What It Is and How to Advertise on Facebook Ads

Want to learn a step-by-step guide on how to advertise on Facebook Ads and make the most out of this highly relevant platform?

Check out the full article we created on the topic.

What is Facebook Ads?

Facebook Ads is the advertising platform of the company Meta.

On this platform, you can create paid media campaigns for Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, and Messenger, since all these social networks belong to the same group.

You can also explore countless ad formats, audience targeting options, and various campaign settings for high-impact online campaigns.

Why Advertise on Facebook Ads?

Investing in paid media is a way to promote your brand, boost campaigns, and achieve better results in a shorter period of time.

And Facebook Ads is one of the platforms available for this type of investment.

The ad tool is among the most used worldwide and offers benefits like customizable campaigns, the ability to run tests, result measurement, and high control over investments.

The diversity of users and the reach of Facebook Ads is also a huge advantage.

Meta knows this and heavily invests in new formats and features tailored to each of its platforms.

What are the Basic Concepts of Facebook Ads?

Before investing in platform ads, it’s helpful to understand some key concepts and terms you’ll come across:

Business Manager

Facebook Ads Business Manager is the platform for creating and managing ads.

There, you’ll be able to create ad accounts, set up and launch campaigns, choose targeting options, track results, and allocate your budget.

Ad

“Ad” and “announcement” are synonymous terms used to refer to the content being promoted.

They include not only the visual aspect of the ad, but the full media with image, texts, CTA, audience, and payment.

Conversion Pixel

The Facebook Pixel is a tool that tracks data from users and visitors on websites, landing pages, and blog pages.

Using a snippet of JavaScript code placed on specific pages, it becomes possible to integrate different platforms, show strategic ads, and measure campaign performance more accurately.

With Facebook Pixel installed, you can integrate different channels, measure ad results, and retarget people who have already visited your site with more specific ads.

News Feed

The news feed — or simply “feed” — is the main content displayed to users.

When you log into Facebook or Instagram and scroll through the posts from pages you follow, that’s the feed.

That’s where both sponsored and organic content are shown.

Boosted Post

A boosted post happens when you publish something organically on your page and later apply a budget to distribute it to users who haven’t seen it yet.

Sponsored Post

A sponsored post also begins as an organic publication on your page, but with promotion, it gains reach.

The difference is that a sponsored post is only shown to people who already follow your brand, while a boosted post can reach new audiences.

Dark Post

A Dark Post is an ad.

It is created directly in the Business Manager and doesn’t appear on your public page like an organic post.

Instead, it’s shown to users in the selected format, location, and audience, based on your campaign setup.

Conversion Lift

Conversion Lift is a tool within Facebook Ads that allows you to track conversions and sales resulting from your ads.

ROAS (Return Over Ad Spend)

ROAS measures the return on ad investment — how much profit you’ve earned compared to what you spent on Facebook Ads.

This metric is essential to determine whether your campaigns are profitable and which ones perform best.

A/B Testing

A/B tests present two versions of the same ad with slight differences in one variable, such as text, visuals, or CTA buttons.

Both versions are shown to audiences for testing, and the best-performing version is kept.

Impressions

The number of impressions equals how many times your ad was shown.

Clicks

Click count represents how many times users clicked on your ad, depending on the setup of the link or button.

Video Views

If your ad contains a video, Facebook Ads will track how many users watched at least 3 seconds of it.

Conversions

Conversions depend on the campaign goal and measure completed user actions, like a CTA click or form submission.

Creative Hub

The Creative Hub is a tool within Facebook Ads where you can design ad visuals, test formats, and even explore a library of ad inspirations.

How to Create an Ad on Facebook Ads?

Now that you’ve understood the most important terms, it’s time to learn how to advertise on Facebook Ads. Check out the step-by-step guide below:

1. Create a Business Account for Your Brand

If you don’t yet have a business account on Facebook Ads, this is where you should start.

This means creating a business account that can create and manage ads.

Your brand likely already has a Facebook Page — and this is the access you’ll use.

If not, you can create a page by logging in with a personal account.

2. Choose Your Objective

In the same menu shown in the image above, after creating your account, you can begin creating your ads by selecting the corresponding option.

You’ll then be redirected to the Business Manager.

If your account is already active, you can skip the previous step and go directly to the manager.

Once there, click the “Create” button. When you start a new campaign, the first step is to select the objective you want to achieve.

For each type of page and business, the recommended objectives vary.

You’ll define your goal according to the stages of the sales funnel and the action you want users to take.

3. Set Up Your Ad

After selecting the objective, a new window will appear with some necessary settings.

You’ll need to name your campaign, and the rest of the required information may vary depending on the objective.

For example, in a traffic campaign, you’ll need to provide the destination link for users.

But don’t worry — the platform is very intuitive and will guide you through what needs to be configured.

4. Set the Campaign Budget and Duration

Now it’s time to define the budget and the schedule for when your campaign will run.

You’ll have two options: the first is a daily budget, where you set a maximum daily investment; the second is a lifetime budget, which is distributed over the total duration of the campaign.

5. Define Your Audience

After this step, it’s time to set the audience for your campaign — who will see your ad.

As we’ve mentioned before, this is one of Facebook Ads’ biggest advantages and differentiators, as there are many targeting options available.

You can segment your audience based on user profile data such as location, age, gender, language, and interests.

In addition, you can use connection-based targeting — such as including or excluding people who already follow your pages or apps.

You can save your audience and use it in a future campaign or create a new custom audience from scratch.

Another useful feature at this stage is the “Audience Definition” bar on the side of the page.

There, Facebook Ads will show whether your audience is too broad or too narrow, which can affect your campaign’s performance.

6. Choose Where to Run the Ad

Next, you will choose the placement channels for your ad within Facebook Ads options, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

You’ll also define where in each of these platforms your ad will appear (feed, stories, inbox, etc.).

7. Optimize the Campaign

The next step involves setting up budget control and optimization.

Here, for example, you can define how much you want to pay per click or choose to optimize delivery so that an ad is shown multiple times to the same user to increase ad recall.

8. Customize Your Campaign

This is where you build your ad.

You’ll choose the ad format, upload the prepared images, write the copy, insert the CTAs, videos, and links.

This is also where you can activate the Facebook Pixel, which we mentioned earlier.

And remember: you can also select a previously published post on your page and use it as an ad.

9. Publish the Ad

Once everything is ready, review your ad and configure the payment method if you haven’t already registered one in the account.

Facebook Ads allows payments via credit card, PayPal, or bank slip (boleto).

Now you can submit your ad for publishing. It will be sent for review by the platform and then released for delivery during the selected period.

This approval process is usually quick, and any issues will be sent to your account’s email address so you can make corrections if needed.

10. Track Results and Manage the Ad

Once your campaign is live, you can monitor its performance and investments in real time.

You can run multiple campaigns simultaneously and edit active campaigns to improve performance and optimize results for your brand.

Conclusion

With these tips, you’ll be able to take full advantage of the platform and already know how to advertise on Facebook Ads!

Explore the tool and start creating impactful ads today.

Still have questions? Let us know in the comments.