Facebook Ads: Tips And Tricks For Small Ad budgets(in 2022)

Hello all!

Pablo Espinal here,

This blog post will discuss strategic ways to boost your Facebook Ads conversions on a minimum budget.

We recently wrote about Facebook ads, but this post will dive into specifically low-budget ad campaigns.

So for this post, we will use a $500.00 monthly budget example where these strategies can be used.

**Please note**, this is just a guide – Please use it for informational purposes only.

Here we go!

Establish Your Budget:

Set a budget that works for your business and ensure that you allocate funds accordingly for different campaigns.

For this post, a lot of the calculations will be done using a monthly $500.00 budget total.

Importance of a daily budget

Setting a daily budget is crucial because it ensures that your ad campaigns run consistently and don’t run out of money.

A daily budget helps minimize costs by limiting your everyday spending.

With a $500.00 monthly budget, your daily budget should be no more than $17.00 for maximum efficiency.

Importance of a lifetime budget

Setting a lifetime budget is crucial because it ensures you have enough money to run your entire campaign without running out of funds.

Important Facebook budget terms you should know

CPC: Cost per click.

This is the cost for every time someone clicks on your ad.

CPM: Cost per thousand impressions.

This is the cost for every 1,000 times someone sees your ad.

CTR: Click-through rate.

This metric measures how often people who have visited your ad click.

Bid:

You’re willing to pay this maximum for each click or impression.

Optimization:

This refers to making changes and improvements so that your ad performs better.

Targeting:

Refers to narrowing down and refining who will see your ads based on specific criteria such as age, location, gender, interests, etc.

Additional Resources:

Click here for a nifty calculator that can help you establish a budget.

Know Your Target Audience:

Understand who you are targeting, where they are located, their interests, etc., so that you can tailor your ads to them specifically.

Here are some targeting tips you can put into action:

-Use multiple ad sets to test different audiences.

-Create separate ads for each target segment, so you know which one performs best.

-Focus on people who have interacted with your brand before (like website visitors, app users, etc.)

-Experiment with lookalike audiences to reach new customers like your current ones.

If your budget is $500.00 a month, your audience should be narrowed down to a specific group. If you are targeting too many people, it will eat up your budget quickly.

Important terms you should know when it comes to audience targeting:

Lookalike Audience:

An audience of people who are similar to an existing customer list.

Retargeting:

Reach out to people who have visited your website and remind them of your product or service.

Know Your Objectives & Strategies:

It is essential to set objectives and strategies before you start creating ads.

Your objectives should include measurable goals like increasing website traffic, generating leads, or getting more conversions.

For example, targeting a lookalike audience, leveraging retargeting campaigns, etc.

Additional Resources:

Click here for more on targeting audiences.

Optimize Ads:

Optimize the images and text used in your ads and the ad placement to stand out from other ads being run during the same period.

Here are some tips on optimizing ads you can put into action:

-Test multiple ad images to see which works best.

-Experiment with different headlines and descriptions to increase CTRs.

-Test different placements for your ads, like the News Feed vs. the right column.

-Create A/B test campaigns to determine which one performs best.

With a $500.00 monthly budget, your A/B campaigns should be small and specific to get the best data.

If you are testing too many elements, it will eat up your budget quickly.

Additional Resources:

Click here to learn more about A/B testing.

Take Advantage of Automated Tools:

Utilize automated tools like the Facebook Ads Manager or other social media platform ad tools to help streamline your process and increase your success rate.

Setting up rules and triggers in Facebook ads manager to save time and money:

1. Navigate to the Automated Rules tab in Ads Manager

2. Click ‘Create Rule’

3. Select your conditions

4. Select your action and adjust settings (like budget, bid, etc.)

5. Set a schedule for the rule (if desired).

6. Click ‘Save Rule’

Optimizing your ad spend with automated bid strategies:

1. Go to the Ads Manager

2. Select your campaign

3. Click ‘Edit’

4. Select ‘Bidding & Pricing’ from the drop-down menu

5. Choose your bid strategy and adjust settings as needed

6. Click ‘Save Changes’

Utilizing Dynamic Ads, which automatically pull product information from an eCommerce store:

1. Go to the Ads Manager

2. Select your campaign

3. Click ‘Dynamic Ads’ from the drop-down menu

4. Enter the product catalog URL and other related info

5. Select an audience segment (age, gender, location, etc.)

6. Set up the bidding and budget for the campaign

7. Click ‘Save Changes’

Additional Resources:

Click here for more on automation tools.

Use Relevant Keywords & Hashtags:

Incorporating relevant keywords into your ads can help capture more attention from potential customers.

Additionally, hashtags will further help with visibility and reach on social media platforms.

Here are some tips on keywords and hashtags you can put into action:

– Research what keywords and hashtags your target audience is using.

– Use relevant keywords in your ad copy and headlines to capture attention.

– Incorporate popular hashtags into the description of your ads to increase reach.

With a $500.00 monthly budget, your keywords and hashtags should be concise and specific to get the most out of your budget.

Examples of keyword and Hastag formats for low budget ad campaigns

Ad Copy:

Looking for affordable small business accounting services?

Headline:

Small Business Accounting Services – Affordable Rates!

Hashtags:

#smallbusinessaccounting #affordableaccountingservices

If you are focusing on too many keywords and hashtags, it will eat up your budget quickly.

Additional Resources:

Click here for more on keyword research tools.

Click here for a keyword blog post we put together, which does a much deeper dive.

Avoid Costly Mistakes:

Be mindful of mistakes that could be costly such as failing to select the correct objective type when setting up an ad or selecting the wrong audience targeting option.

Selecting the right objective type can be costly because it will not return the desired result.

On the other hand, choosing the bad audience targeting option can be expensive because it may lead to irrelevant impressions.

The difference between a relevant and irrelevant impression:

A relevant impression is when your ad is shown to someone interested in what you are offering, i.e., higher click-throughs, and visits to the page in question.

An irrelevant impression is when your ad is shown to someone with no interest or need i.e., lower click-throughs and lower visit rates to the page in question.

Monitor Response & Results:

Monitor your ads’ performance by tracking how many users click on them, view the content, and purchase your product or service.

Monitoring user clicks is very important because it will help you determine which ads people are interested in and see how effective each ad is.

With a $500.00 monthly budget, you should aim for as many clicks as possible to analyze the data and make informed decisions.

A good click-through rate percentage for a $500.00 budget is usually 0.7-1.2%, although this can vary depending on the industry.

Split Test & Refine:

Split testing is a great way to refine your ads and get better results.

By running multiple versions of the same ad, you can compare which ones are more effective and optimize them accordingly.

By using split testing, you can find out what works best for different audiences and adjust accordingly with your budget.

Additional Resources:

Click here to be able to use heat mapping technology on your website.

Heatmapping is a great way to determine how users interact with your website.

Re-Evaluate & Adjust:

Re-evaluate your campaigns regularly to identify areas that need improvement or optimization.

Then, make adjustments as necessary to ensure that you are getting the most out of each campaign.

Advanced techniques

Be sure to put away enough cash to fund your chosen optimization event.

Some optimization events are more costly than others, based on the complexity of the event.

For example, purchases generally require a more significant budget than landing page views.

Remember to ensure your landing page is ready for the increased traffic levels after you trigger a campaign.

You can do this by following the steps we outlined here.

If you’re not interested in increasing your budget, try optimizing for a less complex and, thus, cheaper event.

An example of this would be optimizing for mobile clicks instead of optimizing for purchases.

If you see an ad performing well and generating more revenue than expected, consider increasing your budget accordingly to take advantage of this opportunity.

If you’re charged for impressions, daily ad set budgets should be at least $1.

Minimum budget requirements may be different depending on when you choose to get charged for ads.

The criteria for lifetime budgets and Meta Advantage campaign budgets (formerly known as campaign budget optimization) may differ slightly depending on your settings.

With the Advantage campaign budget, the risk of under-delivery is lower because the funding is allocated freely across all ad sets.

This means that if one ad set isn’t performing well, the budget can be reallocated to another more successful ad set.

If you’re using the cost-per-result goal bid strategy, your daily budget should be at least 5 times your cost-per-result goal.

If you want a cost per result of $5, your budget should be at least $25 daily.

For example, if your budget is $125.00 per day($500.00 a month), then your cost per result should be around $6.25.

Remember, the higher your daily budget, the more people you can reach and the better results you are likely

Put another way, if your current budget is too small, the cost-per-result goal bid strategy won’t be successful, and your ads will stop running.

When setting up campaigns, always make sure to look at the campaign ad sets’ budgets in addition to their targeting settings.

If you wish to lower your lifetime budget, ensure that the new amount equals what you’ve spent thus far plus 10% of what you’ve spent in the past 48 hours.

Your new spending budget should be at least $310 if, for example, you have already spent $300 of your overall budget and $100 of that was in the past two days.

Put another way; you can’t lower your budget to save more cash if your budget is too small.

Be careful when cutting your budget at the end of the day.

If you make changes to your account mid-day, it may be too late for the new settings to take effect that day.

For example, if it’s 5pm and you try decreasing your daily spend from $500 to $400, the system might have already spent more than your new budget lets allow.

Similarly, it might not have enough time left in the day to adjust delivery speed.

This is why you see repeated on this post, too; constantly monitor your campaigns.

Frequently asked questions about low-budget Facebook ads

What is the recommended budget for Facebook Ads?

That depends on your objectives and goals.

A good rule of thumb is to set aside enough funds to cover the cost of optimizing your campaigns.

Also, remember that minimum budget requirements may vary depending on when you choose to get charged for ads.

Use this calculator for a rough estimate.

Is it possible to run successful Facebook Ads on a small budget?

Yes! With a strategic approach, Facebook Ads can be successful regardless of your budget size.

Utilize automated tools and take advantage of advanced techniques such as A/B testing, retargeting campaigns, relevant keywords & hashtags, and reporting tools.

Monitor response and adjust accordingly for optimum performance.

How can I optimize a campaign on a small budget?

Optimizing campaigns on a small budget requires careful planning and execution.

Carefully review performance reports to identify improvement or optimization areas, then adjust accordingly.

Utilize automation tools, track the success of your ads closely, and focus on shorter-term objectives, such as website clicks, rather than long-term goals, such as sales conversions.

Finally, keep an eye out for special offers and discounts from Facebook Ads to help you save money while getting the desired results.

Well, that’s it for this one! Please don’t forget to share if you found the information useful

Pablo Espinal