5 things to consider when running Facebook ads
Why Facebook ads are right for your business
Are you looking to expand your business by growing your audience? Facebook’s reach and smarts can help you to succeed.
If you are searching online for an item of clothing or looking for apartments or a new gym to join, Facebook knows! Facebook then uses this information as your interests to target you for similar products and begins recommending these to you.
If you want to advertise your business, Facebook can help you reach your target audiences.
For the right results, you need to have an effective ad, so to get you started, here are our top five things to consider when running a Facebook ad.
1. Choose your ad objective
Before you turn your ad on, decide on the objective or goal of your ad. The purpose could be anything from improving your likes/engagement on your page to getting more sales on your website.
Facebook provides 11 objectives to run your ad and helps to achieve the desired results.
| Objective | Meaning | |
| 1 | Brand Awareness | Show your ads to people most likely to remember your business/brand. |
| 2 | Reach | Deliver your ads to the maximum number of people. |
| 3 | Traffic | Sends people to your website, app, or page. |
| 4 | Engagement | Gain more page likes, event responses, post reactions, comments, or shares. |
| 5 | App Install | Show your ad to people most likely to download and engage with your app. |
| 6 | Video Views | Deliver your videos to people who are likely to be interested in watching them. |
| 7 | Lead Generation | Use forms, calls, or messages to gather information from people interested in your business/brand. |
| 8 | Messages | Encourage people to engage with you on Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram. |
| 9 | Conversion | Show your ads to the people most likely to act, such as buying something or calling you from your website. |
| 10 | Catalogue Sales | Use your target audience to show people ads with items from your catalogue. |
| 11 | Store Traffic | Show your ad to people who are most likely to visit your physical shop. |
Pros of choosing the right objective
The right ad objective can give you stellar results in your business.
Example: It can increase your website sales or help your business’ reach and engagement
Cons of not choosing the right objective
If you have chosen the wrong objective for your ad, you could be flushing the money you spend on ads down the loo. You may not be able to achieve the desired results you want to see in your ads.
2. How to set up a budget recommendation
Facebook provides two budget options to choose from:
- Daily budget
- Lifetime budget
Daily budget
With a daily budget, you can set the average amount you’re willing to spend per day.
Pros
- A daily budget allows you to change the budget limits, audience, image or content if you want to make a change in the campaign.
Cons
- Facebook uses the total value on a daily budget, regardless of performance.
- You can’t schedule ads, so your ads will run all the time.
Lifetime budget
A lifetime budget means we set the ‘$X’ amount you want to spend on the campaign.
Pros
- Facebook takes the information it gathers through its algorithm to ensure the best spending of your budget.
- If the results are promising, Facebook will use more of the budget
- If the results are low, Facebook saves the budget for the next day.
- You can also schedule ads at any hour of the day or week.
Cons
- Once the campaign is live, you are not able to edit the campaign.
3. Choose your audience wisely
Audience selection plays an important role when setting up an ad.
Facebook has three types of audience-
- Broad
- Custom
- Lookalike
Broad audience
Facebook have 2.9 billion active users and knows their areas of interest. You can deliver ads to this audience by selecting keywords, interests, demographics, and behaviour based on your business requirements.
Example: If someone likes electronic gadgets, you can reach them with keywords like electronic devices, gadgets, etc. Then you need to select the country, region, age, and gender you want for your audience and target this audience.
Custom audience
A custom audience already knows about your business or your page; maybe they have been on your Facebook page, liked it before, or visited your website.
Lookalike audience
This audience will likely be interested in your business because they share similar characteristics to your existing customers.
Example: If you upload your customer database to Facebook, based on its knowledge of customers, it will deliver the ads to an audience who are similar (e.g. if your database is full of 20-40-year-old males, Facebook will prioritise delivering ads to other 20-40-year-old males.
4. Content and creatives
Facebook has set image and design specifications and technical requirements across each ad format and placement.
But before diving into that, let’s take a quick look at do’s and don’ts for your images:
Do’s
- Your image creative should not be blurred
- Make sure your creative is attractive and delivers an offer to audiences
- Make sure your content is easy to read and understand
Don’t
- Written content on your creative should not be more than 20%
For further detail, Facebook shares their description of creative requirements.
5. How to analyze your Facebook results
A successful campaign depends upon the ROAS (Return on ad Spend).
To calculate ROAS, you divide your ad spend by the value your business/brand received from the ads.
Formula to calculate ROAS
Facebook Ad Revenue/Facebook Ad Spend
What you consider to be a good ROAS will depend on your business. However, a solid benchmark to start from would be to double your investment.
Example: You have spent a budget of $1,000 on Facebook ads, and as a result, you make sales of $3,100.
$3,100 / $1,000 = 3.1 times your investment
It’s time to advertise!
Now you are ready to set up your first Facebook ad. Start with setting up a goal with a low budget, analyze the ROI of the ad and there you go. Keep adjusting the settings to improve the ad.
Does it all seem a bit overwhelming? The great news is that you’re not alone, so you don’t have to run your Facebook Ads using guesswork.
We know that setting up a Facebook Ad and analyzing its outcome can be time-consuming. That’s why our virtual assistants are here to help. Tell us your business objective, sit back and relax!
Want to know more about how we can help you with your Facebook Ads? Then get in touch with the Admin Army team today!