Struggling to get your Facebook ads to work? You’re not alone — many businesses spend money on ads without seeing real results. But here’s the good news: with the right strategy, targeting, and message, anyone can turn clicks into customers. Whether you’re just starting out or trying to improve your current campaigns, this guide will walk you through how to advertise effectively on Facebook in 2026 — step by step.
What Are Facebook Ads?
Facebook ads are paid messages businesses use to promote their products, services, or content on Facebook. These ads appear in places like the News Feed, Stories, Reels, and Marketplace—and they’re shown to people based on their interests, behaviors, and demographics.
Unlike regular posts, Facebook ads are designed to reach more people beyond your followers, using Facebook’s powerful targeting tools. You can set a goal for your ad—like getting more website clicks, app downloads, or video views—and Facebook’s algorithm will help deliver it to the right audience.
Key features of Facebook ads:
- You can choose your own budget
- You can select who sees your ad (age, location, interest)
- Ads can appear on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network
- You can track results in real-time
Learning how to run Facebook ads effectively means understanding how to set the right goal, pick the right audience, and create content that drives action. We’ll walk you through each step in this guide.
Types of Facebook Ads (2026)
Before you learn how to run Facebook ads, it’s important to understand the different types of ads you can create. Each ad type serves a different purpose—some help you get more clicks, while others are better for brand awareness or sales.
Here are the main types of Facebook ads you can use in 2026:
1. Image Ads
Image ads are the most basic type. These use a single photo with a short caption, a clickable link, and a call-to-action. They work well when promoting a product, announcing something quickly, or driving traffic to your website.
2. Video Ads
Video ads help you capture attention fast. You can use videos to explain how your product works, tell your brand story, or entertain your audience. These ads show up in feeds, Stories, and Reels, and are great for boosting engagement and watch time.
3. Carousel Ads
Carousel ads let you showcase multiple images or videos in one ad. Each frame can have its own headline, link, and description. They’re perfect for showing off different products, comparing options, or guiding viewers through a story in steps.
4. Collection Ads
Collection ads are made for mobile users. When someone taps the ad, it opens a fast-loading shopping experience right inside Facebook. This format is ideal for online stores, especially if you want to highlight a catalog of products in a seamless, mobile-first way.
5. Slideshow Ads
Slideshow ads give you video-like motion using still images. These are lightweight, load quickly, and perform well even in areas with slower internet. They’re great for brands on a budget or for reaching international audiences.
6. Lead Ads
Lead ads make it easy to collect customer details without sending users off-platform. People can submit their name, email, or phone number directly within Facebook. These ads are best for generating leads, getting newsletter signups, or helping service-based businesses grow their contact list.
7. Stories and Reels Ads
Stories and Reels ads are full-screen vertical ads that appear between organic Stories and Reels. They’re short, visual, and designed for mobile users. If you’re promoting limited-time offers or using trending content, this format is a strong choice.
8. Messenger Ads
Messenger ads show up inside the Messenger app. When someone clicks the ad, it opens a direct chat with your business. These are ideal for starting conversations, offering customer support, or sending personalized offers to potential customers.
Each of these ad types supports different business goals. Choosing the right one is the first step in running a successful Facebook ad campaign.
Before You Run Facebook Ads: What You Need to Know
Before launching your first Facebook ad, it’s important to set up a few key things. Preparing in advance will make your campaign run smoother and help you get better results from the start.
Create a Facebook Business Page
You can’t run ads from a personal profile. A Facebook Business Page is required to access Meta Ads Manager and promote your brand professionally.
Define a Clear Business Goal
Know exactly what you want to achieve. Are you aiming for website traffic, product sales, app installs, or lead generation? Your goal will help you select the right campaign objective later.
Identify Your Target Audience
Understand who your ideal customers are. Think about age, gender, location, interests, and behaviors. This helps with accurate ad targeting and increases your chance of success.
Prepare High-Quality Creative Assets
Make sure you have strong visuals like images or videos, plus captions, headlines, and calls-to-action. Clear and engaging content grabs attention and improves performance.
Add a Payment Method
To run ads, you must add a valid payment method in Meta Ads Manager. Facebook charges based on your budget and ad performance.
(Optional) Set Up the Meta Pixel
Installing the Meta Pixel on your website helps you track user actions, retarget visitors, and measure your ad’s effectiveness. It’s optional—but highly recommended for better results.
Setting up these basics before you run Facebook ads ensures a smooth start and helps you avoid common mistakes that waste time and money.
How to Advertise on Facebook
Getting Started with Facebook Ads Manager
To start advertising on Facebook, you’ll need to use a tool called Facebook Ads Manager. This is where all your ad campaigns are created, managed, and tracked. If you want to learn how to run Facebook ads, getting familiar with this platform is your first step.
What You Need Before You Start
Before you can launch a Facebook ad, make sure you have the following:
- A Facebook Business Page (you can’t run ads from a personal profile)
- A valid payment method connected to your account
- If you plan to manage more than one ad account or create new ones, you’ll also need a Meta Business Manager account
If you don’t already have a Business Page, Facebook will walk you through creating one. And if you’re managing ads for someone else, make sure they give you access to their Page as an admin or advertiser.
How to Open Facebook Ads Manager
There are two easy ways to open Facebook Ads Manager on your desktop:
Option 1: Go Directly to the Tool
Just visit facebook.com/adsmanager. This link takes you straight to your ad dashboard. If you have access to more than one ad account, you’ll see a dropdown menu where you can choose the right one.
Option 2: From Your Facebook Business Page
You can also get to Ads Manager by doing this:
- Go to your Business Page
- Click the Ad Center in the left-hand menu
- Select All Ads
- Scroll down and click Ads Manager at the bottom
You’ll then see your ad account overview, where you can manage everything related to your campaigns.
Using Facebook Ads Manager on Mobile
If you prefer to manage your ads from your phone, you can download the Meta Ads Manager app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android). It lets you monitor, edit, and pause campaigns from anywhere.
Now you know that where to find Facebook Ads Manager and what you need to get started, let’s walk through how to create your first campaign.
Step-by-Step Campaign Creation
To help you get started, here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of how to create a Facebook ad campaign using Ads Manager. Whether you’re launching your first ad or just need a refresher, this guide will walk you through every part of the setup process — from choosing your objective to publishing your ad.
Step 1: Click “Create Ad” to Start Your Campaign
To launch your first Facebook ad, head over to Facebook Ads Manager and click the green “Create” button. This is your starting point for building a new campaign.
Once you click it, you’ll be taken to a setup screen where Facebook will ask you to choose two important things:
- Your buying type
- Your campaign objective
These two choices determine how your ad will be delivered and what you want it to achieve. We’ll walk through both in the next steps.
Step 2: Select Your Buying Type – Auction or Reservation
Facebook gives you two options for how your ads are purchased and delivered: Auction and Reservation. Picking the right one depends on your campaign goals and how much control you want.
Here’s a quick overview:
Auction (Recommended for Most Advertisers)
This is the default and most flexible option. You set your own budget and bid, and your ad competes in real-time with others for the best placement. It’s great for advertisers who want to:
- Get conversions, traffic, app installs, or leads
- Stay in control of budget and targeting
- Run ads across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network
If you’re new to Facebook Ads or want to test what works, Auction is the best place to start.
Reservation (Now Called Reach and Frequency)
This option is designed for bigger, planned campaigns. You can lock in how many people you’ll reach and how often they’ll see your ad—before the campaign even starts. It offers more predictable results but comes with limitations:
- Fewer objectives available (mainly awareness and engagement)
- Fixed pricing and limited flexibility
- Placements restricted to Facebook and Instagram
Use Reach and Frequency if you’re focused on brand awareness and want stable delivery over time.
New to Facebook Ads? Stick with Auction for now—it gives you more flexibility and access to a wider range of goals.
Once you select your buying type, you’ll move on to choosing your campaign objective.
Step 3: Choose Your Campaign Objective
Now it’s time to tell Facebook what you want your ad to achieve. This is called your campaign objective, and it helps Facebook show your ad to the people most likely to take the action you want.
You’ll see six main objectives to choose from:
- Awareness − Want more people to recognize your brand? Choose this to boost visibility. Great for reach, brand awareness, or short videos.
- Traffic − Use this if you want to send people to a specific link—like your website, blog, or product page.
- Engagement − Perfect for encouraging likes, comments, shares, or video views. Also helps drive more messages and app interactions.
- Leads − Need more sign-ups or contact info? This option helps you collect email addresses or phone numbers using forms or chats.
- App Promotion − If you’re promoting a mobile app, this will help you get more installs or re-engage existing users.
- Sales − Want to drive purchases? Choose this if your goal is to convert users into paying customers—whether it’s through your website or app.
Tip: Match your campaign objective with your business goal. If you’re trying to sell a product, go with “Sales.” If you’re trying to build a subscriber list, “Leads” is your best option.
Once you select your objective, you’re ready to move on and name your campaign in the next step.
Step 4: Name Your Ad Campaign
After choosing your campaign objective, Facebook will ask you to give your campaign a name. This might seem like a small detail, but a good campaign name helps keep everything organized—especially if you’re running multiple ads.
Why Naming Matters:
Naming your Facebook ad campaigns correctly helps you stay organized. It’s especially useful when you’re managing several campaigns at once or working with a team. A clear name makes it easier to track performance, find specific campaigns in Ads Manager, and avoid confusion during reporting or edits.
Tips for Naming Your Campaign:
Start by adding the main goal of the campaign, such as sales, traffic, or awareness. Then include a date or timeframe to track when the campaign ran. Finally, mention the product, service, or audience you’re targeting so you know exactly who the ad is for.
Example:SummerSale_Traffic_July2025_UK
This makes it easy to spot your campaign later, especially when reviewing reports.
Once your campaign is named, you’ll move on to selecting the ad category (required in some regions).
Step 5: Choose Your Ad Category (If Required)
Next, Facebook will ask you if your ad falls under a special ad category. This step is important for advertisers running campaigns about sensitive or regulated topics.
What Are Special Ad Categories?
Facebook requires extra transparency for ads related to:
-
Credit (loans, credit cards, etc.)
-
Employment (job listings, hiring)
-
Housing (real estate, rentals)
-
Social issues, politics, or elections
If your ad is connected to any of these, select the matching category from the list. This ensures your campaign follows Facebook’s rules and reaches the right audience.
Why It Matters:
If your ad relates to credit, employment, housing, or social issues, it must be marked as a Special Ad Category. This is important because Facebook applies stricter targeting rules to these topics. If you don’t label it correctly, your ad may get rejected or paused. Choosing the right category also shows that your business follows advertising laws and helps build trust with both Facebook and your audience.
Tip: If your ad doesn’t fall into any of these topics, you can simply skip this step and move on.
Once you’ve selected your category (or confirmed it’s not needed), you’ll move on to the A/B testing setup in the next step.
Step 6: Choose Whether to Enable A/B Testing
At this stage, Facebook gives you the option to turn on A/B testing (also called split testing). This powerful feature lets you test different versions of your ad to see which one performs better.
What Is A/B Testing?
A/B testing is a way to compare two versions of an ad to see which one performs better. You can test different things like images, videos, headlines, call-to-actions, audience types, or even where the ad shows up—like Facebook Feed versus Instagram Stories. Facebook will run both versions and automatically show you the one that brings in better results.
Why Use It?
Using A/B testing is a smart way to improve your ad performance. It helps you spend your budget more wisely by showing what actually works. Instead of guessing, you get real data about what your audience likes, so you can make better decisions and get more value from every ad you run.
Tip: If this is your first campaign, you can skip A/B testing for now and come back to it once you have more experience and content to test.
Once you’ve decided whether or not to use A/B testing, the next step is to set up Advantage+ campaign budget (formerly Campaign Budget Optimization).
Step 7: Decide Whether to Use Advantage+ Campaign Budget
Now, Facebook gives you the option to enable Advantage+ campaign budget—a smart feature that helps you get the most out of your ad spend by letting Facebook automatically manage your budget across multiple ad sets.
What Is Advantage+ Campaign Budget?
Advantage+ Campaign Budget, also called Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO), is a feature that helps you manage your ad spend more efficiently. Instead of setting separate budgets for each ad set, you choose one total budget for the entire campaign. Facebook then automatically distributes that budget in real time to the ad sets that are performing best. This makes it easier to get the most results without needing to make constant manual changes. Keep in mind, this option is only available if you’re using the Auction buying type, which most advertisers do.
When Should You Use It?
Advantage+ Campaign Budget works best when you’re running multiple ad sets under the same campaign. It’s especially helpful if you want Facebook to shift more money toward the ads that are getting better results. If you prefer a hands-off approach to managing your ad spend, this tool can save you time and improve your performance automatically.
Pro Tip: If this is your first ad and you’re only using one ad set, you can turn Advantage+ off. You can always try it later as your campaigns grow.
Next, you’ll fine-tune your performance goal to tell Facebook exactly what kind of results you want from your ads.
Step 8: Set Your Performance Goal
After setting your budget strategy, Facebook will ask you to define a performance goal. This tells the platform what specific result you care about the most—so it can optimize your ad delivery accordingly.
What Is a Performance Goal?
A performance goal is a more specific version of your main campaign objective. For example, if your overall goal is Awareness, your performance goal could be something like maximizing reach, getting more video views, or showing your ad to people who are likely to remember it. Every campaign type—like Traffic, Leads, or Sales—offers its own set of performance goals you can choose from based on what you want to achieve.
Why This Step Matters:
Choosing the right performance goal helps Facebook understand what success looks like for your campaign. It allows Facebook’s AI to focus on the right actions, such as clicks, purchases, or video views, rather than just showing your ad to as many people as possible. This makes your campaign more effective and results-driven. If you’re just starting out with Facebook ads, it’s smart to begin with a broader goal like Reach or Website Clicks. Once you collect some data, you can move on to more focused goals to improve your results.
New to Facebook Ads? Start with a broad goal like “Reach” or “Website Clicks.” Once you gather data, you can shift to more specific goals over time.
Once your performance goal is selected, it’s time to set your budget and schedule in the next step.
Step 9: Set Your Budget and Schedule
Now it’s time to decide how much you want to spend on your Facebook ad and how long it should run. This step is key to keeping your campaign cost-effective and under control.
Two Ways to Set Your Budget
Facebook lets you choose between two budget types:
- Daily Budget
Set the maximum amount you want to spend each day. Facebook will use this amount to show your ad based on your targeting. Once your daily limit is reached, your ad pauses until the next day. - Lifetime Budget
Set one total amount for the entire campaign. Facebook will spread out your spending over your campaign dates, using more or less budget depending on performance.
Scheduling Your Ads
You can either start your ad right away or set a specific start and end date. This gives you control over when your ad runs, which is useful for timed promotions or campaigns.
Pro Tip: If you’re new, start with a small daily budget (like $5–$10) and test performance before increasing your spend.
Once you’ve locked in your budget and schedule, you’re ready to move on to a critical step: defining your target audience.
Step 10: Define Your Target Audience
This step is all about choosing who sees your ad. Facebook offers powerful targeting tools, and getting this part right can make a big difference in how well your ad performs.
Basic Audience Options
You can target people by location, age range, and language. For example, choose a specific country, age group like 18–45, or the languages your audience speaks. These are the key targeting basics.
What Is Meta Advantage+ Audience?
Advantage+ uses AI to expand your targeting beyond your selected audience if it thinks you’ll get better results. It starts with your inputs—like age, location, or interests—then learns from your past ads and adjusts to find people more likely to convert.
Custom Audiences (Optional)
You can upload your customer list, website visitors, or app users to create a Custom Audience. Facebook can also build Lookalike Audiences—people who behave like your best customers—to help you find new leads.
Tip for Beginners: Start with a broad audience and use Advantage+. Over time, as you learn what works, you can get more specific with targeting.
Once you’ve defined who to reach, you’ll need to decide where your ads will show up.
Step 11: Choose Your Ad Placements
Next, you’ll decide where your ads appear across Facebook’s platforms. These are called placements—the spots where users will actually see your ad content.
Two Ways to Set Placements
- Advantage+ Placements (Recommended for Beginners)
Facebook automatically selects the best placements for your ad based on where it’s most likely to perform well. This option gives Facebook’s AI the freedom to test different spots and optimize results. - Manual Placements
If you prefer full control, you can manually choose where your ad shows. This is great if you already know where your audience is most active.
Tip: If you’re not sure where to place your ads, stick with Advantage+ placements. Facebook will optimize for you based on real-time data.
After selecting placements, your next step is to choose the social media accounts your ad will run under.
Step 12: Connect Your Social Media Accounts
Now it’s time to decide which Facebook or Instagram account will be used to display your ads. This is important because the ad will appear as if it’s coming from that Page or profile.
What You’ll See:
Facebook will show you a list of Pages and Instagram accounts connected to your Business Manager. You’ll be asked to:
- Select a Facebook Page (this is required)
- Optionally connect your Instagram account (if you want to run ads on Instagram too)
If your Instagram account isn’t linked yet, you can connect it directly from this step. Doing so helps your ad look more authentic and builds trust with your audience.
Tip: Make sure you choose the correct business Page. If you’re managing ads for multiple brands, double-check this before moving forward.
Next, you’ll be able to choose your ad format — whether it’s a single image, video, carousel, or product collection.
Step 13: Choose Your Ad Format
Now that you’ve connected your Page, it’s time to choose how your ad will look. This is called your ad format, and it determines how your content will appear to users across Facebook and Instagram.
Tip: Choose the format that matches your goal. Want to drive sales? Use a collection. Want to tell a story? Try a video or carousel.
Once you pick your format, it’s time to add your visuals and text — the creative part of your ad.
Step 14: Add Your Media and Write Your Ad Text
Now it’s time to bring your ad to life. In this step, you’ll upload your images or videos, write your ad copy, and add a call-to-action (CTA) that tells people what to do next.
Add Visuals & Write Copy
Upload your image, video, or carousel in the Creative section—Facebook may pre-fill one, but you can replace it.
Then add your:
- Primary Text (main message)
- Headline (under the image/video)
- Optional Description
- Call-to-Action (e.g., “Shop Now”, “Learn More”)
Customize text for different placements like Instagram or Stories if needed.
Pro Tip: Keep your message clear and persuasive. Focus on benefits, not just features. And always include a strong CTA.
Once your creative and text are ready, you’ll choose where users go after clicking your ad.
Step 15: Choose Your Ad Destination
This is where you tell Facebook what should happen when someone clicks your ad. It’s called the ad destination, and it plays a key role in guiding users toward your goal.
Where Can You Send People?
You can choose where to send people after they click your ad. Most advertisers link to their website—this could be a homepage, product page, or landing page, and you can track results using tools like Google Analytics. If you’re targeting mobile users, you can use Instant Experience, which opens a fast, full-screen page inside Facebook to showcase products or offers. Another option is to send users directly to Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram Direct, which is helpful if you want to start a conversation or provide personalized support.
Step 16: Publish Your Facebook Ad
Once everything looks good — your targeting, budget, creative, and destination — it’s time to launch your ad. Simply click the “Publish” button in the bottom-right corner of Ads Manager.
What Are the Benefits of Advertising on Facebook?
If you’re learning how to run Facebook ads, it’s important to understand why Facebook is such a powerful platform for advertising. Whether you’re a small business owner or a growing brand, Facebook offers unique tools to help you reach the right people and grow faster.
Here are the top benefits of advertising on Facebook in 2026:
Accurately Target the Right Customers
Facebook has one of the most advanced targeting systems available. You can choose exactly who sees your ads based on their age, gender, location, interests, hobbies, online behavior, and even shopping intent. You can also create custom audiences from your website visitors or email lists. This allows you to show your ads to people who are more likely to take action, helping you get better results while saving money.
Get Powerful Results with Any Budget
You don’t need a large budget to start advertising on Facebook. You can begin with as little as one dollar per day and still reach real people. Facebook allows you to set a daily or lifetime budget and choose your specific ad goals, such as getting more likes, clicks, purchases, or leads. This flexibility makes it easy to test different strategies and scale your campaigns when you’re ready.
Reach Billions Across Facebook and Instagram
With over 3 billion active users, Facebook offers access to a massive global audience. Because Facebook owns Instagram, your ads can appear on both platforms at the same time. You can run ads on the Facebook News Feed, Instagram Stories, Reels, Marketplace, Messenger, and more—without creating separate campaigns. This means more exposure and more chances to connect with potential customers.
Track Performance in Real-Time
Facebook Ads Manager gives you complete control and detailed insights into how your ads are performing. You can monitor how many people saw your ad, how many clicked, engaged, or converted into leads or customers, and what return on ad spend (ROAS) you’re getting. This helps you make quick changes and improve your ads based on real data instead of guesswork.
In short, Facebook advertising gives you advanced targeting, flexible budgets, massive reach, and real-time tracking—all in one place. That’s what makes it such a powerful tool for growing your business in 2026.
How Much Does It Cost to Create a Facebook Ad?
Creating a Facebook ad doesn’t require a big budget—you decide how much to spend. In the campaign setup, you’ll set either a daily budget or a total amount, and Facebook will never charge you more than that. However, the actual results you get—such as clicks, sales, or engagement—can vary based on your industry, how you target your audience, the quality of your ad, and how much competition there is at the time. On average, Facebook ads cost about \$0.83 per click, which is much lower than the average \$4.22 per click on Google Ads, according to Wordstream.
Final Thoughts
Running Facebook ads in 2026 might feel overwhelming at first, but with the right approach, it can become one of the most effective tools for growing your business online. Once you understand how Facebook Ads Manager works, it’s easy to launch campaigns that get real results—even on a small budget.
What matters most is having a clear objective, creating engaging ad content, and knowing who your audience is. The platform’s smart tools, like Advantage+ and detailed targeting, make it easier to reach the right people at the right time. By learning how to test and optimize your ads, you’ll discover what works best for your business.
In the end, success with Facebook ads comes from staying consistent, being creative, and letting the data guide your decisions. With a bit of practice, you’ll find that Facebook advertising can be a smart, scalable way to grow.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the 3-2-2 method in Facebook advertising?
The 3-2-2 method is a simple way to test Facebook ads. You try 3 different creatives, 2 different audiences, and 2 different goals (like traffic or conversions). It helps you quickly see what works best so you can get better results.
What is Facebook’s 20% text rule?
Facebook’s 20% text rule states that text should not take up more than 20% of the image in an ad. While the rule is no longer strictly enforced, Facebook still recommends minimizing text to improve visual appeal and user experience. Ads with less text usually perform better.
What’s the most effective Facebook ad strategy in 2026?
The most effective strategy in 2026 is to combine Meta’s AI tools (like Advantage+ audience and placements) with clear campaign goals, engaging creatives, and proper testing. Use video and Reels for visibility, run A/B tests to find what works best, and constantly optimize based on performance data.
How do Facebook ads reach the right audience?
Facebook uses detailed targeting options based on user interests, behaviors, age, location, and even past interactions. You can also use tools like Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audiences to reach people similar to your existing customers. Facebook’s algorithm then delivers your ad to those most likely to take action.
Can I run Facebook ads without a business Page?
No, you need a Facebook Page to run ads. Ads are always connected to a Page, not a personal profile. If you don’t have a Page yet, you can create one for free before setting up your first campaign in Ads Manager.
