How To Create A Successful Facebook Ad

Have you ever thought about doing an ad on Facebook? You know those ‘sponsored’ ads that end up in your Facebook news feed.

Most of us have potential customers that are part of the Facebook community. But if you’re just starting out or simply posting on Facebook you’re not going to reach a lot of them or gain a lot of traffic to your website. That is unless you’re smart about it.

One of the ways to be smart about it is to create a successful Facebook ad targeted to your particular audience. Before I show you an example, I want to remind you that people are on Facebook to stay up to date on their social lives, not necessarily to check out your products! So knowing the components of a successful ad are key.

Here’s 4 components of a successful Facebook ad:

Visual. An eye-appealing image is always favorable and if you want to catch the eye of your potential customer, it better be attention grabbing.
Relevant. If you’re showing an ad that is not relevant to your target audience, don’t bother wasting your time and hard earned money.
Enticing. Tell your reader WHY they should click on your ad to learn more about your product and/or service or to see your website.
Call-to-Action (CTA). Make sure your viewer knows EXACTLY what to do next. Always have a CTA like “Buy now and save X,” or “Offer ends soon”. Note: Adding a sense of urgency encourages people to click on your ad now!

A news feed ad appears directly in a Facebook user’s news feed, right in line with your friend’s news.

Here’s a quick breakdown of a typical Facebook ad:

Headline – The main title of your Facebook ad that grabs people’s attention. Your headline can be a maximum of 250 characters.
Text – A short description about the product or site you’re promoting.
Description – A longer text available in the News Feed describing more about your product or what you want the reader to do. Maximum of 250 characters.
Caption – A caption or could be the URL of your domain.
Call to Action (CTA) – A button showing people where they should click.
Image – An eye-appealing picture related to your product.

The main image (above) is an example of the ad as it appeared in the news feed.

Why is this a good Facebook ad?

-Its visual caught my eye right away. Clean, simple, beautiful.

-It’s relevant. I’m a fan of photography (and husband/wife photography team Jordan and Amy Demos) and learning secrets that I can apply myself.

-Includes an enticing value proposition. I’m going to learn some of their tricks and it’s FREE!

-A clear call-to-action. In the image and in the description they are clear about it being an online class and all I have to do is click the sign up button.

Once you create your ad within Facebook, you’ll set your budget (this is not free, you pay to have your ad seen by your target audience) and schedule how long you want it to run. By default, your ad is automatically optimized to reach people within your chosen audience who are likely to click your ad.

Now you know how to create a successful Facebook ad to reach your target audience. If you have a product or service you’d like to promote, I’d highly recommend doing a Facebook ad.

Want to do a Facebook ad (or learn even more about them)? Go here.

Real life Facebook ad via Amy & Jordan Demos