Meta Ads (formerly known as Facebook Ads) is one of the most popular social media PPC platforms. It’s known to be cost effective with a relatively low average CPC of $0.94 and you get the benefit of a large potential customer base with the 2.5 billion daily active Facebook and Instagram users.
But how do you get started with Meta Ads and create your first campaign? I know how daunting this initial process can be and I want to make it easier for you. To that end, I’ve created a comprehensive guide on how to set up Meta Ads below.
Getting Started – Setting Up Your Meta Ads Manager Account
Everything you do on Meta Ads is controlled via the Meta Ads Manager. So, the first action is to create an account there but to do that, you first need a Facebook Business Page. I’m assuming if you’re looking into Meta Ads, you already have a page, but below is a simple creation guide regardless:
- Login to your personal Facebook account.
- Create a new profile on your account using your business info.
- Assign yourself an admin role so you can manage the page.
- Add info like a profile photo, cover photo, and business info.
- Publish your Facebook Business page.
It’s that simple – Facebook also has a handy starter guide with a little more detail. With your business page created, you should be able to access the Meta Ads manager. To do this, go to your business page on Facebook and click on the “Ad Center” button in the top menu.
Next, click on “All Ads” from the side menu, and click the “Ads Manager” link from that section. After you’ve done that the first time I recommend bookmarking the link for quicker access.
Now I recommend checking your Meta Ads Manager account settings to make sure your business information is correct and add a payment method so you can start creating ads.
Making Progress – Creating Your First Meta Ad
With your Meta Ads Manager account sorted it’s time to create your first ad campaign. The below 9 steps will give you a great overview and enough information to publish an ad. However, there is plenty more to learn and so much more you can do with this type of social media marketing.
1. Create a New Ad Campaign and Choose Objectives
Meta Ads has ad campaigns and within those campaigns are sets of ads. So, the first step is to create a new campaign. There should be a green “Create” button in the bottom left corner of your campaigns tab on Meta Ads Manager.
When creating a new campaign, you must set a main objective for what you want the ads to achieve. Meta has six objectives:
- Sales (generate more sales).
- Leads (generate more business leads and enquiries).
- Engagement (prompt interactions from customers).
- App promotion (prompt customers to install your app).
- Traffic (drive traffic to your Facebook business page or website).
- Awareness (improve brand awareness).
Which objective you choose affects how the PPC platform creates and displays your ads. Therefore, it’s important to consider each objective and think which one is the best suited for your overall marketing goals.
2. Define Core Meta Ad Campaign Details
The next step is to set some core campaign details including:
- Campaign name.
- If your ads are “special ad categories” (credit, employment, housing, elections, or politics).
- Choose whether to use A/B testing or not.
- Choose whether to utilise the smart budget distribution feature.
To start, I recommend using A/B testing and the advanced budget features as the Meta AI will basically tailor your ads and spend accordingly to get the best results.
3. Define Your Ad Set Goals
It’s now time to create your ad set goals. Meta Ad Sets are simple groups of ads that use common settings. This makes management easier and allows you to create multiple ads without having to re-implement the core settings every time.
This goals screen varies depending on the initial objective you chose. For example, if you chose traffic, Meta will ask where you want traffic to be driven to, i.e. your website, social media accounts, or an app.
4. Specify Budget and Bidding Information
PPC marketing easy to budget for as with platforms like Meta Ads you set the budget. This means you have complete control over the total daily/weekly/monthly cost.
For your campaign, you must set a budget and this includes:
- Maximum spend per day/week/month (If you choose daily, Meta averages this across the week, so some days may have a higher spend, and others less).
- Start and end date for the budget.
I like that when you set different budget options, Meta Ads Manager provides expected results data on the right-hand side. This gives you an idea of what to expect in terms of impressions, for example.
5. Facebook Pixel Set up
When it comes to optimising your online presence and maximising the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns, one essential tool to consider is the Facebook pixel. This powerful tool is a small piece of code that is designed to be installed on every page of your website. But what exactly does the Facebook pixel do and why is it so important?
Understanding the Facebook Pixel
The Facebook pixel plays a crucial role in tracking conversions and monitoring website traffic. By implementing the Facebook pixel on your website, you gain valuable insights into the performance of your advertising efforts. This data allows you to measure the success of your campaigns, understand how users interact with your site, and ultimately, enhance your marketing strategies.
Benefits of Using the Facebook Pixel
One of the key benefits of using the Facebook pixel is its ability to help you build targeted audiences for your ad campaigns. By tracking user behaviour on your site, the pixel enables you to create custom audiences based on specific actions users have taken. This level of audience segmentation allows for more personalised and effective ad targeting, leading to higher conversion rates.
Setting Up Your Facebook Pixel
If you already have a Facebook Pixel set up, all you need to do is add the piece of code to your website. However, if you are new to the world of Facebook advertising or don’t have an existing pixel, you can easily set one up through Meta Events Manager and follow the steps.
6. Sort Customer Targeting Options
The great thing about this type of social PPC is that you can define your target audience and implement a range of different targeting options. The different targeting options include:
- Custom audience
- Lookalike audience
- Core Audiences
Custom audiences are those who already have an interest in your business. You can create custom audiences by importing your customer databases and things like mailing lists. Using the Meta pixel tracking feature is also incredibly useful for this (this is a monitoring tools that shows how effective your ads are, and the actions people take on your website).
Lookalike audiences are new customers who have similar traits to your existing customers. You can specify the “range of closeness” for these similar customers in degrees. For example, 1% means they are incredibly similar, whereas 10% means there is more variance. Meta then uses your existing customer data to find new customers based on this range of closeness.
Core audiences refer to the specific group of individuals that you want to target with your ads. By identifying key characteristics such as age, profile, gender, interests, and location, you can create a tailored audience segment that aligns with your campaign objectives. This targeted approach ensures that your ads are being shown to the most relevant audience, increasing the chances of engagement and conversion.
With any targeting option, make sure you are as detailed as possible and provide as much info as you can. The more you give, the better the targeting and conversions.
7. Create the Ad Content
While setting things like goals, budget, and targeting are vital, the style, content, and quality of your ad is equally as important.
Start by selecting the ad type you want to create such as video ad, image ad, or carousel ad.
With the ad type selected you need to ad the creative assets such as images and write the ad copy. Depending on the settings and objective you previously selected, you may be able to ad descriptions and headlines too.
The content can be manually written. You also want to include a CTA (Call to Action) which could be a link to a landing page or product page, for example.
Make sure you double check the grammar, and that the ad is suitable for you target audience. You can also consider creating multiple variations of the same ad. This is because people can get irritated seeing the same ad continuously.
8. Review Your Choices and Publish
Always use the preview screen option to see what your ad looks like on the Facebook platform! I suggest previewing the ad on a desktop and mobile device too – it must look right on both platforms so as to not alienate potential customers.
Once you are completely happy with the finished product hit the publish button! I find this moment comes with great anticipation but remember that Meta has to approve the ad to make sure it meets its guidelines, and this can take up to 24 hours.
9. Monitor Progress and Make Adjustments
The hard work isn’t done. While it’s possible to sit back and let your ad campaign run, I recommend a proactive approach. Monitor your ad’s progress and performance and see if it is meeting your expected goals. If not, don’t worry – most businesses have to make adjustments to their first ads and the initial period could include some trial and error.
The important part is to analyse the performance and look for things that could be improved. Meta Ads Manager has a reporting tab which contains a myriad of metrics and analytics. The most important metric is your primary goal, but other things like impressions, conversions, and reach are also vital.
You can create custom reports showing the most-relevant data your business needs from the ad’s performance. I also advise allowing your first ad to run for two weeks minimum. This gives Facebook Ads opportunity to optimise placement and delivery and gives you enough statistical data to analyse.
Spearhead Your PPC Marketing Today and Get Started with Meta Ads
I hope you now feel more comfortable about venturing into the world of Meta Ads. When done correctly, this PPC platform has great potential. The ads can generate consistent returns and due to the budgeting control, you can easily accommodate it in your larger financial plans.
If you want more advice, or want to take your PPC marketing to the next level, please feel free to contact us. We have years of experience with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Ads and want to make a difference in the world of business.
