How to Run Your First Facebook Ad (In 1 Hour or Less)

There are over 3.5 billion monthly active users between Facebook and Instagram.

This means that the majority of people you want to reach are out there, ready for a first impression.

This article walks you through the process of launching Facebook Ads and reaching the people you want to reach.

And we're going to get everything up and running in one hour or less.

Let's dive in.

What are Facebook Ads?

A Facebook ad is a form of advertising that you can use to promote your business on Facebook. You can create an ad that promotes your business, products, or services, and you can target it to specific individuals or groups. You can also choose where you want the ad to appear and how long it will run.

Facebook ads are helpful for businesses because they allow you to reach a large number of people who are interested in what you have to offer. They also allow you to track the performance of your ads so that you can see how well they're doing and make changes as needed.

How to Get Started

Create a Facebook Page for Your Business

If you don't already have a Facebook page,  you'll need to create one. This process only takes a few minutes, and you can do it for free.

Creating a Facebook page:

1. Go to www.facebook.com/business and click Create a Page.

2. Choose the type of business you have from the options provided.

3. Enter the required information and click Get Started.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish setting up your Facebook page.

Once you've created your page, it's crucial to make it look presentable. This means adding a profile picture, cover photo, and information about your business.

Creating your ad campaign

Follow this link to Facebook's Ad Manager.

Create your first ad campaign by clicking the green Create button.

On the next page, you'll need to select your campaign objective. This is what you want your ad to achieve, such as getting people to visit your website or buy your product.

For now, we'll select the "Traffic" option.

Once you click Continue, we have two things to go over before diving into the fun stuff.

First, if you run ads related to housing, lending, credit, employment, or social issues, you'll need to declare a special ads category. Unfortunately, this means your access to features like advanced targeting will be reduced (only for these types of ads).

If you don't run ads related to these categories, feel free to leave this section as is.

The next thing to do is set a budget. Click Next and select your budget. With your first ad, there's nothing wrong with starting low - we'll put this at $5 per day for now.

Now, it's time to work on your targeting.

Choosing Your Target Audience

Before you create your ad, you'll need to decide who you want to see it. This is important because you want to make sure that the people who see your ad are interested in what you have to offer. You can target individuals, groups, or both.

To target individuals, you'll need to enter some information about them. This can include their age, gender, interests, and location.

You can also target groups, which is known as targeting by interest. For example, if you sell products for dog owners, you might target people who have liked the Facebook page for Dogster, a popular dog magazine.

You can also exclude certain people by adding them to your negative targeting. For example, if you're selling a product only available in the United States, you might want to exclude people who live outside of the country.

In this example, I chose people who:

• Live in the United States
• Own a small business
• Are 30+ years old

Once you're happy with your targeting, click Next again and move on to ad creation!

Creating the Ad - Headlines, Images, and Text

When creating your ad, you'll need to develop a headline, text, and image.

The headline is the first thing people will see (90% of the time, it's the only thing they read!), so it's essential to make it catchy and interesting.

Your headline is very much industry-dependent. For example, if you're selling toothbrushes, "20% off Amazon's Top-Rated Toothbrush" will get way more clicks than "Great Toothbrush."

Likewise, "Free Teeth Cleaning From Seattle's Top-Rated Dentist" will get more clicks than "Great Seattle Dentist."

Be as clear and concise as possible.

The text should explain your product or service and how it can help the person reading it. This is an excellent opportunity to tell a story or share something personal about yourself or your company.

In my many years of running ad campaigns, I can tell you that long-text ads generate more results nine times out of ten.

And finally, your image. Your image needs to be high quality, eye-catching, and relevant to your ad. It should also be legible on all devices, including mobile phones.

I highly recommend using Canva, which has a massive library of templates for Facebook and Instagram ads you can choose from.

Putting it all together,  your ad might look something like this:

Getting your ad approved

Now that you've finished your ads, it's time to publish them. Click the Publish button at the top corner and let Facebook do its thing.

The approval process can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, but it's usually pretty quick. Once your ad is approved, it will start running immediately.

Tracking your performance

You can track the progress of your ad by clicking on the Ads Manager tab at the top of your Facebook page. Here, you'll be able to see how many people have seen your ad (reach), how many have clicked on it (clicks), and how much money you've spent (ad spend).

In this example, we focused on generating client leads, so Facebook is displaying the cost per result.

You can also use the Ads Manager to adjust your ad's targeting, schedule, or budget.

Bonus: set up a test

A/B testing is one of the most valuable things a marketer can do. It allows you to compare two versions of your ads to see which one performs better. For example, you can test different headlines, images, text, and target audiences to see which combination produces the best results.

To set up a test, go to the Ads Manager and click on the Create Split Test button at the top of the page. From there, you can choose what you want to test and how you want to measure the results.

Consider running a different headline or image. Test one version of your ad with short text and one with a long-text story version.

Have fun and experiment. You never know which ad will end up performing best. You might be surprised!

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've now created your first Facebook ad. Remember to keep an eye on your results and make changes as needed. With a bit of practice, you'll be the in-house Facebook Ads expert!