A 3-minute fix to setting up a new Facebook ads account

Daunting.

An empty campaign screen with no ads.
A writer staring at the blank sheet of paper.

Ever feel the psychological weight of getting motivated to take the first step?

Use whatever gets you to take action. My colleague, Dennis, told me his trick for getting in a workout when he didn’t feel like running. Maybe he was tired, it was cold outside, or whatever.

He would simply make this promise to himself– that he just needed to step out the door and run 100 yards. Then he could feel free to turn around and end the workout.

But in the years of doing this, not once has he turned back early. It’s just in getting started.

How to take the first step out the door when it comes to Facebook ads

We do most of our campaign building in Power Editor because of the bulk functions, partner targeting, and other features.

But if you need to get moving, don’t have much time, aren’t feeling particularly “creative” today, or are tired, just do this.

Create one ad that is a page post ad with the most recent post option selected, connection targeted at fans, with the newsfeed placement only.

No need to touch on interest targeting, custom audiences, bidding, ad creative, or any other options.

Put it in its own campaign called 2_engagement at whatever the client’s total daily budget is.

And that’s it.

This one ad will do most of the work for the client with no need for you to ever touch it again. It won’t ever burn out, so long as you or the client posts organically 3-4 times a week.

It can’t “blow” your budget, since it’s targeted at only fans.

The CTR will be nice and high because it’s targeted at the newsfeed, expect 3-5% consistently. So long as you’re doing a good job posting engaging content, you’re not going to get negative feedback.

So long as the client doesn’t have a junk client base gained from “free iPod” contests, you’re essentially retargeting, making sure that your newsfeed reach is 40-50%, instead of a more typical 6-10%.

Ta-da! You’re the winner!

3 minutes of effort, if you take your time, and you have solved the biggest challenge most clients have on Facebook.

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.

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