LookinLA | How To Build A Facebook Ad In Five Easy Steps

We’ve all seen them. As we scroll through our cousin’s new baby pictures up pops an ad.  A Facebook ad. Maybe it’s a video or maybe it’s a collection of images. No matter what it is, the right one will catch our attention and get us to click “Learn more.”

Facebook advertising has taken over our News Feeds, and for good reason. The 1.49 billion people that log onto Facebook on a daily basis make 22 billion ad clicks per year. That’s a number no business can ignore.

But where do you even start with Facebook advertising? (Click here to learn more about the most common Facebook advertising mistakes we see companies make). Not to worry – we’ll walk you through step-by-step how to create a Facebook ad.

Step 1: Select an objective

Facebook’s Ad Manager works based off of objectives. The first thing you’ll see is a prompt to choose an objective for your campaign. It will make you select one of the following:

• Page Post Engagements

• Page Likes

• Click to Website

• Website Conversions

• App Installs

• App Engagement

• Event Responses

• Offer Claims

• Video Views

• Local Awareness

By choosing an objective, you tell Facebook what your goal is. It uses that to show you your best-suited ad options.

2. Select your audience

Your ad would be nothing without an audience. Facebook has an extensive list of targeting attributes you can choose from to build your ad’s audience. Options include:

• Location

• Age

• Gender

• Languages

• Relationship

• Education

• Work

• Financial

• Home

• Ethnic Affinity

• Generation

• Parents

• Politics (U.S. only)

• Life Events

• Interests

• Behaviors

• Connections

3. Make your budget

There are two ways to set your budget in Facebook’s Ad Manager. You can choose from:

• Daily Budget: This budget will let your ad run continuously throughout the day. Facebook will pace your spending per day. A heads up – there is a $1.00 minimum daily budget and your budget must be at least two times your cost per click.

• Lifetime Budget: This budget will let your ad run for a specific length of time. Facebook will pace your spend over the time period you select.

4. Make your ad

Figuring out your creative is step one. Once that is completed, you’re ready to select an ad format, enter the text, and upload the media pieces for your ad. Not sure what the different ad formats are? They include:

• Photo ads

• Video ads

• Carousel ads

• Slideshow ads

• Collection ads

• Instant Experience ads

• Lead ads

• Dynamic ads

• Messenger ads

After you choose an ad format, Facebook’s Ad Manager will ask you where you’d like to display your ad. You can choose from:

• Desktop News Feed

• Mobile News Feed

• Desktop Right Column

• Facebook Messenger

• Audience Networks

• Instagram

• Facebook Marketplace

5. Analyze your performance

Facebook makes it easy to analyze the results of your campaigns. In Facebook’s Ad Manager you’ll find a dashboard with an overview of all your campaigns. Right away it will show you an estimate of how much you’re spending each day. It’s organized by column, which makes it easy to filter through your ads and create custom views. Also, important numbers like reach, frequency, and cost are easily available. Some of the key metrics you should look for include:

• Performance

• Engagement

• Videos

• Website

• Apps

• Events

• Clicks

• Settings

That’s it! See – building a Facebook ad is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  But this is just step one. There’s a whole expertise out there to learn. If you’re looking for expertise to apply advanced tips and tricks to take ads to the next level, reach out to us. We’d love to help your business grow by masterminding the right Facebook ads for your target audience.