The beginner's guide to Facebook ads

Facebook ads are paid ads you create in Meta Ads Manager, and a single campaign can reach people on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and beyond. You choose one of six campaign objectives, decide who should see your ads and where, set a budget, and Meta's delivery system shows your ads to the people most likely to take the action you want. This guide walks you through each step in today's Ads Manager.

Why pay at all? Your organic posts reach only part of your audience, because feeds are ranked by algorithms that decide what each person sees. Ads let you reach the right people on purpose, including people who have never heard of your business. If you're still deciding whether social media deserves a place in your plan, start with the benefits of social media marketing.

Where do you create Facebook ads?

You'll mostly work in three Meta tools:

• Meta Ads Manager is where you build campaigns, edit them and see how they perform. Everything in this guide happens here.
• Meta Business Suite brings your business activity on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger together: posts, stories, messages, insights and ads. It also has a mobile app, which is handy for checking in on the go.
• Events Manager is where you set up the Meta Pixel and the Conversions API and check that your website events are coming through.

Every campaign in Ads Manager has three levels. The campaign holds your objective. The ad set holds your audience, placements, budget and schedule (with Advantage+ campaign budget, the budget moves up to the campaign). The ad is what people actually see: the image or video, the text and the call to action.

What are the six Facebook campaign objectives?

The first thing Ads Manager asks is what you want to achieve. Your objective tells Meta which result to optimise for, so choose the one that matches the outcome you really want, not the one that sounds most impressive.

If you've run Facebook ads before, you might remember a list of 11 objectives. Meta has consolidated them into six. Brand awareness and Reach now sit under Awareness, Conversions and Catalogue sales under Sales, Lead generation under Leads, and App installs under App promotion. Video views are available under both Awareness and Engagement.

Awareness

Awareness shows your ads to as many people in your audience as possible and helps them remember you, so keep your visuals consistent in shape, colour and style. It suits a new business, product or local launch, when you want people to know your name before you ask them to buy.

Traffic

Traffic sends people to a destination, such as your website, a landing page or your app. Choose it when a visit is the goal. If you can track the action that really matters, such as a purchase or a booking, Sales or Leads is usually the better choice, because Meta can then optimise for that action rather than for clicks.

Engagement

Engagement finds people who are likely to interact with your content: react, comment, share, watch your video or send you a message. It's useful for building a community, growing video views or starting conversations in Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp.

Leads

Leads collects enquiries and sign-ups for your business. People can fill in an instant form without leaving Facebook or Instagram, chat with you in Messenger or Instagram, or complete a form on your website.

App promotion

App promotion gets people to install your app or take a specific action in it. If an app is part of your business, our article on mobile apps in digital marketing explains where it fits in your wider strategy.

Sales

Sales finds people who are likely to buy, on your website or in your app. If you sell products online, you can connect a product catalogue so Meta matches each product with the people most likely to buy it. This used to be a separate format (dynamic ads, later Advantage+ catalogue ads) and now works inside sales campaigns. Sales campaigns also need to see your purchases, which is where the Meta Pixel and Conversions API come in.

How does Advantage+ work?

Advantage+ is Meta's name for the AI-powered automation built into Ads Manager. It can take over individual parts of a campaign, such as the audience or placements, or run the whole campaign for you.

When you choose the Sales, App promotion or Leads objective, Ads Manager starts you on Advantage+ by default, creating an Advantage+ sales, app or leads campaign. The campaign keeps its Advantage+ status while three settings stay on:

• Advantage+ audience. Meta's AI looks for the people most likely to respond. You can guide it with suggestions, such as an age range or a custom audience, while your location settings stay fixed.
• Advantage+ placements. Your ads can run across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and Meta's Audience Network, and Meta aims to get you the most results at the lowest average cost overall.
• Advantage+ campaign budget. You set one budget for the campaign, and Meta shares it across your ad sets in real time.

Switch any of these off and you're running a manual campaign, where you control that setting yourself.

There's also Advantage+ creative, which can create variations of your ad (for example, expanding an image to fit the vertical Reels format) and show each person the version they're most likely to respond to. Preview the variations before you publish to make sure they still look and sound like your brand.

If you're just starting out, Advantage+ is a sensible default: it means fewer decisions for you, and Meta recommends options such as Advantage+ placements for most advertisers. Manual settings are worth it when you have a specific reason, such as a creative that only suits one placement.

Which Facebook ad formats can you use?

Meta's Ads Guide lists four core formats: image, video, carousel and collection. Not every format is available for every objective and placement, and the recommended sizes change from time to time, so check the guide before you design.

Image

An image ad is a single image with primary text, a headline and a call-to-action button. It's quick to make and a good way to start. For Facebook Feed, Meta currently recommends a 4:5 image (1,440 × 1,800 pixels), primary text of 50 to 150 characters and a headline of about 27 characters.

Use good-quality photos and let the image carry the idea. Keep any text on the image short and put the detail in the primary text. If a post has already done well with your followers, you can promote it as an ad instead of starting from scratch.

Video

Video is ideal for showing a product in action, a behind-the-scenes moment or a quick how-to. Hook people in the first few seconds, add captions (Meta recommends them) and plan for sound on and sound off: Reels play with sound on by default, while ads in the Threads feed start muted.

Meta recommends 4:5 video for Facebook Feed and vertical 9:16 video for Reels and Stories. A short clip shot on a phone, or an animation made from your product photos, can work well. It's also worth taking images that have already performed well and turning them into a short video, as long as the sequence makes sense.

Carousel

A carousel shows two to ten images or videos that people swipe through, each with its own headline and link. Use it to show several products, explain a process step by step or tell a story across the cards. Meta recommends square (1:1) images for carousel cards.

Make the cards work as a set, with a clear narrative, consistent colours and style, and a reason to keep swiping.

Collection and Instant Experiences

A collection ad shows a cover image or video followed by three product images. When someone taps it, a full-screen Instant Experience opens, where they can browse more of your products on their phone. It's a strong choice if you sell online and have a product catalogue.

Where can your Facebook ads appear?

Placements are the places your ads can run. Ads Manager groups them, and the options you see depend on your objective and format. The main groups are:

• Feeds: Facebook Feed, the Instagram feed and Explore, Facebook Marketplace and the Threads feed.
• Stories and Reels: full-screen, vertical placements on Facebook and Instagram, plus Messenger Stories. Reels ads appear as people scroll from one reel to the next.
• In-stream video: ads that play within videos and reels on Facebook.
• Search results: ads alongside relevant Facebook and Marketplace search results.
• Apps and sites: Meta's Audience Network, which shows your ads in partner apps.

Threads is the newest of these. Campaigns in Ads Manager are opted in to Threads by default, and image, video and carousel ads can run in the Threads feed on mobile.

A note for Australian advertisers: ads in the Messenger inbox aren't currently available in Australia. If you want conversations in Messenger, choose an objective that sends people to a chat, such as Engagement or Leads.

Should you choose placements yourself?

Meta recommends Advantage+ placements for most advertisers, because it lets your ad be shown wherever it's likely to perform best. Keep in mind that the system aims for the lowest average cost overall, so a placement with a higher cost per result isn't necessarily wasting money. If you do choose placements manually, Meta suggests selecting six or more.

Either way, design for vertical screens first. Use 9:16 video for Reels and Stories and keep your key message inside the safe zone, so the app's buttons and captions don't cover it. Meta says Reels ads with key messages in the safe zone, quality audio and vertical video see better results.

How do you create a Facebook ad, step by step?

1. Create a campaign and choose your objective

In Ads Manager, select Create, choose one of the six objectives and decide whether to keep Advantage+ on. Give the campaign a clear name so you can find it later.

If your ads are about credit or other financial products, employment, housing, or social issues, elections or politics, you need to declare a special ad category. These categories come with stricter targeting rules, so check them before you build your audience.

2. Choose your audience

Start with location: where are your customers? You can target a whole country, a state, a city or the area around your business. Then decide how much help you want from Meta.

Advantage+ audience

Advantage+ audience is switched on by default in Advantage+ campaigns. Meta's AI looks for the people most likely to respond and treats your suggestions, such as an age range or interests, as a starting point rather than a hard limit.

Custom audiences

Custom audiences are made up of people who already know you: visitors to your website (tracked with the Meta Pixel), people who use your app, customers on a list you upload, and people who have engaged with your Facebook or Instagram content. They're ideal for remarketing, such as reminding website visitors about a product they looked at. Only upload customer details you have permission to use.

Lookalike audiences

A lookalike audience finds new people who share characteristics with an audience you already have, such as your best customers or newsletter subscribers. Meta does the analysis for you, so if an audience has worked well, a lookalike based on it is a natural way to scale.

Manual targeting and saved audiences

If you switch Advantage+ audience off, you can set age, gender, language and detailed targeting (interests and behaviours) yourself, then save the combination to reuse in future campaigns. Be careful not to narrow too far: a very small audience gives Meta's delivery system little room to find the right people, especially on a modest budget. Base your choices on who actually buys from you, and let your social media marketing strategy guide the rest.

3. Choose your placements

Keep Advantage+ placements on, or pick placements manually if you have a good reason (see above). Check the preview for each placement so your ad looks right everywhere it appears.

4. Set your budget and schedule

Choose a daily budget, which sets an amount to spend each day, or a lifetime budget, which sets a total for the whole run and needs an end date. With Advantage+ campaign budget, you set it once at campaign level and Meta spreads it across your ad sets.

Ads Manager may show estimated results as you adjust your settings; treat them as a rough guide. When you're starting out, choose a budget you're comfortable testing for at least a week, then put more behind what works.

5. Create your ad

Choose your format, upload your images or video, and write your primary text and headline. Pick the call-to-action button that matches the next step, such as Shop now, Learn more, Sign up or Send message, and add the web address people should land on. Review any Advantage+ creative options, then preview the ad in each placement before you publish. Meta reviews ads against its advertising standards before they run.

6. Set up tracking before you launch

Before you publish a Sales or Leads campaign, make sure the Meta Pixel and Conversions API are recording the actions that matter. Here's how they work.

How do the Meta Pixel and Conversions API work?

To know whether your ads lead to sales or enquiries, and to let Meta optimise for them, Meta needs to see what people do after they tap your ad. It uses two tools, and Meta recommends using both together:

• The Meta Pixel (formerly the Facebook pixel) is a piece of code on your website that records actions in the visitor's browser, such as viewing a product, adding it to the cart or buying it.
• The Conversions API sends the same events from your server, online store or CRM straight to Meta. Because it doesn't depend on the browser, it's less affected by browser loading errors, connectivity issues and ad blockers.

When you send the same event through both, a shared event ID lets Meta remove the duplicate, so one purchase isn't counted twice.

To set them up, open Events Manager and connect your website. If your site runs on a popular website or e-commerce platform, check whether it offers a Meta integration, as that's often the simplest way to send both pixel and server events. Meta's Conversions API Gateway is another option that doesn't require coding.

Then choose the standard events that match your business, such as Purchase, Lead, CompleteRegistration, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout or ViewContent. Purchase events need a value and a currency, which is what lets Ads Manager report your return on ad spend.

Two more things are worth knowing:

• Offline sales count too. If deals close over the phone or in store, you can send those events to Meta through the Conversions API, for example from your CRM, so your ads get credit for the sales they started.
• Aim for better leads, not just more leads. For lead campaigns that use instant forms, connecting your CRM through the Conversions API lets Meta optimise for leads that go on to become customers, not just for form submissions.

Make sure your website's privacy policy explains how you use these tools.

How do you measure your Facebook ad results?

Ads Manager reports results against the objective and performance goal you chose, so the Results column means something different in an Awareness campaign than in a Sales campaign. These are the metrics to watch:

• Results and cost per result: how many of your chosen actions you got, and what each one cost. This is your main measure of success.
• Reach: how many people saw your ad at least once.
• Impressions: how many times your ad was shown in total.
• Frequency: how many times, on average, each person saw it.
• Amount spent: what you've spent so far.
• Link clicks and click-through rate (CTR): how many people clicked through, and what share of impressions that represents.
• Purchases, leads and return on ad spend (ROAS): the business results, once tracking is set up.
• Reactions, comments and shares: useful for understanding how people feel about your content.

Use the Breakdown menu to see results by age, gender, placement and more, and to spot which groups respond best. Above all, judge each campaign on the result you set out to achieve, not on likes.

Tips for your first campaigns

• Be patient with new ad sets. Each one starts in a learning phase while Meta works out who responds, and performance is less stable during that time. Avoid big edits in the first few days.
• Start small, then scale. Test with a budget you're comfortable with and increase it gradually on what works.
• Switch off what clearly isn't working. Pause the weakest ads and move the budget to the strongest.
• Keep testing creative. New images, videos and opening lines are among the simplest things to test.

When you're ready to fine-tune, try these Facebook ad hacks that still work.

If you'd like help planning, running or tracking your Meta ads, our digital marketing team can work through it with you.