8 Steps to Flourishing with Facebook Ads Checklist

•  Define Your Facebook Ad Goals

When it comes to this particular ad, let’s make sure we have clearly defined goals. Ask yourself the question like “What is it we are trying to achieve?”

Yes! We know you want more revenue, but be more specific than that.

Maybe you want to:

• Attract new business

• Build brand awareness

• Update your current customer base

• Launch a new product/service

• Promote a seasonal sale

You can even go a bit farther. Do you want X amount of money in X amount of days from X amount of people? Write those out and build your ads accordingly.

•  Choose the Object of Promotion

Will this advertisement be promoting a product, service, bundle of products and services? Is it promoting an event? Do you have a sale happening? Or perhaps it’s something completely different. Either way, the ad is build around this, so think through it carefully.

•  Identify Your Target Audience

You can show your ad to 5 million people, but if those 5 million are not your ideal customer/client, then what’s the point? So, before you go any farther, be sure to identify your target audience. Who are you trying to reach? Make a list of demographics and common characteristics. Facebook will let you choose age, location, language, and common behaviors or interests. It's amazing!

•  Set Your Ad Budget

Social Media is terrific for free advertising, but ads are a different ballgame. This is where a lot of businesses fall short. They think a budget of $100 is going to give them 9,000 new customers and $263,000 of revenue. No. Be realistic here. As you run more ads, you will start to have a clear idea of what your conversion rates are. For now, you can start with taking a look at what your business has done in the past. Have you dabbled with paid advertising prior to this? If you had a good run with one of those campaigns, that’s a good benchmark to begin with.

Another way to decide on a budget is to take a look at client/customer acquisition. How much does it typically cost you to gain one client/customer? Use that number and adjust accordingly.

Lastly, if you really have no idea – there are always industry benchmarks. We recommend spending at least $5/day on ads for the month = $150. At least in the beginning, when you know what’s converting well, you can throw more ad dollars into it.

•  Set Your Ad Schedule

Some ads can run continuously with no breaks. But of course, if this is a seasonal promotion or something that is time sensitive, you will want to consider that. Facebook allows for both options inside of the Facebook Ads Manager. We understand that we all want instant microwavable results. But, with ads, sometimes we have to play the long game.

• Create Ad (Graphic + Text)

Now, it’s time to dive into your creativity and create graphics and write some copy. If this is a brand awareness campaign or a conversion campaign and you are targeting new traffic we recommend you get some professional design help here (unless you are a Photoshop whiz). Remember, you are using these ads to attract NEW clients and customers. That means, you need to put your best foot forward. This ad will be your digital business card – and when it comes to social, image is everything. You may even want to add the cost of these graphics into your ad budget.

Further, if you want ads for Facebook and Instagram (the two share a backend advertising platform), you may need two different sized designs.

Facebook: 1200 x 628 px

Instagram: 600 x 600 px

*Text on the images should be no more than 20% of the entire graphic. Facebook has a policy about that. While it may approve the ad initially, it won’t show it to as many people. Therefore, decreasing your reach.

The ad copy should be compelling! Think about what will entice the audience to move on to the next step. Keep it engaging, yet simple.

Postscript – we offer Facebook Ad design & copywriting services; so if you need some help, reach out to us at linkup@flourishmediaconference.com. Our team is second to none! We will set you up for success.

• Create or Verify Target Links

When creating an ad, if you are sending them somewhere, please make sure those links are working. There is nothing like spending money to capture new leads that go nowhere.

BONUS: Make sure the proper Facebook Pixel is installed on your site, landing pages, and thank you pages. If you ever want to move into more sophisticated retargeting ads, you will need that data.

•  Don’t Forget to Monitor and Measure

Don’t just set it and forget it. You want to make sure your ad dollars are giving you your desires ROI, right? Thus, we must monitor. We recommend waiting at least 48 hours before making any changes to your Facebook Ad copy/graphic/target/etc. It takes Facebook a little bit of time to optimize it for you.

But keep in mind they are not out to scam you. They want your ads to do well, so they will show it to people who are most likely to give you the results you desire (that’s why its so important to define that in the very beginning).

There you have it! 8 Steps to Flourishing with Facebook Ads.

If you would like to have our team set them up for you, or simply walk you and your team through the process, you can schedule that by shooting us an email at linkup@flourishmediaconference.com