Advertising on Facebook brings many benefits. Right now there are a lot of people using this platform. There are very interesting statistics about its growth, the users, and the reach it has. If you are wondering if you need to start a campaign, pay attention to the info we have.
In this article, you will find information from which to reflect on how Facebook ads work and what you have to take into account to achieve a successful campaign.
Summary
- Facebook ads can be a more affordable and effective option when it comes to advertising compared to traditional media. With a moderate budget, you can reach a very specific audience, with proper knowledge of the characteristics of that audience.
- Without a doubt, a good understanding of the platform is a mandatory start to avoid making mistakes. You can try testing with small groups or samples.
- The creation of ads on Facebook ads should always have a strategy or a plan on which you can rely, because, although it is an accessible and powerful tool, we cannot forget that like any market it has its own competition.
Everything you need to know about Facebook ads campaigns
Ads are part of our daily lives, and Facebook is no exception. If you want to know more about how this platform works, in this article we explain it in simple terms.
In this 2022 graph, we can see that Facebook is on top of other social networks, in the number of active users per month (worldwide). Which makes it a great option to expose your brand and start finding your audience within it.
What are Facebook Ads?
To put it simply, it is the reason why you see ads when you browse Facebook, like any powerful website, Facebook offers a platform from which you can manage campaigns, i.e. advertisements.
This tool allows you to see ads that may be of interest to you, all the time.
How do Facebook ads work?
Facebook Ads Manager
This is the site from where a campaign is configured, also known as ad manager, contains 3 levels or steps that are configured as you progress. Each level allows you to choose between different options according to the needs of your campaign. All this is from your profile, you do not need to create another account.
First level: when you click on the create option, you will see a menu with several options, which belong to the objective. You will have to choose an option. Each option has a short description. A goal refers to what you want to achieve with that campaign.
For example:
- Branding/general communications.
- Create audience.
- Impact and link your audience.
- Promote Landing Pages (3).
Second level: ad set, in this part you name the ad set and configure the characteristics of the target audience. It can be a group or a single ad, but this is how it is described in this part.
Regarding the ad set, we define the audiences, the dates of publication of the ads, the locations (if it appears only on Facebook or only on Instagram), and, if we want, we can also define the budget (1).
Third level: ad, in this part we configure or create a publication, we can use an existing post or create one right there, it can be an image or video. Once generated, we will have to wait for Facebook to validate it so that it can be in circulation.
Facebook business manager
Also called business manager, it allows you to manage Facebook pages, advertising accounts, and applications separately from your personal account. It gives you control over permissions or access, you and your team will have a place where you can share business information without having to give access to your profile.
You can also grant different levels of access. It can be defined as a business account.
What is targeting and retargeting in Facebook Ads?
- Targeting: first, the term target refers to your audience or public to which your brand or product is directed, the profile of your ideal client. It is usually quite specific in demographics, connections, interests, and behaviors.
- Second, the targeting could be seen as the actions you take to reach this audience. The way you present your content, but also what you do to find similar audiences.
- Retargeting: or remarketing is the action of when you expose your brand again to that target or ideal audience of yours, that for some reason has not bought from you, but has been interested and has had contact with your brand.
Facebook ads mockup
A mockup is a sketch, Facebook has a tool for the creation of these, using “creative hub“, which is the tool found in the Facebook business suite. On this site, you can view and modify your ads, while the changes are automatically saved.
What is it, what is it for, and how does the “Facebook pixel” work?
The Facebook pixel consists of a code, generated by Facebook. It is created or requested in the “ad manager” section, then “pixels”, once you have a Facebook business manager account.
How does it work? It places and activates cookies to track users as they interact with your site and Facebook ads (2). That is, once installed on your website, this code is responsible for storing information about users who visit your website. This information will allow you to do retargeting.
How to make a successful campaign on Facebook ads?
How many ads can I place at a time?
Facebook seeks to show the best ads for a type of audience. The first thing you should know is that there is something called the “learning phase” which is when Facebook shows an ad, it gets information about the most suitable people and places for that ad. So, the more that ad is shown, the more information it will have, this translates into better performance (better results).
On the contrary, if too many ads are placed at the same time, this process becomes slow, because the frequency of delivery, or display, of these ads, decreases. The active ad limits are set with respect to the size of the advertiser, taking as a reference the amount of ad spending in the month of the highest spending. You can check how much your page has left to reach its limit in, ad limits per page, in the commercial administrator menu.
How do I know if my ad is doing well?
Measurement tools are a reference point, as they help to set new growth goals. It is recommended to monitor campaigns every day or even several times a day. Some of the most useful ones offered by Facebook are:
- Impressions: indicates the number of times your ad has been seen (4). This number or result will keep you aware of whether that number of impressions or views is taking the actions you want.
- Frequency: indicates the number of times a single person has seen your ad on average (4). This metric will keep you aware of how many times a person needed to see your ad to take action. On the other hand, if it’s not working, it could indicate that you’re exposing your brand too much to that audience, which can be counterproductive.
- Click-through rate (CTR): is the ratio of the number of people who clicked on the ad compared to the total number of impressions (4). This metric will keep you aware of the percentage of people who perform a specific action. For example, if your goal is to get people to click on a link, then how many people who saw the ad are actually clicking on it.
- Cost per lead (CPL): this shows how much money an advertiser spent to get a lead (4). The relationship between the money invested and what was obtained. That is, what amount was needed to get a customer.
This graph shows the number of active advertisers on Facebook from Q1 2016 to Q3 2020 (in millions). At a glance we can notice its growth, so we can reaffirm that metrics and campaign monitoring are almost mandatory, given the competition.
Conclusion
Starting to advertise on Facebook Ads is very simple. As we have already seen, implementing and measuring your campaigns can be quite simple, with the same tools that Facebook offers. If you know that your audience or part of it is on this platform, this is a great opportunity.
On the other hand, the objectives and the measurement of these, that is, the development of a plan or a strategy will help you to keep control, from the beginning. While putting an advertising plan in place may seem rather obvious, having a plan of action to guide you will keep you safe and if necessary make adjustments required.
