Let’s be real, friends. Facebook can be such a monster sometimes. Raise your hand if you’ve ever posted a blog to your business page, or a picture, or just anything that you’re pretty damn proud of to see that you got NEGATIVE views. Seriously?! How is that even possible! That’s a question I don’t know the answer to, but I do know, because of things like that, it’s easy to stick our nose in the air and say “To heck with Facebook, I’m not wasting my time with them!” But oh, friend, if only you knew the potential it has to grow your business! 

Back in May 2015, I was really fighting the urge to quit my day job but I knew I had to hit a certain number of weddings to feel comfortable doing so. Luckily I grew up with the mentality “spend money to make money”, so a small advertising budget was a part of my business plan. When a friend posted that they had gained traction to their business through a facebook ad, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. Today I’m going to share exactly what I did to generate more than $30,000 in revenue through a $700 facebook ad. Results will vary across the board but I truly hope you have the same success I did! 

Here’s a Step-by-step of what I did:

First, Go onto your Facebook Business Page. In the  upper right hand corner go to “Promote”. Click Go to Ads Manager at the bottom of this list.

If you don’t have an account set-up yet this is where you’ll set up your account and billing info. Once that’s done go to “Create Campaign”

Next, Choose the objective of your campaign. This is the super important part!! Make sure you are choosing “Send People to Your Website”.  We don’t need or want this ad to have anything to do with your Facebook Business Page. 

Type in your website URL where you want potential clients to go, name your Campaign and then click “Set Audience and Budget”

Here’s what I did!

My demographic was Women only, between the ages of 23-35 with a relationship status of engaged. Typically women are the ones doing the research for their wedding day. Of course this isn’t always the case but I feel like that’s my demographic so I choose to only show this ad to them! If your business isn’t wedding related then definitely show to “All”

For me, I’m looking for only people with an Engaged Relationship status! If this doesn’t relate to your business demographic than you don’t need to narrow it down here, but perhaps narrow it down with another interest or specific demographic.

Age 23-35. My target audience is millennials. Again, if this is different for you then choose what is best!

25 Mile Radius of all the locations I want to do work.

Then it’s time to set your budget. Make sure you’re choosing to have a “Lifetime Budget” and not a daily budget. This means you will have up to a certain budget to spend during the time your ad is running. That way if Sunday’s have less traction then Tuesday, you’re getting charged less on Sunday.  I set a $350.00 budget over the time span of two months. If you see your ad is doing really well, you can always go in and adjust the lifetime budget to be a little less ($100-$200) A larger budget will push more frequently than a smaller budget so I recommend doing more than $200 to see benefits. 

Next, make sure you are optimized for website clicks (otherwise you’re paying every time people simple see the ad in their newsfeed. Not good!)

Then you’re ready to set your timeline. Choose when you want the ad campaign to be released…and then, patience! 

Bonus Tip: Ask people how they found you on your contact form so you know it’s working!

Next is your image selection. I did a multi image campaign of some of my favorite images that I hoped would also attract the clients I wanted to wok with. Make sure your image width is good for Facebook, it should be 1200 px wide for the ad otherwise they’ll get really compressed.

Then lastly, set a call to action. This is optional but I think having a “Learn More” button is not pushy and will direct people to your website if they want to see more which is the whole point!

And then, place the ad and be patient!

I truly hope your success with this is as great as mine was. To see exclusive tips regarding Facebook ads, and receive future business or photography tips and trips I’d love to have you join my exclusive newsletter community! I will be sharing information there that won’t be shared on the blog including five more tips of launching a great Facebook ad and monthly tips for small business owners and photographers. I hope to see you there! Sign up so that you get more in-depth information right into your inbox!