Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads Manager

Facebook Ads Manager is an ad management tool to make, edit and analyze paid promotional Facebook campaigns. Facebook recently combined Ads Manager and Power Editor into one platform to make it easier to create and monitor ads campaigns across multiple advertising platforms owned by Facebook, including Instagram ads.

You can use it to:

• Set up Facebook ad campaigns.
• Create new ad sets and ads.
• Manage Facebook ad bids.
• Target many different audiences.
• Optimize your ad campaigns.
• Keep track of your campaigns’ performance.
• A/B test your Facebook ad campaigns.

Understanding the Ads Manager’s ins and outs will be the key to you getting the most out of your Facebook advertising dollars.

How Do Facebook Ads Work?

Facebook ads now come in several varieties. You can promote your Page, posts on your Page, actions users took, or your website itself. Despite Facebook’s increasing focus on native ads and keeping traffic on its site, you can still be successful in sending users to your website. There are also several ad formats including images, videos, carousel (multiple images), Instant Experiences, and collections. Facebook ads are targeted to users based on their location, demographic, and profile information. Many of these options are only available on Facebook. After creating an ad, you set a budget and bid for each click or thousand impressions that your ad will receive.

Users then see your ads in the sidebar on Facebook or in their newsfeed. Facebook’s other ad options are great for driving engagement and brand awareness, but ads driving users off-site are still the best option for direct response advertisers looking to make a sale.

How to Target Facebook Ads

The number one mistake most marketers make with Facebook ads is not targeting them correctly. Facebook’s ad targeting options are unparalleled. You can target by demographics and create custom or lookalike audiences to target users similar to your best customers. You can also use retargeting ads to target users who have interacted with your page, or visited your website. On Facebook, you can directly target users by:

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Interests
• Connections
• Relationship Status
• Languages
• Education
• Workplaces

Each option can be useful, depending on your audience. Most marketers should focus on location, age, gender, and interests.  Location allows you to target users in the country, state, city, or zip code that you service. Age and gender targeting should be based on your existing customers. If women 25-44 are the bulk of your customers, start out targeting them. If they prove to be profitable, you can then expand your targeting. Interest targeting is the most powerful but misused feature of Facebook ads. When creating an ad, you have two options: broad categories or detailed interests.

How to use and navigate the Ads Manager 

The Ads Manager is where you create and coordinate your ad campaigns. Start by accessing the Ads Manager. To get there, you can click this link, navigate there from the Business Manager, or use Facebook’s Ads Manager Mobile App. Let’s have a look at this map to get an idea of how to navigate a brand new Ads Manager dashboard:

1. Main Navigation Menu: Click the dots icon to navigate to other tools like Business Manager or Audiences.
2. Create New Ad Campaigns: Click here to make new ad campaigns.
3. Campaign View: This view will give you info on all of your Facebook campaigns once you start running them.
4. Ad Set View: This view will give you information on each of your ad sets so you can compare them.
5. Ads View: This view will give you information on each ad you are running.
6. Columns: Toggle different columns in this drop-down bar to display various metrics about your campaigns, ad sets or ads.
7. Campaign Breakdown: Breakdown allows you to filter your results by time, delivery, or action.
8. The Data Field: When you start making ad campaigns, this is the area all your data will be displayed in.

You should now have a pretty basic understanding of navigating the Ads Manager, so let’s jump into the fun part—our first campaign!

Facebook has over a billion active users. This places small business owners at a great advantage. With Facebook advertising, it gives you access to your target market right in the palm of your hand. Here are a few advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook Ads.

Advantages

Facebook Ads Offer More Flexibility than Google Adwords
With Facebook ads, you are given more character length for your ad descriptions compared to Google Adwords. Facebook also gives you the option to create image based ads.

Facebook Ads are More Economical
You can reach your target audience at an affordable rate compared to other ad programs.  It allows you to adjust your budget while reaching people globally from their PCs, Laptops or Smartphones.

You can Offer Promos from Your Facebook Fan Page
This is an affordable way of connecting with your customers and prospects. Most of all, it allows you to build your brand image and brand loyalty. You can also update your latest product launches and keep your customers abreast to your latest promotions and special events.

Disadvantages

Ads Won’t Guarantee Sales
Once a Facebook user clicks onto your website or blog, what will they see? It’s important that you have a well-designed and mobile friendly website. It is also important that your web content is relevant, interesting and persuasive. At NYC Web Design, our web designers in New York will build a new website or redesign an existing website that will compliment your brand.

Handle Negative Content
Although social media offers a great opportunity for businesses to communicate with their customers, there is a downside. It only takes one dissatisfied customer to post a negative comment on your Facebook page. Do you have a plan of action? Make sure that your Facebook page (including all social media sites) is closely monitored. If you don’t have time to monitor your own social media sites, consider hiring a social media manager to help you maintain and monitor your social media pages.  

Facebook Ad Wars
When investing in Facebook advertising, you have one of two options: pay per impression or pay per click. Although the cost per impression is only 2¢ and the cost per click is 1¢, this may not seem like a lot, but there is a catch. Facebook encourages advertisers to bid a higher rate at the point of creating your ads.

The problem with this method is that when the competition bids higher, this puts entrepreneurs and small business owners at a great disadvantage because the ones with the highest bids receive more exposure.