Paid Ad Basics (Part 2) | Setting Up Paid Ads For Success

Level 1 -NGMI

Welcome Anon and thank you for seeing what’s up.

In today’s post, we will be covering part two of paid ad basics. 

The objective of part two is to build on what we learned in Paid Ad Basics (Part 1) | All Ad Platforms Are Similar But Different:

• Part 1: Ad Account Structures

• Part 2: Website Conversions

• Part 3: Conversion Tracking

In this second post, I’m covering topics that build on parts 1 - 3 and will help you set up your ads for success, no matter what ad platform you’re using.

Here’s a breakdown of what we’re about to cover:

• Part 4: Ad Goals and Objectives

• Part 5: User targeting and ad placements

• Part 6: Ad creative, copy, and call to actions

• Part 7: Landing Pages and Destinations

Thank you for joining me for part two of this journey, let’s get it!

Part 4: Ad Goals and Objectives

After creating an ad account, the next thing to do is choose your goals/objective at the campaign creation level.

Note: Account creation and setup can be tricky, especially when dealing with Facebook (now meta lol). Sometimes it’s as simple as creating an account and adding payment info. Other times you’re forced to jump through hoops and waiting periods (usually to weed out fraud accounts) before getting started. 

If you’ve read part one you’re probably aware that all ad platforms are similar but different. 

When it comes to goals/objectives and campaign creation, the same rules apply.

In every ad platform, the campaign level is usually reserved for the main goals and settings for your ad efforts. Things like campaign objectives and even budget can be found at this level (sometimes budget can be found at the targeting/audience level).

Below are some examples of campaign objectives found in Facebook, Pinterest, Google, and Taboola. 

Facebook Ads Campaign Objectives

Pinterest Ads Campaign Objectives

Google Ads Campaign Objectives

Taboola Ads Campaign Objectives

Part 5: User targeting and audiences

Next, you typically roll into the targeting section, also known as the ad set/ad group section in most platforms. When it comes to user targeting the structure can be very similar from platform to platform (“all ad platforms are similar but different”), but the way in which the ad platform can target users can be vastly different. 

Targeting depends on how the platform/algorithm works and how users engage in it. No matter what you will likely see two targeting buckets, included audiences and excluded audiences. 

To keep this simple, included audiences are users you want to target, and excluded audiences are users you don’t want to target. This part can be very complex in ad accounts running multiple campaigns and ad formats, but it doesn’t need to be to see good results.

Example campaign breakdown:

In this Facebook ads campaign breakdown, the ad set column is the included audiences and the exclusion column is the excluded audiences (obvi, referenced by number). 

SOURCE

Included audiences can utilize three types of user targeting.

• General audiences include segments like gender, geo, age, etc.

  • Platform-specific general audiences include interests, demographics, behaviors, etc. 

• Custom audiences are created based on the traffic/engagement captured at your destinations (website, social page, app, etc.) via a tracking pixel/code of some kind. 

  • Common custom audiences that are built include site visitors, add to cart, purchasers, leads, etc.

  • These audiences can include data from any timeframe you would like to target (ex: site visitors in the last 7, 14, 28 days). The more traffic you have going to your site/destination,  

    • Most platforms have a max lookback window when building custom audiences off tracking pixels/tags (ex: Facebook max time window is 180 days). If you use 1st party data to create custom audiences (aka emails, phone, etc.), the max window doesn’t apply.

  • Custom audiences can be excluded

    • Ex: Past purchasers, purchased x product, etc…

Note: Capturing and leveraging 1st party data like emails, names, and phone numbers are very important since the Apple IOS updates. More on this later. 

• Lookalike audiences that look like the traffic going to your 

  • Called lookalike or actalike audiences in most ad platforms

  • These audiences can be built from custom audiences, pages, lists, etc.

Here’s how Facebook defines these audiences: 

Lastly, ad placements are usually found around here. Ad placements are where you want your ads to run (literally where you want to place your ads).

When landing on the placement section you usually have two options, automatic or manual placements. Auto is usually recommended by the platform because it gives the ads more room to find users based on your budget and settings (so they say).

If you’re just starting out, I like to stick with the auto option to test everything out and see what works best. If you’re dead set on specific placements that have tested well in the past or you’ve tailored your ads to specific ones, feel free to go the manual route.

Both have their pros and cons. In the end, “when in doubt, test it out”. Facebook/Instagram feed, story placements have tested well for me in the past. 

Feed placements may be the most popular, but they can also be the most expensive. I’ve also driven cheap conversions via placements like right column and Facebook marketplace. 

Part 6: Ad creative, copy, and additional elements

After the ad set/ad group level, you usually land on an ad creation level of some kind. This section will have the main ad elements you see in a finished ad like creative, copy, and call to actions (CTA). 

Facebook ad example (ad placement previews on the right side):

Part 7: Landing Pages and Destinations

After you’ve added your ad elements and published your ad, your traffic is sent to a destination/page so users can browse and take additional actions if they desire.

Here are example destinations you can send Facebook ad traffic to: 

• Website

• App registered on the Facebook developer site

• Facebook Messenger

• Whatsapp (if available)

This is where you have your product, offer, lead form for trafffic/users to purchase/fill out (become a lead). This is usually the end goal, but users don’t always convert when landing. 

When users bounce, this is when retargeting efforts come into play. 

To be continued…

Paid advertising can be very complex. My goal with this substack is to teach you the basic to paid advertising so you can run these efforts on your own (hard route, takes experience and ad spend), or know what to look for when outsourcing to an agency/freelancer.

Welcome to the wefe jungle anon.

Let’s get it.

- BowTiedIndominusRex