With nearly 5 billion combined users as of 2022, Facebook and Instagram dwarf all other social media platforms when it comes to influence and outreach. Experts estimate that advertisers will spend more than $58 billion on Facebook and Instagram Ads in just the next year, or $158 million every day.
Facebook and Instagram are both owned by Meta, a social media magnate that also controls WhatsApp which it purchased for $19 billion in 2014. In this article, we give you a step-by-step walk through of how you can set up Facebook and Instagram ads that sell.
Types of Facebook And Instagram Ads
Facebook and Instagram ads are paid advertisements that run exclusively through Meta's online advertising platform. They can appear in a user's main Facebook feed, Instagram feed, Instagram stories, and Facebook's messenger feed, among other places.
Image Ads
Image ads are the most basic and common form of advertisement on the platform. They allow you to advertise a product using a single high-quality design or photograph.
Slideshow Ads
Slideshow ads are composed of 2 to 10 images that play in a slideshow. The most effective slideshow ads include relevant, high-quality images and are accompanied by music that does not distract users from the content of the ad.
Video Ads
Video ads are adaptable advertisements that can be modified to appear in the News Feed, Video Feed, Stories or within longer Facebook and Instagram videos. Facebook has a video creation tool available for use within the platform.
How To Set Up Facebook And Instagram Ads
Setting up your own Instagram and Facebook ad campaign can seem daunting at first. Each step includes multiple options and features that can be overwhelming if you don't know what you're doing. Don't worry, we're here to help guide you to make the process as seamless as possible.
1. Create An Account On Meta Ads Manager
Before you can begin running Facebook and Instagram ads, you first need to create an account with the Meta Ads Manager. You can create an account here. If you would like assistance creating your Meta Ads account, please feel free to contact us.
2. Create An Ad Campaign And Choose An Objective
Great! Your account is set up and now you can begin creating your campaign. Begin by naming your campaign according to the product or products you wish to advertise.
When creating your campaign, we recommend you choose “Auction” as your buying type as it will allow you to best control your advertisement spending.
Your campaign objective should align with the primary purpose of your advertising campaign. Within the ad platform, you can target an ad to increase traffic, conversions, engagement, app installs, video views, lead generation, or messages.
3. Select An Audience
Creating an audience allows you to target specific customers based on age, location, gender and more detailed data. You can also search and create custom audiences if you wish to be more specific in your targeting.
Audience Placements
The audience placement option allows you to pick and choose where within "Meta" you would like your ads to appear. You can choose automatic placements which is recommended by Meta and uses artificial intelligence to select the best placement for your ads or you can select manual placements.
Manual placements allows you to select where within Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and the Audience Network you would like you ads to appear.
4. Choose A Budget
Your budget dictates how much money you will spend on your campaign. When selecting a budget you can choose either daily or lifetime. This determines how the platform allocates your money across a period of time.
You can also select a start and end date for your campaign to optimize your budget and spending. The scheduling tool allows you to show your ads only at select times of the day when people are most likely to see them.
5. Ad Creative
The ad creative tool allows you to enhance your ad by adding a headline, primary text, description, and various media. If your ad contains a video, you can upload and attach it using the “Add Media" function. You can also create a video from scratch if you feel comfortable doing so.
6. Track Your Ad
After your ad has been created it is now time to publish your campaign. However, before doing so, it is best to make sure that the Facebook Pixel (a piece of code installed on the home page of your site) is properly installed. If you need help determining how to use this function, please feel free to reach out to us and we will be glad to assist you.
7. Publish
If all your information looks accurate, click the “Next” button. Then, hit “Publish Campaign” and your campaign is ready to start generating sales! Congratulations, you have now created a campaign within an ad group and have an ad inside of that ad group!
According to Meta, you are able to create as many campaigns as you would like, up to 5,000 ad sets within a campaign, and over 50 ads in each ad set.
Summary
Facebook and Instagram ads are paid messages that run exclusively through Meta’s online advertising platform. They can appear in your company’s Facebook and Instagram feeds, Facebook messenger feed, and in some cases, on websites other than Facebook.
