How to advertise
on Facebook.

The Boost button on a post is the quick way in. It's fine for getting a post in front of more people, like an event or an opening. It's not built for getting enquiries, because you have fewer choices about what Meta should find you.

Ads Manager is where the real controls are: what result you want, who sees it, which ads, and what it cost per enquiry. It looks harder than it is. Most of this guide is about the six decisions it asks you to make.

Put the business portfolio and ad account in your business's name, with your own login as an admin. Agencies and staff get access, not ownership. If they leave, you keep the history. The same rule applies to every marketing account.

Then install the Meta pixel on your website, and ideally the Conversions API as well, which sends the same events from your server so fewer go missing. Check in Events Manager that the action you care about, like a quote request or a purchase, actually shows up. If Meta can't see the enquiry, it can't find more people who enquire.

Meta has had six campaign objectives since early 2022: Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App promotion and Sales. The objective tells Meta who to look for. Choose Traffic and it finds people who click. Choose Leads and it looks for people who fill in forms.

For most local businesses that means Leads. For online shops and bookings, Sales. Answer three questions below to see which fits, and what to watch for.

Start with where your customers are. Meta's location setting covers people living in or recently in the area, so a holiday-maker can count as a local. Keep the area to where you'll actually serve.

Beyond that, most small accounts do better with broad targeting than a long list of interests. The ad does the sorting: a first line that says who it's for, like 'For Newcastle homeowners with a slow hot water system', stops the right people and lets the rest scroll past.

Not one ad in five colours. Five different reasons to choose you: the price, the speed, the proof, the person behind it, the problem it solves. Meta shows more of whichever works.

Make them vertical so they fill a phone screen, show the thing or the person rather than a stock photo, and put the point in the first line and the first second of any video. Look at what's working for others in the Meta Ad Library before you start.

• Real photos of your work, your team or your product
• A short video of the problem being fixed
• A customer's words, with their permission
• A plain offer, with the full price if you show one

Financial services ads aimed at Australians, like loans, insurance, mortgages and investments, have needed verified payer and beneficiary details, including an AFSL number, since February 2025. Meta adds a 'Paid for by' line to the ad.

Health businesses have AHPRA's advertising guidelines on top of Meta's: no testimonials about clinical care, and no claims you can't back up. The healthcare marketing hub covers what that means for ads.

Meta's special ad categories, with their tighter targeting for housing, jobs and finance, are enforced for ads reaching the US, Canada and Europe. Advertisers only reaching Australia can opt in or out. This is a marketer's summary, not legal advice.

Give a new campaign two to three weeks before big changes. Meta's system is still learning in that time, and big edits restart the learning.

Then judge it on what came in: enquiries, calls, sales, and what each one cost. Check them against your own records, not just Ads Manager. Likes and reach are nice. They don't pay the rent.