How to Create your First Facebook Ad

Facebook, the world’s largest social networking platform, commands a staggering monthly active user base of over 2.5 billion, yet not many people know how to tap into this to grow their brands. The truth is, whatever the size of your business, Facebook Advertising is something that you should be doing to reach out to your customers. Most people think that creating Facebook Ads is difficult. However, that is not actually the case. Creating Facebook Ads is something that ANYONE is capable of doing. Yes, you are going to need to learn a few things to get started, but once you are on the way, you will have the advantage of being able to experiment with the available options to come up with something that’s particularly suited for your

business. Here are the steps to creating your first Facebook Ad;

It all happens in Ads Manager

The first thing to note is that Facebook Ads are created using the Ads Manager. You can sign into Facebook Ads Manager using your personal Facebook details. All that you need to do is click on the drop-down arrow to the top right of your screen. You will see a number of options in there. Choose “Manage Ads.” In ads Manager, you can get started creating your first Facebook Ad by clicking on “Create Ad.”

It’s a 4 Step Process

One thing that you will notice is that creating Facebook Ads is a 4 step process. Some of these steps are split into tens of other steps, but that’s nothing to be afraid of. Facebook has come up with an interface that can be used to create ads for any business that’s out there, and many of the things that are in there will not be relevant to your particular Corporate business. The steps when creating Facebook Ads are given below. Not that step 2 is mostly about Facebook making money, so we are not going to dwell on that in this article.

1. Creating a Campaign
2. Creating an Ad Account
3. Setting up an Ad Set
4. Creating the Ad Itself

Creating a Campaign

This, as noted, is the first step when creating your very first Facebook Ad. The good news is that creating a Campaign is not that difficult. There are a few things that you are going to need to do to get through this step;

Choose a Campaign Objective

Facebook has what are called Campaign Objectives from which you are required to choose one when creating Ads on the platform. Currently, there are the following 11 Facebook Ad Campaign Objectives;

• Traffic
• Brand awareness
• Store Visits
• App installs
• Video views
• Engagement
• Messages
• Reach
• Lead generation
• Conversion
• Catalog Sales

How to choose a Campaign Objective

There are, as already mentioned, 11 Facebook Ads Campaign Objectives, but how do you choose one that’s best for your brand? Well, it’s a simple matter of knowing your business. You also need to know what you wish to achieve with your Facebook Ad. Perhaps you wish to get people from Facebook to a landing page. If that is the case, then you need to choose Traffic as your campaign objective. Let’s assume, as an example, that you own an eCommerce business selling e readers. If that is the case, you will have created a page featuring the “best e ink readers 2020.” People who click on your ad on Facebook will be directed to the landing page where they can buy e readers.

Just to give the example of another eCommerce business selling headphones; perhaps you wish to create an ad showing the best Bluetooth headphones 2020. If that is the case, you could create a landing page on which people can browse through your catalog. There are also times when you want to get people to message you directly, in which case “Messages,” would be the best Campaign Objective. Local businesses that have just been set up in a new area may choose “Brand awareness,” as their campaign objective when creating Facebook Ads.

Setting up the Ad Set

This is the third step when creating your First Facebook Ad. As noted, we have skipped the second step, setting up and Ad Account. It’s not really important as far as creating the ad itself is concerned. But you will need to do it before launching your ad. Anyway, what is the Ad Set and why is it important?

What is an Ad Set?

The Ad Set section is where you set up targeting options for your ad. It’s, therefore, one of the most important steps when creating Facebook Ads for your business. Please note that when it comes to creating Ads, targeting is really important. You don’t want to end up having your ads being shown to the wrong audience. So, you need to have clarity beforehand on who you wish to reach. And you need to define and zoom in on your target audience as much as is possible. The good news is that Facebook gives you a number of audience targeting options;

Location

Where are the people that you wish to target with your Facebook Ads located? In today’s world, eCommerce businesses can conceivably target people in all parts of the world. However, most businesses are localized. If you own a cafe’, as an example, you will only be able to attract people from 3 miles or so around your business. Of course, your reach could be more if you are really good. But in all honesty, nobody is going to drive across the city or from the other side of the country to visit your restaurant. So, you need to restrict delivery of your ads to the immediate area around your business.

Age

You can also target your audience using age when creating Facebook Ads. Most of the products on the market today are age specific. If you are advertising video games, as an example, your ads will probably mostly be composed of people between 16 and 40. Whatever the nature of your usual customers, you could also create ads that target specific age groups that you wish to attract to your business. If you own a restaurant, you could, as an example, create an ad offering free lunch to people on their 18th birthday.

Gender

There are also instances where you may wish to target people of a particular gender. A banquet room running a weddings promotion would have better success, as an example, targeting only women. It you sell perfumes for men, you would probably be better off targeting men with your Facebook Ads. In some instances, you could even target women for perfumes for men ads! So, Facebook Ads are versatile but you need to know what you want to be successful.

Language

An Immigration Attorney operating in an area, such as Florida, where there are many immigrants would be most successful targeting people who speak Spanish. So, language is a pretty useful parameter when it comes to creating Facebook Ads.

Detailed Targeting

The Detailed Targeting option allows you to further define the target audience for your Facebook Ads. You do this using “Demographics,” “Interests,” and “Behaviours.” You could, as an example, choose to target your ad at people with upcoming birthdays in the next 3 months. Or you could target friends of recently engaged people. In the example of headphones given above, you could target people who have expressed an interest in Pages to do with headphones. The trick, in any case, is to make sure that you have narrowed down on your target audience as much as is possible. That way, you can be sure that your Facebook Ads will only be seen by people who are interested in whatever it is that you have to offer. This increases the chances that you will get clicks on your ads.

Budget and Schedule

The Ad Set section is also where you set your budget and schedule. Most people stay away from Facebook Ads because they think they are expensive. That is actually not the case. In fact, Facebook Ads are generally cheaper than Google Ads. You can even get started for as little as $5. Of course, the number of people that you reach is going to be small the lower your budget. But it’s advisable to start small and then increase your budget as you see the results.

Another thing that you need to do is to set a budget limit for your Ads. If you use your ad on Facebook and you forget to set a budget limit or schedule, Facebook will keep running your ad and deducting money from your account. So, you need a budget schedule to limit the amount that you pay per campaign.

Creating the Ad

This is the final step when creating Facebook Ads for your brand. You should remember that the ad is what people will actually see. They will not see whatever you did in the preceding steps. So, the ad is important. You need to make it as good as you can to make people take notice. Remember that people on Facebook Are always in a hurry. You have only a few seconds in which to capture their interest, so you need to make your ad as eye-catching as is possible.

• Creating high quality ads that appeal to your target audience. Use the best pictures, images and other materials that you can lay your hands on.
• Using offers and promotions. People love freebies and one way of getting them to notice your Facebook Ads is by giving away discounts and other offers.

Rounding up

Finally, Facebook Ads come in three formats; images, carousels, and videos. Again, you need to remember that you only have a few seconds in which to capture your target audience’s attention. Feel free to experiment with this section until you are comfortable with it.  That’s another great thing about being able to create your own Facebook Ads; you are free to experiment till you have come up with a winning formula!