Now that we’ve discussed, not only which types of Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories are available to you, but also where to put them - it’s time to move on to the second phase of your Facebook advertising strategy. We’ve put together some useful tips on how to create your first Facebook advertising campaign.

If you are a brand that’s new to Facebook advertising, the first thing you’ll need to do is open a business account.

Note: This process is a bit different than opening a private Facebook account and is used solely for business purposes. You can create a business account even if you don't have a personal Facebook account. To get started, first you need to create a Facebook Page.

Business accounts:

• Accounts are not publicly available
• Accounts do not have individual profiles
• Are used to manage Pages and ad campaigns

First steps:

• Create a business account by visiting this link
• Once there, choose from six classifications that best suit your business

• After you’ve finished creating your new page, click the create ads tool to begin designing your first ad
• Before you can create your first advertising campaign, make sure that you check available payment options

Questions to ask yourself:

• What do you want to advertise?
• Who is your target audience?
• What are your budget, pricing, and scheduling options?
• How will you test your ads and track results?

Once you have completed the planning process, you are ready to create your first ad by following these steps:

1. Choose your destination (Page, Application, URL)

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Before choosing your campaign options, you must first set up your ad. You will then choose the Facebook destination (or URL) you want to promote.

There are a number of goals provided under the "What would you like to do?” section to choose from:

• Get More Page Likes
• Promote Page Posts
• Get New Users
• Increase Attendance
• Or setup custom ad options by clicking '"See Advanced Options”

Note: Facebook currently supports 24 different ad options, so be sure to check our Facebook Ads, Sponsored Stories, and available placements articles to see what is available for you.

2. Define your target audience

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Have an idea of what type of customers you want to reach. You will have the option to choose a specific audience for your advertisement during the ad creation process.

3. Setup your budget, bids, and campaign options

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Name your campaign, select your budget, and set scheduling options. The "Switch to Advanced Pricing (includes CPC)” link allows you to select different pricing models: Cost Per Mille (CPM) which means cost per 1000 impressions, Cost Per Click (CPC) or optimized Click Per Mille (oCPM) which gives you the option of optimizing for Reach, Actions, Social Impressions or Clicks. The oCPM option can help your ads be delivered to the highest value target group for your goals.

4. Test multiple ads and track results

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By running multiple versions of your ads, you can determine what your audience is most receptive to. After you’ve set up multiple versions, make sure you make changes according to results:

• Pause or delete underperforming ads
• Change pictures or ad text to find out what works best for your audience
• Find out more information about your audience through reports and optimize your campaigns based on results
• Create conversions and evaluate the data
• Create ads that generate income, subscriptions, etc.

You are well on your way to creating Facebook ads for your brand’s advertising campaign. Remember, with all the different ad choices and ad placements available to you, you’ll have plenty of room to experiment. Play around with different ad combinations, images, and placements and you’ll be designing effective ads in no time.