It may be time for you to consider running Meta Ads if you’re frustrated with your results on social media or any other organic way you’ve been marketing your business.
But what’s the best way to get started as a beginner?
If you don’t have the means to hire a Meta/Facebook Strategist or Ads Manager, I have created this mini guide for a Meta Ads Strategy for Beginners.
I had the pleasure of speaking with a Meta Marketing Pro about ways to optimize ad campaigns on Meta. So everything I am about to share is advice I received directly from the professional.
I recently started running ads for my business and while I do have some experience with Meta Ads, it was my first time being the sole decision maker for these ads.
So once I had the chance to connect with a Meta Marketing Pro, I used this as an opportunity to ask questions from the perspective of someone who is not well-versed in running ads at all.
But first things first…
Install Your Meta Pixel
Before you even think about running ads, you need to install a Meta Pixel onto your website. The Meta Pixel is what helps Meta see who is visiting your website, so it can learn their attributes and recommend people who may be interested as well. Even if you don’t think you will be running ads any time soon, I highly recommend installing the Meta Pixel so you can accumulate more data over time.
Read: How to Install a Meta Pixel on Your Website
So your pixel is installed and you’re ready to run Meta Ads. Where should you start?
Grow Your Audience for Meta Ads
Before you jump right into trying to get new customers, you need to focus on growing your audience.
Meta Ads work by having a clear understanding of your audience, but it needs an audience to start with. And by the audience, I don’t mean selecting interest, attributes, or demographics.
I mean audience data of people who have interacted with or shown interest in YOUR business. That’s the golden ticket. That data will be way more valuable than selecting attributes and hoping it works.
Start with Page Likes
The first type of ad you should start with is Page Like ads. These ads drive more people to your Facebook Page (or Instagram Profile) and encourage them to like your page. There is a win-win to this. Not only is this adding to your audience for future ads, but it also creates a bigger audience for your organic social media posts.
Ads on our platform tend to do a lot better when you have a lot of followers.
Don’t Run Meta Ads Indefinitely
You might be tempted to set your ads as ongoing, but the best practice is to use short durations instead.
It is best to leave ads running for at least 7 days and no longer than 28 days. Once the duration is complete, it is best to run a new ad or edit and optimize the last one and then republish, instead of leaving it ongoing. When you leave the ad ongoing it will become stale. The same people will see it and you will notice the results becoming less and less.
The Meta Marketing Pro gave a pretty good explanation of this. The good thing about setting a duration for your Meta Ads is it forces you to look at the performance at the end of the duration. Then you can optimize before republishing or creating your next set of Meta Ads.
Choose the Right Meta Ads Objective
Objectives give Meta Ads a purpose and there are quite a few to choose from.
Awareness
| Objective | Your business goal is to: |
| Brand awareness | Increase people’s awareness of your business, brand or service. |
| Reach | Show your ad to as many people as possible in your target audience. |
Consideration
| Objective | Your business goal is to: |
| Traffic | Send people from Facebook to any destination you choose, such as your website’s landing page, a blog post, app, phone call, etc. |
| Engagement | Reach people more likely to engage with your post. Engagement includes likes, comments, and shares but can also include offers claimed from your page. |
| App installs | Send people to the store where they can download your business’s app. |
| Video views | Share videos of your business with people on Facebook most likely to watch it. |
| Lead generation | Collect leads for your business. Create ads that collect info from people interested in your product, such as sign-ups for newsletters, or have people give your business a call. |
| Messages | Connect with people on Messenger, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp. Communicate with potential or existing customers to encourage interest in your business. |
Conversion
| Objective | Your business goal is to: |
| Conversions | Encourage people to take a specific action on your business’s site, such as having them add items to a cart, download your app, register for your site, call your business, or make a purchase. |
| Catalog sales | Show products from your eCommerce store’s catalog to generate sales. |
| Store traffic | Promote your brick-and-mortar business locations to people that are nearby. |
The objective you choose should align with the goal of your business.
It can be really tempting to want to choose Conversion for all of your Meta Ads. I mean, the whole point is to generate more sales right?
But don’t!
I would always focus more on Lead Generation and Website Traffic.
Aside from running your Page Like ads, Lead Generation and/or Website Traffic should be your next choice. These objectives fuel the engine for your ads. Generating and compiling more data, while getting more people to know about your business and potentially engaging with you. Conversion tends to be more expensive because they rely on highly targeted and personalized data (the type that you can only get once you have an engaged and sizable audience).
Once you have over 1000+ people visiting your site every week, you can start running “Conversion” ads.
How Much to Spend on Meta Ads
Now, this is definitely the question at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Whenever you hear of running ads, it is easy to think that the only way to be successful is to spend a lot of money.
You have full control of your budget when running Meta Ads. As you are setting up the ads, Meta will provide recommendations to help you select the right budget for your selection.
Start with a total budget of $200 for one month. That will give you a lot of room to test and learn.
Resources from Meta
The best way to create a strategy is to learn directly from the platform. Meta has a wealth of resources available that allow you to learn more about Meta Ads. Here are a few of my favorites:
Why Are Some Ads Approved, Then Rejected
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