How To Advertise on Facebook in 2023 [Complete Guide]

The need to advertise on Facebook is still a necessity for most marketers, despite the presence of new competitors - TikTok, we're looking at you.

Facebook's active users continue to grow, which means you can reach more than 30% of the world's population with your advertisement.

Facebook is all about getting your message in front of the right segment of people. The users with the highest likelihood of purchasing your products.

Discover how to plan your first Facebook campaign and how much Facebook ads cost. I suggest a to hire a best facebook ads expert.

What are Facebook ads?

Advertisements on Facebook are paid posts that businesses use to promote their products or services.

The most common targeting criteria for Facebook ads are:

• Demographics
• Location
• Interests
• Other profile information

Advertising budgets are set by businesses and bids are placed based on how many impressions or clicks their ads receive.

Similarly to Instagram, Facebook ads are displayed in users' feeds, Stories, Messenger, Marketplace, and more. They look like normal posts, but always include a "sponsored" label to indicate they're an advertisement. As well as CTA buttons, links, and product catalogs, Facebook ads include more features than regular posts.

Advertisements should be a part of any Facebook marketing strategy if you want to reach more users.

How much does it cost to advertise on Facebook?

As far as Facebook ad budgets go, there is no hard and fast rule. The cost of Facebook ads depends on several variables, including:

Audience targeting. Ads targeted at a narrower audience typically cost more than those targeted at a broader audience.


Ad placement. There is a difference in cost between ads shown on Facebook and Instagram.


Campaign duration. The number of days and hours a campaign lasts impacts the final cost.


Competitiveness of your industry. Some industries are more competitive than others for ad space. Ad costs usually increase the higher the product price is or how valuable the lead you’re trying to capture is.


Time of year. Ad costs can fluctuate during different seasons, holidays, or other industry-specific events.


Time of day. On average, CPC is lowest between midnight and 6 am in any timezone.


Location. Average ad costs per country vary widely.

Setting campaign costs according to objectives

In order to control Facebook ad costs, you must set the right campaign objective. By getting this right, you increase the chances of your campaign being successful.

Depending on the campaign objective, the cost-per-click benchmark varies. The five core campaign objectives are:

• Conversions
• Impressions
• Reach
• Link clicks
• Lead generation

There is a difference in average cost-per-click between Facebook ad campaign objectives, such as an impressions campaign objective will cost $1.85 per click, whereas a conversion campaign objective will cost $0.87 per click.

Reaching your campaign's goals while reducing costs starts with selecting the right objective.

Types of Facebook ads

Marketers can choose between different Facebook ad types and formats to suit their campaign goals, including:

• Image
• Video
• Carousel
• Instant Experience
• Collection
• Lead
• Slideshow
• Stories
• Messenger

The wide range of Facebook ad formats means you can choose the best ad type that matches your business goal. Each ad has a different set of CTAs to guide users to the next steps.

Here are each of Facebook’s ad formats explained in more detail:

Image ads

Facebook's image ads allow businesses to display single images to promote their products, services, or brands. They can be used across different ad types, placements, and aspect ratios.

An image ad is best suited to campaigns with strong visual content, like illustrations, design, or photography.

Boost an existing post with an image from your Facebook Page to create one in just a few clicks.

You can use image ads to promote a new product launch, boost brand awareness, or promote a new brand by using high-quality imagery. They can be used for any stage of the sales funnel and are suitable for boosting brand awareness or increasing sales.

If you want to showcase multiple products or show how your product works, a single image ad isn't the best option.

Pro tip: Pay attention to image ad specs and ratios so your product doesn’t get cut off or stretched.

Video ads

Just like image ads, video ads on Facebook let businesses use a single video to showcase their products, services, or brand.

They’re especially helpful for product demos, tutorials, and showcasing moving elements.

Video can be up to 240 minutes long, but that doesn’t mean you should use that time! Shorter videos are usually more engaging. Facebook recommends sticking to videos under 15 seconds.

Video ads can add some movement to any user’s feed, like this short and sweet video ad from Taco Bell:

Video ads can be time-consuming and costly. Carousels or image ads might be a better fit for simple messages or products not requiring demos.

Carousel ads

Users can click through up to ten images or videos in a carousel ad. Each image or video has its own headline, description, and link.

Carousels are a great way to display a series of different products. You can even create a landing page that's dedicated to each image in the carousel.

You can also use this Facebook ad format as a guide or to display a series of related products by separating each part across different sections.

Instant Experience ads

Facebook Instant Experience ads, previously known as Canvas Ads, let you promote content to users on their mobile devices.

A user can tap through a carousel of images, move the screen in different directions, and zoom in or out using Instant Experience ads.

Premade templates save you time and keep your key theme consistent throughout your Instant Experience ads. Facebook suggests using five to seven images and videos per Instant Experience ad to boost engagement.

Collection ads

An immersive carousel takes the user experience to a whole new level with Collection ads. Collection ads offer mobile window-shopping experiences. They're more customizable than Carousels, and they're full screen. Collection ads can be used to purchase products directly.

In addition, businesses can allow Facebook algorithms to select which products are displayed for each user from their catalog.

Smaller businesses with a limited product line may benefit more from other ad types such as carousels. Collection ads are great for large businesses that offer a variety of products and services.

Lead ads

Mobile devices are the only devices that support lead ads, which are designed to make it easier for people to provide you with their contact information.

In some cases, automakers have successfully used these tools to promote test drives. They're great for collecting newsletter sign-ups, signing someone up for a trial of your product, or giving them more information about your company.

Slideshow ads

Unlike video ads, slideshow ads use up to five times less data than video ads, making them a great alternative to video ads. Slideshow ads work well in markets with slow internet connections because they use 3-10 images or a single video.

For people without video-making experience, slide show ads are also a great way to get started.

Stories ads

With Stories ads, you can maximize screen real estate without requiring viewers to turn their phones. Stories ads are only available for mobile phones, which are meant to be held vertically.

Sixty-two percent of Americans plan to use Stories more in the future than they do now.

Carousels, images, and videos can be used to tell a story.

This is an example of how a video can be turned into a Story ad:

Unlike regular image or video ads, stories allow businesses to incorporate emojis, stickers, filters, video effects, and even augmented reality into their ads.

Unlike other Facebook ads, Facebook Stories are not placed in users' feeds, so they may not be seen as much.

You may need to create original content just for Facebook Stories as well, since they require a different format than video or image ads.

Messenger ads

Due to the fact that people use Facebook's Messenger tab to chat with friends and family, Messenger ads are more personal than scrolling through image or video ads.

People see your Messenger ads among their conversations and can tap to start a conversation with your brand. Messenger ads are a great way of getting people to interact with your brand. For smaller businesses promoting local products and services, Messenger ads can be an effective way of getting the word out.

How to post ads on Facebook

The first step is to create your Facebook ad campaign by using the Ads Manager or Business Manager. If you do not yet have a business page, you will need to create one first.

You can learn how to use Facebook Ads Manager in our post on Facebook Ads Manager. You can learn how to use Facebook Business Manager in our post on Facebook Business Manager.

The Facebook Ads Manager is the place to start running ads on Facebook and Messenger; it's a tool suite for creating ads, scheduling them, and tracking their performance.

Step 1: Choose your objective

Log into Facebook Ads Manager and select the Campaigns tab, then click Create to get started with a new Facebook ad campaign.

Depending on what you want from your ad, Facebook offers 11 marketing objectives.

The following are examples of how they align with business objectives:

Brand awareness: Reach a new audience with your brand.


Reach: Ensure your ad is seen by as many people as possible.


Traffic: Promote a specific web page, app, or Facebook Messenger conversation.


Engagement: Promote your event to a wide audience to increase attendance and post engagements, or promote your special offer to a larger audience.


App installs: Encourage people to download your app.


Video views: Increase the number of people who watch your videos.


Lead generation: Fill your sales funnel with new prospects.


Messages: Promote Facebook Messenger as a method of contacting your business.


Conversions: Convert visitors to customers on your website (such as subscribing to your list or buying your product).


Catalog sales: Display ads for products most likely to be purchased in your Facebook ads by connecting them to your product catalog.


Store traffic: Promote brick-and-mortar stores to nearby customers.

The objective of your ad should be determined by the goals you have for it. For conversion-oriented objectives (like sales), you'll pay per action. For exposure-oriented objectives (like traffic and views), you'll pay per impression.

In this example, we will select the Engagement objective. From there, we should specify the type of engagement we want.

We’ll choose Page likes for now.

Depending on which objective you choose, you will see different options in the next steps.

Next, click here.

Step 2. Name your campaign

Select a category for your Facebook ad campaign, such as credit or politics, and give it a name.

To set up an A/B split test, click Get Started in the A/B Test section. You can choose different versions to run against this ad after it's published.

If you want to enable Advantage Campaign Budget+, scroll down a little more.

You can turn this option on if you're using multiple ad sets, but for now you don't need to.

Click Next.

Step 3. Set your budget and schedule

You will name your ad set and select which Page to promote at the top of this screen.

The next step is to determine how much money you want to spend on your Facebook ad campaign. You can choose a daily budget or a lifetime budget. Next, set your start and end dates.

You can only set a schedule if you create a lifetime budget for your Facebook ad. Scheduled ads allow you to serve your ad only when your target audience is most likely to be on Facebook.

Step 4. Target your audience

Create a target audience for your ads by scrolling down.

Select your target location, age, gender, and language. You can even select whether to include or exclude larger cities under location.

People who have recently shown interest in your product or service can also be prioritized.

You can see your potential reach by looking at the audience size indicator on the right of the screen as you make your selections.

Also, Facebook will estimate the number of daily views and Page likes. These estimates will be more accurate if you have run campaigns before. Always keep in mind that these are estimates, not guarantees.

It's now time to target in more detail.

With Facebook Ads Manager, you have plenty of ways to target your audience and maximize ROI.

People can be excluded or included based on their demographics, interests, and behaviors by using the Detailed Targeting field. You can get very specific here. For instance, you can choose to target people who are interested in both traveling and hiking, but exclude backpackers.

Step 5. Choose your Facebook ad placements

The simplest way to get started with Facebook advertising is to use Advantage+ Placements if you are a newbie.

By selecting this option, Facebook will automatically place your ads across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network when they are most likely to be successful.

The more placements you select, the more chances you'll have to reach your target audience. If you choose Manual Placements once you've gained experience, you'll have complete control over where your Facebook ads appear.

You may choose from the following options based on your chosen campaign objective:

Device type: Desktop, Mobile, or both.


Platform: Instagram, Facebook, Audience Network, and/or Messenger


Placements: Stories, Feeds, Reels, in-stream (for videos), search, messages, overlay and post-loop ads on Reels, search, in-article, and apps and sites (external to Facebook).


Specific mobile devices and operating systems: Android, iOS, feature phones, or all devices.


Only when connected to WiFi: The ad only shows when the user’s device is connected to WiFi.

Step 6. Set brand safety and cost controls

By scrolling down to the Brand Safety section, you can exclude inappropriate content from your ads.

You can add specific block lists to exclude specific websites, videos, and publishers if you want to avoid sensitive content.

Take a last look at the potential Reach and Page Likes estimates after you're satisfied with all your options.

If you’re happy with what you see, click Next.

Step 7. Create your ad

In this step, you will choose an ad format, then enter the text and media components for your ad. The ad formats available will depend on the campaign objective you chose previously.

If you’re working with an image, choose your media from your Facebook gallery, and select the right crop to fill your placement.

Once you're happy with your choices, use the preview tool at the right of the page to make sure your ad looks good for all possible placements.

3 tips for posting ads on Facebook

1. Pay attention to Facebook ad specs

Your selected images and videos must fit the correct dimensions on Facebook to prevent your Facebook ads from stretching, cropping, or distorting in any way.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Facebook video ads
• Facebook feed videos
• Minimum width: 120 px
• Minimum height: 120 px
• Resolution: at least 1080 x 1080 px
• Video ratio: 4:5
• Video file size: 4GB max
• Minimum video length: 1 second
• Maximum video length: 241 minutes
• Facebook also has a full list of all aspect ratios and features for videos.
• Facebook instant article videos
• Resolution: at least 1080 x 1080 px
• Video ratio: 9:16 to 16:9
• Video file size: 4GB max
• Minimum video length: 1 second
• Maximum video length: 240 minutes
• Facebook Stories ads
• Recommended: Highest resolution available (at least 1080 x 1080 px)
• Video ratio: 9:16 (1.91 to 9:16 supported)
• Video file size: 4GB max
• Maximum video length: 2 minutes
• Facebook image ads size
• Facebook feed images
• Resolution: at least 1080 x 1080 pixels
• Minimum width: 600 pixels
• Minimum height: 600 pixels
• Aspect ratio: 1:91 to 1:1
• Facebook Instant Article images
• Maximum file size: 30 MB
• Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 to 1:1
• Resolution: at least 1080 x 1080 px
• Facebook Marketplace images
• Maximum file size: 30 MB
• Aspect ratio: 1:1
• Resolution: at least 1080 x 1080 px

2. Test everything

Using Facebook ads correctly requires you to avoid making assumptions.

Whenever you try something new, make sure you compare it to your previous ads to determine whether you're making improvements.

Tests are the only way you can keep your Facebook ad knowledge current. Facebook's best practices for ads are constantly changing. Only you know what works for your specific audience.

3. Simplify your workflow

It's not easy to simplify your workflow as a social media marketer with a seemingly never-ending list of to-do's.

In Hootsuite Boost, you can boost social media posts from the dashboard, manage audience targeting, spend, and duration. By setting up Automation Triggers, you can let Hootsuite decide which posts to boost when.

You can maximize your ad spend by streamlining your social marketing workflows with Hootsuite Social Advertising. Create ad campaigns, track performance, and make adjustments to improve results. Optimize your most popular organic posts to reach more people. To determine which campaigns met your objectives, generate rich analytics reports.