How do I create an effective Facebook ad?

Posted on Monday March 11, 2019

Facebook has uses that go way beyond posting cat photos, complaining about restaurants, or stalking your ex - it's also an incredibly effective advertising platform. From small businesses to big corporations, anyone can benefit from Facebook's marketing tools. Read on to leverage Facebook to your advantage.

Why advertise on Facebook?

Above all else, the cost-effectiveness of Facebook advertising sets it apart from other marketing channels. The starting cost is as low as $1 per day, which is ideal for SMBs that want to test small campaigns before investing more.

Beyond its affordability, Facebook advertising is also extremely effective. With 6 billion monthly active advertisers and the ability to nail down your audience to the most specific details - including their interests and online behavior - it's no surprise that Facebook advertising has the best return on investment (ROI) compared with other social media platforms.

Before you get started

As with other traditional marketing campaigns, you need to determine your marketing objectives, audience, budget, and how you want your ads to look like. Once you have the answers to all those questions, you're ready to create your first ad. Follow this step-by-step guide:

1. Choose your marketing objective From your business profile page, click Ad Center from the top menu. Then, click Create Ad on the page that appears.

Choose your “marketing objective.” This is what you want people to do when they see your ads. You can pick only one from three options: brand awareness, lead generation, or store visits. Then, set up your advert account by selecting your account country, currency, and time zone.

2. Nail down your audience You can tailor your audience based on location, age, gender, language, interest and behavior, and the kind of relationship they already have with your page, app, or website. It's best to be as specific as possible when selecting your audience.

3. Set up your budget and posting schedule Facebook allows you to set up a daily or lifetime budget. The latter is the maximum amount you plan to spend for an entire ad campaign. Then choose the frequency or the start and end dates in which your ads will appear.

4. Design how your ads will look Choose how your ad posts will look like to your audience, such as whether they will appear as an image carousel, a single image, a video, a slideshow, or a “canvas” (a new format for mobile users that combines video, carousels, images, and text into one interactive ad). Note that your ad will consist of five parts: an image, a headline, a block of text, a link description, and a call to action button such as “Buy now,” “Sign up today,” and the like.

Tips on designing Facebook ads that grab people's attention

Your ads will appear in people's newsfeeds, so make sure your content is interesting and succinct enough to grab their attention as they scroll past it. Each component of your ad - the image, headline, link description, and call to action - must stand out when surrounded by vacation photos that rarely receive more than a few seconds of attention.

Creating a Facebook ad is simple, yet the beauty of it is that Facebook also allows for more advanced targeted advertising if you know how to take advantage of what the platform has to offer. Talk to our specialists today; they'll be happy to share a few pointers on how to achieve the best results from your campaigns.