Most people hit “Boost Post” and hope for the best. Then they watch their ad budget vanish with little to show for it.
Running Facebook ads the right way means using Meta Ads Manager. This tool helps you create campaigns that actually work. You can choose exactly who sees your ads based on their interests, age, location, and online behavior.
Meta Ads Manager handles everything. You set up campaigns, pick your goals, design your ads, and track results. Want more website visits? Need leads for your business? Looking to boost sales? The platform lets you choose the objective that matches your needs.
Indeed, there is a learning curve. But it’s manageable. This guide shows you how to run Facebook ads using Meta Ads Manager from start to finish. You’ll learn account setup, campaign structure, targeting options, and how to read your results.
The process works the same whether you spend fifty dollars or five thousand. Learn these basics and your ads will deliver better results for your business.
Let’s break it down.
What Is Meta Ads Manager and Why It Matters
Want to run ads on Facebook? You need to know about Meta Ads Manager first. This tool lets you run ads across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network. Everything happens in one place, from setting up campaigns to checking how they perform.
Boosting a post from your Facebook Page is the quick option. You choose an audience, set a budget, and hit launch. It works when you need fast visibility. But that’s all you get. The control ends there. Meta Ads Manager opens up the real toolbox. You pick specific goals like getting website traffic, collecting leads, or making sales.
Meta Ads Manager gives you much more:
You choose campaign goals that match your business needs. The platform provides specific campaign goals like website traffic, lead generation, or product sales. Target your exact audience by age, location, interests, and what they do online. You can use different ad formats like images, videos, carousels, or collections. Budget controls work on daily or lifetime spending with exact dollar amounts.
Key Features You Get
- See all your campaigns in one dashboard
- Create and edit multiple ads quickly
- Upload your customer lists to create custom audiences
- Get detailed reports with easy charts and graphs
- Show ads again to people who visited your website
- Target people based on age, location, job, interests, and more
- Set exact budgets and schedules
Meta has detailed data on its users. This helps you target the right people. You reach audiences based on their real interests and actions, not guesses.
The Meta Pixel is a small code you add to your website. It tracks visitors and matches them to Facebook users. You can then show ads to people who looked at your products but didn’t buy. This works well for bringing back potential customers.
For anyone asking how do I run ads on Facebook with real control, Meta Ads Manager is the answer. Running sponsored ads on Facebook this way means smart targeting, not random promotion.
Better targeting means better results for your budget.
What You Need Before Running Ads on Facebook
You need a few things in place before you can run paid ads on Facebook. It takes about 15 to 30 minutes to set these up. You’re ready to start campaigns once this is done.
Facebook Page
Every ad campaign needs a Facebook Page attached to it. This is the public face of your business on the platform. People can visit your Page to learn more about your brand after seeing your ads.
Create a Page for free through your personal Facebook account. Add your business name, profile picture, cover photo, and basic information. Your Page stays separate from your personal profile.
Meta Business Manager (Business Suite)
Business Manager is the hub that connects everything. You can manage team members for your Facebook page here. Also, ad accounts and Facebook pages are all centralized with this free tool.
How do you use it? Set up your Business Manager account at business.facebook.com. You will add your business name and details. Connect your Facebook Page to this account. This keeps your business assets separate from your personal account.
Ad Account
Your ad account lives inside Business Manager. This is where billing happens and where your campaigns run. Each Business Manager can have multiple ad accounts.
Meta creates a default ad account when you set up Business Manager. You can add more accounts if you manage multiple brands or clients.
Payment Method
You need a valid payment method to run paid ads on Facebook. No need to worry because there are multiple options available for payments. Meta accepts credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal in most regions.
Add your payment details in the Business Manager billing section. Meta charges your card based on your ad spend. You can set account spending limits for budget control.
Meta Pixel (Optional but Recommended)
The Meta Pixel is a piece of code. You need to put this code on your website to track things. It keeps track of what visitors do and links them to your ads. You can use this tool to track conversions and target website visitors again.
You don’t need the Pixel to start running ads. However, it becomes crucial when you wish to monitor website actions from your efforts, such as purchases or signups. Pixel integration is simple on the majority of website platforms, including Shopify and WordPress.
Quick Checklist
Active Facebook Page for your business
Meta Business Manager account created
Ad account set up and verified
Payment method added and confirmed
Meta Pixel installed (if tracking website conversions)
With these elements ready, you can start building your first campaign in Meta Ads Manager.
How to Run Ads on Facebook Using Meta Ads Manager
Facebook marketing reaches more than 3 billion active users on all of Meta’s platforms. That amounts to almost half of the world’s population perusing feeds daily. You can directly access the enormous advertising potential with Meta Ads Manager.
Without a large budget or a marketing degree, you can run ads inside Meta Ads Manager. Once you grasp the flow, the process becomes simple. You decide on a budget, target audience, goal, and advertisement. After that, you observe what works and make the necessary adjustments. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to run ads on Facebook using Meta Ads Manager.
Step 1: Create a New Campaign in Meta Ads Manager
Open Meta Ads Manager from your Business Manager dashboard or go directly to ads.facebook.com. You’ll land on the campaigns overview page.
Click the green “Create” button in the top left corner. This opens the campaign creation flow.
Meta immediately asks you to choose your campaign objective. This is the most important decision in the entire setup process. Your objective tells Meta what action you want people to take.
Choosing Your Campaign Objective
You’ll see several objective options grouped by category. Here’s when to use each one:
Choose Awareness when you’re launching something new. A new store, new product line, or rebranding effort all fit here. Meta shows your ads to people most likely to remember your brand. This builds recognition over time.
Choose Traffic when you want people to visit your website, blog, or landing page. Your ads optimize for clicks. Use this for content promotion, product pages, or driving people to read something specific.
Choose Engagement when you want interactions on your post. Likes, comments, shares, and reactions all count. This works well for community building or when you want your content spread through social sharing.
Choose Leads when you need contact information. Phone numbers, emails, or form submissions happen directly on Facebook. No website needed. This is how to run a business ad on Facebook when you offer consultations, quotes, or downloadable resources.
Choose Sales when you want to make purchases. Your ad optimizes for people likely to buy based on their past behavior. You need the Meta Pixel installed on your website for this to work properly.
Pick one objective and click “Continue.” You can’t change this later without creating a new campaign, so choose carefully based on your immediate business goal.
Step 2: Set Up Your Audience Targeting
After choosing your objective, you move to the ad set level. This is where you define who sees your ads. Good targeting separates wasted budgets from real results.
Location Targeting
Start with where your audience lives. Click the location field and type a country, state, city, or specific address.
You get four options: people living in this location, people recently in this location, people traveling here, or people living or recently here. Most businesses pick “people living in this location” for local targeting.
You can add multiple locations or exclude areas. Running ads for a Toronto coffee shop? Target Toronto City and exclude Vancouver. This stops wasting money on people too far away.
Age and Gender
Set the age range that matches your customers. The minimum age is 13. The maximum is 65+.
Pick the gender most likely to buy your product. Choose “All” if your product appeals to everyone. Narrowing this down helps you run effective Facebook ads by cutting out the wrong people.
Detailed Targeting (Interests and Behaviors)
This section targets people based on what they like and do online. Click “Add” under detailed targeting.
Type interests related to your product. Selling yoga mats? Target people interested in yoga, meditation, or fitness. Meta suggests related interests as you type.
You can also target by behaviors. This includes shopping habits, device usage, and travel patterns. Someone who recently moved might buy furniture. Someone who travels often might need luggage.
Add multiple interests to narrow your audience. Use “AND” when people must match all interests. Use “OR” when they can match any interest. The audience size meter on the right shows if you’re too broad or too narrow.
Custom Audiences
Click “Create New” under custom audiences to upload your own data. You can target people from your email list, website visitors, or people who engaged with your Facebook Page.
Upload a CSV file with emails or phone numbers. Meta matches this data to Facebook users. This lets you retarget existing customers or exclude them to find new ones.
Website visitors need the Meta Pixel installed first. Once active, you can create audiences based on pages people visited or actions they took.
Lookalike Audiences
Lookalike audiences find new people similar to your best customers. Pick a source audience like your customer list or website visitors. Choose the audience size from 1% to 10%. A 1% lookalike finds people most similar to your source. A 10% lookalike reaches wider but with less accuracy. Start with 1% to 3% for better quality.
Pick the country where you want to find these similar people. Meta builds the lookalike based on common traits in your source audience.
Your audience choices directly affect your ad performance and cost. Too broad wastes money. Too narrow limits your reach. The sweet spot varies by business. Most campaigns work best with focused, relevant audiences.
Step 3: Choose Placements and Budget
Placements decide where your ads appear. Facebook feed, Instagram stories, Messenger, or all of them. Meta offers automatic placements that distribute your ads across platforms for best results. Manual placements let you pick specific spots.
Beginners should stick with automatic. Meta’s algorithm finds the cheapest, most effective placements for your goal.
Budget comes next. Daily budget spends a set amount each day. A lifetime budget spreads your total across the campaign duration.
Start with daily budgets. They’re easier to control when you’re learning how to run paid ads on Facebook. Set an amount you’re comfortable testing with, even if it’s just $5 per day.
Your budget affects reach and results. We’ll cover Facebook advertising costs in detail in our next guide. You should check that out as well for a better understanding, because you only want to spend what’s worth it.
Step 4: Create Your Ad Creative
This is where your ad comes to life. People scroll fast. Your creative needs to stop them mid-scroll. A strong image or video catches the eye. Clear words tell them why they should care.
When your sponsored ads on Facebook go live, they show a small “Sponsored” label at the top. Good ads don’t feel like ads. They feel like helpful content that happens to promote something.
- Upload Your Visual: Click “Add Media” to upload an image or video. Square images work best at 1080 x 1080 pixels. Videos grab more attention than static images. Keep videos short. Anything under 15 seconds performs better because people have short attention spans.
- Write Your Ad Copy: Your primary text sits above the image. This is your hook. Tell people the benefit, not just features. Your headline goes below the image. Keep it punchy and clear.
- Select Your CTA Button: Pick a call-to-action button. “Learn More” works for awareness. “Shop Now” drives purchases. “Sign Up” builds lists. The button tells people what action to take next.
Testing different combinations matters. Most businesses try various headlines, images, and CTAs to see what clicks. Some businesses partner with a social media marketing agency for creative optimization. We at MM Nova Tech help clients test and refine ad creatives based on real performance data.
Step 6: Review, Publish, and Monitor Your Ads
You’ve built your campaign, set your audience, chosen placements, and created your ads. Now comes the final check before going live. Meta shows you a review screen with everything you’ve configured. Look through each section carefully. A small mistake in targeting or budget can waste your entire spend.
- Review Screen – Check your objective, audience size, budget, schedule, and ad creative. Make sure your headline has no typos. Verify your CTA button matches your goal.
- Publishing – Click the green “Publish” button when everything looks right. Your campaign moves to Meta’s review queue. You can’t edit major elements after this without stopping the campaign.
- Approval Timeline – Meta reviews ads before they go live. Most ads get approved within a few hours. Some take up to 24 hours. Meta checks for policy violations like prohibited content, misleading claims, or restricted products.
- First 48 Hours – Your ads enter a learning phase after approval. Meta tests your ads with small audience segments to find what works. Costs might seem high initially. Don’t panic and don’t make changes during this period.
The first two days show how your targeting performs. If you’re running awareness ads, watch your reach and frequency. For traffic campaigns, check your click-through rate. When you run a Facebook lead ad, monitor form submissions in the first 48 hours to gauge quality.
Poor results early don’t mean failure. Many lead generation companies for small businesses see their best performance after the learning phase ends. Give your campaign at least three to five days of data before making big decisions.
Check your Ads Manager dashboard daily. Look at impressions, clicks, and conversions. If something’s clearly broken, like zero impressions after 24 hours, then investigate. Otherwise, let the algorithm do its job.
Step 7: Track Results and Optimize Performance
Your ads are live. Now you need to watch what’s working and what’s draining your budget. Open Meta Ads Manager and click on the “Campaigns” tab. You’ll see columns showing metrics like results, reach, impressions, and amount spent.
Click the “Columns” dropdown menu at the top right. Select “Performance” or “Performance and Clicks” to see detailed metrics. This shows click-through rate, cost per result, and engagement numbers all in one view.
Click-through rate appears as “CTR (link click-through rate)” in your columns. This shows what percentage of people clicked your ad. Most industries see 1% to 3% as good performance. Below 0.5% means your image or targeting needs fixing.
Look at the “Cost per result” column. This shows what you paid for each action based on your objective. If you’re running lead ads, you’ll see cost per lead. For traffic campaigns, you’ll see cost per click. Learning how to run FB ads well means comparing these costs to what each customer is worth to your business.
Click into individual ad sets to see which audiences perform best. The “Breakdown” button lets you analyze results by age, gender, placement, or device. This shows exactly where your money goes and which segments convert.
Check the “Conversions” column to see website actions tracked by your Meta Pixel. Purchases, signups, and form submissions appear here. Learning how to run FB ads effectively means using this conversion data to make decisions, not guessing based on impressions alone.
Give campaigns five days before making big changes. Pause ads where cost per result exceeds your target by 50% or more. You can duplicate better-performing ad sets and test them with new audiences. Increase budgets on top performers by 20% every three days, not all at once.
Start Running Your Facebook Ads Today
You now understand how to run Facebook ads from beginning to end. As you create more campaigns, the process gets easier. Choose your goal, specify your target market, decide on a budget, and create scroll-stopping advertisements. Track your numbers, start small, and scale what works. Do you need professional assistance with your advertising campaigns? To get the most out of your advertising, MM Nova Tech can help you with setup and optimization.
