10 Facebook Ad Best Practices New Brands Must Follow
Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms in the world, with an established reputation for creating household names, launching successful products, and helping businesses to skyrocket their growth.
If you’re just getting started with Facebook advertising, you might get the feeling that you’re a little late to the party.
On top of that, there seems to be an infinite number of new marketing tools, data sources and advertising features appearing on the network. With so many updates and platform changes, jumping into the Facebook Ads Manager from scratch can be overwhelming.
But if you’re struggling to find your feet as a new Facebook marketer, don’t worry.
We’ve pulled together the ultimate guide to Facebook advertising, including 10 best practices sourced from our team of expert media buyers. By following these guidelines and insights, you’ll be able to unlock the full potential of Facebook ads for your business.
How effective is Facebook advertising in 2023?
Facebook advertising can still be extremely effective for marketers in 2023. The platform offers brands a huge range of valuable features, from data-driven audience targeting to creative ad formats. However, if you want to achieve optimal results, you’ll need a smart marketing strategy.
If you try to launch a spontaneous Facebook campaign without a clear strategy in place, you’ll quickly find yourself dealing with underperforming ads and disappointing results.
Your strategy will dictate everything from your audience targeting to your ad visuals and campaign measurement.
If you’re equipped with a watertight Facebook strategy, you’ll set yourself up for success.
Building a Facebook advertising strategy from the ground up can seem like a daunting task for newer advertisers, but if you follow a few proven best practices, you’ll find that it becomes much easier to create a plan of action
10 Facebook Advertising Best Practices
1. Set clear, measurable goals
A clear and actionable campaign objective is like a lighthouse for Facebook advertisers. Your objective will keep you on the right track towards achieving your business goals and help you to avoid perilous marketing waters.
(That’s the last nautical metaphor in this guide. We promise.)
Once you’ve set a clear ad objective, it becomes infinitely easier to optimise your campaigns and improve performance.
You’ll be able to rapidly identify underperforming ads, shift budget towards your best tactics, and spot new marketing opportunities. Whenever you’re planning a new Facebook campaign, make sure that every decision is aimed towards a relevant business objective.
2. Know your profit point
If you want to run insanely efficient Facebook ad campaigns, then you need to equip yourself with the right knowledge about your business finances.
That means calculating all of your relevant business costs, from your cost-per-unit to your shipping and returns fees.
If you’re not 100% clear on how much it costs your business to ship products and service customers, then you won’t be able to figure out a profit point for new acquisitions.
After you’ve calculated a profit point for your business, it’ll be much easier to understand the ROI you’re generating from Facebook marketing. You’ll also be able to make an informed decision about how much you’re willing to spend to convert a new prospect.
3. Don’t neglect the importance of ad copy
Listen – we don’t like to make generalisations about marketers, but here’s a hard truth.
A staggering number of Facebook advertisers neglect their ad copy. This is a costly mistake – but it’s also a golden opportunity for your business.
Many Facebook brands obsess over their ad visuals but fail to invest time into creating engaging and effective copy. And while images and videos are key to capturing attention in-feed, it’s your copywriting that can convert curiosity into revenue.
Here’s where your opportunity presents itself.
While your competitors are churning out lazy, uninspired copywriting, you can differentiate yourself and reap the rewards. Use your ad copy to land persuasive product points, reinforce your brand tone of voice, and deliver a compelling CTA that drives clicks and conversions.
4. Create a full ad funnel
Mapping out a full sales funnel is a brilliant way to structure and optimise your Facebook ad campaigns.
The idea of the sales funnel is simple. It allows you to identify different types of audiences at different stages in the customer journey. For example, some prospects aren’t currently aware that your business exists, while others are already familiar with your products and services.
These different audiences require different messaging strategies to move them ‘down’ the funnel and towards that all-important conversion stage.
Now, it’s true that the customer journey isn’t a linear path, but a funnel is just an effective way to guide consumers from having zero knowledge of your brand to having an active interest in your products. Some users might convert quickly, others may take a long time, but a funnel strategy essentially sets up a conveyor belt of prospects for you to target.
To build your Facebook campaigns around the funnel, you can use a basic structure like this:
Brand Awareness (Top Funnel)
Boosting the profile of your business to customers who aren’t familiar with your brand.
Relevant metrics: Reach, Impressions
Consideration (Mid Funnel)
Encouraging potential customers to visit your website and learn more about your products.
Relevant metrics: Video Views, CTR, Engagements
Conversion (Lower Funnel)
Generating cost-efficient conversions by targeting warm prospects with sales-led messaging.
Relevant metrics: Conversions, CPA, ROAS
5. Design eye-catching visuals (that work seamlessly with ad copy)
While your ad copy is crucial for highlighting benefits and driving clicks, it’s difficult to attract potential customers with plain text.
That’s where your ad visuals come in.
Use the visual elements of your Facebook ads to capture attention in-feed and stop users from scrolling by. If your visuals and copywriting are working in perfect harmony, the results will speak for themselves – bold creative assets lure audiences in, while your copy delivers persuasive reasons for them to click and convert.
You should also utilise ad visuals to reinforce your brand identity.
Make sure that your company name and logo are highly visible, as this will help to build recognition over time. It’s also a good idea to stick to a recognisable (but eye-catching) colour palette for consistency.
6. Test multiple ad formats
Facebook offers brands a wide range of different paid advertising formats, and if you want to drive optimum performance, you should take full advantage of them.
Experiment with various ad formats across your Facebook campaigns to understand which placements are delivering the best results for your business.
You can leverage different ad formats to address specific areas of your sales funnel.
For example, single image and video ads can be great for generating cost-efficient reach and boosting brand awareness. Carousel ads are a highly engaging format for mid-funnel activity, while Collection and Advantage+ ads can be used to drive valuable sales.
7. Set up broad targeting, and then refine
With so many advanced targeting options available on Facebook, it can be tempting to zero in on ultra-granular, niche audience segments.
However, in the early days of your campaign, it’s actually best to cast a wider net and maximise the reach of your ads.
By initially targeting broader demographic audiences, you enable the Facebook algorithm to work its machine-learning magic. The platform needs sufficient scale to test new segments, gather insights, and implement optimisations. Once this learning phase is complete, you’ll be able to refine your targeting and focus on the most cost-efficient audiences.
8. Target around audience interests
Leveraging Interest targeting on Facebook is a great way to balance scale with relevance. By targeting audience Interests, you can tap into specific passions to contextualise your product benefits and attract new customers.
Try to experiment with multiple Interests to collect performance insights and identify profitable tactics. You can also use the Facebook Audience Insights tool to reveal common Interests among your customers and followers – you might be surprised at what you find!
Once you’ve built an effective Interest targeting strategy, you can also start to tailor your ad messaging to different audiences to maximise engagement.
For example, let’s say that you’re advertising a sports watch. You may find that you have two clear Interest audiences engaged with your products – Sports & Outdoors, and Technology.
By creating two sets of ads that resonate with these specific Interest segments, you can instantly increase the relevance of your products and boost engagement. Users in the Sports & Outdoors category may respond well to sports performance messaging, while a Technology audience may be more interested in the technical features of the product.
9. Track clicks and conversions, and use the data to your advantage
Clicks and conversions are extremely important marketing metrics, and tracking these figures is crucial if you want to optimise performance.
It all starts with the Facebook pixel.
By installing the pixel across your website, you can unlock a number of insightful metrics and data points, including:
- The number of conversions driven by your Facebook ads
- The monetary value of these conversions/purchases
- Specific actions taken on your website (e.g. Add To Cart, Searches, Clicks)
The pixel bridges the gap between your business outcomes (i.e. conversions, subscriptions, downloads) and your Facebook campaigns, which means you can easily grade ads based on their performance.
Pixel data enables you to calculate an accurate CPA, understand the revenue potential of different audiences, and factor in your business costs to establish your true ROI.
You can also utilise pixel-based retargeting tactics to target hot prospects based on recent clicks and conversions. These retargeting tactics can deliver jaw-dropping results, with data showing that website retargeting ads can increase conversion rates by 70%.
10. Test, optimise, and test again
If you want to consistently improve performance on Facebook, then you can’t afford to recycle the same ads, audiences, and tactics forever.
Setting up a data-driven A/B testing routine is a surefire way to squeeze optimal results from your Facebook marketing budget. Through A/B testing you can adjust and experiment with many different ad variables, including:
- Creative assets
- Headlines
- CTAs
- Target audiences
- Bidding strategies
- Ad formats
- Ad placements
By launching regular tests and measuring the results, you’ll be able to cut underperforming assets, redirect budget towards your strongest ads, and effectively optimise your campaigns.
However, it’s important to avoid launching too many A/B tests at one time.
If you’re juggling too many testing variables, it’ll be difficult to keep track of the results and make the right adjustments. Aim to regularly launch individual tests (rather than bulk testing), give the Facebook algorithm time to work, measure the outcomes, and optimise accordingly.
Follow these guidelines and the best practices listed here and here and you will be well on your way to winning Facebook ads campaigns.
3 Facebook ad examples to inspire new brands
Warehouse – Facebook Carousel ads
Fashion brand Warehouse utilised the Carousel ad format (fuelled by dynamic Advantage+ ads) to increase sales on the Facebook platform. Personalised product assets were served to relevant shopping audiences, with a major emphasis on attracting new customers.
This Carousel ad ticks a lot of boxes.
The product imagery is eye-catching, the ad copy promotes tempting discounts, and the ‘Shop Now’ CTA works effectively to encourage action.
The campaign was hugely successful for Warehouse, delivering a 47% increase in incremental sales (vs previous campaigns) – plus, 92% of these attributed sales came from new customers.
Shu Uemura – Facebook Collection ads
Beauty brand Shu Uemura leveraged Collection ads on Facebook to boost purchase consideration and generate sales. These Collection ads featured impactful product visuals, as well as content from well-known beauty influencers and creators.
This is a great example of an advertiser taking full advantage of the Collection format.
All of the creative space available is used to great effect by Shu Uemura.
The hero asset uses engaging motion, reputable influencers, and quality product shots to draw in prospects. Once users have engaged with the ad, they can then explore the full product range, complete with premium visuals and clear pricing information.
This campaign proved to be extremely effective, driving a 33% increase in incremental sales (vs previous campaigns) as well as a 55% increase in ‘Add To Cart’ website events.
Corkcicle – Facebook Reels ads
Insulated drinkware manufacturer Corkcicle spotted promising results from the Facebook Reels format, and decided to investigate further.
The brand set up a test, pitting a campaign utilising multiple ad placements (without Reels) against a campaign featuring standalone Reels ads.
Corkcicle produced a fantastic video ad to make the most of the Reels format, proving that simple creative assets can be hugely effective. The video was punchy, colourful, and engaging, showing off the benefits of the Soft Cooler product and delivering a clear CTA.
The campaign achieved impressive results for Corkcicle, driving a 34% higher ROAS than the standard multi-placement campaign, as well as achieving 34.5% higher sales revenue.
Jumping into the world of Facebook marketing can be challenging for new advertisers, and while there are certainly challenges to overcome, there are also huge revenue opportunities available.
It’s true that the Facebook landscape is constantly changing, and you’ll inevitably need to deal with some fierce competition.
However, if you follow these best practices, you can thrive on the Facebook platform.
Establish a clear marketing goal, remain diligent with your campaign setup and optimisations, and stick to a data-fuelled testing strategy. If you put all of these foundations in place, you’ll be crushing your goals before you know it. Good luck!
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