Phase 8~4 hoursMedium-Hard
8.5 Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads
Prerequisites
- Meta Pixel installed and verified (section 8.2)
- A Facebook Business Page for your business
- A Meta Business Manager account
- Landing page ready (section 6.6)
- Minimum budget: $20/day for 30 days ($600 for a meaningful test)
Step-by-Step
Set up Meta Business Manager
Go to business.facebook.com and create a Business Manager account:
- Add your Facebook Page and Instagram account
- Set up an Ad Account (Business Settings > Ad Accounts > Add)
- Add a payment method (credit card or PayPal)
- Verify your domain (Business Settings > Brand Safety > Domains) -- this improves tracking after iOS privacy changes
Choose the right campaign objective
In Ads Manager, click Create. Choose your objective based on your goal:
- Leads -- for collecting contact details. Best for service businesses.
- Traffic -- for driving visits to your website or landing page.
- Awareness -- for reaching as many people as possible. Good for brand building, not direct response.
- For most small businesses starting out: choose Leads with website conversions.
Define your audience
Meta's targeting is its superpower. Set up your audience at the ad set level:
- Location: Target your service area. Use a radius around your business or drop pins on specific suburbs.
- Age and gender: Narrow to your actual customer demographics.
- Interests: Add 5--10 interests related to your service.
- Audience size: For local businesses, aim for 50,000--200,000 people.
- Advantage+ audience: Meta's AI targeting. Worth testing after your Pixel has 50+ conversion events.
Create your ads
Each ad needs creative (image/video) and copy (text):
- Creative: Use real photos of your work, team, or customers. Authentic images outperform stock photos by 2--3x. Video outperforms images.
- Primary text: Lead with the customer's problem or desire. Keep under 125 characters for mobile.
- Headline: Your offer. "Photo Booth Hire from $750" or "Free Wedding Planning Guide."
- CTA button: "Learn More," "Book Now," or "Get Quote."
- Create 3--5 ad variations. Let Meta's algorithm find the winner.
Launch, monitor, and optimise
After launching:
- Learning phase: Meta needs ~50 conversion events to optimise. Don't change anything for the first 7 days.
- Check daily: Spend, reach, clicks. Check weekly: cost per lead, conversion rate, ROAS.
- Kill underperformers: After 7 days, pause ads with CTR below 1% or cost per lead above your target.
- Scale winners: Increase budget by 20% every 3--5 days on ads that are profitable. Don't double the budget overnight.
- Refresh creative every 2--4 weeks. Ad fatigue is real.
Google Ads vs. Meta Ads
Use Google Ads when people are actively searching for your service ("plumber near me"). Use Meta Ads when they're not searching but match your ideal customer profile. Most businesses benefit from running both -- Google for intent capture, Meta for demand generation.
You're Done When
- Meta Business Manager set up with Page, Ad Account, and payment method
- Domain verified and Pixel connected
- First campaign live with Leads objective
- Audience defined with location, demographics, and interests
- 3--5 ad variations running
- Weekly review schedule set
92 hours. That's a month of Saturdays.
Your weekends called. They want their life back.