Step by step guide on how to advertise on Facebook

Currently, social networks are fundamental pieces in digital marketing strategies that invest in campaigns.

Knowing how to use Facebook Ads Manager is something that can generate many positive results in business growth, brand recognition and, most importantly, sales.

After all, the platform reached the mark of 3.5 billion active users worldwide in 2024. United Kingdom contributed to this statistic with more than 44.84 million users in the year.

Therefore, understanding the platform well, knowing its resources and features is a smart way to use the social network to gain more customers for your business.

If you are interested in selling more using this social network, check out SmmStore platform to learn step by step how to advertise on Facebook.

Step by step guide on how to advertise on Facebook

Creating ads on social media is very simple, but if you have any doubts, you can hire a professional to manage your business's traffic, the traffic manager.

We created this step-by-step guide to ensure that you learn in a practical and easy way. Check it out:

1. Create an Ads Manager account

The first step to advertising on Facebook is to have a Facebook business page.

With a page already created, the first step to advertising is to create your account on Facebook Ads Manager.

To do this, go to the tool's home page, create and configure your account.

2. Create a custom audience

Before continuing, creating a custom audience will help your ads be more assertive and generate more results.

To create an audience, click on the three lines icon in the left corner of the screen, scroll down through the options and click on "Audiences".

Click the "Create a Custom Audience" button, give your audience a name, and define the key aspects of your target audience.

Check out what the main ones that define your target audience mean:

• Locations: Allows you to segment your audience by city and country.

• Age: allows you to define the age of your target audience.

• Gender: allows you to target your ad to women, men, or both.

• Languages: You can filter who the ad will be displayed to by language. Whether it is only for those who speak Portuguese, English or other languages.

• Interests: this is an alternative that allows you to segment your audience according to their interests and liked pages.

• Behaviors: this is an option that segments the audience based on specific information such as the type of cell phone used to access the social network, whether they travel for work and other behaviors.

3. Create your ad

Go to your ad account's main dashboard and click the "+ Create" button to create your first ad.

Now it's time to define the objective of your campaign. The platform makes this task easier by offering several objective options that deliver results within the social network or can generate traffic to a page.

This is an important step, as it will directly affect the results your business will generate.

In short, "Brand awareness" items are for ads that aim to increase the visibility of your brand to people who are more likely to pay attention to your ad.

"Reach" items aim to show your ads to as many people as possible.

"Traffic" items are intended to generate conversions by getting people to click on a link or item in a catalog.

Select the chosen objective and click continue to proceed with customizing your ad.

4. Understand the main items of the Ads Manager

Before we proceed, we need to understand what the main terms used on the platform mean.

This is important to avoid confusion and errors, as well as ensuring that the platform is being used correctly.

• Campaign: is the management of the sponsored publication that is being made. It can contain different objectives and directions.

• Ad set: A group of ads that share the same goals.

• Advertisement: This is the visual and attractive part of a campaign. This is where images, videos, texts and Call to Action are added.

• Budget: is the amount of money that will be allocated to the campaign being created.

5. Set up the ad

This is one of the most important steps in the process of how to advertise on Facebook. This is where you should choose options that are aligned with the results you want to achieve.

At this stage, you will also need to give your ad a name. So try to keep it organized by creating a standard one that uses the ad objective and its airing date.

One tip is to use a structure pattern, such as: (Duration) + (Objective) + (Platform) + (Product). An example: June - Traffic - FB - Valentine's Kit.

By choosing the traffic option, you will be able to direct user clicks to a website, messages on WhatsApp or Messenger and even the installation of applications.

6. Set a schedule and budget

This is the step where the campaign duration and budget will be defined. This is one of the most important steps in creating the ad, as it requires your investment.

There are two budget options available:

Daily Budget: You can set a maximum amount to be paid daily while the ad remains active. This option allows you to create ads with a start and end date or lifetime ads, which run indefinitely until they are deactivated.

Total Budget: In this method, you need to define a fixed amount that will be applied over a certain period of time. The platform will use the amount and divide it by the number of days the ad will be active.

7. Choose where the ad will be displayed

This is the step where you can decide which channels your ad will appear on. Your ads can run on Facebook itself, Messenger, Instagram, and the Audience Network.

You can choose the "Automatic placements" option, where the platform will choose the channels it thinks are best to reach your audience.

Those who opt for "Manual Positioning" will be able to choose several items in a variety of ways that can be displayed.

Adjusting these settings manually allows your ads to take into account your persona's behavior, being more assertive and generating more results.

8. Customize your campaign

Now it's time to define the content that will be used in your ad, adding the title, text, images or video.

The format can be set in the "Ad Settings" item, allowing you to choose the source from an upload or your catalog and the format from image, single video, carousel or collection.

The file should be uploaded to the "Ad Creative" item, which will give you the option to preview your ad.

Once you've added the media you'll use, you'll need to write a main text and a headline. You can then add one or more descriptions to your ad.

In Traffic Ads, you can add your website URL, an optional display link, and a call-to-action button.

9. Post your ad

With all the options configured, choose the payment method for your ad.

To do this, simply access the side menu and choose the "Business Tools" option, then click on the "Billing" item.

Add your payment method, publish your ad and wait for Facebook to review it. Once approved, your ad will be published on the date you set.

10. Track results and manage your ad

Once approved, while your ad is running, you can access Ads Manager to check its performance and even edit your campaign.

Through the platform it is possible to monitor metrics such as:

• Number of clicks per ad.

• Number of people reached by ad.

• Campaign reach and demographics.

• How much was spent on the campaigns.

By having control over this data, monitoring your ads will be easier. This will allow you to know whether your campaigns are generating the expected results or whether they need to be changed.