Recently, I ran a Facebook ad for an event and I noticed certain things that need attention so I decided to share it with you. This might be a short list but it’ll save you time and frustration if you are prepared in advance.

1. Ad concept – this one is the first step in creating any ad and the most important of all. If you will be creating this on your own, you have to consider the following:

1.1. Company’s theme
1.2. Message you want to convey
1.3. Results you want to achieve

2. Pictures – After achieving the ad concept, it is important to use the best quality photo that is intended for your desired result. Have it taken by a professional photographer if possible.

3. Ad Copy – this is the message you want to convey to your audience, written by copywriters (professional ad writers). These are results-driven messages that are meant to compel your audience to act on your message. Again, you can write this yourself or you may want to hire a professional.

4. Ad layout – if you know Photoshop or Gimp, you can do this yourself but it takes a lot of time so if this is something you don’t like or don’t have time doing, hiring a graphic designer is a great option. Prepare the final copy as jpg.

5. Ad budget – if you’re going to run the ad on social media, you must determine your exact budget or the ad may consume more than you expected. If budget is unlimited, at least you should have a targeted result. Much better if this can be measured in numbers.

(Example: to achieve 200 likes in Facebook page in 30 days)

6. Target Audience – if you’re using Facebook ads, you can prepare a list of demographics for your target audience. The more specific is better. Example, by country, state or region, gender, age, industry or interest. (use a .csv of .txt format)

6.1. Your own list from auto-responder
6.2. Your own list of audience from a spreadsheet
6.3. Custom audience from your mobile app
6.4. Custom audience from your website

7. Payment Method – a credit or debit card or PayPal account may be chosen as your preferred mode of payment.

8. Facebook’s Power Editor and Ad Preference – download this app ahead of time and familiarize yourself with its use. There are also a couple of choices you may want to consider before running the ad:

8.1. (CPC) Cost per click – you only pay once your ad has been clicked
8.2. (CPM) Cost per impression – you pay once your ad has been seen by an audience

If you’re on a tight budget and want to make sure that your expenses generates results, (example: Facebook likes) CPC is recommended for you.

Picture Source: http://ow.ly/wQlbR

If your ad is just to create awareness for a new product launch for example, then CPM may be a better option since it’ll be shown more often.

Either way may be effective so I suggest you try each for a week or two or a combination and monitor the progress. You can also experiment by location or other demographics for each and compare results. By experimenting, you’ll learn what works best for you and your campaign.

9. Patience, positive and a relaxed attitude – running an ad doesn’t mean getting results right away. You have to be patient in monitoring it and make sure that you’re targeting the right audience and sticking to goals. If things don’t go the way you planned, try another strategy. This is also a trial and error method so try which ad campaign works for you best.

I wish you luck on your ads! Let us know how things go.