You know the best part about paid social media advertising? You can do it yourself, with just a very small learning curve.
So, if you’ve ever wondered, Can I run Facebook Ads by myself? the answer is yes! With basic knowledge of Facebook Ads Manager, you can easily create and manage ads on Facebook and Instagram. In fact, the platform is designed to be user-friendly, even for beginners. That means you don’t need a massive marketing budget or years of experience to see real results.
However, for complete beginners, the idea of how to run Facebook ads might seem a bit complicated at first glance. With so many options to choose from — objectives, targeting, budgets, and more — it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But don’t worry! Running Facebook ads doesn’t have to be difficult, and I’m here to break it down for you.
In this blog, I will walk you through a step-by-step guide explaining exactly how to run Facebook ads from start to finish. Whether you’re looking to drive traffic, increase brand awareness, or boost sales, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to create your first successful ad campaign. Let’s dive in!
At this stage, starting with Facebook Ads might seem like a big task at first, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, you’ll feel like a pro.
In this section, we’ll walk through the basics of setting up your Facebook Ads account so you can start running ads.
Before you create an ad, you need to set up your Facebook Business Manager. Business Manager is basically the hub where you’ll manage your ads, pages, and even collaborate with people who help you with your business on Facebook.
That’s it. This 3-step procedure was the first hurdle of you not knowing how to run Facebook Ads.
Now, with a Business Manager, you’re all set to manage multiple ads or invite team members to help. It’s going to be like your command center.
Okay, now that you’ve got Business Manager set up, let’s head over to the Facebook Ads Manager. This is where you’ll actually create, manage, and track your ads.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll see your Ads Manager dashboard. It’s filled with all sorts of useful tools, but for now, don’t stress over everything. Just know that this is where you’ll manage your ads moving forward.
Now, one thing to keep in mind is that Facebook and Instagram are connected when it comes to ads. If you plan on running ads on Instagram (which, let’s face it, you probably will since it’s a huge platform), you’ll need to link your Instagram account.
It’s as simple as that! Once connected, you’ll be able to run ads on both Facebook and Instagram from the same place. It’s pretty powerful because you can reach a larger audience across both platforms with just one campaign.
Now, before you start thinking about what kind of ads to run, here’s the key takeaway: Your Facebook Business Manager and Ads Manager are your two main tools. Everything you do on Facebook Ads, from creating your campaigns to managing your budget, will happen through these tools. And yes, you can access them all from one central dashboard.
Getting these set up right is the first step to success. Once you’re through these basic setups, you’ll be ready to dive into the fun stuff—creating and running your ads!
In the next section, we’ll talk about the basics of Facebook Ads—what they are, what you need to know, and how you can start setting up your first campaign. But for now, take a moment to get everything set up and don’t rush through it.
I am hoping you’ve spent some time exploring the Ads Manager by now. If you don’t understand everything, don’t worry. With time, you’ll understand the why and how behind every feature. For now, heres’ the process to follow to create your first Facebook ad.
When you start creating an ad, Facebook will first ask you to choose a campaign objective. It sounds like a big decision, but it’s really about understanding your goal.
What do you want your ad to do? Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Get more people to like your page? Or maybe you want to generate leads?
Here are the main objectives Facebook offers, and when to choose them:
For beginners, I recommend starting with Traffic (if you want people to visit your website) or Engagement (if you want people to like, comment, or share your post). Don’t worry too much about getting this perfect right away—pick the one that fits your goal, and you’ll learn as you go.
Next up, let’s talk about your audience. One of the biggest advantages of Facebook Ads is the ability to target your ads specifically to the right people. But who exactly do you want to reach?
When you’re setting up your ad, you’ll have the option to define your audience based on things like:
The best part? Facebook makes this process pretty easy. You can even use their Save Audience feature, which lets you save your custom audience so you can use it again in future ads.
Pro Tip: When you’re just starting out, don’t get too caught up in narrowing your audience too much. Start broad, test different options, and over time, you’ll discover what works best.
Now, it’s time to talk about how much you want to spend and when you want your ad to run.
Okay, now comes the fun part—creating your actual ad! This is where you get to show off your product, service, or brand. Your ad’s creative is what grabs attention and gets people to take action. Here’s what you need to know to create a great ad:
Pro Tip: Test different visuals and copy. Sometimes, small changes in wording or image can make a big difference in performance.
When you’re ready to go live, simply click the “Publish” button. Facebook will then review your ad to make sure it meets their guidelines (don’t worry, this usually only takes a few minutes). If everything looks good, your ad will be approved and start running.
That’s it! You’ve just created your first Facebook ad. I know it might seem like a lot of steps, but once you’ve done it once or twice, it’ll feel like second nature. And remember, there’s always room to tweak and improve as you learn more about what works best for your business.
In the next section, we’ll talk about how to monitor your ad performance and make adjustments to get the best results. But for now, you’ve already grasped the basic concept of how to run Facebook Ads!
First things first: you need to know how to track the success of your ads. This is where Facebook Ads Manager becomes your best friend. In the Ads Manager, you’ll see a bunch of different metrics. But which ones should you focus on? Let’s break down the most important ones.
👉 For more info, refer to this guide for more detail about Facebook Ads Metrics!
Now that you know what to track, it’s time to learn how to make adjustments to improve performance. Facebook Ads are all about testing and tweaking.
It’s rare that you’ll create the perfect ad right away, so don’t get discouraged if things don’t go perfectly at first. Here’s how to adjust your campaigns for better results:
Once you’ve found an ad that’s performing well, you might want to scale it to reach a larger audience. But scaling isn’t just about increasing the budget—it’s about doing it strategically.
Now that you know how to make adjustments and scale your ads, it’s crucial to keep an eye on things regularly. Don’t just launch your ads and forget about them. Come back to your Ads Manager frequently to check how your ads are doing and to make necessary adjustments.
(Or you can simply refer to Vaizle’s AI chatbot to find all related insights for your ongoing Facebook Ads campaign. It is basically like talking to a human, who’s aware of all crucial Facebook Ad Account information. Try Now)
You’ll want to monitor things like:
And that’s it – You’ve now successfully run a Facebook ad, tracked its key metrics, and monitored overall performance post-launch. Obviously, there’s a lot more to do, but optimizing campaigns and crunching numbers come at a later stage!
Here are a few tips from my end to help you get started with running Facebook Ads easily.
Running Facebook ads isn’t the tough part. The actual analytical work begins when you have to look at those active campaigns and figure out what’s working, what’s not, and what action to take next.
That’s where Vaizle will help you out. Vaizle’s latest AI chatbot is your virtual Facebook Ads analyst and can answer any questions regarding your ad campaigns.
For example: You can ask “What’s the ROAS trend for this {ad} for the past 30 days” or “Which ads are underperforming” and get instant insights, without having to go through your dashboard.
There you have it! You’ve now understood how to run Facebook ads, and you’re ready to dive into your first campaign. Remember, running Facebook ads isn’t about being perfect from the start—it’s about experimenting, learning, and improving as you go.
So go ahead and launch your first ad, monitor its performance, and make tweaks along the way. Before you know it, you’ll be running ads like a pro, reaching your audience, and seeing real results for your business!
Good luck, and don’t hesitate to come back and revisit this guide as you continue your Facebook Ads journey. You’ve got this!
To see if your ad is working, you’ll want to check a few key metrics like Click-Through Rate (CTR), Cost Per Click (CPC), and Conversion Rate. A good CTR means your audience is engaging with your ad. If you’re getting clicks but not conversions, it might be time to tweak your landing page or offer. Facebook’s Ads Manager provides a simple dashboard to track these metrics, so you can see what’s working and adjust as needed.
Both options work, but for beginners, I recommend starting with a daily budget. This allows you to control your spending each day and adjust quickly if things aren’t going as expected. Once you get the hang of things and want more flexibility, you can switch to a lifetime budget, which lets you set a total spend for the duration of your ad campaign.
Purva is part of the content team at Vaizle, where she focuses on delivering insightful and engaging content. When not chronically online, you will find her taking long walks, adding another book to her TBR list, or watching rom-coms.