How to Advertise on Facebook: A Beginner's Guide

How to advertise on Facebook comes down to two routes. The quick one is boosting a post from your Facebook page. The flexible one is building a campaign in Meta Ads Manager, where you choose an objective, an audience, a budget and the ad itself. Ads run across Facebook and Instagram, and you only pay for what you set.

How do Facebook ads work for beginners?

Facebook ads are paid posts that Meta shows to the people you choose, in their feeds, Stories, Reels and other places across Facebook and Instagram. You set a budget, Meta runs an auction for each ad slot, and you're charged as people see or click your ad.

Every campaign has three layers:

• Campaign: your objective, such as traffic to your website or leads
• Ad set: who sees it, where, when and your budget
• Ad: the image or video, the words and the button

Organic reach on a Facebook page is limited, so even a small ad budget can put your posts in front of far more local people than posting alone. That's why Facebook ads for beginners usually start small and grow once something works.

What do you need before you run Facebook ads?

Before you work out how to put ads on Facebook, have these ready:

• A Facebook page for your business (ads run from a page, not a personal profile)
• A payment method added in your Meta account
• A clear goal: calls, enquiries, bookings, sales or website visits
• The Meta Pixel on your website if you want to track enquiries or sales from ads (your privacy policy should mention it)
• A photo or short video that shows what you sell

How do you put an ad on Facebook by boosting a post?

If you're wondering how to place an ad on Facebook quickly, boosting is the simplest way. Pick a post that's already doing well on your page, tap Boost post, choose who should see it (location, age and interests), set a daily budget and an end date, and confirm. The boost runs as an ad and shows to more people than your followers alone.

Boosting is fine for promoting an event or a popular post. For more control over your goal and audience, use Ads Manager.

How do you create a Facebook ad in Ads Manager?

Here's how to create a Facebook ad in Meta Ads Manager, step by step:

1. Open Ads Manager from Meta Business Suite and click Create.
2. Choose an objective. Meta groups them as Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App promotion and Sales. Most local businesses start with Traffic or Leads.
3. Set your budget and schedule. Choose a daily or lifetime budget and when the campaign starts and ends.
4. Define your audience. Set the locations you serve (for example a radius around your town), the age range and any interests. You can also target people who've visited your website or engaged with your page.
5. Choose placements. Automatic placements let Meta show the ad across Facebook and Instagram where it performs best. You can pick placements yourself if you prefer.
6. Make the ad. Add your image or video, a short main text, a headline and a button such as Learn more, Book now or Call now.
7. Publish. Meta reviews every ad against its Advertising Standards before it runs, usually within a day.

That's how to make a Facebook ad that's built for a goal, not just more likes. Housing, jobs, credit and political ads fall into special categories with tighter targeting rules, so check those before you start.

How do you run Facebook ads well once they're live?

Knowing how to run Facebook ads is mostly about checking and adjusting. If you're learning how to create Facebook ads for beginners, a small test budget makes these checks cheap:

• Give each ad a few days before judging it, then turn off the weakest
• Test one change at a time: a new image, a new headline or a new audience
• Watch cost per result (cost per enquiry or click), not just reach
• Refresh images every few weeks, because people tire of seeing the same ad
• Answer comments on your ads quickly, since they're public

What we see when regional businesses start advertising on Facebook

When Rock Solid Marketing sets up Facebook ads for businesses across Sunraysia and the Mallee, the biggest gains usually come from the basics: a tight local audience, a clear offer and a landing page that matches the ad. A boosted post with no goal tends to collect likes rather than enquiries.

If you'd rather not run it yourself, our Facebook ads management packages start at $2,000 + GST a month plus 10% of ad spend, covering the setup, ad copy and creative, and a monthly call. If a boosted post or a Google Business Profile tidy-up will do the job for now, we'll tell you before we quote.

Frequently asked questions

How do I create a Facebook ad for the first time?

Start in Meta Ads Manager: click Create, pick an objective such as Traffic or Leads, set a small daily budget, choose your local audience, then add an image, text and a button. Meta reviews the ad before it runs. If that feels like too much, boost a popular post from your page first.

How do you put an ad on Facebook without Ads Manager?

Boost a post from your Facebook page. Tap Boost post under any post, choose your audience and daily budget, set an end date and confirm. It's the fastest way to do an ad on Facebook, though you get fewer choices than in Ads Manager.

How do you give someone access to your Facebook Ads Manager?

Use Meta Business Suite. Open Settings, then People to invite a staff member by email, or Partners to give an agency access using its business ID. Then assign them access to your ad account with the level they need. You keep ownership and can remove access at any time.

How much should a beginner spend on Facebook ads?

Start with a small daily budget you're comfortable losing while you learn, run it for a couple of weeks, and keep what brings enquiries. There's no single right figure: costs depend on your audience, competition and goal.

Do Facebook ads also show on Instagram?

Yes, if you allow it. With automatic placements, one campaign in Ads Manager can show across Facebook and Instagram. You can also choose placements yourself to keep an ad on one app only.

Now you know how to advertise on Facebook: start with a clear goal, a local audience and a simple ad, then adjust based on cost per result. For a wider view of paid social, see our Meta ads service, or talk to our social media marketing team in Mildura.