Facebook Ad Objectives Guide to Improving Your Ad Strategy

[We understand that starting advertising on Meta can be overwhelming, with so many factors to consider. One crucial aspect is selecting the right ad objectives that align with your business goals.

Starting with Facebook Ads objectives can feel overwhelming, given the myriad of factors to consider. Understanding and selecting the right objectives is crucial for aligning your campaigns with your business goals.]

Understanding Facebook Ads Objectives

Are you keen to start running Meta Ads but unsure where to begin? 

Understanding Facebook Ads objectives is the first step to a successful campaign.

These objectives help guide Meta on what you want to achieve with your advertising and ensure alignment with your overall business strategy.

Over time, Meta has evolved its objectives to simplify options for advertisers. Initially, it started with a few basic objectives: Page Post Engagement, Page Likes, Clicks to Website, Website Conversions, and App Installs.

With new features and placements like Stories, Meta has introduced tailored ad objectives such as App Engagement and In-App Purchases. 

The platform now offers six simplified options: Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App Promotion, and Sales, making it easier to select objectives that align with specific business goals.

Benefits of Meta Ads Objectives

Choosing the right Facebook Ads objectives provides numerous benefits, including targeted reach and improved engagement. 

By aligning objectives with your business goals, you can drive more meaningful actions and maximise the return on your ad spend.

The Six Types of Facebook Ads Objectives

Awareness 

This objective targets audiences most likely to recall your ad, reaching the maximum number of people. It’s ideal for goals related to reach, brand awareness, video views, and store location awareness.

Best for:

• New Business/Start-Up: Grow brand awareness and attract more eyeballs to your business.
• New Product Launch: Reach your target market to build awareness, hype, and intent.
• Event Promotion: Generate interest and excitement for events like pop-up store openings.

Traffic 

The traffic objective aims to send people to your website, apps, or event, focusing on link clicks, landing page views, messages, and calls.

Best for:

• Website Traffic: Increase visitors to your website.
• Content Promotion: Promote blog articles and increase webpage visitors.
• Event Registration: Drive sign-ups for events like VIP invites to store openings.

Engagement 

Discover users inclined to interact with your business online. The engagement objective is perfect for conversion, messaging, video view, and post-engagement goals.

Best for:

• Boosting Post Engagement: Increase likes, comments, and shares on your posts.
• Grow Your Organic Socials: Drive more followers to your Meta page.
• Drive App Engagement: Encourage user interaction with your app.

Leads 

Generate leads through in-platform lead forms, messages, or phone calls, supporting lead generation, messenger, and call goals.

Best for:

• Generating Enquiries: Capture more leads without navigating away from the platform.
• Building Your Customer List: Grow your first-party data with email sign-ups.
• Download Content: Use lead forms to collect details for downloadable content.
• Webinar Registrations: Increase sign-ups for your webinars.

App Promotion 

Target mobile users who will install or engage with your app, focusing on app installs and app events.

Best for:

• App Install: Reach users likely to install your app.
• App Events: Drive desired actions within your app, like using new features.

Sales 

Identify users inclined to purchase your goods or services, best suited for conversions (purchases) and catalogue sales.

Best for:

• Driving Product Sales: Encourage purchases directly from your ads or website.
• Promote Limited-Time Offers: Create urgency with time-sensitive promotions.
• Upsell and Cross-Sell: Promote complementary products to existing customers.

 

How to Run Meta Ads: Choosing the Right Objectives

Choosing the right Meta Ads strategy involves understanding how different objectives align with your business goals. Here are three steps to help you get started:

Step One – Define Your Campaign Goals and Objectives

Defining your campaign goals is a crucial step in any advertising campaign, and there are a few key questions you’ll need to answer to ensure you’re setting yourself up for success.

• Determine Your Business Objectives: Identify the goals you hope to accomplish, such as increasing brand awareness or sales.
• Define Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Set metrics to measure success, such as CTR, CPM, ROAS, or Cost Per Acquisition.
• Set SMART Goals: Create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals.

Step Two – Choose Your Ad Objective

With a clear understanding of your goals, choose the appropriate ad objectives to match your strategy.

Step Three – Review and Optimise

Consistently monitor and optimise your campaigns to ensure success. This involves split-testing ads, copy, and conversion events to find what works best.

farsiight’s Meta Ads Strategy Best Practices

At farsiight, we recommend conversion-focused advertisers avoid click objectives under the Awareness and Traffic categories. These objectives often result in a high bounce rate and unqualified traffic, reducing the efficiency of your retargeting campaigns.

Our experience shows that Lead or Sale objectives deliver the best results. By signalling the exact website action you want to achieve, you can optimise your campaigns effectively.

Final Thoughts

The first three objectives (Awareness, Traffic, and Engagement) are ideal for general brand awareness and exposure. For meaningful actions, focus on the last three objectives (Lead, App Promotion, and Sales).

Ad objectives are vital at different funnel stages, helping you tailor your strategy to target top-of-funnel, middle-of-funnel, and bottom-of-funnel users.

Remember, it’s never a ‘set and forget’ strategy. Regularly reviewing and questioning your Meta Ads strategy is essential for success. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our friendly team to discuss your digital marketing strategy!