people most likely to buy your product. Set your location targeting based on where you can serve customers. If you have a local business, target people within a certain distance of your store. If you sell online, you can target entire countries.
Interests and Behaviours
Facebook combines demographic data (like education and job titles), interest signals (such as fitness preferences and gaming genres), and behavioural patterns (including device usage) to create highly refined audience segments.
Facebook knows a lot about its users based on what they like, share, and click on. You can target people based on their hobbies, the pages they follow, and even their shopping habits.
3. Choose Ad Placements
Ad placements are where your ads will appear on Facebook’s platforms. You have several options:
Facebook Feed: Your ads appear in people’s main Facebook feed as they scroll through posts from friends and pages they follow.
Instagram: Since Facebook owns Instagram, you can show your ads there too. This is great for reaching younger audiences and showcasing visual products.
Stories: These are full-screen ads that appear between people’s Stories on both Facebook and Instagram. They’re perfect for mobile users and creating immersive experiences.
Automatic vs. Manual Placement
When starting out, Facebook automatically tests your ad in different places and shows it where it performs best. This usually gets you the most results for your money.
Once you have more experience, you can choose manual placements to control exactly where your ads appear. This gives you more control but requires more testing to find what works best.
If you already run ads but aren’t sure whether they’re working as well as they should, check out our detailed guide on Facebook Ads Audit to identify hidden gaps and opportunities.
4. Set Your Budget and Schedule
Now you need to decide how much to spend and when your ads should run.
Daily vs. Lifetime Budget
A daily budget means Facebook will try to spend that amount each day your ad runs.
A lifetime budget is the total amount you want to spend over the entire time your ad runs.
Start and End Dates
You can run your ads continuously or set specific start and end dates. If you’re promoting a sale or event, set end dates. For general brand awareness or ongoing promotions, you can run ads continuously.
Bidding Strategies
Facebook uses an auction system where advertisers compete to show their ads to the same people. You can let Facebook automatically bid for you or set manual bid amounts.
You can always change your budget, schedule, and bidding later. Start small, see what works, and then increase your spending on the ads that get results.
5. Creating Your Ad Creative
Your ad creative is what people actually see – the text, images, and videos that make them want to click or buy. This is where you can make your ad stand out from the competition.
Choosing Ad Format
Facebook offers several ad formats, and picking the right one depends on what you’re trying to achieve and what content you have available.
Single Image Ads are the simplest and most common format. The standard size for single image ads is 1080 x 1080 pixels – that’s a perfect square and works great in most places. These ads work well for showcasing products, promoting services, or driving traffic to your website.
Video Ads are becoming more popular because they grab attention as people scroll through their feeds. Video duration should be 3 to 61 seconds, with MP4, MOV, or GIF formats recommended.
Carousel Ads let you show multiple images or videos in a single ad. People can swipe through them to see different products or features. Carousel ads can display up to 10 images or videos, each with a unique link.
Collection Ads are designed for businesses that sell products online. They show a main image or video with smaller product images below it. Collection ads use product images or videos in a square (1:1) aspect ratio and are great for creating shopping experiences.
Stories Ads appear between people’s Stories on Facebook and Instagram. For Stories or Reels, 1080 x 1920 (vertical) is your go-to format. These full-screen ads are perfect for mobile users and create immersive experiences.
6 Writing Captivating Ad Copy
Your ad copy (the text that goes with your images or videos) is just as important as your visuals. A good copy tells people what you’re offering and why they should care.
Headline: Keep your headlines short and clear. Tell people exactly what they’ll get if they click your ad.
Primary Text: This is the main text that appears above your ad. Use it to explain your offer, mention benefits, and create urgency. Don’t try to say everything – focus on one main message.
Call-to-Action Selection: Facebook offers different call-to-action buttons like “Learn More,” “Shop Now,” “Sign Up,” and “Download.” Pick the one that matches what you want people to do.
Launching and Managing Your Ad
This second section is after you’ve created your ad, it’s time to launch it and keep an eye on how it’s performing.
7. Reviewing Your Ad Before Publishing
Before you hit the publish button, take a moment to double-check everything. Look at how your ad will appear in different placements using Facebook’s preview tool. Make sure your images look good, your text makes sense, and your links work properly. Check that you’ve selected the right audience, budget, and schedule. It’s much easier to fix mistakes before publishing than after your ad is running and spending money.
8 Monitoring Performance
Once your ad is approved and running, active monitoring helps you get better results and avoid wasting money.
Daily Check-ins: For the first few days, check your ad at least once a day. Look at how much you’re spending and what results you’re getting. If something looks wrong, you can pause the ad and make changes.
When to Make Adjustments: If your ad isn’t performing well, consider making changes. You might need to try different images, adjust your audience, or change your ad copy. Don’t make changes too quickly though; Facebook’s algorithm needs time to optimize your ad delivery.
9. Measuring Your Results
Understanding how your ads are performing is essential for improving your results and making smart decisions about your advertising budget.
Key Metrics to Track
Reach: This tells you how many unique people saw your ad.
Impressions: This is the total number of times your ad was shown, including multiple views by the same person.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): This shows what percentage of people who saw your ad actually clicked on it.
Cost Per Click (CPC): This tells you how much you’re paying each time someone clicks your ad. Lower CPCs mean you’re getting more clicks for your budget.
Conversions: This is often the most important metric because it shows the actions people take after clicking your ad, like making a purchase or signing up for your email list
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): This shows how much money you make for every dollar you spend on ads. A ROAS of 3:1 means you make $3 for every $1 you spend on advertising.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced advertisers make mistakes that waste ad money and reduce results. Learning about these common pitfalls can save you time and budget while helping you get better results from your Facebook ads.
1 Targeting Too Broad or Too Narrow
Misaligned audience targeting is one of the most frequent mistakes.
An audience of over 10 million people, your ads might be shown to people who aren’t really interested in what you’re selling.
An audience that’s too small (under 100,000 people) might not give Facebook enough people to optimize for, and you might pay higher prices.
2 Poor Ad Creative
Your ad creative – the images, videos, and text – can make or break your campaign.
Common rejection reasons include too much text in images (keep under 20%), prohibited content, misleading claims, or targeting sensitive categories.
Blurry photos, pixelated images, or poorly lit videos make your business look unprofessional. Always use high-resolution images and clear, well-lit videos.
Inconsistent Messaging in:
- Primary text
- Headline
- Description
- Image/video
- CTA button.
Make sure each sings the same tune, especially on mobile, where the description may never show.
3 Not Testing Different Versions
Forgetting to optimize your ads after they start running is one of the common creative mistakes that you can make in any ad campaign.
If your target audience sees your ads too frequently, this will inevitably lead to ad fatigue. So, create multiple versions of your ads with different images, headlines, and copy. Test them against each other to see which performs best.
4 Ignoring Mobile Users
Most Facebook users access the platform on mobile devices. Always check how your ads look on mobile before launching them. Check your ad’s mobile load speed; If your website takes too long to load on mobile, people will leave before they can buy from you.
FAQ
1. How long does it take for Facebook to review ads?
Most ads are reviewed within 24 hours, though some ads are approved in minutes while others can take days. During holidays or special events like Black Friday and Christmas, their team could be overwhelmed and need more time.
Conclusion
Facebook advertising can seem complicated at first, but it’s one of the most effective ways to reach potential customers and grow your business. The key is to start simple, test what works, and gradually improve your campaigns.
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can take your Facebook advertising to the next level and expand what works.
If you want to ensure your ads are set up correctly from the start, consider working with professionals who specialize in Facebook advertising.Scocialander specializes in creating and managing Facebook ads for businesses just like yours. Our team of experts handles everything. Whether you’re just getting started with Facebook ads or looking to improve your existing campaigns, Scocialander can help you achieve better results and maximize your return on investment. Contact us today to learn how we can help grow your business through strategic Facebook advertising.
