Getting Started With Facebook Advertising

It’s so frustrating when you know that using social media is the easiest way to reach people quickly, but it just doesn’t seem very effective; only a handful of people see the posts that have taken you hours to create and then only your mum and a couple of friends react to them. Facebook keeps tempting you to reach for the boost button and your Facebook feed is flooded with adverts from your competitors. So what should you do? Is it worth paying for advertising or is it just money down the drain?

I understand why someone would hesitate; there’s no guarantee of any return on your investment and if you’ve ever tried to set up an ad campaign, you’ve probably found yourself faced with an abundance of non-sensical, overwhelming choices. You don’t know if you’re doing it right and it can become very expensive very quickly. You may have dabbled in ads before and lost more than you gained, or you may just not know if it’s right for your business. 

About Facebook advertising

People paying to advertise on social media is the reason why the platforms are free for everyone to use. So adverts are pretty important and they can be incredibly useful. Over the last few years, they have become more and more prevalent in our social media feeds. In fact, as many as one in every four or five posts that you see is a sponsored post (paid advert) but unless you’re looking for them, you might not even notice they are there. We are now so accustomed to seeing advertising everywhere that we are often oblivious to it.

Getting started

I’ve put together a few points that may help you to decide if Facebook advertising is right for you and how to get started.

The most important thing is not to go into it blindly. If you don’t have at least a basic understanding of the process, it’s very easy to waste money. If you’re serious about advertising on social media in the most profitable way for you, you need to either get some training in how to do it or work with someone who knows what they’re doing.

Facebook ad campaigns can also be published on Instagram, so this information is relevant for Instagram too. Paid advertising on other channels such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok is not exactly the same, but it works in a similar way.

Reasons to use Facebook advertising

If you are a business owner and you need to build brand awareness or sell your products and services to a wider audience, then Facebook ads may be a good option for you. It’s a perfect way to get seen by people who don’t already follow your Facebook page. It can be used to build a following for both new and established businesses.

Paid advertising is more effective than posting on a Facebook page, as more people will see your advert than your regular social media posts. In fact, unless you’re particularly active on your Facebook page or have an incredibly engaged following, you’ll be lucky if as many as 10% of your page followers even see your regular page posts!

Reasons not to use Facebook advertising

If your business is thriving and you don’t want more sales/leads/clients, then Facebook advertising is probably not worthwhile. Also if you don’t use social media and don’t plan to, then it’s not for you. But why would a business not use social media? It should be an integral part of every company’s marketing strategy.

What about boosting posts?

If you have a Facebook page, you will undoubtedly have been prompted by Facebook to boost some of your posts. Boosting posts is a great way to dip your toe in the water and spend a few pounds on adverts now and again. It’s relatively straightforward and can produce good results. However, if you would like more advertising options, better data and for your money to go further, you need to use Ads Manager. This lies within Meta Business Manager. If you are considering using Facebook advertising to really impact your business, then this is the direction you need to take.

What do you need to get started?

If you decide to start advertising on Facebook, it’s a good idea to get the following in place:

• An up-to-date easy-to-navigate website with a fast-loading speed
• Clear ideas about what you want to use advertising for
• An active Facebook page
• Be crystal clear about exactly who your target audience is so you can create advertising campaigns that ‘speak’ directly to them. 
• A reasonable marketing budget that you can sustain for at least 3-6 months
• You’ll need some technical stuff set up too such as a tracking pixel, standard events and conversion API. You’ll probably require some help with this from an Ads Manager and/or web developer depending on your setup.
• An understanding that advertising is not a magic formula for success. It takes time to fine-tune your adverts to get results and there are no guarantees.

How much does it actually cost?

This is a question I get asked all the time and there’s no one answer that works for everyone. Obviously, the more you spend, the more you can make back, but it depends on many factors such as the size of your company, how you plan to use advertising, the price of your products/services and your marketing budget.

Large companies spend thousands of pounds per day but this isn’t realistic for most business owners. At the other end of the scale, you may see some success by spending as little as £2 per day, but it is likely to take a very long time to see results. Also, you’re unlikely to match any competitors in terms of winning advertising space.

I’d always recommend starting off by spending more and then reducing the amount over time when you find out what works best for you. A realistic starter budget is a minimum of around £20 per day but this very much depends on the type of advert you are running. If you are working with an ads manager you’ll have to pay them too.

It’s also worth noting that how far your money goes varies according to the time of year; the run-up to Christmas tends to be expensive as do occasions such as Valentine’s Day or major events such as US presidential elections.

Is it better to use Google ads or Facebook ads?

There are, of course, different ways of paying for advertising. Let’s take Facebook ads vs Google ads as an example. The way you target your audience is very different. For Facebook advertising, you choose who to show your adverts to, based on demographics such as age, gender, location and interests. For Google advertising, ads are shown to someone based on the search term they have used. To put it in the most simple terms; On Facebook you find them and on Google, they find you.

For some people, Google ads are more successful and some find it’s better to focus on Facebook advertising. However, many find that a combination of both suits them best. Clearly, this can be costly and isn’t an option for everyone.

You also need to understand that just because you’re willing to pay for advertising doesn’t mean it will bring you success. Even a skilled ads manager will need time to test different variables and find the right kind of advert that appeals to your target audience.

If you’d like to learn more about working with me on Facebook advertising, send me an email: josie@daisychainsocialmedia.com

You can also fill in my Enquiry Form and we can arrange a mutually convenient time for an informal chat.

Thank you for reading!