The benefit of creating Facebook Ad is that it has a lot of data of its users which allows marketers to use it when targeting their audience. You can specify demographics like location, age and gender while creating a Facebook Ad. There are other options to choose:

·         Income

·         Education and job history

·         Interests

·         Behaviors

·         Political affiliation

·         Major life events

·         Spoken languages

How to set up a Facebook Ads Campaign step by step

Before you create an Ad, you must decide which Ad objective is best for your needs. Also why are you Advertising and what you are aiming to achieve.

Step 1: Create an Ad Account

You will get a personal ad account id when you sign up for Facebook. In order to use the Ads Manager, you will need to have a Facebook page, to be an admin, editor or advertiser on someone else page. Any page you create will be automatically given an ad account.

Step 2: Facebook Ad Manager tool

Ad Manager tool is used to run all of the Facebook ad’s campaign on your desktop or laptop computer. If you have more than one ad account, use the dropdown menu to pick the right account. To navigate to Ads Manager right from your business page, head to the left sidebar and click on the “Ad Center” drop-down arrow of any Facebook page, then choose “All Ads” from the drop-down. At the bottom of that page, there is an option to click “Ads Manager.”

You will be brought to your Facebook Ad Accounts page, where there will be a quick overview of your ad account(s). If you have access to more than one ad account, select the account where you wish to run ads.

Step 3: Choose your objective

To get started with your first ad, click the green ‘Create Ad’ button.

Facebook will take you to a page where you will be prompted to choose a campaign objective.

You have many different ways of approaching an ad campaign based on what you wish to achieve. These ways fall within three categories of benefits:

Awareness

This category consists of objectives that generate interest in your product or service. You can choose to:

• Increase brand awareness: Show your ads to people who are most likely to remember them.
• Increase your reach: Show your ads to the maximum number of people.

Consideration

You might want to choose this category if you want people to start thinking about your business or looking for more information about it. Actions in this category include:

• Send people to a destination on or off Facebook
• Get more Page likes, event responses, or post reactions, comments, or shares
• Promote installs of your app
• Get more video views
• Improve lead generation
• Drive engagement on Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram Direct

Conversion

The objectives in this category are designed to get people to purchase or use your product or service. You may opt to:

• Increase engagements on your website
• Get people to claim your offer
• Increase product or catalog sales
• Get people to visit your shops

Once you’ve selected your marketing objective, you’ll be asked to name your campaign. Make sure to make your campaign name something recognizable to everyone working on the ads.

Step 4: Set your Campaign budget

Now it’s time to choose how much you’d like to spend on your ad. When you set a budget, it’s important to remember that this figure represents the maximum amount of money you want to spend. You can set your budget per day or as a total amount for the campaign.

• Daily: A daily budget sets a limit on what you spend each day on your ads. Facebook will use the criteria you set to find the right place and time to show your ad to your target audience. Once your budget is reached, the ads stop running for the day. The cycle starts again on the next day.
• Lifetime: A lifetime budget is the maximum that you’ll spend during the entire time you run your ad campaign. You give Facebook a number and an end date, and it will spend the money based on ad performance. Once your budget is reached, the campaign ends.

Step 5: Customize your target audience

Because it determines who Facebook will show your ad to, a strategically defined audience is crucial for the success of your Facebook Ads campaigns.

As mentioned earlier, the audience for your ad can be customized based on all the following demographics:

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Languages
• Interests
• Behaviors

We are going quite narrow for this example, choosing the following audience demographics:

• Location: United States
• Interests: social media
• Excluded: People who already like Buffer
• Age: 18–65+
• Language: English (US)

Step 6: Choose your ad placements

Ad placement defines where your ad appears for your target audience. Based on your objective, you may choose to show your ad on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or the Audience Network.

However, if you want to select your own placements, Facebook has several options:

• Feeds: Get high visibility for your business with ads in feeds
• Stories and Reels: Tell a rich, visual story with immersive, full-screen vertical ads
• In-stream: Quickly capture people’s attention while they’re watching videos
• Reels overlay: Reach people with sticker or banner ads as they watch short-form content
• Search: Get visibility for your business as people search on Facebook
• Messages: Send offers or updates to people who are already connected to your business
• In-article: Engage with people reading Instant Articles in the Facebook mobile app
• Apps and sites: Expand your reach with ads in external apps and websites

Step 7 : Create your Advertisement

This is where Facebook Ads gets really fun! Now it’s time to create your Facebook ad. If you’d like to create your ad from a blank canvas, the first task is to select a format. You’ve probably seen many of the Facebook Ads formats on your personal feed, but your choices will vary based on the objective you set for your ad during Step 3.

Facebook has eight ad formats and it will recommend one or more to you based on your campaign objective.

• Photo Ads: While images are the most basic format for ads, they can be very powerful. These simple ads use a single image and can be used in different ad types and placements.
• Video Ads: Use a single video to promote your product or service. Videos tend to stand out more on a news feed because of their movement.
• Carousel Ads: Showcasing up to 10 images or videos in one single ad, these are good to promote multiple products or services, each with its own link.
• Slideshow Ads: This ad format takes several images and makes them into a quick slideshow. They can be a great alternative for people who don’t have the time or expertise to make videos.
• Messenger Ads: Send your message directly to your target audience with Meta’s Messenger app.
• Collection Ads: This format is also mobile-only and allows users to discover and shop for products.
• Stories Ads: These ads pop up when someone is watching Stories on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram. Creatively, there is a lot of freedom with these ads.
• Playable Ads: These ads allow potential users to try an app before they buy it.

Step 8: Place your order

To submit your ad, click the ‘Publish’ button at the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Facebook will review your ad campaign once it is submitted and make sure it does not violate their community guidelines. You will be notified on your email once the ad is approved to get Live.