Advertising On Facebook : A Step by Step Guide

So, you are ready to advertise your business but you don't know how to do it or don't have much money to spare. Social network advertising is a simple and easy tool to use and cost much lesser than print advertisement. The outreach is also further and you can target your audience and tailor the campaign according to your intended market and budget.

Below is a step by step guide on how to advertise on Facebook (I am assuming that you already have a Facebook account)

Step 1 : Scroll down to the bottom of your home page and click on the "Advertising" button

Step 2: Click on the green "Create an Ad" button.

Step 3: Design Your Ad

By entering the fields:

• "Destination" :  by default it will go to "External URL"

• "URL"  : this is your website or webpage that you want the target audience to go to when they click on your ad. Here I have put in a bogus sample site called www.cupcakesgalore.com

• "Title" : This is the title of your ad and will appear on the top of your ad. Make sure it defines your product well or attract attention.

• "Body" : This is what will appear beside your picture, it can be a tag line, a description of what you offer etc etc

• "Image" : Choose only 1 image from your computer. You should pick an image that is well taken and relates to what you are advertising for. Do not put in your personal passport-sized picture unless it is really glamorous and you are really famous/good looking. 

Step 4: Fill in the fields for your target audience. 

• "Location" : which country are you targeting? 

• "Demographics" : key in the range of age and sex 

• "Interest" : Choose "Precise Interest" if you only have specific area/s in mind, for example "wedding" "wedding cakes"  and "wedding favors". Choose "Switch to Broad Category Targeting" if you would like to have a broader audience. (Example below) 

"Broad Category":

Pick a Category that best suits your product or service, here I have selected my audience by their "Family Status" as I am selling Wedding Cupcakes, so I am targeting men and women who are engaged and to be married.

You can also click on "Show Advanced Targeting Options" if you would like more options. By clicking on that button I can choose to include those who are in a relationship but not engaged in my ad campaign. Effectively casting a wider net.

I am also able to choose by language proficiency and educational level, but those aspects don't really matter in my ad campaign though it might matter in yours. For example, if you are providing chinese language tutoring services for college students in Malaysia, you might want to target "English, Malay and/ or Chinese speaking college students."

Above is what you will see when you click "Show Advanced Targeting Options" button.

Step 5: Campaign, Pricing and Scheduling


Select your:

• "Account Currency" : The currency that you would like to be billed in.

• "Account Time Zone" : It should be the same as your main target country.

• "Campaign & Budget" : Give your campaign a name (especially useful if you are running a few ads at a time) and set a budget for your campaign; you can choose "per day" or "per lifetime" 

"Per Lifetime" is for the lifetime of your campaign, it states the amount that you are willing to pay for the campaign and the ad will stop running once the limit has been reached. It is better to choose per lifetime if you have a strict budget to stick to and you don't have time to monitor your ads everyday.

• "Schedule" : Tick "continuous" or if you would like the campaign to run on a specific date, uncheck that box and the fields above will appear.

• "Pricing" : Choose between:

"Pay for Impressions" - which means Facebook will display your ads on your target audience home page and charge your per 1000 times ad appearance and the ad will end once your budget is reached.

 or "Pay for Clicks" - which means Facebook will continuously display your ad until you have enough clicks have been made.

In my personal opinion, impressions are great if you ad intention is for brand exposure. While clicks are more towards generating business.

Step 6 : Click "Review Ad" and the below window will appear, check that all the details are correct.

Step 7 : Click on "Place Order" You will then be prompted whether to pay by credit card or Paypal, if you are paying by credit card and you do not have a last name, please call up your bank first to confirm with them what you should input in the ""First Name" and "Last Name" fields or your credit card payment will not be accepted.

That's it and you are ready to go. Good Luck!