How to Create a Facebook Ad Campaign the Right Way in 2024

It is an open secret that every business needs advertisements to survive but not with the wrong platform.

Advertising your business on Facebook is one of the best social media marketing strategies to think of.

If you want your business to grow very quickly, let us see how running a Facebook ad is worth trying.

Aside from the fact that you need a budget for this strategy, you also need to know how to create a Facebook ad campaign so you can get a huge ROI.

In other word, this discussion includes:

How to set up an ad campaign on Facebook
Understanding how Facebook charges for advertising
Identifying Facebook KPIs and metrics to boost your ad performance
Optimizing your Facebook ads and getting optimum conversions

Meanwhile, businesses that do not advertise with Facebook literally do not exist.

You may have a business that is even registered with the government. Your customers do not care.

The implication, however, is that your entire customers are on Facebook. And based on brand and consumer engagement behaviors, your customers want to see you on Facebook.

When they search, read nice articles, and watch interesting videos but cannot find your brand on the list, the memory of you melts away as they get attracted to other brands that actively engage them.

So, for the fact that your business has no online presence, those who do will be exposed to your customers and build new relationships.

If you do not want to lose your customers, you need a Facebook ad to start with. Facebook marketing becomes more interesting if you can invest in ads and boost your ROI.

As Facebook is focusing more on marketing, the platform rolls out new features every now and then to help brands get more customers.

If you know how to create an ad campaign with Facebook, you should be able to solve your sales and marketing problems.

There is a possibility that people who discover your products through your ads will even buy directly from you. They can even channel their queries to you for instant feedback.

So, it is a great idea to pick out a befitting platform like Facebook to advertise your products online.

Benefits of advertising on Facebook

In case you still wonder why advertising on Facebook is important to your business.

The following are the exceptional usability features of Facebook and the top benefits you get from running your ad campaigns on the platform.

Brand awareness: Running a Facebook ad can get your brand and products known to a global audience.
Targeted ads: Facebook ads are targeted ads that ensure that only the set of people who are interested in what you do get to view your ads.
Low cost: Your objective of launching Facebook ads can be achieved in no time without necessarily wasting your time and money on irrelevant audiences.

Facebook emerged as a popular social media platform in the world with over 3 billion monthly active users.

So, any good ad campaign you create on Facebook has the power to present your business to a huge number of users from around the globe.

You can imagine what your ROI will be after launching your first campaign on Facebook.

Having access to an advertising platform that gives you the potential to reach your prospects is indeed a benefit worth exploring.

How Facebook ad campaigns work

Unlike Google ads where ads are shown based on searched keywords, Facebook ad campaigns are displayed to people based on their interests and activities on the platform.

For instance, if someone likes sports-related pages, Facebook will begin suggesting more other related content to him until his interest changes over time.

The implication is that your interest in a particular content will make you get more related content on your wall. So, you don’t have to miss anything as your interest indicates.

I searched for “Sports” on Facebook and got a list of pages that deal with sports content.

After liking a few sports content from the search results and returning to my wall, Facebook then sent content related to “Super Eagles” to me.

Meanwhile, Super Eagle is a Nigerian national football team.

You can simply show interest in something on the timeline of you and your friends.

The kind of ads or campaigns you get subsequently will be related to what you have initially shown interest in or consumed on the platform.

This is just a hint on how Facebook distributes ad campaigns to users.

So, when you create a campaign, Facebook will show it to people who have shown interest in your business category.

There is no way an optimized ad will go to the wrong audience and result in a waste of ad budget.

While Facebook ads are primarily based on users’ interests, your ad budget is spent depending on what the audience does with the campaign.

You can set your Facebook ad to get your prospects to “like”, “share”, and “comment” on your campaigns, or visit your website and generate more leads.

Each of these engagement activities attracts different ad rates to calculate the cost of your ad on the platform.

This shows that there are different types of ads you can run on Facebook and each can be set according to your goal and determine the success of your business.

Types of Facebook ad campaigns

There are several types of ad campaigns that you can create on Facebook. These include:

Lead ads
Video ads
Post boost ads
Carousel ads
Dynamic product ads (DPA)
Facebook instant experiences
App install ads
Events & Offer ads

Lead ads

As the name implies, these ads are used to create lead-generation campaigns with Facebook. With this kind of ad, you can place a link in your ad and get your audience to click the link and boost your leads.

It is good for generating leads for your landing page, and affiliate links to build an email list. You will realize that this type of ad is very common on Facebook.

Most top websites use lead ads to cart away potential customers from Facebook to their product pages. That makes this type of ad very effective for driving massive traffic to a website.

To create a lead ad, Facebook recommends a picture of about 1200×628 pixels, a headline of not more than 25 characters, and a link description of 30 characters maximum.

Video ads

Video marketing works very effectively with Facebook and this could be seen in the high conversion rates that Facebook video creators get from their content.

Just like other video creators, you can also go for a video ad to showcase and explain even better to your audiences how your products work.

An ad like this is seen in the video below by Beats by Dre.

A Facebook video ad can be up to 120 minutes long but you do not need to use up to that length at all. In fact, it should not be more than a minute long with an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 9:16.

The video can have up to a maximum of 4GB capacity which definitely is more than enough and you can go for a continuous loop if needed.

Post boost ads

You can also create a page booster ad to promote your page or page’s posts on Facebook.

Boosting your post or page delivers your campaigns to more people and earns you a good number of followers on Facebook.

If you already own a page on Facebook, this would not be new to you. Facebook prompts users to boost their pages or posts from time to time.

As a result of this, you can convert your post to a paid ad immediately after publishing them. That makes it possible to get started with Facebook ads with a click away.

But you must note that not all posts would be made available for boosting except those that meet up with Facebook standards on quality posts.

Carousel ads

This type of Facebook ad involves the combination of up to 10 pictures in a swipeable mode usually from left to right.

Carousel ads can be used for divergent purposes. You can use them to promote multiple products in a single campaign or to determine products that would do well when you run a sole ad on them.

Most eCommerce stores use it to advertise their products.

Apart from pictures, you can also include videos, embed links, or even use a call-to-action button in your carousel ads.

Dynamic product ads (DPA)

Dynamic product ads look like carousel ads. The difference is that the former is automatically generated and it works hand-in-hand between your website and any Facebook user who has visited your site before.

This kind of Facebook ad can be used to retarget your audience by showing them your products similar to others with whom they engage on Facebook.

It works with the aid of Facebook Pixels and your active product catalogs.

The pixel is capable of tracking users that visit your site and sending data back to Facebook so the audience never loses sight of your brand.

It is also capable of tracking visitors’ activities such as subscriptions, commenting, making a purchase, and so on, on the website to make sure the audience remains around you.

All you need to do is to install a Meta pixel on your website as it is very pivotal to your ad campaign.

Once installed, you will be able to create a duplication of your adverts within 24 hours to target the same set of people who have visited your website within the period.

With the ad retargeting strategy, you will be able to expose your audience to more of your products which might catch their attention and hold them down.

Facebook instant experiences

Facebook instance experiences formerly known as Canvas ads are just like carousel ads but differ as they employ more 3D effects to quickly bring the attention of the audience to the campaign.

Your audience will be able to view the ads in all directions, zoom in and out with their fingertips just like pictures in their gallery.

The only downside is that this type of Facebook ads is only available on mobile devices due to the difficulty of changing the direction of desktops.

App install ads

As the name implies, app install ads are simply to get your viewers to download and install your app in the exhibition.

The good thing is that Facebook charges you per installation.

So, you should not worry about paying without getting value for it.

Events & offers ads

Events and offers ads are the types of Facebook ads that you can use majorly to invite your audience for an event or to claim a particular offer from you.

It is always best to keep your event ads in your locality while setting them up for optimum performance.

Assuming you are hosting an event in Lagos, the closest areas to where the event is held are where the ad will be directed so you can get enough people to attend.

With any of the ad types above, you can create an ad on Facebook to display your products to the world, boost your brand awareness, or achieve whatever objective you have.

Just know that Facebook has the tool for whatever business goal you have and you only need to know how to get started first.

How to create a Facebook ad campaign with an ads manager

If you are ready to invest in advertising your business and you want to know how to set up a Facebook ad campaign for that purpose and succeed, here are the best steps to get started:

Create a Facebook Business Manager account
Choose a campaign objective
Give your ad campaign a name
Set your ad budget and schedule
Define who you want to see the ad
Choose placements for your Facebook ad
Set your brand safety and bid controls
Create your ad
Publish your ad

Now let us look at each of the steps to run your first Facebook ad campaign and be successful.

#1 Create a Facebook business manager account

As a professional, the very first step to create an ad campaign on Facebook is to log in to Facebook Business Manager and do everything you want to do from there.

Facebook allows advertisers to use the tool to manage all activities concerning their businesses with ease. So, this warrants having an active account on Business Manager.

If you already have an existing Facebook Business Manager account, you can jump to the next step. Otherwise, see our detailed guide on Facebook Business Manager to learn how to set up and use the tool to create your ad campaigns.

#2. Choose a campaign objective

Your Facebook ad objective is simply what you intend to achieve or the reason for running an ad campaign on Facebook.

1. Log in to your Business Manager account and click the Ads tab or visit Facebook Ads Manager directly.

NB: You may be asked to agree to Facebook policy for using this service. Review the policy and click I Accept to proceed.

2. On the next page, click on Create ad, and then select your ad objective.

You would not be cracking your brain for the kind of words to use in order to state your ad objective. Facebook has 11 possible objectives listed on the platform.

Meanwhile, with Facebook Ad Manager, you can achieve any of the following marketing objectives:

3. Choose a campaign objective for your ad and you are good to go.

Brand awareness: This is to make new audiences be aware that your brand exists. The awareness objective is best suitable for new brands and entrepreneurs who are seeking popularity and are not really concerned with the immediate gains, profits, or close of sales.
Reach: This is to make sure your campaign reaches almost all your potential customers.
Traffic: This is the best choice to drive traffic to your website or app. When you run an ad for traffic, the implication is that Facebook will direct people to your website through the link you place in your ad.
Engagement: This is to get more people to like, share, and comment on your post and boost the number of your page followers. You can also choose this objective to get people to visit your event or claim an offer.
App Installs: If you have an app, this objective will help you get more people to install your app.
Video views: If you do video marketing and you do not gain enough viewers, you may need to consider running an ad with this objective.
Lead generation: This will assist you in sending more new prospects through your sales funnel. You can also get more subscribers or build your email list using this.
Messages: This is typically to trigger replies or to re-engage dormant audiences through your Facebook messenger account.
Conversion: Get more sales or any other specific action you want your audience to take on your website with this objective. This may involve adding a call-to-action button to your ad.
Catalog sales: This helps you link your product page or catalog with your ad campaign so your audience can see and buy your products.
Store traffic: This can be used to send nearby audiences to your physical stores.

We all have different reasons to advertise our business on Facebook. Yours could be to get more conversions and mine is to boost traffic.

The most important thing is to be sure of what you want to achieve with your ad and go for the campaign objective that aligns with your current business needs.

After selecting your objective, press the Continue button.

#3. Give your ad campaign a name

Since you will need to create several ads down the line, it is important to name each campaign and avoid muddling them up.

In case you plan to test the performance of this campaign against another, you may need to consider the A/B Test.

A/B Test allows advertisers to compare campaigns or ad sets against each other to know which of your strategies converts better.

If you want to set up an A/B split test, click Get Started in the A/B Test section to set this ad as your control. You can choose different versions to run against this ad after it’s published.

Under the Special Ads Categories section on this page, Facebook requires that advertisers should declare if their campaign is related to social issues, elections, or politics. These are sensitive issues that you must acknowledge your involvement with and be strategic about to avoid your campaign being disapproved. Otherwise, ignore it.

If you scroll the page down a little bit, you will see an option to switch on your Campaign Budget Optimization. You may leave the switch off by default if you do not have multiple ad sets yet.

Click Next to proceed.

#4. Set your ad budget & schedule

On getting to this step, give your Ad Set a name, choose the Facebook Page you want to promote and leave Dynamic Creative off as it is by default. Then set your ad budget and schedule.

Facebook gives advertisers two options to set their ad budget.

Daily budget: Low-budget advertisers can go for this option to minimize their daily ad spending to as low as $1. But it must be noted that with this option, you cannot set a schedule for your campaign.
Lifetime budget: You will be able to set a schedule under this option and whatever amount you are budgeting will run the ad throughout the period.

The question is how much does Facebook advertising cost?

There is no fixed price or amount to spend on creating a Facebook ad for your business.

You can start with an initial daily budget of $1 which is the minimum amount Facebook accepts for daily spending on placing an ad on the platform.

As time goes on, you can decide to alter the budget to suit your campaign objective and financial capacity. But at least, the budget can be up to $20 per day.

Meanwhile, what I recommend for beginners is $3-$10 per day. You can do this for a minimum of one week to ensure you really understand the performance of your ad based on its seasonality behavior on each day of the week.

Investing in your ad campaigns should not be a problem as this could be the best way to boost your ROI on Facebook.

However, the result you desire must be guaranteed before putting your money into it. That is why Facebook is flexible with its advertising billing system.

But at the same time, you have a role to play so your ad spending does not wreak havoc on your business. You need to set a budget for your ads and schedule it when your potential customers are most likely going to be online.

Do you know that there are specific times your audiences are not on Facebook?

This means showing your ad when your audiences are not available to view it is counterproductive. To know more about ad scheduling and why it is important.

The point, your ad budget does not have to be much because that is not what makes your ads attract your audience’s attention but your ad schedule.

#5. Define who you want to see your ads

The success of your Facebook ad campaigns greatly depends on the kind of people who see the ads.

So, how do you know the audience to target with your ad?

Your product may be awesome, but you would not close sales by showing it to the wrong people.

The right audience can be targeted by their locations, demographics, and special interests. Take for instance, if you sell Coke or Pizza, someone who likes fast food will be a good target for the ad.

You can imagine advertising Heineken on a religious-based page, how can you get someone to buy the product there?

There should be an alignment between the audience and the product you are advertising to make enough sales.

For this reason, there are two types of audiences to choose if you want to display your ads on Facebook and make sure it gets to the right customers.

Custom audience: If you are creating an ad for the first time and have no existing saved audiences, this option will allow you to create a new audience among those who have interacted with your business on or off Facebook.
Lookalike Audiences: You can make use of lookalike audiences to reach new people on Facebook who are similar to other audiences who are loyal to your brand.

Click Create New and select either Custom Audience or Lookalike Audience.

It is highly recommended you make use of Lookalike Audience if your business is yet to have a massive audience on Facebook. There is a separate guide that you can read on how to set lookalike audiences.

With this strategy, Facebook will help you establish new relationships with users similar to your scanty website visitors.

At least, for someone to have visited your website or interacted with your Facebook business page before, there is an element of interest that the audience has in you that is worth leveraging.

Facebook provides you with three additional fields to add more details about your audiences and make targeting them as specific as possible:

Detailed Targeting: Use this strategy to include or exclude certain people from your ad coverage. It works based on certain demographics, interests, and behaviors.
Languages: All Facebook ad campaigns are generated in English by default but if there is a need to change this, you can effect the changes here.
Connections: This works if you want to include or exclude people who already have connections with your business via your Facebook Page, Apps, or Events. Click Show More Options and then Add a Connection Type. A list of options will pop up, find and select the one that is suitable for your objective.

Let us say you want to target your audience by interest and your business is about marketing and advertising, click Browse, followed by Interests, and then select Marketing (Interest > Business and industry > Marketing). Repeat the process for Advertising.

This means you are specifically targeting people who have shown interest or liked pages related to marketing and advertising.

While adding the audience by their demographics, interests, or behaviors, take cognizance of the figures shown on the other side of the page called Audience Definition.

The figures are an estimated size of the audience you are likely going to reach. To keep the size lower, click the Narrow Audience tab and also apply to Exclude people who match, and make sure you use any suggested option most relevant to your objective.

The more specific you are, the lower the figures and the better your ads will perform.

When you are done defining your target audience, make sure you click Save This Audience to apply all the settings you have made.

#6. Choose placements for your Facebook ad

Facebook ad placements allow you to determine places where you want your ad to show up and you would have to choose between:

Automatic Placements: Facebook’s ad delivery system will help you determine the best place your ad will appear and perform best. This option is recommended by Facebook to ensure your ad budget is effectively utilized.
Manual Placements: You can use this option to manually determine places where you want your ad to show. With this option, you can choose as many places as you like because the more places your ad appears the better it performs.

You can go for manual placements when you are a pro or after gaining more experience on how to create a Facebook ad campaign. Meanwhile, the options that are available under the manual placements may vary as your ad objectives differ.

But at least the options may include choosing placements based on:

Devices: Mobile, desktop, or all devices (recommended)
Platforms: Facebook, Audience Network, Instagram, and Messenger.
Placements: Feeds, Stories and Reels, In-Stream, Search, Messages, In-Article, Apps, and Sites.
Specific mobile devices and operating systems: All mobile devices (default), Android devices only, iOS devices only, and Feature phones.

Whichever way you want it, scroll down the page and select options suitable for your business needs.

#7. Set your brand safety and bid controls

Setting your brand safety is all about preventing your ads from appearing within content that may be considered inappropriate for your brand.

To set your Brand Safety, hover over each of the Inventory Filters, Block Lists, Current Type Exclusions, and Topic Exclusions for Facebook In-Stream Videos and click to edit and choose options suitable for your brand.

As for Bid Controls, this is important to help improve the delivery optimization of your ad. You can work around the options here.

But as a beginner, the default settings are not bad as they are set to standard.

Finally, you can have a look at your Audience Definition on the right-hand side of the page. Both the estimated audience size and daily result or reach are determined by the overall settings you have made.

While the figures are not necessarily needed to be accurate, you can keep them as low as possible to avoid wasting your ad budget.

When you are done with the whole settings and you are happy with the estimates, click Next to proceed.

#8. Create your ad

You have a few more steps to complete the setup and publish your ad. What you need to do include:

Ad Name: Give your ad a name
Identity: Create or link a Facebook Page or Instagram account that represents your business to your ad.
Ad Setup: Select Create Ad (recommended), Use Existing Post (if you have an existing post that can serve as an ad) or Use Creative Hub Mockup.
Choose your Ad Format: Single Image or Video, Carousel, Collection, and Full Screen Mobile Experience. All these have been discussed under the types of Facebook ads in this guide. Go back there to know which ad format to choose.
Ad Creative: Add media (image or video), Primary text (125 characters long or less), and a website URL.

When you are done creating your ad campaign, click the Preview tab to see how great your ad will look to your target audiences.

#9. Publish your ad

Once you have set up your Facebook ad to your satisfaction, click Publish to start converting your potential audience with it.

But you have to remember that Facebook will auction your ad against similar ones to determine who to see your ad and when your ad will appear on its assets.

This allows the advertising system to check your ad for quality and relevancy. If the ad meets up with Facebook’s standards, then it will start appearing to the audience immediately. So, no cause for alarm if your Facebook ad does not come up immediately.

Conclusion

It is very important to learn how to create a Facebook ad campaign before creating one so your ad can be as effective as you want.

This guide is the ultimate guide for beginners to get started with Facebook advertising and succeed. After reading it, you should have no problems setting up your first ad campaign on Facebook. But if you do, do not hesitate to request our assistance under the comment section.

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