If you’re planning on creating ads on Facebook and Instagram then there are a few things you’ll need to do first. Here’s a checklist for the creative and cultural sector, to ensure that you’ve got everything you need to create a Meta ad campaign.
If you’re going to boost posts then you can do this from the Facebook and Instagram apps themselves without following most of these steps.
Ad campaigns are created in the Adverts Manager. To run ad campaigns, you’ll first need to get set up by following these steps.
Things you need to do before you can create your ad campaign:
1. Get access to the right accounts
Check you’re an admin for the Facebook page and Instagram account: This one is mostly for organisations – make sure you have admin access for the Facebook page and Instagram account. If you don’t then someone with access will need to add you as an admin.
Use a real account: It’s best to use a personal Facebook account rather than a dummy account you’ve created with a fake name, particularly when that fake name is the name of the business. Facebook will often disable profiles with names that are clearly not a real person.
Create or access a Business Portfolio: If there is already a Business Portfolio set up in Meta Business Suite, then you will need to get admin access to it. If there is no Business Portfolio then it’s a good idea to create one to house all of your Meta assets – including the Facebook page, Instagram account and Ad account.
Create or access an Ad Account: If there is already an existing Ad Account in Adverts Manager then get access to it. It’s best to have all your ads together in the one Ad Account so that you can see and edit everything in one place. If there isn’t an existing Ad Account then you can create one in Meta Business Suite. Ensure that this is an Ad Account for your organisation – rather than your personal one – so that anyone else in your team can be added to it.
What to do if you don’t have access: If you’re unsure who has access to your Business Portfolio or Facebook page, then you will need to ask around at your organisation to try to identify someone who does. If you can’t find anyone then get in touch with the Digital Culture Network and we will help you to try to get access.
2. Sort your payment and billing
Add a payment type: Go to Adverts Manager and add a credit or debit card so you’re ready to start spending.
Set monthly spending limits: If needed to avoid overspending or as a security measure. Follow these steps to change your ad account spending limit.
3. Plan your campaign
Choose an objective: What are you trying to do: are you trying to raise awareness, get people to your website, sell something? How will you know that the ads have been successful? Consider this your campaign objective.
Decide how much budget you have: When you set up the ads, you’ll be able to choose between a lifetime budget for the whole campaign or a daily budget.
Plan how long you will run the ads for: For an ad campaign you usually will need at least a week to get the best results. Consider when the end date will be – if you’re selling tickets for a show, then people are less likely to buy a ticket on the day of the performance. How long you can afford to run them will depend on your budget.
Think about who you want to reach: Who are your ideal audience? What’s their age range? Where are they located? If you’re a venue, then how far are people likely to travel to you?
For traffic or sales ads consider the destination (or landing page): Will users land on your website after clicking, or a partner’s website? What’s on the landing page and does it have everything they will need? Your landing page might be one of your regular website pages, or you can build a simple, hidden landing page just for your ad traffic.
4. Prepare your content
Get together your creative content: The images or videos you’re using in the ad are key to it performing well. You need to consider the sizing for different placements on Facebook and Instagram. The main two sizes you’ll need are feed posts and Reels/Stories. You can see these and other ad placement specs in this article: Social Media Ad Dimensions Resource | Capacity Interactive If you need to resize visuals to fit a placement then you can use a design tool like Canva.
Write some ad copy (text for the ad): Unlike organic posts, manual ads tend to have quite short character limits so that users can see all the important information at a glance. Your ad will often be seen by people who don’t know about you or your organisation. If your copy is difficult to understand or read, then your advert won’t be as impactful.
Follow Meta’s Advertising Rules: To avoid having your ads rejected make sure you’re aware of what is and isn’t allowed to be used in ads. For example, if a piece of art contains nudity, then including an image of it is likely to get the ad rejected, or even a block on advertising on your account. Find out more about Meta Advertising Standards.
Test different images, video, and ad copy: Ads are great for testing what works with your audience. Use different ad copy, headlines and creative in the same ad to determine afterwards which worked best.
Optional (but very useful):
5. Set up a Meta Pixel
Install a Meta Pixel and/or Conversions API: A Pixel is a short piece of code that you install on your website to track what people do after clicking on your ads. It forms a link between social media and your website. Conversions API works slightly differently to a Pixel but has the same purpose, so either option is good (or both). You can find out more in our article What’s a social media ‘pixel’ and what do they do?
Adapt your privacy policy: The privacy policy on your website must explain that you use a Pixel before you go ahead and install one. Meta says it’s your responsibility to ensure you’re following privacy and data guidelines: Best practices for privacy and data use for Meta Business Tools. For more information on privacy policies check the current regulation and guidance from the ICO (Information Commissioners Office).
Set up your Pixel/Conversions API ahead of advertising: It’s a good idea to get your Pixel set up ASAP so it can start pulling in data on visitors coming to your website. The more data it gets, the better it works.
6. Set up Meta audiences
Explore creating different audiences: There are three different kinds of audiences you can use for Meta Ads.
Core audiences – You target core audiences based on their demographics, such as their location, age, gender and interests. This is regular targeting, like we mentioned in step 3.
Custom audiences – Once you have a Pixel in place you can build custom audiences based on their behaviours. For example, you could make an audience of website visitors, video viewers, or social media followers.
Lookalike audiences – You can ask Meta to identify users like your custom audiences, to reach new lookalike audiences who are also likely to enjoy your ads
Consider retargeting: One of the most useful aspects of having a Pixel is being able to retarget audiences. For example, you might want to advertise to an audience who bought tickets to one of your previous workshops. You can do this with custom audiences.
7. Create tracked links
Set up a UTM link: To track how well your ads performed in Google Analytics, you can take the landing page link and add UTM parameters to it. This means you’ll be able to see where your traffic came from and how the audience engaged with your website. Find out more about How to use UTM Parameters to track marketing activity.
Further support
The Digital Culture Network is here to support you and your organisation. Our Tech Champions can provide free one-to-one support to all creative and cultural organisations who are in receipt of, or eligible for, Arts Council England funding. If you need help or would like to chat with us about any of the advice we have covered above, please get in touch. Sign up for our newsletter below and follow us on LinkedIn and X (Twitter) @ace_dcn for the latest updates.
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