Introduction

This guide shows how to run social media ads that get real results. It covers targeting, testing, retargeting, and improving over time.

What's the problem it solves?

Many people waste money on ads because they don’t understand how to set them up, test them, or reach the right people. This article solves that by giving a step-by-step system to create, track, and improve ads on Facebook and Instagram.

Quick Summary

The article explains how to run ads on social media, with a focus on Facebook and Instagram. It begins with the basics: creating a business page, choosing a campaign goal, and understanding terms like CTR (click-through rate) and CPA (cost per action). From there, it shows how to build campaigns using a clear structure: campaigns for each product, ad sets for each audience, and multiple ads with different messages.

The piece then dives into how to target people based on things like age, location, interests, job title, and online behavior. It also covers lookalike audiences, where Facebook finds users similar to your best customers. Once your ads are live, you’re taught how to watch the numbers, turn off bad ads, and keep testing new ideas. Finally, the article covers retargeting-reaching back out to people who visited your site but didn’t buy, using different ads and sometimes different pages to win them over.

Key Takeaways from the article

• Start by picking a clear goal, like purchases or sign-ups.
• Organize campaigns into product → audience group → ad variations.
• Each ad set should target one audience with one clear message.
• Add a tracking pixel to measure what works.
• Spend enough to get 3,000+ views per ad before judging results.
• Watch for high CPA or low CTR, and turn off underperformers fast.
• Keep ads fresh by testing new text, images, and value props often.
• Use retargeting to follow up with visitors who didn’t convert.
• Create custom audiences and exclude people who already bought.
• Facebook videos often perform better than images-hook early and use captions.
• Match your ad style to the platform so it blends into the feed naturally.
• Always track cost per conversion, not just clicks or views.

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