How to Run Meta Ads for Your Business: A Beginner's Guide

Meta ads can help businesses reach the right audience, increase brand awareness, and drive sales. The process may seem overwhelming if you have never created one before. However, once you understand the steps, it becomes much more manageable. This guide will teach you everything you need to know to run effective Meta ads.

Understanding Meta Ads and Why They Matter

Meta advertising allows businesses to show targeted ads to specific groups of people based on their interests, demographics, and behaviors. Whether promoting a product or service or simply trying to grow your online presence, Meta ads provide a flexible and affordable way to reach potential customers.

Unlike traditional advertising, Meta’s ad system enables you to set a budget that works for you, define your audience, and track results in real-time. You can create an ad campaign that aligns with your business goals by following the steps below.

Setting Up Your Meta Business Manager and Ad Account

To start running ads, you need a Meta Business Manager account. This tool allows you to manage your pages, ad accounts, and payment settings in one place.

Creating a Meta Business Suite (formerly Facebook Business Manager) Account:

• Visit business.facebook.com and click “Create Account.” This is the correct starting point.
• Enter your business name, email, and details. You'll be asked for your business name, your personal name, and your business email address.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. Meta will guide you through the process, which may include confirming your email address.

Setting Up an Ad Account:

• Inside Business Suite/Business Manager, navigate to Business Settings > Ad Accounts.
• Click “Add” and select “Create a New Ad Account.” You have the options to add an existing ad account, request access to one, or create a new one.
• Choose your currency and time zone carefully, as these cannot be changed later. This is crucial. Double-check these settings before confirming.
• Add a payment method to fund your campaigns. You'll need to provide payment information to run ads. Meta supports various payment methods, depending on your location.

Key Considerations:

• Meta Business Suite vs. Business Manager: Be aware that Meta is emphasizing the Business Suite, which integrates various business tools. While the basic process is similar, you might encounter minor variations in the interface and the terminology.
• Verification: Meta may require you to verify your business, especially if you plan to run ads on sensitive topics or at a large scale.
• User Roles and Permissions: Business Suite/Business Manager allows you to assign different roles and permissions to users, which is essential for team collaboration.
• Security: Always prioritize security by enabling two-factor authentication and following Meta's security guidelines.

Choosing the Right Campaign Objective

Meta asks you to select a campaign objective based on your goal. The objective you choose will influence how Meta delivers your ad.

1. Traffic

• Purpose: Direct people to a destination such as your website, app, or landing page.
• Best For: Driving visits to specific online properties to increase awareness or encourage further exploration.
• Ideal Users: Beginners who want to build initial visibility or measure click-through performance.
• Key Benefit: Optimized for link clicks and landing page views.

2. Engagement

• Purpose: Increase interactions such as post likes, comments, shares, or event responses.
• Best For: Growing social proof and improving visibility through audience engagement.
• Ideal Users: New advertisers aiming to boost brand presence and encourage audience interaction.
• Key Benefit: Builds credibility and strengthens community presence on Meta platforms.

3. Leads

• Purpose: Collect valuable customer information such as email addresses or form submissions.
• Best For: Building email lists, generating inquiries, or nurturing potential customers.
• Ideal Users: Intermediate advertisers with a lead nurturing strategy or CRM integration.
• Key Benefit: Uses pre-filled forms to increase conversions and reduce friction.

4. Sales (Conversions)

• Purpose: Drive direct sales or valuable actions on your website or app.
• Best For: Promoting products or services with a focus on return on ad spend (ROAS).
• Ideal Users: Experienced advertisers with conversion tracking set up (e.g., Meta Pixel).
• Key Benefit: Optimized for users most likely to complete a purchase or conversion.

Defining Your Target Audience

One of the biggest advantages of Meta ads is the ability to reach specific groups of people. Instead of showing your ad to everyone, you can narrow it down to users who are more likely to be interested.

Meta allows you to define your audience using:

• Demographics – Age, gender, location, and language preferences.
• Interests and Behaviors – Hobbies, activities, pages they follow, and purchase behavior.
• Custom Audiences – Retargeting website visitors or people who have engaged with your brand before.
• Lookalike Audiences – Finding new people who share similarities with your existing customers.

Choosing the right audience ensures that your ad budget is spent efficiently.

Selecting Ad Placements

Meta provides multiple placements where your ads can appear, including:

• Meta Feed – The main news feed where users scroll through posts.
• Instagram Feed and Stories – Great for businesses with strong visual content.
• Meta Marketplace – Useful for businesses selling products.
• Reels and Video Feeds – Good for short, engaging video ads.

Beginners can select Automatic Placements, which allows Meta to place ads where they are most likely to perform well.

Setting Your Budget and Schedule

When creating an ad, you need to decide how much to spend. There are two main budgeting options:

• Daily Budget – Meta spends a set amount per day.
• Lifetime Budget – You set a total amount for the entire campaign duration.

You can also choose to run your ad continuously or schedule specific start and end dates.

Creating Your Ad

After setting your budget, it is time to design the ad itself. Meta provides different formats depending on your goal.

Ad Formats:

• Single Image Ad – A simple image with a headline and description.
• Video Ad – A short video that grabs attention.
• Carousel Ad – Multiple images or videos in one ad.
• Slideshow Ad – A looping video made from images.

A well-crafted ad includes:

• An attention-grabbing headline
• A clear and simple description
• A call-to-action (CTA) such as "Learn More," "Shop Now," or "Sign Up"

Your ad copy should be direct and relevant to your target audience.

Reviewing and Launching Your Ad

Before you publish your Meta ad, it is important to review all details to ensure accuracy. Targeting, budget, or ad content mistakes can result in poor performance or unnecessary ad spend.

Final Checklist Before Publishing

Go through each part of your ad campaign to confirm that everything is set up correctly:

• Ad Objective – Make sure you selected the correct campaign objective that matches your goal, such as traffic, engagement, or conversions.
• Target Audience – Double-check that your custom audience, lookalike audience, or interest-based targeting aligns with your ideal customers.
• Ad Placement – Review whether you are using automatic placements or manual ad placement to ensure your ad appears where it is most effective.
• Budget and Schedule – Verify your daily budget or lifetime budget and set the correct start and end dates.
• Ad Creative – Check that your ad copy, image, or video ad is clear, professional, and relevant to your audience.
• Call-to-Action (CTA) – Ensure your CTA button matches your campaign goal. For example, use "Shop Now" for eCommerce or "Learn More" to drive website visits.

How Meta Reviews Your Ad

After clicking "Publish," Meta will review your ad before it becomes active. This process typically takes a few hours but may take up to 24 hours.

During the review, Meta checks if your ad follows Meta’s ad policies. If the ad violates any guidelines, it will be rejected. Common reasons for ad rejection include:

• Misleading or exaggerated claims
• Inappropriate content or restricted topics
• Too much text in images (Meta prefers minimal text on visuals)

If your ad is rejected, you will receive a notification explaining why. You can edit the ad and resubmit it for review.

Launching Your Ad and Monitoring Initial Performance

Once your ad is approved, it will start running based on the schedule you set. During the first few hours, Meta’s ad algorithm will optimize your ad by showing it to the most relevant people in your selected audience.

To make sure everything is working correctly, check:

• Ad Spend – Ensure Meta is using your budget as planned.
• Ad Delivery Status – Confirm that your ad is active and reaching your audience.
• First Impressions and Clicks – Check early data in Meta Ads Manager to see how people are interacting with your ad.

If you notice low engagement or a high cost per click (CPC), you can make small adjustments to improve performance.

Common Fixes Before Scaling Your Ad

If your ad is not performing well after the first 24–48 hours, consider:

• Changing Your Audience – Narrow or expand your targeting to find better-performing users.
• Adjusting Your Ad Copy – Make the text clearer and more direct.
• Using a Different Image or Video – Depending on the audience, some formats work better than others.
• Modifying Your Budget – Increasing the daily budget may help reach more people if the ad performs well.

By carefully reviewing and optimizing your ad, you can increase its chances of success and ensure that your Meta ad campaign delivers the best possible results.

Tracking and Optimizing Performance

Once your ad is running, monitor its performance in Meta Ads Manager. The key metrics to check include:

• Clicks – Number of people who clicked on your ad.
• Impressions – How many times your ad was seen.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR) – Percentage of people who clicked after seeing the ad.
• Conversions – Number of completed actions (purchases, sign-ups, etc.).

If an ad is not performing well, you can adjust:

• Target Audience – Refine demographics or interests.
• Ad Creatives – Change the image, video, or text.
• Budget – Increase or decrease spending based on results.

Scaling Up a Successful Campaign

If your Meta ad campaign performs well, you can scale up to reach more people and increase results. Scaling means expanding your ad reach while maintaining good performance and cost-efficiency.

Increasing Your Budget

A simple way to scale is by raising your daily or lifetime budgets. Increase your budget gradually to avoid sudden changes affecting the Meta algorithm. Monitor your cost per click (CPC) and conversion rate to ensure the increased spending remains profitable.

Expanding Your Audience

If your custom audience performs well, try creating a lookalike audience to reach new users with similar characteristics. Adjust your audience targeting by testing different age groups, locations, or interests while keeping the core audience in mind.

A/B Testing for Better Performance

Test different ad creatives, such as images, videos, and text, to find the best combination. Experiment with different call-to-action (CTA) buttons, headlines, and ad copy to improve click-through rates (CTR).

Optimizing Placements

If your ad performs best in certain placements, such as Instagram Stories or Meta Feed, allocate more budget to those placements while reducing less effective ones.

Scaling should be done step by step while monitoring performance to avoid ad fatigue or increased costs.