Facebook is a great marketing asset; with its extensive network and incredibly precise data, the ability to target audiences is a thing of marketing dreams.

Furthermore, as ads are integrated seamlessly into the news feed in a way that doesn’t disrupt the user experience, Facebook ads receive a wide reach with positive audience engagement.

Of course really utilizing this re-working social media campaigns or launching a brand new one, here is a platform which requires some skill and know-how, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. Whether you are

a back-to-the-basics outline making the process as simple as can ensure higher success with your social media marketing and take advantage of all that this integral platform has to offer.

Account Set-Up

Create a Business Page

Ads can only be created by businesses and not individuals, so just a regular Facebook profile won’t do. Be sure to describe your target audience so that your ads are displayed to the right target group. Don’t forget to set country, age group, even gender if it is applicable. The more specific your ad is, the more likely you are to reach your desired group of people.

Cover and Call to Action

Once your page is completed, you then need to set a cover and create your call to action. Your cover can be simply your logo or an image associated with your campaign. Keeping it simple is best. Then set your call to action. You will be shown a pre-selected list and you can then choose what best suits your goal.

Campaign Creation

Set Objective

Enter your Ads Manager, which you will find when clicking the Promote button on the top right hand side of your page. Once in the dashboard, you will be shown a list of pre-defined objectives from which you can choose and set, ranging from driving traffic to your page, increasing your reach or engagement, increase page likes, etc.

Link Campaign to Website

You will then have to link your campaign to your website so that there is a credible source behind what the Ad is promoting.

Ad Set

This is where you will set up your target audience for your specific ads. As was already said, the more detailed or narrowed down your target audience, the better your ad will perform since it will be reaching more relevant people. Narrow it down by country, city even, age group and gender if applicable. There is a lot of room to work with here. Try to aim for a potential reach of around 10,000.

Decide on Your Budget

Figure out how much you are willing to spend on Facebook advertising and then set a daily budget with a campaign end date and ensure that your daily budget will not exceed your overall campaign budget by that end date.

Optimize for Objective

If your objective is to drive people to your website, then you need to select under the Optimize For section “link clicks to website.” This pay-per-click (or PPC) strategy ensures that you aren’t paying for mere impressions and other activity that isn’t meeting your end-goal.

Set Ad Bid

This is different than your daily budget. You need to set a bid price for your ad to be shown. Facebook gives a designated range, and you want to enter a bid in the lower end, but not the absolute minimum so that you can beat out competition. The suggested bid range is 0.50-1.60, so entering a bid of 0.75 is ideal. So each time someone clicks on your ad, you will pay this bid amount. Your ad will then be shown until you reach your daily maximum budget.

Set Ad Schedule

You can set a schedule for when your ads are running, but you can simply leave the ads to run all the time, since you have a set budget and time-frame parameter. However, if you feel like a specific time schedule will suite you better, you do have this option. It is also good to leave the delivery type as standard, which will leave your ads to run throughout the day.

Create Your Ad

Visual Layout

You begin by choosing your layout and the content that you want to display. Do you want a single image? More than one image? Do you want to show a video? But again, the best practice is to keep it simple and easy to consume. Don’t crowd up the ad hoping to fit in more. If you have multiple images or videos, then try creating multiple ads instead of trying to fit them into one. It is a good idea in general to create more than one ad in a campaign so that you can implement A/B testing to see which ad is working best.

Create Copy

Then you need to incorporate the actual content of your ad and your call to action. Facebook will automatically connect your Ad to your Facebook business page, but you can change this if you have more than one. You then need to create a headline to grab your audience’s attention, the actual text of your ad – including a call to action – your news feed link description, which ideally also includes a clear call to action, and setting your official call to action button (ex. learn more, sign up).

Place Order

When everything is exactly as you want it, click place order. This will send your ad to Facebook for approval, and once it is approved you will be notified before the Ad begins running live.