.jpg)
Creating an effective ad for your business is a straightforward concept, but surprisingly complex when you pull behind the curtain and reveal the multitude of targeting, CTA, goals, and integrations.
This article aims to go over the basics of Meta ad management in 2022. The algorithm, guidelines and range of options change over time, so it’s always good to check that you’re looking at up-to-date information.
There are a few key stages to the ad lifecycle, we’ll refer to them as development, implementation, and management, but it’s not hard and fast terminology.
Alright, you’ve decided to run an ad, but why?
It’s tempting to have an ad just for the sake of it (that can be enough of a reason sometimes!) But, when you know why you’re advertising, it will be easier to get a solid grip on how to advertise it.
You may want to put a post on promotion for a few reasons:
It’s important to have a clear purpose for anything going on promotion, this is to ensure you’re building towards your business goals and making the most of the ad.
Whatever your purpose is, tailor the upcoming advertising campaign to complement the goal. For example, if brand awareness is your game, you might want to use a continuous Meta ad as a slow-burn approach. In contrast, time-sensitive events will have a clear end date and may require a more aggressive strategy.
There are a lot of small details to gather to set up a boosted post. Here’s an outline of what’s typically needed:
When key details are settled, it’s time to create a striking ad!
This stage will get you well acquainted with Meta Ads Centre. This place can be as simple or complex as you make it. For the most part, Meta will set everything up for a default audience, which makes for a good starting point.
One of the first things to choose is the ad goal, this could be:
It’s usually pretty clear what your goal is, it comes back to that why we discussed at the beginning of this post. The purpose of your ad is usually multi-faceted, if you want to generate sales, you would also be interested in gaining leads, or generating traffic. Go with whatever your primary goal is, and the ad will work towards that.
Placement refers to the places where your ad will appear. The default option is automatic, where Meta selects the best placements in relation to your budget and goal. However, you can customise these categories yourself if you know exactly where you want your ad to appear. Here are all the places an ad can go:
Feed placements:
Story Placements:
In-stream:
Search:
Messages:
In-article:
Apps:
Oculus:
As you can see, there’s a myriad of ways Meta can get your ad out there. If you know exactly what you want for placement, you can change all of these settings. Otherwise, give free rein to the automatic feature to do it for you.
Your CTA tells Meta what action you want someone to take when they’re interested in your product or service.
Options are as follows:
Many of the options above give you the option to add a link. This is great if you’re trying to redirect your audience to a website, registration page or anything else outside of the Metaverse. Take your time in selecting your CTA, there’s bound to be one built for your desired CTA!
If you are unsure of the best CTA for your ad, MarketMaxNZ can select an option based on your ad goals.
Targeting refers to the groups of people the ad will be presented to. You’re able to target:
All of these points are super flexible. There’s a targeting option for almost any kind of interest and demographic. By beginning to type keywords into the targeting box, Meta will list a bunch of suggested subcategories for you to choose from.
Based on what you’ve entered, Meta will let you know how your audience selection range. It will be measured between specific and broad. Again, there is no ‘correct’ range to aim for, it’s more important to tailor your targeting to your campaign’s goal. Broad audiences are good for brand awareness as the ad will be delivered to a wider group of people. Alternatively, specific targeting is useful for an offer relevant to a narrow group of people.
Interested in tracking activity to your website? Meta Pixel can do just that for you. Meta Pixel is a piece of Javascript that can track URLs visited, domains visited, and the devices your visitors use. It can be taken even further to track conversions, define custom audiences, and set up Advantage+ catalogue ad campaigns.
There’s a little bit to set up for Meta Pixel, but can be well worth it. There are 3 key ingredients:
All of the code, and full instructions can be found on Meta for Developers.
Once all materials have been confirmed, the ad will go to launch.
Important note: Once the ad has been submitted, the image will not be able to be changed.
At this stage, card details will be required. If you’re using a card from a different country than you’re in, card verification may be requested in the form of a $1 hold charge from Facebook.
To verify a card:
Having at least one month to run the ad campaign allows time to test and adjust targeting along the way. It’s straightforward to change the targeting factors listed in the Ad Development section.
Some handy tools to measure the success of your ad are:
The cost-per-click can be affected by the other three factors, and there are things you can do to improve the score of each one. A low quality score indicates a rethink of your ad delivery, can it be made more impactful, succinct, or desirable to your target audience?
In contrast, a low engagement rate ranking means you might want to add new creative material or change your CTA to something your audience is more likely to spend time looking at, maybe a video?
Lastly, a low conversion rate indicates something on the final end of the ad isn’t quite working. Are there too many clicks that someone has to work through? Maybe you’re asking for too much information. What is your pricing like? Consider the psychological barriers a potential customer has to overcome to make a purchase. You want to remove as many barriers to entry as possible and encourage your audience over the conversion finish line.
There’s a lot that goes into developing and implementing a solid Meta ad. Simplify the process by letting the experts take care of it. MarketMaxNZ is here to support small business with all of their marketing needs. We understand the importance of attention-grabbing ads in a world saturated with competing businesses.
Get in touch with us today to book a risk-free consultation, and find out how we can take your digital marketing to the next level.
