Facebook Lead Ads combine standard ads with an instant form to help businesses learn more about potential customers. Lead Ads are usually paired with a special offer or free gift, known as a lead magnet, that entices users to fill out the form.
For example, let’s say you own a spa clothing store and you want to tell people about a trial offer. Your hope is that the ebook (the lead magnet) might encourage customers to visit your store or website. To pull it off, you’ll need to learn how to run a Facebook lead ad—and this guide will show you the five steps to get there.
What is a Facebook Lead Ad?
A Facebook Lead Ad is a specific type of ad that lets you capture information about potential customers directly through Facebook. They don’t need to visit your website for you to get their details because it’s all handled through the Facebook platform. As Meta describes it on their Lead Ads business page, “People can simply tap your ad and a form pops up—it’s already pre-populated with their Facebook contact information and ready to be sent directly to you.”
How Do Facebook Lead Ads Work?
First, you create the ad. For our example above, we could create an engaging image ad that showcases your exclusive spa, but your ad can be anything that follows Facebook’s guidelines. Once you’ve perfected your creatives, you’ll set up a form. The form can have all kinds of questions, like a user’s name, email, or favorite summer look. Facebook automatically fills in some of this information based on their profile, making it easier for them to submit it.
Finally, you’ll see the information collected from your form wherever you’ve directed the lead output. For example, you might link up a CRM to your Business Manager account, which will automatically populate leads captured by your form. You can also download your leads from Ads Manager or Leads Center in Meta Business Suite. Leads expire after 90 days, so it’s important to back them up before they’re gone.
5 Easy Steps to Running Your First Facebook Lead Ad
Learning how to run a Facebook Lead Ad isn’t as daunting as you might think. If you’ve already set up a Facebook Business Page and an Ad Account, the steps you need to follow are very simple.
- Create a Lead Magnet: A lead magnet will help you catch the attention of customers by promising intrinsically valuable content. Lead magnets can be a huge variety of offers, like the spa trial we discussed.
You could also showcase limited-time discounts, webinars, or samples of your products. For example, if your business helps people create elegant resumes, you could offer a free template that gives them a taste of your work. - Define Your Target Audience: Most lead magnets are better when they’re aimed at specific audiences. While you may already have some favorite segments for your overall business, every ad should line up with a specific group’s behaviors, preferences, demographics, and desires.
If your business creates resumes, posters, and flyers, showing the resume template to the 65-and-older segment will be a poor use of your ad spend! - Design Your Ad: Follow Facebook advertising best practices and create an engaging, eye-catching ad that resonates with your target audience. Use high-quality images or videos, write relatable but concise copy, and craft a call to action that drives clicks.
Don’t rely completely on the promise of a lead magnet; instead, use the same parameters as if you were crafting a typical ad—except this time you’re sharing a free gift. - Customize the Form and Ad Settings: Pick between “More Volume,” “Higher Intent,” and “Rich Creative” form types. Each form type has its own advantages, so choose the one that most closely aligns with your goals. Next, select which information fields you want to capture.
Be sure to include a link to your privacy policy, if it’s applicable. To finish off the form, you’ll want to add a friendly finishing touch to the “Thank You” screen. Finally, select “Lead Generation” as the campaign objective in the Ad Manager before dialing in the budget, ad placements, and schedule. - Monitor, Optimize, and Follow Up: The first leg of your Lead Ad’s lifecycle is mostly about learning whether it’s successful. You’ll monitor your ad’s metrics using Ad Manager, analyzing different variables and tweaking them for better results. To get more performance data faster, we recommend increasing your ad spend earlier in the campaign. This lets you quickly determine whether ads in a set are effective, after which you can eliminate underperforming ads. Then you can lower the budget to a holding pattern for the remainder of the month (or the campaign).
Once you’re comfortable with your ad’s optimization, it’s time to focus on lead follow-up. Following up promptly will ensure your brand is still fresh on a lead’s mind, so consider implementing an automated nurturing strategy that provides gentle (but consistent) nudges back to your business. If you create multiple lead magnets, you can reserve one or more for future offers, like during an email drip campaign.
For example, if you created a Facebook Lead Ad that offers a free spa trial, the follow-up email could offer a limited-time discount on membership. The next email might include a free video guide about skincare, and the next could be a discount code for moisturizers from your gift shop. The goal is to stay fresh in your lead’s mind without becoming overbearing, so finding the right balance is essential.
Staying Up-to-Date With Lead Ads
Mastering how to run a Facebook Lead Ad takes time, experience, and the budget to experiment. Sometimes, it’s impossible to know whether an ad will work for a target audience until you’ve dedicated enough spend; other times, it can be tough to cut an ad loose that you’ve spent a long time crafting. The good news is that you don’t have to conquer Facebook Lead Ads alone.
At Social Ktchn, we specialize in driving leads and revenue through Facebook and Instagram, providing right-sized services for businesses both big and small. We can help you craft the perfect Lead Ads and combine them with irresistible offers that customers will line up for. Reach out to Social Ktchn to learn how we can help you create the perfect Facebook Lead Ad today!