Facebook made easy in 10 steps

There are 1.6 billion people on Facebook and so it makes sense to be there if you have a consumer business, however many small businesses are not sure what they are doing and so are scared to invest the time and money into using this marketing tool.

There are so many resources out there to help you understand Facebook Advertising so I am going to direct you to my favorite as I outline the 10 steps to running a great Facebook/ Instagram campaign.

1. Facebook for Business and there is also an agency hub

This is a new resource for small business and it takes you step by step through some of the initial set up for creating a business page and advertising.

2. Go in with established goals. Do you want more website visits? More Facebook likes? More fan engagement? Each of these metrics has its own value, so choose your main objective before you get started. The Facebook ad type you go with will depend on what you're trying to achieve. Facebook's new advertising scheme guides you to recommend ad formats based on your primary goal. Facebook is often much cheaper than Google Analytics and so it is worth knowing about how to leverage this tool.

3. Choose your audience. Facebook knows the demographics, interests and social connections of their users. This information gives advertisers a unique opportunity to deliver incredibly well targeted campaigns. There are trhee main audience types.

• Core - Define an audience based on criteria such as age, interests, geography and more. If you are not sure where to start with this use your audience insights tab from your Facebook page.
• Custom - Get back in touch with people who have engaged with your business, online or off. This can be done through a list or setting up a Facebook pixel to track web visitors
• Look Alike - Reach new people whose interests are similar to those of your best customers.

4. Choose a format - once you have your audience, then you need to choose which format to display your ad. Video, photo, story, messenger, etc. You can have these assets stored in your media section of a business manager. This creative can then be displayed in a number of different ways.

5. Set a budget. If you are new to Facebook advertising it is worthwhile making little bets so you can check what ad format, audience, etc works. But making lots of variations to test and small budgets for each, you can test first, learn and then set a larger budget. The most common way to purchase ads for Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network is through our ad management tool, Ads Manager. You purchase ads by creating an ad and submitting it to our ad auction.

6. Measure to see what works best. If you have ads running on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network, visit Ads Manager, where you can monitor your campaign performance, view reach and demographics breakdowns and review the cost of your ads over any period of time.

7. Consider using Business Manager. Of course you can create ads within your pages by boosting your post. This will give you access to a certain number of tools. You can go into Ad Manager to get even more flexibility over your ad creation. We suggest you set up a Business Manager for your business as this will give you the best access to all the tools you might need in one place. Business Manager is a one-stop shop where you can manage all of your marketing and advertising activity on Facebook. Built for businesses of all sizes, it allows you to create ads, manage multiple assets such as Facebook Pages and Instagram profiles, and easily share access to these assets across your team and with external partners.

8. Results

You can expect to pay between .80 cents and $5.00 per click depending on the industry you are in.

9. Learn from the best.

Facebook for beginners You Tube.

Social Media Examiner

Go to our Knowledge Centre to download a great resource that walks you through FB and Instragam marketing.

10. Great artwork. Start to collect great assets in terms of images, videos, logos. You need great visuals to create good ads. People convert. Only 20% text on any given ad. Canva.com is a great tool for ad jazzying.