Running ads on social media can get very confusing very fast.
One minute you’re boosting a Facebook post because the button is right there. The next minute you’re staring at an ads dashboard filled with graphs, dropdowns, and words you’ve never had to care about before. It’s easy to feel like you missed a class somewhere!
You didn’t start a business to learn campaign structures and audience settings. You started it to get customers. Social ads should help with that – not turn into another thing you half-trust and fully stress about.
Below is the starting point I use with clients at Squeak. It’s how I explain social advertising to people who run businesses, manage social media accounts themselves, and don’t want to become full-time marketers.
So if you’re looking to get more eyes on your business via social media advertising, this is how to go about it.
First, where do social media advertising campaigns live?
For most small businesses, social ads start with Meta. That’s the system behind Facebook and Instagram, and it’s still where the majority of small brands put their ad spend. You don’t create ads directly on Facebook or Instagram; everything runs through a separate tool called Ads Manager.
Ads Manager is where you set things up properly. You decide who should see your ads, how much you want to spend, and what you want people to do when they click. It’s also where your website gets connected, so Meta can see whether those clicks turn into enquiries, sign-ups, or sales.
As part of that connection, you’ll hear about something called a pixel. It’s a small bit of code added to your site that tracks actions like page visits or form submissions. It doesn’t know who anyone is. It just helps the system understand which ads are leading to real outcomes.
It’s not the most exciting part of social advertising, but laying this foundation takes a lot of guesswork out of your ad strategy and sets it up to improve over time.
Pick one objective before you spend anything
Every ad needs one clear job.
When businesses try to do everything at once, results can be really hard to understand. Instead, choose one goal that reflects where your business is right now.
Most ad campaigns fall into one of these buckets:
- Awareness, if you want more people to recognize your brand
- Leads, if your goal is to generate leads like calls or form fills
- Sales, if you sell directly online
If people don’t know your business yet, awareness or lead-focused social media ads are usually a better place to begin.
Start with simple target audiences
Audience targeting is simply deciding which social media users see your ad.
When you’re just starting out, two audiences are enough.
1. A warm audience
This includes people who’ve already interacted with your business in some way. Maybe they visited your site, followed your page, or joined your email list. These people tend to respond better because they’ve already seen you before. You know those ads that seem to stalk you across the internet? That’s thanks to audience targeting like this.
2. An interest-based audience
This is where you choose interests related to what you offer or the problems you solve. This helps reach new people without spreading your budget too thin.
You don’t need complex layering or dozens of variations. Simple audience targeting makes it easier to understand what’s driving website traffic and enquiries.
Build ad creative around one clear message
Ad creative is the mix of words, images, or video people see in their feed.
A simple structure works well:
- Call out a problem your audience recognizes
- Show how your offer helps
- Add trust, such as a short review
- Tell them what to do next
This works for images and video ads. Short video content often performs well because it fits naturally into feeds. You don’t need professional production equipment for this. A clear phone video explaining what you do often beats something overproduced.
Customer testimonials and user generated content can also help ads feel grounded and believable.
Make the ad and the landing page match
After someone clicks your ad, they land on a page. That page should feel like a continuation of the ad, not a new conversation.
Use the same headline or offer on the page that you used in the ad. Keep the page short and make sure it loads fast (most people clicking social media ads are on their phones!). And focus on one action only, whether that’s booking a call, filling out a form, or making a purchase.
Keeping things cohesive between your ad and its landing page makes your social media campaigns much easier to measure and improve.
Start with a small budget, and grow from there
One of the most common concerns is social media advertising cost, and that’s fair!
You don’t need a huge budget to begin. A small daily spend is enough to get things moving and see how people respond. Early on, you’re not trying to “win” at ads. You’re just learning what gets attention and what doesn’t.
It also helps to give ads a bit of breathing room. Let them run for five to seven days before making changes. That gives the platform time to gather data and figure out who’s most likely to engage.
This applies whether you’re running Instagram ads, LinkedIn ads, or testing social alongside Google ads.
Pay attention to the results on social media channels
You really don’t need to track everything. That’ll just overwhelm you.
Here are main social media advertising stats you’ll want to keep an eye on:
- CTR shows how many people clicked after seeing the ad
- CPC shows what each click costs
- CVR shows how many clicks turned into actions
- CPA or ROAS helps you judge whether the spend is sustainable
Improve ad campaigns that are doing well
One of the most useful social media advertising tips I give my clients is to improve what’s already working, rather than starting from scratch.
Swap just one element – maybe the image, the opening line, or the audience. Write down the date, what you changed, and what happened next.
Once you build this habit, you’ll feel more confident making decisions. You’re not guessing or copying what someone else said worked. You’re responding to what your own ads are showing you, which is the core of good social media management.
How a social media advertising strategy fit with everything else
Social media advertising efforts work best when they support the other things you’re already doing.
Your website and blog help people find you through search. Email gives you a way to stay in touch and build trust over time. Organic posts (unpaid posts) on social media platforms keep your business familiar to people who already follow you.
Ads don’t replace any of that. They just help more people see your business, faster. When your message stays consistent across ads, posts, and emails, everything starts to work together instead of feeling scattered.
Need tips for your other strategies? Check out my total beginner’s guides to building a marketing strategy, content marketing strategy, and SEO strategy. Thank me later!
Want help with your social media marketing strategy?
If running paid ads feels like one thing too many on your plate, that’s understandable.
I work with plenty of small businesses to plan, launch, and manage social media advertising in a way that fits their goals and budget. That includes ad creative, audience setup, and ongoing improvements so you’re not guessing week to week.
Reach out and we’ll build a setup that actually makes sense for where your business is right now.
