Facebook Ads (Meta Ads) has been for a long time the place to go for a large number of performance marketers. With billions of active users, tons of data and a plethora of targeting capabilities, Facebook Ads continues to deliver. Like any other traffic source, it too has its tips and tricks, best practices and guidelines, that you can master. In this article we’ll go over 6 details you should know, to make the most out of Facebook Ads.
Campaign Objective in Facebook (Meta) Ads
Inside Facebook Ads, you can choose between six different objectives for your campaigns. Each objective is better suited to a specific kind of ad, and choosing the right combo can significantly increase your chances of success.
•Choose Awareness, if you want audiences to remember your offer. Good for getting more brand awareness and more video views
•Choose Traffic, if you want to direct people to a desired destination (e.g. a site, an app, or an event on FB). Good for getting more link clicks and landing page views
•Choose Engagement, if you want to generate more views, page likes or event responses. Good for messages, video views and post engagement
•Choose Lead Generation, if you want to collect more leads for your business. Good for instant forms, messages, calls and sing-ups
•Choose App Promotion, if you want to increase the number of users installing your app (or continue using it). Good for app installs and app events
•Choose Sales, if you want to attract individuals who are likely to purchase a product/service from you. Good for conversions, catalogue sales and messages
Note: Some optimization options (e.g. messages) can be selected for multiple objectives
Image by Facebook
Best Practices in Facebook (Meta) Ads
•Remember to include a CTA (call-to-action) in your ads. A powerful guiding element that directs users’ next step (e.g. purchase product/service, sign up for email list, visit site, etc.)
•The quality of your images and videos matters. The higher their quality is, the better they will look on screen.
•Include movements in your ads wherever you can. Especially in FB’s feed, offers that include some sort of movement in them (e.g. interacting with a product, walking) tend to stand out and attract more people
•Showcase people using the product on offer. This way, potential buyers can imagine themselves using the product (e.g. playing with a PlayStation controller)
Bonus Tip: Make use of the Community Content Tab
•Consider using text overlays in your ads. Text over images and videos has proven to boost conversions. p.s. Remember to use proper sizing, fonts and spacing.
•The right color palette can truly bring an ad together; bridging the gaps between the multiple elements that make up an ad.
Bonus tip: You can change your palette to match a season, certain audience preferences and such to make your ads more appealing
•Keeps your ads relevant, include the latest trends and spread no misinformation
•Targeting a good-sized audience can be tricky; a good rule of thumb is to not go too narrow, allowing your offer to gather more data and maybe snatch a few extra conversions
Note: Nowadays the best targeting practice in FB Ads is to target a broad audience
•Mobile. Mobile. Mobile. Your ads should look great across all devices, especially mobile
•Before launching a campaign, you can preview it once more for any last-minute changes
Audience Targeting in Facebook (Meta) Ads
It’s no secret that Facebook has a lot of data, tons of it, and you can make use of them to your advantage. Through Facebook Ads’ different audience targeting layers, you can reach the exact audience you want to target, and better understand your existing audiences.
You can target people based on their education level, job title, relationship status, hobbies. Target potential customers who have previously shown interest in your business, who have visited your page or visited specific pages in the past, who have interacted with an app or game. You can reach lookalike audiences in specific locations; within a 1km range. Target people based on purchasing behaviors, intent, device usage, the pages they liked and closely-related topics. You can even reach those that are celebrating certain milestones such as weddings, birthdays, engagements and anniversaries with tailor-made offers. The sky is pretty much the limit with audience targeting on Facebook. So go on, explore and target the audiences you desire.
Image by Facebook
Ad Placement in Facebook (Meta) Ads
Besides the “Feed” area where you traditionally see ads on Facebook, you can place your offers in various other spots:
•In the Instagram Feed in your mobile app or mobile/desktop web
•In spots between the posts on public profiles
•In Facebook’s Marketplace home
•In spaces between videos in a video-only environment
•In the column on the right that users see when they log into FB from their desktops
•In the Facebook Business explore space
•When looking through Instagram’s explore space, between videos and photos
•In the home tab of Messenger
•Between Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger stories
•Between reels on Facebook and Instagram
•During Facebook-approved streams
•As suggestions in Facebook’s search results
And a multitude of other options
Image by Facebook
Images and Videos in Facebook (Meta) Ads
As images and videos are king on Facebook, below you’ll find a list of tips and tricks to take them to the next level.
•Smaller, crispier fronts and fewer words tend to perform better. Text should cover no more than 20% of your ad, at best less than that. So, keep it short and sweet
•Putting your logo or your brand’s logo in your images and videos increases the likelihood of engagement with your ad. The more known your brand is, the stronger the trust
•Your creatives should convey only one message. After seeing an image and in particular a video, viewers should have a clear understanding of what they saw was all about and act from there
•The right video length can make or break your ad. Though usually shorter videos are preferred, in spaces like FB, longer videos have their place as well (depending on what you are promoting)
•The best aspect ratios would be vertical (9:16) or square (1:1), as Facebook Ads are viewed in multiple formats
•Carousel ads can be a really powerful way to spread your message, as they give marketers on Facebook the ability to present multiple offers at the same time; each with its own creative, headline, description, CTA, and link. Excellent for things such as promoting a collection of items
Facebook (Meta) Ads and TheOptimizer
To get the most out of Facebook Ads, connect it with TheOptimizer and run all your campaigns on autopilot. With TheOptimizer you will be able to scale your Facebook Ads campaigns profitably and save a lot of your time thanks to the platform’s automation based on preset conditions. If you are not familiar with TheOptimizer yet, it is the #1 automation tool for native platforms. It will allow you to replace your media buying manual (and boring) tasks such as, changing budgets, pausing ads, etc, with condition-based rules. If you want to learn more about how TheOptimizer can help with your Facebook campaigns, click here.
For details on other traffic sources, you can check our excellent articles on Google Ads, Tik Tok, Useful Taboola details, and Outbrain details. .
