• No matter what type of ad campaign you run, every dollar spent should have a purpose and support business growth.
• Facebook ads offer a number of benefits and can really help you maximise your ad spend. For example, detailed targeting options allow you to reach a very specific audience. 
• One simple and cheap trick is to run a competition where users have to leave a comment on your posts, giving you leads.
• Keep reading to learn how to avoid expensive Facebook ads and get the most bang for your buck.

With 2.23 billion monthly active users, if you’re not using Facebook to build awareness and generate leads your competitors most definitely are.

We get it, the thought of starting the process can be overwhelming with so many new terms to understand: CPM, CPC, CPL. What?!

We see it time and time again, the overwhelm gets on top of you and instead of putting some short-term actions and plans in place to tackle the task at hand, business owners put it in the ‘all too hard basket’ and continue to use overpriced outdated marketing methods (for which they have no way of measuring their effectiveness and impact).

Why and When Is Facebook Advertising Important for Small Businesses?

With Facebook’s 1 million data points on EVERY INDIVIDUAL, the question should be why are you NOT using Facebook for your marketing? As a small business, especially a new one, we get that every dollar spent has an intention and is important to your businesses success.

When you’re taking the plunge to reinvest those hard earned dollars into your marketing to begin the scary process of putting yourself out there to the market, you want to feel as though you’re getting good bang for your buck.

This is where Facebook can be your best friend and is the only option if you want to get the most out of your ad spend. The use of the detailed data within Facebook allows you to not just ‘throw paint at a wall and see what sticks’... (eg: paying $10,000 for a radio ad and HOPE that your audience is listening) it means you’re able to reach a very specific targeted audience.

Better yet, for every dollar spent you have specific data to work with in order to calculate your return on ad spend.

Facebook’s campaign budget feature allows you to rest assured that your marketing dollars are controlled, and for every dollar spent you have data to analyse to ongoingly optimise your campaigns for maximum effectiveness.

Facebook is a platform that is constantly changing and adjusting, and as a small business, you need to be able to move with the times. With Facebook's emphasis on meaningful conversations now, the core focus for a small business is to work out how to have these conversations with their prospective clients as effectively as possible.

There are several third-party applications that Facebook is now allowing users to integrate with their business pages, to facilitate these conversations. We all know the feeling of consumers wanting instant gratification (because you know, business owners work 24/7 right?!).

The future is going to be about finding ways to INSTANTLY connect with your customers and potential customers in a meaningful way.

Your business needs to be open to adapting to technological changes that are available in the marketplace (eg: messenger BOTs) rather than them scaring you off -  businesses who are open to change and engaging with their customers in a new and improved more efficient way, will always be the leaders of the pack.

How Much Do Facebook Ads Cost?

The beauty of the platform is that if you have a budget in mind you can always direct Facebook on how much of your hard earned dollars to spend, with ads being able to start at as little as $1 per day.

Now, depending on the objective and type of ad you’re running, there will be a recommended spend in order to gain traction and results from the ad.

What Are the Different Types of Facebook Ads?

There are 15 different options you have when it comes to the types of ads you can run, however, there are 5 main types that we recommend. The main types of ads you have the option to run are:

• Engagement ads - with the objective of building awareness about your brand and what you have to offer;
• Traffic ads - clicks through to your website
• Conversion Ads - asking people to take a specific action such as opt-in for a download or purchase an offering you’re advertising
• Lead Ads - a quick and easy ad to set up with Facebook providing a contact form for leads to automatically submit their information where you can send through to where you choose;
• Video Views - pushing your video content to the right audience to increase your brand awareness

Every industry is likely to have a bracket for which is to be considered a ‘good’ cost per lead or cost per click (whatever you’re measuring), so our advice is don’t get caught up in what we call “the curse of comparison”.

Don't think that just because someone else achieved a certain result (like expecting to get 1000 leads at $2 each for your first webinar campaign), that you will as well.

Concentrate on your content, your brand and providing free value to the market and your database, and only compare your results over time in order to continually improve.

To give you a benchmark to focus on, if you can generate a cost per click under $1.50 and have a cost per impression less than $35, then you are on the right track.

How to Start Out with a Minimal Investment and Still Get Results

One of the simplest and most effective ways to get started with Facebook advertising for a minimal investment is utilising a competition/giveaway strategy. We see a lot of businesses running competitions and asking people to like, share, tag 35 friends and comment when done to be entered, and to be honest we roll our eyes every time.

What people don’t realise is that they are creating a high barrier to entry to enter and people scrolling past will get completely turned off and just keep on scrolling. They are also missing out on the most important part of all advertising, which is generating leads and sales.

Off the back of this, we created a simple competition strategy. Now we don’t want to give away all of our secrets but there are very simple ways to create competitions and see the leads rolling through for an extremely small investment while building a list of subscribers to market to in the future.

You’ll only be asking people to comment one simple word to enter, which ties into the messenger bots we referenced earlier, allowing you to capture leads. These competitions work best with a little bit of ad spend behind them so you’re reaching your target audience, and the best part ever? They are completely automated!

We have worked with small businesses who were able to generate 5000+ comments on their competition post, 2,100 leads and all for under $200 ad spend, resulting in $40,000 in instant revenue for their business (and a whole lot more when you consider lifetime customer value!).

The simple points that we have shared above should allow you to start getting results when it comes to your Facebook advertising for your small business.