Facebook and Instagram advertising: how to start

When does Facebook and Instagram advertising work?

On Google, people actively search for a solution. On Facebook and Instagram, people scroll and you appear without being asked. That is why Meta Ads works best when you:

• Have a product or service that looks good on camera.
• Want to reach people who don't yet know they need you, for example for a new shop or a seasonal offer.
• Want to reach a local audience, such as people within ten kilometres of your business.
• Want to reach website visitors again.
• Are hiring.

If your customers mostly look for you when they have an urgent problem, like a leak or a broken washing machine, Google Ads for small businesses usually brings in enquiries faster.

What do you need to start with Meta Ads?

• A Facebook page for your business. Even if you only want to advertise on Instagram, it works through a linked page.
• A professional Instagram account, linked to that page.
• An ad account in Meta Business Suite or Ads Manager, with a payment method.
• A landing page on your website that matches the ad.
• The Meta pixel, a small piece of code on your site that tracks what visitors do after clicking. It may only load once visitors have given consent in your cookie banner.

Choosing the right campaign objective

For every campaign, Meta asks what you want to achieve. That objective decides who the system shows your ad to. Choose 'traffic' and Meta looks for people who click a lot, even if they never buy anything. The main objectives:

• Awareness: as many people in your audience as possible see your ad. Good for an opening or a new brand.
• Traffic: as many clicks to your website as possible.
• Engagement: comments, messages or likes.
• Leads: people sign up or request a quote, on your site or in a form inside Facebook and Instagram.
• Sales: purchases or bookings on your website. This only works if your tracking is set up properly.

For most small and medium-sized businesses, leads or sales are the best objective once your tracking is in order.

After that, keep the setup simple. Start with one campaign, one audience and two or three ads. Many small businesses create ten campaigns with a few euros a day each. Then no single campaign gets enough impressions to learn who responds, and a month later you still don't know what works. Better one campaign with a proper budget than ten that starve.

Setting up your Facebook ads audience

There are three ways to decide who sees your ad:

• A saved audience based on location, age, language and interests.
• A custom audience: people who have already been in touch with you, such as website visitors or people who visited your Instagram account.
• A lookalike audience: people who resemble your existing customers or visitors.

Don't make your audience too narrow. Meta needs room to learn who responds. A region and an age group are often enough; the system finds the right people within that. If you advertise jobs, housing or credit, stricter rules apply and you can target less precisely. Not sure who your customer is yet? Read defining your target audience.

Creating ads that stand out

Your ad competes with posts from friends and videos from creators. A few rules that often help:

• Use real photos or videos of your business, your work or your product. Stock photos get ignored.
• Make vertical videos for Stories and Reels. That is where much of the reach is.
• Say in the first seconds or the first line why someone should stop scrolling.
• One message per ad, with one clear button, such as 'Book now' or 'Order'.
• Add subtitles to videos. Many people watch without sound.
• Test two or three versions at once and keep the best one running.

How much does Facebook and Instagram advertising cost?

You set your own budget, per day or for the whole campaign. You usually pay per thousand impressions, and the price depends on your audience, the time of year and the quality of your ad. Around the holidays, for example, it is often more expensive because more businesses are advertising.

So there is no fixed price per click or per customer. Start with a budget you can afford to lose, let a campaign run for at least a few weeks, then work out what an enquiry or sale cost you. Compare that with what a customer is worth to you. You can read how to calculate this in setting your online marketing budget.

Measuring and improving

Don't just look at clicks and likes. What matters more:

• Cost per enquiry, booking or sale.
• How many of those enquiries actually become customers.
• How often the same person sees your ad. If they see it too often, they get annoyed, so replace the image or text.
• Which ads and audiences perform best.

People who visited your site but didn't take action can be reached again later. That is called retargeting; read more in remarketing and retargeting.

Outsourcing Meta Ads to Violexa

If you don't want to spend time on it yourself, we can set up and manage your campaigns. We handle the tracking, with consent through your cookie banner, create the ads, test versions and show you every month what it costs and brings in. This is part of our online marketing service, from €599 excl. VAT (€725 incl. VAT) per month. The ad budget you pay Meta comes on top of that. There is no minimum term and you can cancel monthly with one month's notice.

Want to know whether Facebook and Instagram advertising suits your business? Book a free quickscan. In 30 minutes we discuss your goals, and afterwards you get short written advice with a price estimate, with no obligation.

Frequently asked questions