For those who have been reading the nexus-security blog since it began in 2009 (we appreciate your loyalty!), you are aware that we have published a massive amount of Facebook-related material, covering topics like Facebook ad benchmarks, strategies for reducing Facebook ad expenses, leveraging Facebook ads to boost webinar sign-ups, debunking prevalent Facebook ad fallacies, and utilizing Facebook ads to promote your business on Facebook (okay, maybe not that last one). The bottom line is that there is a wealth of information to sift through if you aspire to become a Facebook ad expert.

Honestly, it can feel quite overwhelming.

This brings us to the purpose of this particular post. Where should you even begin? Well, we’ve taken care of the heavy lifting for you. We’ve combed through our extensive collection of Facebook ad content and handpicked the most exceptional pieces. We’re talking about the hidden gems, the crème de la crème. Consider this blog post your gateway to the most comprehensive Facebook ad training manual in existence. Each tip, valuable in its own right, includes a link to a high-quality, detailed resource that explains how to integrate that tip into your current or future Facebook ad strategy.

Ready to take action? Let’s dive in!

Facebook Ad Formats

1. Craft an Engaging Journey with Facebook Canvas Ads

If you’ve watched demonstrations of Facebook Canvas Ads, you might have been intrigued by their capabilities but discouraged by the seemingly labor-intensive setup. Canvas ads combine videos, static images, text, calls-to-action, and other interactive elements. But is the final result worth the effort?

Statistics suggest it is.

When executed effectively, Canvas ads can be incredibly captivating: 53% of users who interact with a Canvas ad tend to view at least half of it, and the average viewing time for these ads is an impressive 31 seconds. Why? The ability to seamlessly blend various ad formats (carousel, video, single image, etc.) unlocks unparalleled storytelling potential—allowing you to fully immerse the user in your brand experience.

Furthermore, the creation process is highly templated, requiring you to simply drag and drop assets into the appropriate sections within the Facebook interface. Available templates include: Get New Customers (ideal for acquisition), Sell Products (perfect for eCommerce), and Showcase Your Business (suited for raising brand awareness).

Another major advantage of Canvas ads is their speed: your products and lead forms load directly within the Canvas almost instantaneously. No more redirects to those sluggish landing pages. Customers effortlessly bypass a critical stage of the buying journey.

I provided a thorough overview of Facebook Canvas ads in a post last month. Remember: Canvas ads are exclusively displayed on mobile devices. Free guide » 7 Essential Facebook Advertising Tips that every marketer should know.

2. Spotlight Your Products with Facebook Carousel Ads

Carousel ads are specifically designed for showcasing multiple e-commerce products (or different facets of a single product) in a single, swipe-able ad.

Carousel ads empower advertisers to feature up to 10 images or videos—each with a unique CTA—within a single ad unit, linking to distinct landing pages from each panel. Effective on both desktop and mobile platforms, they are compatible with most Facebook ad objectives—so don’t feel restricted if online sales aren’t your primary goal.

3. Amplify Your Reach with Page Post Engagement Ads

Do you have a decent number of page likes on your business’s Facebook page but struggle to connect with most of your followers? This is a common challenge for many businesses.

Regardless of how engaging your Facebook posts are, Facebook’s algorithm limits the organic reach of your content. If you have 100 page likes and publish a post organically, only a fraction of your followers (perhaps 20) might see it. Page post engagement ads provide a viable solution.

To set up engagement ads, simply choose the “Engagement” marketing objective. “Engagement” encompasses comments, shares, likes, event responses, and offer claims. By running engagement ads, you ensure your content reaches those who already appreciate it—those who like, comment, and actively engage with your page. Additionally, you can leverage Facebook’s extensive targeting options to present your content to new demographics likely to share similar interests.

4. Facebook Video Ads: Join the Movement

What makes Facebook video ads so compelling? Firstly, viewers of videos are 1.81x more inclined to make a purchase compared to those who don’t engage with videos. Secondly, setting up a video ad is as straightforward as creating an image ad. The video production process itself might discourage some advertisers from venturing into video ads—yet, even those advertisers might soon find themselves falling behind. Views of branded video content on Facebook have increased 258% as of June 2017, and a staggering over 500 million individuals watch videos on Facebook daily.

With a maximum duration of 240 minutes, Facebook video ads offer ample space for storytelling. However, it’s generally advisable to keep them concise and engaging and to include captions. According to Facebook, adding captions to video ads can increase viewing time by an average of average of 12%.

Our in-house video expert, Margot Da Cunha, delves deeper into this topic in her comprehensive Complete Guide to Facebook Video Ads.

5. Embrace Simplicity with Facebook GIF Ads

It’s a no-brainer that shorter videos are more likely to hold viewers’ attention. And as it happens, statistics confirm this:

Image via Wistia This is where the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) shines. Why create a lengthy 5-minute video to convey your brand story when you can evoke the desired response in under 10 seconds? GIFs occupy the space between static images and videos—they’re essentially brief, looping videos that require significantly less time and resources to produce. Here’s a prime example of a GIF ad we created for our AdWords Performance Grader:

GIFs render beautifully on mobile devices and are incredibly easy to create. Utilizing tools like GIPHY’s GIF Maker—or more advanced software such as Snagit—you can effortlessly upload and trim videos into exportable GIFs.

Facebook GIF ads should be subtle yet attention-grabbing. Our very own Allen Finn elaborates on their benefits in his article, “GIFs Will Revolutionize Your Facebook Ads – Here’s How to Use Them.”

6. Capture Leads Effortlessly with Facebook Lead Ads

Similar to Canvas ads, Facebook lead ads are designed specifically for mobile devices. Their purpose is to eliminate the need to direct prospects to clunky mobile landing pages. Lead forms are excellent for gathering information like names, job titles, phone numbers, addresses, and demographics—essentially any data you can use for marketing or remarketing your products. Since the lead form pops up within the Facebook app, prospects don’t have to navigate to your website to provide this information

Lead ads are cost-effective, efficient, and best of all, the information you collect can be utilized to create personalized lookalike and remarketing audiences.

For a detailed look at lead ads, refer to Allen Finn’s insightful guide, “How to Create Facebook Lead Ads That Convert.”

Your Facebook Ads Account

7. Unearth Valuable Insights with Facebook Analytics

Facebook Analytics offers a wealth of useful features that provide insights into how prospects and customers interact with your website, app, Facebook page, and more. During F8—Facebook’s annual developer conference—the company announced a suite of new features coming to the already robust Analytics platform. Some noteworthy additions include:

• A dedicated mobile app. Much like Google Analytics, you can now monitor your paid social campaigns directly from your smartphone or tablet.
• Automated funnel detection. Leverage the power of artificial intelligence to identify common user paths within your site or app.
• Customized insights. Define custom events within Facebook Analytics to generate tailored insights.

Of course, no meaningful tracking is possible without the Facebook Pixel.

The Facebook Pixel is a single code snippet that, when added to your website, allows you to track various conversions—from website traffic and content downloads to product purchases—and attribute them back to your Facebook ads.

To learn more about the Facebook Pixel and dive deeper into campaign tracking and reporting, be sure to read Brett McHale’s comprehensive guide, “The Ultimate Guide to Tracking, Targeting, and Driving Conversions on Facebook.”

9. Structure Your Account Effectively

Are you a seasoned AdWords pro assuming that expertise will seamlessly translate to Facebook ads? Think again. AdWords and Facebook have distinct account structures, and understanding these differences is crucial for maximizing your returns on each platform. For instance: Facebook budget control happens at the ad set level, not the campaign level—granting you finer control over spending on specific audience segments. We recommend the following structure for a successful account:

• Select a campaign that aligns with your specific marketing goal. If you aim to drive traffic to both your homepage and your app, create two separate campaigns.
• Segment your ad sets based on granular targeting and budget allocation.
• Rotate these ad sets within your campaigns to pinpoint the lowest cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

For a more detailed explanation of these steps and guidance on aligning your ad account structure with your sales funnel, check out “The Last Guide to Facebook Ad Account Structure You’ll Ever Need.”

10. Don’t Be Limited by a Small Budget

Achieving success with Facebook ads isn’t about having a massive budget but rather about optimizing the resources you have. When working with limited funds, optimization becomes paramount. And to truly optimize your campaigns, a firm grasp of Google Analytics is essential.

Brett McHale offers a fantastic exploration of Facebook advertising on a budget in his article, “How to Create Killer Facebook Ad Campaigns with Your Existing Assets.” You’ll discover how to set up UTM parameters, configure custom conversion tracking, identify your most compelling website offer, and attribute results and data to specific ads.

Facebook Audience Targeting

11. Become a Facebook Remarketing Expert

Image via Sprout Social

Ever noticed how that tempting offer for a cruise keeps popping up as you browse the web? Or that pair of shoes you added to your cart but didn’t buy? That’s remarketing in action. Remarketing is incredibly effective because it enables you to target users based on their previous actions on your website or social media profiles. This gives you valuable insight into their prior interactions with your brand and their current position in the sales funnel.

Custom Audiences (discussed below) are the most common form of Facebook remarketing. For a comprehensive overview of Facebook remarketing strategies, I recommend Margot Da Cunha’s insightful guide, “The Ridiculously Awesome Guide to Facebook Remarketing.”

12. Demystifying Custom Audiences

To fully grasp Facebook remarketing, a solid understanding of Custom Audiences is crucial. Custom Audiences allow you to target five distinct user segments:

• Customer File. This matches email addresses, phone numbers, and Facebook user IDs to existing Facebook accounts, allowing you to target those specific users.
• Website Traffic. This segment targets individuals who have visited your website or specific pages on your site.
• App Activity. Target users who have interacted with or launched your app or game.
• Offline Activity. This segment allows you to reach people who have engaged with your business offline—whether in-store, over the phone, or through other offline channels.
• Engagement. Create lists of individuals who actively engage with your content on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

For each of these segments, you can (and should) implement layered targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviors to refine your audience further. Don’t settle for simply displaying ads to those who have previously interacted with your brand. Adding traditional Facebook targeting on top of these lists helps you connect with the most qualified prospects.

Mastering the creation and execution of Custom Audience campaigns is at the heart of successful Facebook remarketing. For expert tips on maximizing Custom Audiences and information on how Custom Audiences are evolving in light of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — Facebook is introducing a Custom Audiences permission tool requiring proof of consent before utilizing Custom Audiences (more on this later) — check out “Big Changes to Facebook Custom Audiences: What You Need to Know.”

13. Explore Lookalike Audiences

Facebook lookalike audiences bridge the gap between layered targeting (based on behaviors, interests, and demographics) and remarketing with Custom Audiences. Creating lookalikes involves utilizing the same information you’d use for Custom Audiences to generate audiences with comparable characteristics, but representing a fresh pool of potential customers. These prospects haven’t interacted with your brand yet, but they resemble those who have.

15. Implement the Facebook Pixel (Yes, Again!)

This Facebook ad tip is too important to omit. So, what exactly is the Facebook Pixel? Back in the day (2015), advertisers needed to install multiple pixel codes on their websites to track different conversion events. Every new landing page for each promotion required a new pixel—manageable on a small scale, but increasingly cumbersome as your ad strategy grew. Enter the Facebook Pixel.

Like Custom Audiences, lookalike audiences are best used in conjunction with layered targeting. Adding layered targeting to lookalike audiences effectively controls audience size. This is particularly useful if you’re concerned your lookalike audience is either too broad or lacks qualification. Facebook provides the option to manually expand audience size on a scale of 1 to 10…

…allowing you to create new audiences based on your initial “seed” audience. This option lets you connect with new prospects—those who differ from your original lookalike audience but share enough similarities to warrant exploration.

For an in-depth look at leveraging lookalike audiences, refer to our comprehensive guide, “How to Use Facebook Lookalike Audiences.”

15. Harness the Power of Audience Insights for Audience Creation

The key to unlocking Audience Insights lies in differentiation—or as marketing expert Larry Kim puts it, separating the “donkey” (average to below-average) audiences from the “unicorn” (high-performing) ones.

Audience Insights is a tool that helps you gather both self-reported Facebook data (information provided by users when completing their profiles) and third-party data (details like household income and buying behavior from external sources) to create new audiences. But where does this data originate? Facebook offers three options: glean insights from the entire Facebook user base, from people connected to your Page, or from an existing Custom Audience.

From there, much like the Custom Audience creation process, you’ll want to layer interests (such as competitor pages!) and behaviors atop your audience to refine your insights for maximum effectiveness.

16. Mastering Facebook’s Behavior, Interest, & Demographic Targeting

Image via E2M Solutions

If you’re a newer business with limited website traffic, remarketing options might be scarce. In such cases, your best bet is manual or layered targeting. Manual targeting involves crafting audiences based on:

• Behaviors—Reach users based on their purchase history, intent, device usage, and more.
• Interests—Target users by analyzing their interests, activities, liked pages, and related topics.
• Demographics—Reach users based on their location, age, gender, language, relationship status, and more.

When creating audiences with layered targeting, the key is to start broad and progressively narrow down to more qualified and refined subsets. As you’re building from scratch, your CPA will likely be higher than remarketing to a custom audience. However, when executed correctly, layered targeting can be a highly effective way to navigate the sales funnel.

Creating High-Performing Facebook Ads

17. Familiarize Yourself with Sizing & Spec Requirements

Imagine launching an ad only to discover that a crucial part of your lead image is cut off due to incorrect specifications. Not ideal, right? To avoid this, familiarize yourself with these essential ad specifications:

• Image ads: Size: 1,200 X 628 pixels. Ratio: 1.91:1. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 25 characters. Link description: 30 characters.
• Video ads: Format: .mov or .mp4. Ratio: 16:9. Resolution: at least 720p. File size: 2.3 GB max. Thumbnail size: 1,200 x 675 pixels. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 25 characters. Link description: 30 characters.
• Carousel ads: Image size: 1,080 x 1,080 pixels. Image/video ratio: 1:1. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 40 characters. Link description: 20 characters.
• Slideshow ads: Size: 1,289 x 720 pixels. Ratio: 16:9, 1:1, or 2:3. Text: 90 characters. Headline: 25 characters. Link description: 30 characters.

Adhering to these guidelines ensures your ads display flawlessly. For an in-depth look at optimal ad sizing and specifications, refer to our comprehensive resource, “How to Create Facebook Ads.”

18. Designing Relevant Facebook Ads

Relevance Score reflects Facebook’s assessment of your ads’ quality and engagement level. A higher Relevance Score generally translates to a lower cost per click and increased ad visibility. Relevance Score is measured on a scale of 1 to 10—with 1 signifying a poor ad and 10 representing an excellent one. Lower scores indicate a mismatch between your ad and your target audience, potentially leading to higher costs to maintain ad delivery.

Facebook calculates your ad’s Relevance Score after it receives over 500 impressions. Notably, this metric isn’t based on actual engagement but rather on Facebook’s prediction of your ad’s performance based on factors like campaign objective and audience granularity. To improve your Relevance Score, focus on hyper-specific targeting, A/B testing, and of course, creating exceptional ads. Allen Finn covers these strategies and more in his insightful article, “Facebook Relevance Score: 4 Key Facts to Know.”

19. Strategic Facebook Ad Placement is Key

While novice Facebook advertisers often opt for automatic ad placements, manually selecting where your ads appear (as shown above) can significantly impact your campaign’s success. Facebook offers four primary ad placement options:

• Facebook’s mobile and desktop newsfeeds
• Instagram
• The Audience Network
• Messenger

Within these placements, you have three choices for device targeting:

• Mobile only
• Desktop only
• All Devices

Available placement options might vary based on your chosen devices. Furthermore, certain placements perform better with specific campaign objectives—for example, traffic campaigns versus engagement campaigns. For a deep dive into optimizing Facebook ad placements, consult our “Ultimate Guide to Facebook Ad Placement Optimization.”

20. Benchmark Against Your Competition

Effective Facebook advertising goes beyond aiming for the lowest possible CPA; it also requires understanding your competitive landscape. This is where our acclaimed Facebook Ad Benchmarks come in handy.

By analyzing our vast client data, encompassing 256 accounts (representing $553,000 in total Facebook ad spend) across 18 different industries, we’ve compiled benchmarks for the following four key metrics:

• Average Click-Through Rate (CTR) on Facebook by industry
• Average Cost per Click (CPC) on Facebook by industry
• Average Conversion Rate (CVR) on Facebook by industry
• Average Cost per Action (CPA) on Facebook by industry

Whether you’re in Apparel, Education, Healthcare, or Real Estate, our Facebook Ad Benchmarks provide valuable insights into how your ad performance compares to your competitors.

21. Navigating the GDPR Landscape

You’ve likely heard about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), particularly its enforcement date of May 25, 2018. You might also be aware of recent Facebook controversies surrounding user data handling. Naturally, Facebook created a page Here are some key points to keep in mind:

• You must establish “a relevant legal basis (e.g., consent, contractual necessity, or legitimate interests)” for your use of consumer data. Facebook itself won’t be held responsible for any data third-party entities illegally collect through its platform.
• Expect potentially stricter regulations concerning the Facebook Pixel.
• When utilizing lead ads, linking to your privacy policy becomes crucial for obtaining real-time consent.
• Facebook is developing a Custom Audiences permission tool that will necessitate proof of consent before using custom audiences.

Consent is paramount. Transparency is key—clearly communicate your data tracking practices to your website visitors and obtain their explicit agreement. While this sounds straightforward in theory, implementing it can be more challenging. For a deeper understanding, refer to “5 Ways the GDPR Will Impact Your Facebook Ads.”

Bonus tip: Consider testing click-to-call ads on Facebook, now available for website traffic campaigns.

Wrapping Up

That’s a wrap! We’ve covered a wealth of Facebook advertising tips in this comprehensive guide. If you have questions about any of these tips, the linked resources, or wish to suggest additional tips, feel free to leave a comment below. If you’re ready to launch your Facebook ads or revamp your existing strategy, our Facebook ad checklist can help ensure a smooth launch. Happy Facebook advertising!

Hungry for more? Explore these eight fantastic (and free!) Facebook ad courses for all skill levels!