You’ve started posting organic content to build your brand and nurture relationships. Is there a way to get even more out of the platform? Yes! With Facebook ads, you can get real results immediately.

What are Facebook ads?

These are paid messages you can place on Facebook. Written in your voice, they can target the people who matter to you. You can create campaigns with specific advertising objectives to help you meet your goals. The ads you create will then feature in the News Feed of Facebook users and in the right column of their Facebook on the desktop version.

Facebook ad benefits

The world’s biggest social media platform has really invested in their advertising experience. Here are reasons that will have you launching your first Facebook ad today.

• Get brand awareness
  Your ad stays visible on Facebook user feeds even if they don’t click it. In this way, they are a constant reminder of your brand, property listings and services.
• It’s affordable
  You set your budget and control how much you spend from the start.
• Impressive reach
  The stats are true. Facebook lets you reach millions of people. Imagine the possibilities for your agency!
• Target your audience
  With laser-focused precision, you can get your ad seen by your ideal audience. For example, you might be selling retirement homes in Nelspruit. You can create a Facebook ad that target users aged 50+ older in that area.
• Fall in love with remarketing
  You can also target people who have visited your website or signed up to your email newsletter. They’ll see ads from your agency in their Facebook feed without even liking your Facebook page. You’ll learn more about this in an upcoming section.
• Bring in the leads
  Facebook ads help you find new clients and engage with your current ones. You’ll be able to collect information including their names, email addresses, phone numbers and more.
• Simple to use
  You can create an account in no time and it takes just a few clicks to put your ad together. You can also boost your organic posts instead of creating Facebook ads from scratch.
• Customise your ad
  There is a range of formats you can create. You can even choose to use images, videos and GIFs to make your ad engaging.
• An updated platform
  Facebook is always introducing new features to make your advertising experience simpler and more effective. For example, they added customisable templates for creating holiday-themed promotions last year.
• Analyse your results
  Facebook’s analytics helps you track how your ad is doing. It gives you insights like the number of people reached and how they interacted (like, click, comment, share) with your ad.

If your agency has a Facebook page, you’re already a step closer to enjoying all these benefits.

Setting up your Facebook ad account

There are two ways to create and publish ads. You can do it from your business page or by using Ads Manager.

Steps for your business page: You can choose to boost an organic post. Just click on the “Boost Post” button to get started. You can also drive traffic to your website by clicking on the “Promote” button.

Steps for Ads Manager:

1. Click on this link to open the Ads Manager interface. You can also navigate to it from your agency’s Facebook page. In the left menu toward the bottom, you'll see a link for Ads Manager. You may need to select “View More” before it is visible. Then, select “Ads Manager”.
2. Choose your campaign objective. If your priority is making a sale, you’d best opt for lead generation.
3. Click on the “Set up Ad Account” button to continue. From here you’ll get to customise your ad according to your intended audience, budget and time you’d like your ad to appear.
4. After you set up your account details, you can choose your ad format.

Types of Facebook ads

Images: These ads are made up of an image and body text. To prevent your ad from being penalised, keep image text under 20% of the image. This will ensure your ad reaches its full audience.

PRO MOVE: You can use Facebook’s Image Text Check tool to keep within the right text/image balance.

Carousel: This ad lets you show two or more images and/or videos, headlines and links or calls to action in a single ad. Anyone who sees your ad can then scroll through the carousel cards by swiping on mobile phones or tablets or clicking the arrows on a computer screen.

Instant Experience: This is a full-screen experience that opens when your ad is clicked on a mobile device. Instant Experiences lets users browse, discover and buy/rent a property or sign up for a service you offer in a visually impactful way.

Collection: This ad includes an Instant Experience i.e. a full-screen experience. It is made up of a cover image or video, followed by images of your property listing images or services.

Video: As its name suggests, this ad lets you show off your agency using a video. Your video length can be 15 seconds (or less) with support for multiple aspect ratios depending on the placement.

Catalogs: This is a container that holds information about your listings or services like images, prices, features and more.

Stories: These ads are full-screen image, video or carousel ads that appear between stories on Facebook.

Each day, thousands of ads are placed on Facebook. To get noticed, pick the ad that meets your objective. You’ll also do well by being creative. Choose vibrant images, intriguing videos and catchy copy to make your advert stand out.