How to Create a Facebook Ad for Your Business

Creating your ad in Facebook is quick and easy. Whether you create a text or display (text and image) ad, or build in social actions, such as a fan request, get your ad up and running in Facebook.

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Scroll to the bottom of your screen and click the Advertising link.

The Facebook Ads page appears.

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Click the Create an Ad button on the upper right of your screen.

The Advertise on Facebook page appears, displaying the options for designing your ad.

Below the Destination URL box, click the I Want to Advertise Something I Have on Facebook link.

A list of your Facebook Pages, events, and/or groups that you manage appears, depending on what you’ve designated for your business.

Select the appropriate internal destination and then click the Continue button to reveal the targeting options.

You can either enter an internal Facebook address or external Web site (a Web address outside of Facebook) as your landing page.

In the Title text box, type a title or headline for your ad.

You’re limited to 25 characters and must adhere to the Facebook formatting policies. If you’re advertising a Page, the page title is the default title, and you can’t change it. While you build your ad, you see a near real-time preview on the right.

In the Body Text box, add body copy with up to 135 characters.

Using all caps or title case caps is prohibited under Facebook’s guidelines.

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In the Image section, click the Browse button, navigate to the image you want to use in the ad, and then click the Continue button.

The Targeting options appear.

In the Country text box, type the location of the user you want your ad to be seen by.

There are nearly 100 countries from which to target, and each ad can reach up to 25 countries. You can also drill down to the state/province or city level. For many cities, you can even specify among 10, 25, and 50 miles surrounding the city.

From the Age drop-down lists, choose the age range of the audience you want to see the ad.

For example, if you sell retirement homes, you can target people 55 and older. To reach the widest possible audience, leave this at the default setting: Any. Keep in mind, Facebook doesn’t allow you to target members younger than 13.

Select All, Men, or Women for the gender of your audience.

All is selected in the default mode, making the ad available to the widest amount of members possible.

(Optional) In the Likes & Interests text box, type any keywords you want to target.

Keywords are based on the information that members choose to include in their Facebook profiles. When you start typing a term, a range of possible words appears. You can click one of these words without completing your term. If the keyword you enter isn’t identified in enough Facebook members’ profiles, it’s not statistically large enough to target. You can enter as many keywords as are relevant.

In the Connections on Facebook text box, enter your Page, event group, or application whose fans you want to target.

You can also target users who aren’t fans of your Page, event, group, or application. And you can even use an option to target users who are friends of people connected to your specific Facebook Page, event, group, or application.

Click the Show Advanced Targeting Options link to reveal advanced demographics.

Advanced demographics allows you to target based on a number of unique factors. Because Facebook has so much information on its users, only Facebook can offer exact targeting to this level.

If you want to target people on their birthdays, select the Birthday check box.

If you’d rather not use birthday targeting, leave this check box unselected.

Select which gender your target audience is interested in.

You can choose All, Men, or Women.

Select the audience’s relationship status.

You can choose among All, Single, In a Relationship, Engaged, and Married. For example, if you're a wedding dress designer, you can target people with Engaged as their marital status.

Type the target audience’s language preference.

Facebook allows you to target people by their native language. Reaching a specific culture, such as Chinese-speaking Americans or Spanish-speaking people in Florida has never been easier. Facebook has 40 languages listed, and it keeps growing.

Select the desired educational level of your audience.

Your options are All, College Grad, In College, or In High School.

Target down to the workplace.

When you start to type the workplace, you see a range of workplace possibilities with those letters appear. If the workplace you’re entering isn’t statistically large enough to support an ad, it remains blank. For example, say you’re a business to business (B2B) marketer and want to reach folks at Fortune 1000 companies. Why not just target a specific company, such as IBM, with an ad?

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Click the Continue button.

The Campaigns, Pricing and Scheduling section appears.

In the Campaign Name text box, type the name of your campaign.

Campaign refers to a group of ads that all share the same daily budget and schedule; it can consist of many separate ads.

In the Budget text box, set your daily maximum budget.

You can also choose to set a lifetime budget and enter the amount you want to spend for the entire life of that campaign. The minimum daily spending amount is $1; you can run a Facebook ad for as little as $1 a day, albeit to a very small number of people.

In the Schedule section, choose from two options for when the ad runs.

If you want the campaign to start today and run indefinitely, select the Run My Campaign Continuously Starting Today check box. Then select a time in the At text box. If you want to choose a specific date range, enter the starting time and the ending date and time.

Select the radio button next to the type of pricing structure you want to go with: Pay for Impressions (CPM) or Pay for Clicks (CPC).

Facebook allows you to either bid based on CPM or CPC. If you select Pay for Impressions (CPM), remember your bid represents every 1,000 impressions, or ad views.

Enter the maximum amount you’re willing to pay per click or impression.

The minimum amount you’re allowed to bid for CPM is $0.02 and for CPC is $0.01, although Facebook often rejects bids that are too low.

Click the Review Ad button near the bottom of the screen.

The Review Ad page appears and recaps your ad’s creative elements, targeting, type of bid (CPC or CPM), bid price, daily budget, and duration of ad flight (the time period an ad runs).

After you review your ad, click the Place Order button.

Your ad proposal is submitted to Facebook.

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How to Create a Facebook Ad for Your Business

Scroll to the bottom of your screen and click the Advertising link.

Click the Create an Ad button on the upper right of your screen.

Below the Destination URL box, click the I Want to Advertise Something I Have on Facebook link.

Select the appropriate internal destination and then click the Continue button to reveal the targeting options.

In the Title text box, type a title or headline for your ad.

In the Body Text box, add body copy with up to 135 characters.

In the Image section, click the Browse button, navigate to the image you want to use in the ad, and then click the Continue button.

In the Country text box, type the location of the user you want your ad to be seen by.

From the Age drop-down lists, choose the age range of the audience you want to see the ad.

Select All, Men, or Women for the gender of your audience.

(Optional) In the Likes & Interests text box, type any keywords you want to target.

In the Connections on Facebook text box, enter your Page, event group, or application whose fans you want to target.

Click the Show Advanced Targeting Options link to reveal advanced demographics.

If you want to target people on their birthdays, select the Birthday check box.

Select which gender your target audience is interested in.

Select the audience’s relationship status.

Type the target audience’s language preference.

Select the desired educational level of your audience.

Target down to the workplace.

Click the Continue button.

In the Campaign Name text box, type the name of your campaign.

In the Budget text box, set your daily maximum budget.

In the Schedule section, choose from two options for when the ad runs.

Select the radio button next to the type of pricing structure you want to go with: Pay for Impressions (CPM) or Pay for Clicks (CPC).

Enter the maximum amount you’re willing to pay per click or impression.

Click the Review Ad button near the bottom of the screen.

After you review your ad, click the Place Order button.

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How to Create a Facebook Ad for Your Business

Scroll to the bottom of your screen and click the Advertising link.

Click the Create an Ad button on the upper right of your screen.

Below the Destination URL box, click the I Want to Advertise Something I Have on Facebook link.

Select the appropriate internal destination and then click the Continue button to reveal the targeting options.

In the Title text box, type a title or headline for your ad.

In the Body Text box, add body copy with up to 135 characters.

In the Image section, click the Browse button, navigate to the image you want to use in the ad, and then click the Continue button.

In the Country text box, type the location of the user you want your ad to be seen by.

From the Age drop-down lists, choose the age range of the audience you want to see the ad.

Select All, Men, or Women for the gender of your audience.

(Optional) In the Likes & Interests text box, type any keywords you want to target.

In the Connections on Facebook text box, enter your Page, event group, or application whose fans you want to target.

Click the Show Advanced Targeting Options link to reveal advanced demographics.

If you want to target people on their birthdays, select the Birthday check box.

Select which gender your target audience is interested in.

Select the audience’s relationship status.

Type the target audience’s language preference.

Select the desired educational level of your audience.

Target down to the workplace.

Click the Continue button.

In the Campaign Name text box, type the name of your campaign.

In the Budget text box, set your daily maximum budget.

In the Schedule section, choose from two options for when the ad runs.

Select the radio button next to the type of pricing structure you want to go with: Pay for Impressions (CPM) or Pay for Clicks (CPC).

Enter the maximum amount you’re willing to pay per click or impression.

Click the Review Ad button near the bottom of the screen.

After you review your ad, click the Place Order button.

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