How to Advertise on Facebook in 2023: The Complete Guide

April 28, 2023

By auroraoddi

Facebook ads have been a popular choice for digital marketers for years now and they are still an effective way to reach a massive audience. With Facebook (now Meta) boasting over 2.9 billion monthly active users and over 2 billion daily active users, it’s clear that this social network is not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, with recent improvements in Facebook’s modeling and AI, ad performance is better than ever before.

As a marketer, it’s important to understand the changes that affect the Facebook ads platform. One major change is the introduction of Apple iOS 14, which has impacted tracking and attribution. However, Facebook has adapted by introducing a new advertising ID system, which allows for more accurate tracking of user behavior across devices.

Additionally, Facebook has introduced new privacy measures, which prioritize user privacy and data protection. As a result, advertisers must be transparent with their data usage and provide clear explanations for why they are collecting data.

A winning Facebook campaign

To set up a winning Facebook ads campaign, it’s crucial to define your target audience and craft compelling ad creative that resonates with them. It’s also important to select the right ad format for your campaign objective, whether that be a video ad, carousel ad, or another format. In addition, setting up proper tracking and conversion metrics is critical to understanding the success of your campaign and making data-driven decisions.

When it comes to testing your ads, there are several best practices to follow. First, it’s important to test multiple ad creative variations to see which resonates best with your audience. Additionally, testing different audience targeting strategies can help you identify which audience segments are most responsive to your ads. Finally, testing different campaign objectives and ad formats can help you identify which approach is most effective for achieving your goals.

How have Facebook Ads changed in 2023?

One change that marketers should be aware of is the continued improvement of Facebook’s Pixel and modeled tracking. While it’s not perfect, businesses can see better results by using the Conversion API. Another new tool, the Advantage+ shopping campaign, is rolling out and appears to be working well for many ecommerce businesses.

Using machine learning, these campaigns serve ads to your highest-value customers using broad targeting. However, it’s important to note that while these options can drive costs down, they may not be the best choice for businesses in the testing phase.

Broad targeting is another area that is seeing success for many advertisers. In some cases, it is outperforming keywords and Lookalike audiences. With Facebook’s AI improving all the time, it may become even easier to achieve better results in the future.

Facebook has also brought back some of the tools that it had previously removed, including the 28-day attribution window and attribution comparison. Having better visibility into attribution allows businesses to better understand the true ROI of their campaigns, which is essential for making informed decisions about ad spend.

In conclusion, Facebook ads are still a valuable tool for businesses, and there are plenty of changes and new tools to explore in 2023. From improvements in tracking and attribution to the continued use of broad targeting, marketers should stay up to date on the latest developments to make the most of their ad spend.

What are the key elements of an effective Facebook ad campaign?

The key elements, if you want to create a good Facebook advertising campaign, remain these:

Choose the appropriate objective.
Ensure proper tracking is implemented using both the Pixel and Conversion API.
Conduct relevant split testing.
Analyze the results and expand on successful strategies.

Now let’s delve deeper into each step and explore any updates that may have occurred in 2023.

How to choose a main goal for your Facebook campaign

Selecting the appropriate objective is crucial for an effective Facebook campaign, as many people often fail to optimize their campaigns correctly, resulting in wasted money. Generally, lead generation and sales objectives yield the best results for most companies.

On Facebook, lead generation is more effective than direct selling because we do not receive the same “buying signals” as we do from Google searches. It’s important to determine whether you’re using an Instant Form (a popup on Facebook) or directing people to your website with properly installed Base Pixel and Lead Pixel codes.

While Instant Forms have performed well in 2023, lead quality remains a challenge. Using higher-intent forms and requesting more information can lead to better but more expensive leads.

For sales campaigns, the Pixel and, if possible, Conversion API must be implemented. For most businesses, retargeting audiences remain the best performers when optimizing for purchases.

How to track on Facebook

Tracking is crucial for achieving better results in your Facebook campaigns. The more data you track throughout your funnel, the better your outcomes will be. Fortunately, many shopping carts integrate seamlessly with the Pixel and Conversion API.

Facebook provides integration tools in the Events Manager to simplify the installation of the Conversion API if you use WordPress or Google Tag Manager. When you track effectively, you can make informed decisions about what’s working. You can analyze data such as “Adds to Cart” and “Purchase ROAS.”

By tracking accurately, you can determine whether Facebook’s optimization is effective, or if you need to divide your campaigns and focus your budget on the most profitable ads or audiences.

Learn how to test your Facebook ads

Testing your Facebook ads effectively is essential to achieve optimal results. While broad targeting has improved, it’s still advisable to test Lookalike Audiences and relevant keywords or job titles, but it’s crucial to have a smart testing plan.

Start by testing the audiences with the same budget, ad, and creative under each ad set. After five days, you’ll have enough information about which audience performed the best. Then use the top-performing audience to test new creative individually.

There are various nuances to consider, such as the significance of results and overall budget, but this is an excellent starting point.

Creative testing has always been critical, and now that you don’t need as many audiences to test, you can explore different creatives in more depth. In 2023, big bold text is popular on Facebook. The 20% text rule is no longer applicable, so anything that grabs attention and stops the scroll is effective. Unique-looking creatives can also attract attention. Retargeting potential customers through user reviews and carousel ads are good options.

Another creative option that works well on Facebook is casual videos that look native. Video ads can be effective in “preselling” your offer, but it’s crucial to test different approaches, compared to image-only ads.

When testing creatives, use images that are significantly different from each other to get the broadest range. Modifying something small like the subheadline or color will not provide significant results.

Analyze your reports and scaling

When analyzing ad reports and scaling, we have discovered that ad set budget optimization (ABO) scaling has been effective. However, for larger budgets, campaign budget optimization (CBO) scaling may be more beneficial. To use CBO scaling, consolidate winning ads and audiences into a single campaign and increase the budget gradually by 20-30% every few days. The ideal strategy will depend on various factors, such as the promotion time, overall budget, and business type.

Fortunately, Facebook has reintroduced Breakdown reports, which allow us to see which age, gender, country, and placements are yielding the best results. Testing has always been crucial for improving performance on Facebook. Continuously testing will help identify top-performing ads.

It’s also essential to test different lead magnets, offers, and landing pages. Small tweaks at the top of the funnel can generate significant results at the bottom of the funnel.