A Guide To Facebook Advertising For Small Businesses

If you have been looking for an affordable way to kickstart your digital presence, Facebook advertising can be a great option. Even with the growth of other social media platforms, Facebook is still at the top. This platform can be great for increasing your visibility and interacting with your audience.

How can Facebook benefit your business?

This platform has a wide reach and an audience for every business. Because Facebook is so diverse, new and established businesses alike can have a long term place to advertise and interact. This is the perfect place to increase brand awareness at a minimal cost.

Between organic growth and Facebook ads, the benefits can seem to be outweighed by the complicated nature of posting. But, once you have learned about how ads work, it can be easier.

How does Facebook advertising work?

The goal of using ads on Facebook is to reach people with your message. That’s why this platform allows you to target your audience based on location, interest, demographics, and behavior. You must create content that fits your style and will grab the attention of your audience. Facebook’s algorithms will be able to handle getting those ads to the right people.

Types of Facebook ads you can use

There are many kinds of ads you can use on this platform. It is important to be familiar with all of them. Once you find a few that you think will work for your small business, then you can get to testing them out.

1. Carousel Ads: These allow you to highlight several products or services. Using a carousel, you can focus on the benefits of one thing, tell an exciting story, or intrigue your audience with teasers. You can input up to ten images or videos and even focus on previous posts.
2. Collection Ads: These ads can only be viewed on mobile devices. Like carousel ads, you can use them to focus on more than one thing. They let interested fans view your products or services with one click.
3. Instant Experience Ads: If you are looking to create a full-screen experience for your potential fans, this is a good way to do it. They are usually interactive and extremely fast-loading. Like collection ads, these can only be used on a mobile device.
4. Dynamic Ads: These ads are one of the best choices to make, especially if you are new to Facebook. They are great for anyone that has visited your site or Facebook page before. They will even be able to target people who have abandoned their shopping carts. By tracking the behaviors of these people (yeah, it’s kind of creepy), Facebook will be able to get your ads to people who already have an interest.
5. Lead Ads: These ads can help you generate leads for future sales. They gather names, email addresses, and other basic information. Typically, lead ads are used for newsletters and product testing.
6. Image Ads/Boosted Posts: These are great for first-timer users on Facebook. Simply boost a post you’ve already made and you’ve got a good start to a Facebook ad. Using images is good, but videos add an even more personal, interesting touch.

Using Facebook ads

There is A LOT that goes into making successful Facebook ads. That’s why many businesses work with a digital agency. But, understanding the basics can help you whether you have help or not. Here is a small guide to get you started.

Select your goals

This is the first step to any marketing campaign. You must first know what you are trying to achieve and why. With Facebook advertising, you actually start with this step too. Log in to your Facebook account, click Create, and then you will be shown a menu. There will be eleven options to choose from that will include brand awareness, reach, conversions, app installs, engagement, and traffic.

Detail your campaign

The next step is to name your campaign. There will be an empty text box for you to do this. Make sure to choose something you will remember and that fits with your campaign. After this, you will need to choose options like A/B split testing (or not) and budget optimization. Information like the target country, time zone, and currency will also need to be selected.

Choose your target audience

This step happens at the “ad set level” and is where things can get time-consuming. Before you do this, be sure to understand the audience you are trying to reach. Then, you can go through the steps and select the best options. As you move through all the choices, you will see an indicator on the right of the screen move. This shows the potential reach of your ad based on the specifications.

Select the ad placements

Simply put, this is where your ads will be seen. Automatic placements are best for new users. Facebook will place the ads where it sees they will be best consumed between Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Audience Network. Specific locations you can choose from include devices, operating systems, and platforms.

Set up your budget and schedule

Facebook ads are an affordable option for most businesses, but a budget is still necessary. Make sure you know what you can spend before starting the process. Then, you can choose between lifetime and daily budgets for your ads. You can also schedule them for a specific time or release them immediately. Keep in mind that the longer an ad runs, the longer Facebook can study the results.

Create the ads

Once your campaign has been set up, you can get to making the ads! You will need to choose your ad’s format, input the creative stuff (images, text, video, etc…), and then preview the finished product. Remember, don’t be afraid to play around with your campaigns and ads, or test things out.

Want to learn more about Facebook Advertising?

If you run a small business and would like to start using Facebook Ads in your digital marketing strategy, give UCI Digital a call. Our skilled Team can help you every step of the way, whether you need a simple campaign to sell a new product or a detailed ad set to use throughout the year. You can reach us at (806) 553-5332 or Contact Us by email to learn more.