Background

Since launching in early 2004, Facebook has grown to over 2.7 billion monthly users worldwide. It's the only platform home to more than half of all social media users globally. According to Hootsuite, Facebook is the world's third most visited website—right behind Google and YouTube—and its app was the second most downloaded in 2020 after TikTok. Today, people spend an average of nearly 34 minutes on Facebook every day.

Instagram launched about ten years ago and now boasts over a billion monthly active users. Its audience is split almost evenly—51% women and 49% men—spending an average of 30 minutes a day on the app. What's more, 81% of users turn to Instagram to research products or services, and nearly 130 million people tap on shopping posts every month.

The Rise of Paid Social

We've had access to paid social media ads for a decade now. It's an affordable way to reach beyond your current followers and connect with fresh leads. Paid social has unlocked huge business opportunities and fueled massive e-commerce growth.

Why Advertise on Facebook and Instagram?

Advertising across Meta's family of apps lets you tap into Facebook's massive user base to connect with the right people. You can build audiences based on interests, demographics, and age—and even create lookalike audiences to find people similar to your current customers.

Lookalikes share traits and behaviors with your best customers. Once you gather enough data, you can run smart retargeting campaigns using the Facebook pixel on your website. Ads can help you drive sales, boost site traffic, build brand awareness, earn customer loyalty, or even hire new talent.

Getting Started with Facebook and Instagram Ads

First, set up a business account in Facebook Business Manager, create your Facebook Page, and then create an ad account inside Business Manager. Make sure your business details match on both your Page and account.

To see how your ads are performing, get your tracking set up before launching any campaigns. You want to know how people engage with your ads. Install the Meta pixel on your site to track key actions (called events). The pixel also lets you run retargeting campaigns later on.

Your Advertising Strategy

Here is a simple strategy framework. Below, we'll walk you through getting started step by step.

Goal: You need a clear goal to know what success looks like. This could be driving sales, raising brand awareness, or getting app downloads.

Audience: Build your audience around what you already know about them—like age, location, or habits.

Content: You'll need eye-catching visuals paired with a clear message to grab your audience's attention.

Timing: Keep holidays and major events in mind when scheduling campaigns. Competition peaks then, making ads more expensive.

Budget: Setting a budget keeps costs under control. Choose between a daily budget or a lifetime budget for the full campaign run.

Format: Pick from six versatile formats designed to look great on any device, using images or video. We'll cover formats in detail below.

Step-by-Step: Advertising on Facebook and Instagram

Head over to Facebook Ads Manager to set up your campaign and build your first ads:

Step 1 – Choose Your Campaign Objective

Brand Awareness: Pick this to reach a large group of people likely to care about your brand. Here, you're introducing yourself to a cold audience.

App Installs, Traffic, Lead Generation: Here, you target a warmer audience. Encourage them to download your app, visit your site, sign up for updates, send a message, engage with a post, or watch a video.

Step 2 – Choose Your Audience

You have three main ways to build an audience:

Core Audience – Target by age, interests, location, and more.

Custom Audience – Reach people who've already interacted with you, like past website visitors.

Lookalike Audience – Find new people who share traits and interests with your best customers.

Step 3 – Choose Your Placements

If your campaign objective supports it, run your ads on both Facebook and Instagram to get the best delivery and value. We recommend selecting Automatic Placements in Ads Manager so Facebook can direct your budget to where it performs best.

Facebook Feed: Shows up in the desktop News Feed when users browse on computers, or in the mobile feed on the app and mobile browsers.

Instagram Feed: Appears right in the mobile feed as people scroll through the Instagram app.

Facebook Marketplace: Appears on the Marketplace homepage or while browsing Marketplace in the Facebook app.

Facebook Video Feeds: Shows between organic videos in video-only spaces on Facebook Watch and the Facebook Feed.

Facebook Right Column: Appears in the right sidebar on desktop computers only.

Instagram Explore: Appears when someone taps to view a photo or video in Explore.

Messenger Inbox: Shows up right in the Chats tab of the Messenger app.

To get more impressions at a lower cost, turn on the Audience Network so your ads appear across other apps, too.

Your ads will show up across third-party apps.

Audience Network Native, Banner, and Interstitial: Ads appear seamlessly within Audience Network apps as banners, pop-ups, or in-feed units.

Audience Network Rewarded Video: People watch your video ad in exchange for in-app rewards (like gaming coins or items).

Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads are perfect for online stores with large product catalogs. Instead of creating hundreds of individual ads, dynamic ads automatically show relevant items and offers to the right people. They set up just like standard ads, letting you choose your placements and goals.

Use them to introduce your product range to a broad, cold audience, or retarget people who viewed specific items to nudge them toward a purchase.

Step 4 - Set Your Budget

Daily Budget: The average amount you're willing to spend each day on an ad set or campaign.

Lifetime Budget: The total cap you want to spend over the entire life of your campaign or ad set.

Step 5 - Pick a Format

Depending on your message and creative assets, choose from these options:

Image – Eye-catching photos paired with clear, clickable copy.

Video – Bring your brand story to life with motion and sound.

Stories – Immersive, full-screen mobile experiences.

Messenger – Start direct conversations with your audience.

Carousel – Showcase up to 10 images or videos, each with its own link.

Slideshow – Lightweight, video-like ads built from motion, sound, and text.

Collection – Let shoppers browse your catalog right from their feed.

Playable – Interactive previews for apps and mobile games before downloading.

Now you're ready to launch!

Step 6 - Track Your Results

To know what's working and what isn't, keep an eye on your key metrics (KPIs) to make sure you're hitting your targets.

Here are the most common KPIs to watch:

Reach – How many unique people saw your ads?

Click-Through Rate (CTR) – What percentage of people clicked your ad?

Cost Per Click (CPC) – How much does each click cost?

Frequency – How often does the average person see your ad in a week?

Video Engagement Rate – How long and how often do people watch your videos?

Traffic – How many visits or leads is your ad sending to your site?

ROAS – What is your return on ad spend?

Conversions – How many people took your desired action?

Cost Per Action (CPA) – How much does each conversion or lead cost?

A/B Testing: To learn what clicks with your audience, run two similar ads with one small difference—like a new image, headline, or color. Compare results to see what works best and optimize from there.

Wrapping Up

Great ad results take time. Give your campaigns at least six months to test formats, find your ideal audience, and balance your spend. Don't be afraid to experiment. There's no one-size-fits-all formula in advertising, just best practices to guide you. The digital space moves fast, and what works today might need a tweak tomorrow.

We hope you found this helpful! Don't forget to stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter.