Used correctly and Facebook ads can provide you with a steady stream of leads and sales for your business. In fact the potential is huge, for both product and service based businesses. With so many business owners super eager to dive it and try it, here’s the 3 things you need to remember when it comes to setting up your first Facebook ads campaign.

Set up the pixel

I always urge people to do this even before they intend to try Facebook ads, because from the second you put the little baby on your website, it’s collecting data and cookies on your web visitors, so that when you do want to set up a campaign you can use what you already know about your web visitors to target the right kind of audience.

Which leads nicely on to the second point…

Avoid hitting the boost button

It’s sorely tempting when you see the prompts on Facebook and Instagram that tell you “this post is performing 80% better than your last post, why not boost it to reach more people”. BUT DON’T do this! This is a one way ticket to disappointed town.

When it comes to setting up your first ever Facebook ad, you’ll want to target people you know are likely to respond to your ad. i.e those who visited your website, but didn’t buy (thanks to the pixel) or those who are like past buyers of your products or services (called lookalike audiences)

You’ll also want to deliver an ad that’s likely to prompt an action, such as a web visit, lead or sale. Not just a like on a boosted post.

Ads should always be intentional.

It doesn’t go on your page

Another misconception when it comes to Facebook ads is that it will post to your Facebook Page. You can select a page post as an ad, but I (and every ads specialist out there) would advise against it. You see you really need to stop thinking that you want EVERYONE possible to see your ad and start to think very strategic about who would most likely take action from seeing it. So sure, you can target page followers and lookalike page followers, but with the pixel in place, you have a far more powerful audience to target… Those who lookalike actual buyers and those who visited (maybe even added to a cart) but didn’t buy.

So, do you still want page followers to see your ad now?

Learn about Facebook ads for business and so much more as part of The Content Academy. Where you can master the art of an effective content strategy for your business.