In 2017 Facebook Ads are all the rage.  If you spend any amount of time on Facebook then you’ve familiar with advertisements and you’ve heard success stories of how Facebook ads have made many millionaires.

“Plain and simple Facebook ads are powerful and if your business is not utilizing them in 2017 then you’re definitely behind the curve.”

Facebook Ads Have Revolutionized Ad Targeting

Facebook advertising is unlike any type of online or offline advertising we’ve ever come to see.

The biggest difference is that on Facebook; marketers and business owners can reach the most precise target demographics with their ads for very cheap.

Imagine reaching 50,000 people around a 10 mile radius of any business for about $50.

That’s the power of Facebook advertising.

Facebook Watches and Hears You

Facebook owns data on every single individual who logs into their social network.

They know things like your age, gender, interests, location, insurance, homeownership, car ownership, relationship status, shopping behavior, annual income, birthday, hobbies, where you shop, how much you spend, and more.

“In short assume Facebook knows everything about everyone.”

They are watching you when you are logged into their network and when you aren’t.

What many people don’t understand is that Facebook has partnered with 3rd party data aggregators and cross references your personal data to your profile.

Do you have Facebook messenger on your phone?

If so then Facebook is listening to your conversions and is using artificial intelligence to better understand you.

Many users believe it is frightening how much data Facebook owns.

To marketers and business owners alike Facebook’s library of user data provides a massive opportunity for a strategic advertising campaign.

We’ll take you thru just how powerful Facebook ads can be by walking you thru the setup of your first campaign.

Beginner’s Guide To Facebook Ads That Convert

Similar to any other type of online marketing, Facebook Advertising is a skillset that requires understanding, practice, and experience.

The more you run Facebook ads the better your results will become.

It is not difficult to launch your campaign but it is difficult to have your first campaign be successful without understanding a few core elements to Facebook ads.

Start by Avoiding These Advertising Mistakes

Before we jump into the 5 steps to setting up your first Facebook ad lets cover the biggest mistakes new advertisers make.

1). You’re Interrupting Me With That Pitch?

Often times the biggest mistake I see new advertisers make is that they don’t offer any value in their ads.

(This ad did very well for our client simply because it uses a high quality video and makes a great offer in the form of a free 7 day membership. Who doesn’t want something that’s free?)

It’s important to remember that people aren’t on Facebook to be sold.

They are on Facebook to connect with friends, rant about politics, and for entertainment.

When you run an advertisement on Facebook make sure you’re delivering value in your ad in the form of an outrageous discount, inspiring message, educational video, or practical content.

There must be an exchange of value for your ad to capture the attention of your audience.

Otherwise your audience will ignore scroll past your ad for something more exciting.

Here’s an example of an ad we ran for a skydiving center. (below)

This ad is entertaining, has great copy, and offers an amazing discount.

As the result it has changed the revenue and profit of this business almost overnight.

(As you can see it went semi-viral with 57 shares and hundreds of likes and comments).

2). Writing Lazy Copy That Doesn’t Do 3 Things

Writing Facebook ad copy is a skill.

You need to practice writing copy that speaks directly to your target audience so precisely that they immediately trust you for your understanding of them.

If your ad copy isn’t specific to your audience then they will figure the ad is for someone else.

In every ad make sure you:

1). Call Out Your Audience

2). Identify A Problem

3). Intrigue With A Solution

3). If You’re Not Testing, You’re Doing it Wrong

Facebook advertising works by submitting your bid into the auction.

As an advertiser you’re bidding on ad space.

This ad space fluctuates dramatically depending on your bid, target audience, and performance of your campaign.

What works today is not necessarily going to work the exact same in 3 months time.

For example your target audience might be widely unsaturated with advertisers this month and extremely targeted thru the holidays.

Other factors like your creative (image or videos you use in your ad) will also create discrepancies in how well or poor your campaign performs.

For these reasons you always need to be testing the following:

-Target Audience

-Creative

-Copy

-Funnel

As you properly test you’ll quickly find winning ad combinations compared to the rest of the bunch.

Switch off the under performing campaigns and re-allocate that ad budget towards testing other variables.

With experience you’ll quickly learn how to spot winning ads quickly and right out of the gate your ads will perform better on average.

How to Launch Facebook Ads in 7 Easy Steps

Now that you know what not to do lets talk about what you should do to launch your first Facebook Ad campaign.

Keep in mind this is a super cliff notes version of what to do to get a campaign off the ground.

There’s more Facebook ads training here that covers advanced strategies and beyond.

Step 1: Install Your Pixel

Similar to Google analytics Facebook ads operate off of a tracking pixel.

The Facebook pixel keeps track of conversions, visitor behavior on your website, and the audience that visits your website.

The very first step to launching an ad campaign is to:

1). Visit: https://www.facebook.com/ads/manager/account/

2). Click on the “hamburger” drop down in the top left hand corner to see a full list of options.

3). Locate the option called “pixel” and separately locate the option called, “Billing and Payment methods”.

Click thru the steps to setup your ad account (put your credit card on file, verify your information,)

4). Click to add the tracking pixel to your website u

Step 2: Declare Your Goal

Now that your pixel is installed, Facebook will begin collecting data on everyone who visits your website.

In the future you create a custom audience from these visitors and “remarket” to them with Facebook ads.

That’s more advanced if you’re just starting out though.

Lets focus on step 2 which is to, “Declare Your Goal”.

Do you want broad reach?

More sales?

More email subscribers?

Leads?

It may seem like an easy step but it’s absolutely crucial that you understand what your end goal is prior to launching a campaign.

For example if your b2b business normally closes new clients via an email conversation then you’re goal with Facebook ads should be to acquire new email subscribers in order to build your sales pipeline.

“Without understanding your goal you’ll most likely choose the wrong “campaign” type at the start of your ad creation. “

(Facebook gives you different campaign goals to choose from in step 1 of creating your ad)

Step 3: Select Your Campaign Type

Now it’s time to start actually building out your ad campaign.

Begin by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/business/products/ads

1). Click on “Create Ad” in top right corner

2). Select Your Campaign type (for starters choose “traffic”)

3). Give your campaign a detailed name at the bottom and click “continue” .

Step 4: Choose Your Targeting, Budget, & Ad Type (As Set)

You are now on the page where you choose your ad set.

Within your ad set is where you choose your detailed targeting including age, language, interests, location, budget, and so forth.

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Take your time on this page as you have a lot of options.

Use Facebook’s audience sizing tool on the right hand size to gain an idea if your audience is too broad, too specific, or just right.

Based on your budget and the targeting options you selected Facebook will give you an estimated daily reach and number of link clicks.

Once you’ve gone thru your options click on “continue” at the bottom.

Step 5: Build Your Creative (Ad)

In Step 5 you’ll be building the actual ad creative (referred to as the ad itself).

This is where you choose your business page from which to advertise from, write your copy, and add your rich media (video or images).

You’ll also have the option on this page to select your “ad format” which are the different types of ads you can run.

If you’re just beginning start with “single image” or “video” since it’s easiest.

Once you have built our your creative Facebook will give you a preview of what your ad will look like.

Be sure to scroll thru these previews to ensure your ad looks good in each format. (mobile, sidebar, newsfeed, etc).

Finally when you’re all done push confirm.

From here Facebook will review your ad to ensure it meets their ad policies.

Before launching a Facebook campaign be sure to read up on Facebook advertiser guidelines to ensure your ads get approved and your account isn’t shut down.

Step 6: Launch Your Ads

Finally when you’re all done building your ad creative click “confirm” at the bottom of your screen.

From here Facebook will review your ad to ensure it meets their ad policies.

Before launching a Facebook campaign be sure to read up on Facebook advertiser guidelines to ensure your ads get approved and your account isn’t shut down.

Step 7: Test, Optimize, and Report

Now that your first ad is up and live it’s time to test and optimize your campaign.

To properly test on Facebook you’ll want to launch a second ad to see if it can outperform the first ad.

The key is to only change 1 variable in this new ad in order to “test” that variable against the first ad.

For example, I recommend first testing the image you use in your ad.

The image makes more of an impact than say the “headline”.

Normally here are the best variables to test against one another in order of importance.

1). Image

2). Copy

3). Targeting

4). Campaign Objective

As you test out different variables in your ads one by one a sure fire winner will begin to surface.

Last but Not Least

The key to running killer Facebook ads is three fold.

It comes down to:

1). Experience

2). Objectives

3). Testing

There’s no doubt you’ll spend extra money your first few times running Facebook ads.

There are quite a lot of tricks, tips, and strategies to ensuring your ads perform at their best every time.

As you gain experience, learn more from the experts, and implement you’ll begin to see much better results.