Guide to Running Effective Facebook Ads in 2024
GUIDE ON HOW TO RUN EFFECTIVE FACEBOOK ADS IN 2024
Running Facebook Ads will help you reach a wide range of potential customers and quickly increase your revenue. What do you need to prepare for an effective Facebook Ads campaign? What are the basic steps to set up an advertising campaign? What are the most common mistakes when running Ads? Let’s explore these issues in the article below.
1. What Do You Need to Prepare for Facebook Ads?
For those new to Facebook Ads, you will need to prepare several items before starting your advertising campaigns on Facebook : You need to have a VISA or Mastercard ready before running Facebook Ads.
1.1. Facebook Fanpage
Naturally, you cannot run an advertising campaign without a Fanpage. If you’ve seen someone advertising on a “personal profile,” it’s actually a Facebook Fanpage disguised as a personal account!
All posts and images used to create the advertising campaign must be on the page you manage. Additionally, you need to prepare a VISA or Mastercard before running Facebook Ads.
The quality of your Facebook Fanpage also directly affects the results of your advertising campaign. Therefore, take the time to build and refine the content on your page before launching any campaigns.
So, can a newly created Facebook page run ads? Yes, but the Fanpage needs to have complete information and should regularly post between 7-10 updates to build trust before starting the first advertising campaign.
1.2. Ad Accounts
For those who are currently running or planning to run ads on Facebook, there are two types of accounts you need to familiarize yourself with:
- Personal Ad Account: This account is available by default within your Facebook account. Setting up a personal ad account is very easy and is suitable for those new to Facebook Ads.
- Business Manager Account (BM): This account is designed for businesses and organizations. However, you can create a BM account without owning a company. That said, accounts not verified as businesses will not enjoy benefits like increased ad payment limits or better support when accounts are restricted or banned.
If you have to choose between the two account types, I recommend using a BM account because it offers:
- Support for unlocking accounts and chatting with representatives for any inquiries.
- Priority from Facebook for updates on news, policies, and optimization tips.
- A professional interface with more features.
1.3. Visa Card for Advertising
Facebook accepts payments with international cards, so you need a Visa card to run Facebook Ads.
There are two types of Visa cards:
- Visa Debit Card: You spend what you load onto the card.
- Visa Credit Card: You can spend up to a certain limit and pay it back at the end of each billing cycle.
For beginners, using a Debit Card can help you control spending better and avoid overshooting your budget. Additionally, you might consider using PayPal as a backup in case your Visa card gets disabled.
2. Three Popular Types of Facebook Ads
2.1. Basic Facebook Ads
Basic ads can be easily spotted in the Add section on mobile devices or in the right corner of a computer screen.
This type of ad is displayed in a small frame and includes the following components:
- Ad Title: Maximum 25 characters.
- Short Description: Up to 90 characters.
- An Eye-catching Ad Image: Recommended size is 100×72 pixels.
2.2. Sponsored Ads
When running sponsored Facebook ads, these ads appear on the right side of the computer screen or directly in the user’s news feed.
If the ad appears in the news feed, it will have the label “Sponsored” under the name of the Fanpage.
Sponsored ads typically include:
- One Image/Video
- A Description: Automatically pulled from the Fanpage or a post on the Fanpage.
2.3. Suggested Ads
Suggested ads only appear in a user’s Facebook feed when recommended. Facebook uses user behavior, like liking posts or watching videos from certain Fanpages in Facebook Watch, to suggest these ads.
3. Basic Steps to Run Facebook Ads
3.1. Facebook Business Account
If you already have a Facebook Business account, move on to the next step. If not, follow these steps:
Step 1: Log into your personal account, go to the Business page, and click to create a new account.
Step 2: Follow Facebook’s step-by-step instructions to set up your account.
Step 3: Click on Business Settings and complete the required information.
Step 4: Finally, you can add additional administrator permissions.
3.2. Facebook Fanpage
To run Facebook Ads, you must have a Fanpage. To create a new Fanpage from your Business account, follow these steps:
Step 1: Select the option to create a new page.
Step 2: Choose the category that accurately fits the purpose of your Fanpage for optimal feature support.
Step 3: Fill in all required information, including profile picture, cover photo, description, location, hours of operation, etc.
Step 4: To add administrators for other members, simply input their registered Facebook email.
(Note: Consider carefully before creating the page name or username, as Facebook limits the number of name changes within a certain period—up to 75 days for each name change.)
3.3. Create a Facebook Ads Account
Creating an ad account is also straightforward; just follow these steps:
Step 1: Select Add in the ad account section.
Step 2: Click to create an account and fill in all required information.
Step 3: Choose a time zone suitable for the market where you want the ads to appear.
Step 4: Select the appropriate currency.
Step 5: For payment methods, enter the card number and expiration date on your VISA card.
Step 6: To add administrators, go to settings and add individuals in the roles section.
3.4. Detailed Guide on How to Run Basic Facebook Ads
3.4.1. Create Ads
To create a Facebook ad and run it effectively, first access your Fanpage and select Create Ads.
3.4.2. Campaign Objective
Now, you can set your campaign objectives based on what you want to achieve with your ads, such as increasing traffic, generating leads, or boosting brand awareness.
3.4.3. Set Campaign Name
Naming your campaign helps you easily manage and evaluate its effectiveness. You can add the date or other identifiers for easier navigation later on.
3.4.4. Choose the Appropriate Ad Category/Fanpage
Pay attention to the following options to select the suitable category when running ads on Facebook:
- Clicks To Website: This ad format helps increase traffic to your website.
- Website Conversions: This ad format aids in boosting conversion rates on your website.
- Page Post Engagement: This helps increase engagement on your Fanpage posts.
- Page Likes: This format is designed to increase the number of likes on your Fanpage.
3.4.5. Fill in Account Information and Choose Target Audience
Next, you need to fill in information such as currency, country, and region, then click on Set Audience & Budget.
When defining your audience, it’s essential to set the right parameters for the customers you want to target, including age, location, gender, and language. This step is critical as it determines whether your ads will succeed. You can choose to create a new target audience or use a previously saved audience from the audience manager.
3.4.6. Define Ad Placement
After completing the audience and budget selection, you need to determine the ad placement. Facebook allows you to choose ad placements based on where your target customers frequently engage
You can select placements based on your goals. For example, if you want to increase brand awareness or engagement, you should choose both Facebook and Instagram. If your goal is to increase video views or app installs, then select Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network.
3.4.7. Set Budget and Bidding
In this section, you can choose between two options:
- Daily Budget: This is the average amount you are willing to spend per ad set per day.
- Lifetime Budget: This is the total amount you will spend for the entire duration of the ad set.
3.4.8. Choose Payment Method
The next step is to select your payment method, which can be through debit card, VISA card, or PayPal.
3.4.9. Wait for Approval, Review, and Statistics
You can select the ad placement icon to see how your ad will appear.
Once your campaign has been created, you just need to wait for Facebook to approve it. After your ad is approved, it will be automatically distributed after a while.
After learning how to run ads on Facebook to acquire quality leads, the next step is to gather customer information to proceed with the Inbound Marketing process. This includes creating quality content and applying Marketing Automation, especially for B2B marketing models.
4. Monitor and Measure Effectiveness to Improve Future Campaigns
Regarding the metrics for costs and results, there may be different values for each campaign or ad group. Additionally, you can view results for all audiences or specific audience segments.
5. Common Mistakes in Running Facebook Ads
5.1. Lack of CTA (Call to Action)
Some ad writers often focus solely on the product/service while neglecting the call to action.
The content itself is crucial; to capture customers’ attention, it must be engaging. The way the ad is presented will determine whether customers want to read further and make a purchase. Therefore, including effective Call to Action phrases can significantly improve the effectiveness of your ads.
5.2. Choosing the Wrong Ad Format
Facebook offers various ad types, so you need to select the format that aligns with your goals. Each ad type comes with specific guidance. Hence, it’s essential to study these details to integrate them into your Facebook Ads strategy.
Facebook also introduces a range of different advertising campaigns to better align with individual/business campaign goals, categorized into three main groups:
- Awareness – Brand recognition phase
- Brand Awareness
- Reach
- Consideration – Consideration phase
- Traffic
- Engagement
- App Install
- Video Views
- Lead Generation
- Messenger
- Conversion – Conversion phase
- Conversion on Website/Landing Page
- Catalog Sales
- Store Traffic
5.3. Content Lacking Value
Note: Highlight promotional ads with information about discounts or offers. This will help your customers feel they are receiving many benefits, prompting them to click quickly.
5.4. Not Testing (A/B Testing)
During the process of running ads on Facebook, you cannot evaluate which ad format will be the most optimized and perform best at a specific time. Therefore, create multiple variations to test. This way, you will know which one is the best.
The method you use to experiment and assess which ad format is more effective is called A/B Testing.
In simple terms, A/B Testing involves setting up two identical ads but changing “only one factor” to compare the effectiveness of the two variations. The factors you can test include:
- CTA – Call to Action
- Written content
- Images
- Geographic location
- Target Audience
- Even the strategic objective if it aligns with your testing strategy.
5.5. Incorrect Target Audience
If you choose the wrong audience, no matter how good your ad is, you will not achieve the desired results. Make sure to research Insights thoroughly to select the most appropriate target audience.
If you need the most reputable payment method and advertising account provider, you can message the fanpage buybm365.com-Ads to receive advice from HT Media. In addition, you can follow the articles. Latest articles related to our Digital Marketing!
