One of the most powerful marketing tools any beginner in marketing can utilize, Facebook ads presents a world of opportunities to marketers. With customizable fields for demographics, interests, behaviours and more, it is no wonder that social media advertising – and Facebook advertising in particular – has exploded in recent years. In order to seize upon this opportunity, many small brands begin deploying their own campaigns but have very little prior knowledge on how to avoid wasted time and money. We’ve put together a series of items below that will help you to avoid these mistakes and hit the ground running with your first Facebook ad campaigns.

The “20%” Rule

If an ad campaign gets denied on Facebook, then there is a good chance that it is because of the 20% rule. Facebook regulates how much of your cover image or photo can contain text, with the rule being 20%. Facebook has a cheat-sheet available for this, but the general rule of thumb is to break your image up into 25 evenly-sized blocks. If there is text in more than 5 of those blocks, then it violates the 20% rule. Rather than pinging noise in the form of campaigns that will be denied, take this into account first and save yourself some time.

Split Up Your Campaigns

Putting all of your eggs in one basket is never a good idea, and it most certainly isn’t when dealing with Facebook ad campaigns. By providing slight bits of variance in ad copy and imagery used across campaigns, you can test to see what resonates and what does not with various audience. Likewise, varying up the audience demographics a bit between each campaign is also a good idea for A/B testing purposes. In addition to this, trying different campaign buy methods may also prove to be fruitful: by splitting up campaigns and testing cost per click, cost per 1000 impressions and engagement methods, you’ll be able to see which one is the most cost-effective for your ads.

Understand Location Targeting

On all Facebook ad campaigns, you’ll have the ability to target individuals based on location. Many people simply put in a city and forget about it. What some don’t realize is that there are customization options available that can choose whether or not you’re targeting people who actually live there. For instance, individuals who are traveling to the area or who recently moved away from the area will by default see your ads. In order to avoid pinging noise to these people, click on the “Include” dropdown box below the location selection. It is here that you can choose between targeting everyone, targeting those who are visiting the area, targeting those who recently moved away or those who actually live there.

Conclusion

Following these three helpful hints – splitting up your campaigns to see what works, understanding how location targeting works, and following the 20% rule – can help save plenty of time and money when reaching new audiences. With so many things to learn about Facebook Ads, you’ll be able to spend more time learning about other tips and tricks that can help you get the most out of each campaign!