A Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Ads

For many e-commerce companies, the option to advertise through Facebook has opened up an entire world (literally!) of opportunity and new customers. According to Facebook’s own statistics, 1.6 billion people around the globe are connected to small business on Facebook. That’s a lot of potential sales!

Good News for Facebook Advertisers

74% of individuals earning over $75,000 (USD) are on Facebook. And the 1.62 billion visitors to the platform every day click on an average of 11 ads per month.

But it’s not just about clicks and sales. Facebook ads provide the best targeting options for ads anywhere. The better you know your customers, the more targeted you can make your ads, and the more conversions and sales you’ll see. Plus, it’s fast. Want more sales by the end of this week? Use Facebook ads.

Set Up a Facebook Business Manager Account

All ads operate through Facebook’s Business Manager account. But before you can set this up, you must set up a Facebook business page. Go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/creation/, fill in the information), and you’ve got yourself a Facebook business page.

Next, go to https://business.facebook.com/ where you’ll set up your Business Manager account.

The best way to track the effectiveness of your ads is through a Facebook pixel. This provides a connection between your ads and your website so you can see which traffic was directed to your ad, and what that traffic did at your site.

Create Your Audiences

This is where it can get really fun! As we’ve already mentioned, Facebook provides amazing targeting capabilities, so the more you know about your audience, the more specifically you can target them. Not sure who your target audience is? Run some A/B tests with different audiences and you’ll soon find out.

You can create a variety of audiences for different campaigns and products. Just label them clearly so it’s easy to choose the right one when you go to set up an ad.

With Facebook ads, you can also target audiences that have interacted with you before. If you have an email list of past customers, you can input this as a specific audience. Anyone whose email address is connected with a Facebook account will see your ad when you choose this audience — great for retargeting past customers.

Create a Campaign

A Facebook ad campaign is a broad umbrella with a specific objective. When you select the option to create a campaign, the first question Facebook will ask is what your objective is Choose the one that best reflects your goals.

Underneath the campaign umbrella you can place multiple ad sets. For each ad set you will select the target audience, your budget, and where on Facebook (and Instagram) you want your ads to appear.

Below those ad sets, you create the actual ads where you select your media/images, headlines, and calls to action.

Tips for Great Facebook Ads

Research shows that most Facebook users don’t get past the headline in an ad. So, while all your text is important, the headline is critical. Keep it short (60–100 characters), catchy, and memorable. If you’re going to do A/B testing, looking at the effectiveness of two different headlines to provide valuable feedback.

Create a sense of urgency in your ads by using countdown timers, time-limited discounts, limited quantity offers, and target phrases like ‘Flash Sale’ and ‘Only 12 Hours Left!’

If you allow comments on your ads, it’s important to have someone monitoring them, replying in a friendly tone, and removing/blocking any comments that could be harmful.

The benefits of Facebook advertising are clear for e-commerce, but businesses may run into one very real challenge: Facebook bills promptly with ads — sometimes even daily, depending on how your account is set up. And no matter how fast sales come in, revenue is always delayed.

This is where Motion Finance can help. We provide funding on a revenue sharing basis so e-commerce companies can grow now through opportunities like advertising on Facebook. Our business agreements with clients take into account the highs (and lows) of online advertising. So you can start advertising today without the stress of unrealistic and unfair financing.

We’re here to help e-commerce companies grow! Contact us at hello@motionfinance.co today and start making the most out of Facebook ads.