7 ways to make the most of a small Facebook Ads budget

Facebook Ads are an excellent way to reach new audiences with a small budget. But, there are a few tricks to make the most of your small Facebook Ads budget. Here are 7 ways you can make the most of a small Facebook Ads budget.

 

 

7 ways to make the most of a small Facebook Ads budget

You've got to spend money to make money – it's simply a fact of business. Thankfully, Facebook Ads has made reaching new audiences cheap and accessible to anyone these days. You know what? You can actually do alright with a $5/day budget.

$5 isn't a huge amount each day, and the goal is to turn that $5 into $10 or maybe even $15.

So, once you've decided to start running Facebook Ads, how can you make the most of your small Facebook Ads budget?

#1 way to make the most of a small Facebook Ads Budget: Avoid boosting posts

Most people make their first foray into Facebook Ads with that tempting little “boost post” button. I wrote an entire blog post on the difference between Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts.

Now, boosting does have its time and place, but there are better ways you can spend your precious small Facebook Ads budget. The problem with boosting your posts is that it takes a lot of the control away from you and it places it in Facebook's paws. You lose a lot of control over things like targeting, objective, placements – all of which are super important and can drain your money if you're not careful.

#2 way to make the most of a small Facebook Ads Budget: Choose the right campaign objective

Long story short, there is no point choosing a campaign objective of “engagement” if you're trying to get people to convert.

Basically, the campaign objective you choose tells Facebook what to optimise your ads for. So, if you tell it to optimise for conversions, it'll take the data from your conversions and it'll optimise your ads to show to people when they're most likely to convert. I dive a bit deeper into the different Facebook Ads campaign types here.

Likewise, with the engagement objective, it'll show people your ads when they're more likely to engage with them.

I wrote a whole blog post breaking down the different Facebook Ads campaign types and which one to choose.

#3 way to make the most of a small Facebook Ads Budget: Get your targeting spot on

Just because Facebook Ads Manager tells you that your chosen audience size is 5 million people, doesn't actually mean that your ads will actually reach all 5 million people.

On top of that, if your audience is so broad, chances are that most of those 5 million people won't find your ad relevant. Which means they won't click, which means you're wasting money showing ads to people who are never going to buy from you in the first place.

Invest some time in getting to know your target audience; go back and read my blog post on defining your ideal customer and figure out what their interests are. Then, figure out how you can weave this into your targeting.

#4 way to make the most of a small Facebook Ads Budget: Don't use unnecessary placements

There are so many different placements available on Facebook Ads at the moment. Everything from Instagram Stories to Facebook Messenger to mid-roll video ads. These are a lot of different ways to encroach on whatever your audience is doing.

But, that doesn't mean you have to be using every single placement that Facebook picks for you. Yes, that does mean unticking the “Automatically choose placements” box when you're setting up your ads.

If I'm promoting a piece of content (like a blog post or a lead magnet) I usually untick every placement, except for Facebook News Feed. It does depend on what your ad is and what your offer is, so just test different placements. And, when you're done testing, test some more.

#5 way to make the most of a small Facebook Ads Budget: Use Facebook Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audiences

So, you know how I said you should get super specific with your audience targeting? Facebook can do some of that for you, provided you have an existing email list or customer list, or you have the Facebook Pixel installed on your website.

Facebook lets you retarget these people so they don't forget about you and it lets you create Lookalike Audiences, made up of people who look just like these audiences. Here are some audiences you didn't know you could retarget.

#6 way to make the most of a small Facebook Ads Budget: Test, track and adjust

It's so tempting to just set up your Facebook Ads, leave them there and never look at them again. But, if you're not keeping track of them, then how do you know if they're working or if you're just wasting your money?

There are 3 things you should be doing after you set up your ads: Testing, tracking and adjusting.

So, firstly, testing different things. Then, tracking whether they're working and adjusting the ads accordingly. Each time you set up a new campaign, ask yourself: What can I test here?

Create a few different versions and test your ads. It might be different images or different videos or different headlines or a different call to action. The key is to just test one thing at a time and then check back in 3 days time to see which is working the best, then test some more, then adjust.

#7 way to make the most of a small Facebook Ads Budget: Use the right image

Your Facebook Ad image has the potential to make or break your Facebook Ads results. So, to get the most from your small Facebook Ads budget, ensure you're using the right Facebook Ads image. These pre-made Facebook Ad templates are an easy way to do so.

BONUS: Register for my free Facebook Ads training

The last way to make the most of your small Facebook Ads budget is to make sure you register for my webinar – 5 simple steps to fast-track your Facebook Ads success (and avoid the common mistakes that waste your budget). 

I'll be taking you through the exact same process I use when I'm setting up ads for my clients and my own business, step-by-step, so you can finally stop wasting your precious marketing budget and start seeing some consistent results from your Facebook Ads.

Click here to register for the webinar.