Facebook and Instagram ads
for tradies.

On Google, the customer comes to you: the drain's blocked, they search, you show up. On Facebook and Instagram, you're interrupting someone watching their cousin's holiday videos. So the ad has to make them think 'we've been meaning to do that', not 'I need someone right now'.

That makes social ads a poor fit for burst pipes and a good fit for jobs people put off: the deck that's gone grey, the bathroom from 1987, the downlights that still use halogen globes, the back yard nobody uses. For urgent work, start with Google Ads for tradies instead.

The ads that tend to work for trades look like the business: a before and after of a real job, the suburb named, the person who did it. 'New merbau deck, Terrigal, done in four days' says more than any slogan, and locals recognise the street.

Keep it honest. The ACCC says ads must create an accurate overall impression, and that covers images and descriptions of what's offered. So no heavily edited 'after' shots and no photos of someone else's work. Meta's best-known before-and-after restriction sits in its personal health and appearance policy, where the example is weight loss. A bathroom renovation isn't what that rule is about, but the consumer law still is.

Ask the customer before you post their place, and keep house numbers, faces and number plates out of the frame. It's their home, and a customer who said yes is more likely to share the post.

A clear offer gives a scroller a reason to stop. Fixed-price packages work well for small jobs because they answer the cost question up front: 'Six LED downlights supplied and installed, one price, GST included.' If you show a price, show the single total price, at least as prominently as any part of it.

'Free quote' is fine if it's free. If there's a call-out fee or a minimum, the ACCC says fine print can't conflict with the overall message. Booking windows can work too ('measure and quote in Umina and Woy Woy this fortnight'), as long as they're true. Made-up deadlines are the kind of thing customers remember.

Customer words make strong ads, within the ACCC's rules on reviews and testimonials: real words from real customers, used with permission, and no hiding the bad ones elsewhere.

NSW wants the licensee's name or registered business name, the licence number with its category, and a business phone number in advertising, and names internet ads. That covers residential building work over $5,000, and specialist work like electrical, plumbing, gas fitting and air conditioning at any value.

Queensland is the most specific about social media. The QBCC lists websites, social media pages and online directories as advertising. Ads need the name you're licensed under, a statement that you're licensed under the QBCC Act, and the number, legible and reasonably prominent; in video, no less audible and clear than the rest. Unlicensed handymen advertising building work must state what they can't do: 'Cannot perform building work valued in excess of $3,300', or $0 for work that always needs a licence, like plumbing and gas fitting.

In practice, put the line in the ad image or the primary text, and on your Page's About section. Other states have their own rules: the advertising rules page for tradies has a checker by state and trade.

Meta's call ads add a 'Call now' button that rings your business phone. The audience has to be 18 or over, and the number must be from the same country as the people seeing it. Great when someone answers. A waste when the phone's in the ute.

Instant forms let people enquire without leaving Facebook, with their details filled in from their account. The default 'More volume' form is quick to submit; 'Higher intent' adds a review step before it sends, which cuts down accidental taps. Conditional questions can screen out jobs you don't do, and Meta requires a link to your privacy policy on the form.

The catch with forms is speed. Someone who tapped a form at 7pm has half forgotten by the next afternoon. If you can't call back within the hour, a page on your own website often does more of the selling first. The missed calls page covers the call-back side. The planner below picks a route from how you work.

Meta's housing special ad category, which limits targeting, is required in the US, Canada and Europe and optional elsewhere, including Australia. So location targeting stays available. Set it to where you'll actually drive, not the whole state.

Meta's system learns who to show your ad to from results. An ad set generally needs about 50 optimisation events in seven days to finish its learning phase, and big edits restart it. Most tradie budgets won't get there on leads, and that's fine. Keep one ad set for one area, leave it alone for a fortnight, and judge it on jobs over a month. Splitting $150 a week across six suburbs means none of them learns anything.

Before you start, look up local competitors in Meta's Ad Library. It shows the ads any Page is running, so you can see what's already out there and do something different.

Likes and comments are nice. They don't pay for the ute. Record every lead that came from Facebook or Instagram, whether it became a quote, and whether the quote became a job. A spreadsheet with four columns will do.

After a month, divide what you spent by the jobs won. Compare that with what a job makes you, using the trades budget calculator. Then decide: more, less, or a different offer.