What are the different types of Facebook ad objective?

So, you have made the decision to start running Facebook ads. You open up Facebook Business Manager and are confronted with so many options…

You take a deep breath and google Facebook ad objectives. You hit overwhelm with the amount of information available! My aim is to help break down the various elements of Facebook ads to give you more confidence in either running them yourself or outsourcing them to a lovely freelancer, like me.

I have listed the core objectives below and given you a guide as to when you may look to use them:

Awareness ads

With this ad objective, you are asking Facebook to find people that will just see your ad. Not take any action. These types of ads are best suited to those with big budgets or used in omnipresence campaigns (more on that in another blog).

Reach – I want my ad to be shown to as many people in my target audience as possible, but I don’t really mind if they take an action.

Awareness – I want people to know I am here. Again I am not too bothered about them taking an action, as long as they know I exist.

Consideration ads

With this ad objective, Facebook will find people that are likely to take a micro commitment towards your brand. They can be used to warm people up to your business, but don’t expect many people to buy, sign up or make a larger commitment from this ad.

Traffic – I would like my target audience to click through to my website, but I am not too bothered if they then buy something from me. Often you can get a lot of people that click on a link and when they hit your site they leave quite quickly.

Engagement – I want to send people to my Facebook page to hit the like button, or comment or like my post. This can be great to obtain social proof on an ad, which can help to reduce costs and encourage people to interact with the ad. Businesses sometimes use it to make their Facebook page look more credible.

Video views – I would like my target audience to stay on Facebook and view one of my videos. I have used these in the past to build audiences to retarget to with another ad. They can be a great way for people to gain an insight into your brand.

Lead generation – I want my target audience to stay on Facebook and complete an online lead form about my product or business. To note, often the leads from lead forms can be lower quality, but it is worth testing.

Messages – After someone sees my ad I would like them to send me a message. Really the same as lead gen.

Conversion ads

With this ad objective, you are asking Facebook to find people in your target audience that will take a bigger action.

Conversion – I would like my target audience to download something, book something or buy something. For a lot of businesses, a conversion campaign is a great starting place. Facebook will go out and seak people in your target audience that are likely to take a bigger commitment. These ads are more expensive but work well if they align with your wider marketing strategy and business goals.

Catalogue sales – I have a store on Facebook and would like my target audience to buy something from my store.

There are a lot of layers to consider when running ads, but taking time to work them through will help you to get a better return on your ad spend.

P.s There are 7 common mistakes businesses do when running Facebook ads. Make sure you check through the list.

I love chatting about ads, so if this still confuses you get in touch to discuss how I can help you.