How to use Facebook Advertising in 2023

This kind of advertising has become one of the most popular ways to give your ecommerce a big boost. You don’t know how to use it? Don’t worry, we’re here to guide you as much as we can. 

Of course, in this note you won’t find everything about Facebook ads. However, If you have any further questions, leave us a comment so that we can write another blog post with more important aspects on this topic. Let’s get started!

What are Facebook ads and what do they do?

Basically, as they say on the can, Facebook ads are paid-for posts that advertise a product or service to users on the platform. Furthermore, they come in different shapes and sizes, which we’ll discuss in another note.

How to create a Facebook ad

1. Choose your objective

Once you’re logged in to Meta Ads Manager, go to the ‘Campaigns’ tab and hit ‘Create.’ Then, you’ll have to choose between 11 marketing objectives and although it could sound extensive and boring, it pays to take your time. 

Moreover, keep in mind that the cost of your Facebook ads will depend on what kind of campaign you run, given the CPC benchmarks vary between campaign objectives. For example, the average CPC for a conversion ad is around $0.90 per click, whereas an impressions campaign is double. 

Anyways, you can check the 11 Facebook Ad Campaign Objectives here. Then, when you’ve chosen your objective, you’ll have to pick a specific metric. For example, app installs require direction to an app, while engagement needs something to measure engagement against (likes, comments, shares, etc).

2. Give your ad campaign a name

Now it’s time to name your campaign and please, don’t forget to declare if it falls in a special ad category. This includes ads for housing, social issues, elections and more. On the other hand, you’ll see that you can set up an A/B test for your ads but as we’re just walking through the process we’ll leave it turned off and head to the next step.

3. Budget and schedule – how much should you spend on your first Facebook ad?

Certainly, this could be one of the most difficult steps in the list. As you see, after naming your ad set and choosing which page you’d like to promote with your ad, you have to decide how much money to spend on your ad.

If it’s your first time running Facebook ads, you can keep low costs. Even though you can choose a daily or lifetime (meaning the “lifetime” of the campaign) budget. But take into account that you must only commit to what you’re comfortable with. If you have $300 and that’s the absolute maximum you can pay, don’t go any higher.

Another advantage is that if you opt for this option, you can select start and end dates. Besides, scheduling ads like this can be great for targeting particular demographics.

4. Target an audience

Remember, if you’re trying to get started with ad strategies, it’s important that you have in mind the specific audience you want to address. So, you can select a target audience based on age, gender, language, location and more. You can even get extra detailed and target people who’ve shown an interest in your business before.

Likewise, keep in mind that the other indicators that you can see on the interface will become more accurate the more often you run Facebook ads, as it has more data to make estimates with. For that reason, if it’s your first rodeo, ignore them.

5. Pick your Facebook ad placements

Scroll down from the previous section and hit ‘Advantage+Placements.’ This automatically places your ads across the Facebook feed, Messenger, Audience Network and Instagram. If you want more control, you can click ‘Manual Placement’ and do it yourself. Your options will depend on the campaign objective you’ve selected, and you’ll be asked to choose from a bunch of variables such as:

• Device type: Which kinds of devices you want to target – desktop, mobile, or both
• Platform: Facebook, Audience Network, Instagram or Messenger
• Placement: Decide if your ads will appear in Feeds, Stories, Reels, in-stream, Messenger, search, in-article, Reels, or on apps and sites
• Mobile devices or operating systems: Decide if you want to solely target iOS, Android, all devices, etc
• WiFi exclusive: Only shows your ads when users are hooked up to WiFi

6. Establish brand safety

The “Brand Safety” section focuses specifically on filtering the content that is associated with your ads. If your products are strictly targeted at adults, it shouldn’t appear in content aimed at teens. You can even block specific publishers and sites, if you want to be extra careful.

7. Create your Facebook ad

Finally, you get to make your Facebook ad. Select the correct ad format and fill in the appropriate text and media fields. Remember that the formats will depend on the campaign objective you chose earlier. You can also use the ‘Preview’ tool at the right-hand side of the page to get a sneak peek of your ads’ placements.