The Complete Guide to Advertising on Facebook

Posting to your Facebook page is one way to market your brand online. Ads are another. Facebook provides a meaningful range of ad objectives. This includes the ability to hyper-target your audience. With over 3 billion monthly active users, this can rapidly establish and expand your local, nationwide, and global reach.

Let’s explore the basics of how to advertise on Facebook.

Why Advertise on Facebook?

When you create a Facebook ad, you can leverage the data collected to target your audience. This includes the ability to engage with customers who’ve recently visited your website or brick-and-mortar location (aka. retargeting).

Facebook’s algorithm collects data generated from user behavior. This includes activity within Meta, online activity outside of Meta, and offline activity. A combination of tracking cookies and GPS track offline activity. Users can limit Facebook (and Meta’s) tracking capabilities.

What is Meta?
Meta is Facebook’s parent company. Meta refers to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other platforms owned by Meta.

How to Advertise Your Business on Facebook?

You must create a Facebook Business Page to advertise on Facebook. Or turn Professional Mode on in your personal account.

• Facebook Business Page: If your business is new, create a Business Page. This separates your personal account and your business endeavors. It also provides access to advanced features. You can close your Business Page at any time.

• Professional Mode: If your online presence grew organically, Professional Mode may be a better option. It works because you won’t lose momentum by switching to a Business Page. So, switch Professional Mode on to access advanced features. There’s no separation between your business and personal account. You can switch Professional Mode off at any time.

Advanced Features Include

• The ability to monetize your Reels.
• Advanced analytics and page insights.
• Access to Facebook Ads Manager.
• Professional tools such as appointment setting, payment processing, and third-party business integrations.

What Is Facebook Pixel?

Now referred to as Meta Pixel, this is a piece of code that you install to your website or app. Even if you aren’t running ads, the Meta Pixel begins collecting audience data. The data collected helps you measure, optimize, and build custom audiences. It collects data for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Audience Network.

The Meta Pixel is fast and easy to set up.

What Data Does Facebook Collect?

Hyper-target your marketing ads in Facebook by controlling who your ad populates for. This is especially important if you target different demographics.

This includes targeting by:

• Location: It’s essential to target consumers in your geographic region. This can be your city, state, country, or global location. You can even target specific languages within the location you select.

• Personal demographic: Select user age, education, career, income, relationship status, and more.

• Interests: Facebook collects data on the types of businesses users engage with. They also collect data related to online and in-store purchases. This helps to track hobbies, interests, and spending habits.

How to Set Up Facebook Ads Manager?

Before you can begin advertising, you need to learn how to set up Facebook Ads Manager. This is the platform you use to create and manage your ads across all Meta platforms.

1. If you haven’t yet, create a Facebook Business Page or turn Professional Mode on. This creates a linked Ads Manager account.

2. Confirm account information, such as your name and address. Also add your payment method.

3. Now you’re ready to create your first ad.

What Types of Ads Can You Run on Facebook?

Facebook allows you to run ads for a variety of objectives. Yes, generating sales is your goal. But first you need to grow your Facebook presence. Or funnel leads to your lead nurturing campaign.

Facebook Ad Campaign Objectives

• Awareness: Build awareness with increased ad views or video views. Run Awareness ads for new businesses or to introduce new and existing products and services to a new audience.

• Traffic: Drive traffic to your website, landing page, Facebook page, game, or app.

• Engagement: Increase Facebook followers, likes, or comments. Or guide viewers to take other actions, including direct messaging.

• Leads: Funnel targeted leads to your lead nurturing campaign. This could be by email, SMS, phone calls, or direct messaging.

• App promotion: Targeted to mobile users to encourage game or app downloads or in-app actions.

• Sales: Put your products and services in front of those most likely to buy.

• Retargeting: Retargeting ads reconnect you with users who’ve recently engaged with you. For example, an ad will pop up in a Facebook feed when someone has recently visited your website. The ad features the products they viewed, keeping your brand top of mind.

How Long to Run Ads on Facebook?

Wondering how long to run ads on Facebook? Many new to online advertising don’t run their ads for long enough. The Facebook algorithm needs time to test different targeting methods. This builds an ad-specific audience. So, running an ad for a day or a week provides little to no value.

Commit to running your ads for 30 days. During this time, run an A/B split test. This is the process of running two similar ads with different headlines, graphics, or videos. You’re testing to see which ad does better.

Once you determine which ad has higher conversion rates, you can turn the other ad off.

Facebook Ad Types

• Photo: A simple headline with a product photo or custom graphic.

• Video: Short-form video to visually engage and story tell.

• Stories: A short video or series of photos described to entice and engage.

• Messenger: These ads populate as chats with the intention to start a conversation.

• Carousel: A photo or video series featuring several products or product views.

• Slideshow: An easy-to-scroll experience that provides a bit more detail about your product.

• Playables: An interactive experience designed to preview apps and games before downloading.

How to Advertise on Facebook for Free?

If you sell physical products, you can post your products to Facebook Marketplace. This is a listing service for local businesses and non-business Facebook users. It works a bit like Craigslist, so the only “targeting” is location. You can place new and used items for sale in a variety of categories. Users browse categories on their own.

Marketplace listings are free and underutilized by brick-and-mortar businesses. Post as few as one listing a week.

It’s Time to Start Creating!

Now that you know how to advertise on Facebook, it’s time to set up your first ad. Graphic design tools like Canva help you create images and graphics. For videos, all you need is the camera on your computer or smartphone to begin filming. Or you can use JoggAI to create videos for Facebook ads and posts.

Artificial intelligence is the secret to success for many small businesses. It enables content creators to ramp up video production. No worries if you don’t want to be in your video or don’t have the budget to hire an actor or influencer. You can use AI to create a lifelike avatar!