Facebook Ads for Entrepreneurs with Small Budgets

It can be frustrating to read articles about advertising on Facebook for “only” $500 or $1000 per month. If you’re an entrepreneur with a small budget, that might be your marketing budget for the entire year!

The good news is you DON’T have to have a big budget to get results with Facebook ads.

This article will offer up five proven strategies you can use today to drive traffic and sales with a very small investment!

#1  Show ads to your own fans first

The people who already know you and trust you are most likely to buy from you. This is why it’s always a good idea to promote your offers to your own fan base first.

However, not all your fans will be ideal candidates for your offer. This is where audience targeting comes in so handy.

Think about which segment of your fan base would be most interested in what you’re promoting, and then customize your targeting based on that. For instance, if your offer is specifically related to pregnancy, you can probably exclude men from your ad audience!

#2  Create a custom audience to reach people you already know

What if you want your ads to reach your current customers, but you’re not sure if they’re on Facebook?

This is where custom audiences come in. Facebook allows you to upload your mailing list and directly target those customers.

This is a fantastic way to target people who you KNOW are interested in what you have to offer!

To learn more about creating your own custom audience, you can check out Facebook’s help article. 

#3  Use my blog post trick!

 A few months ago, my team and I discovered a great way to target my blog readers who have already shown an interest in a certain topic. Here’s how:

Write a new blog post (or identify an old one) that’s directly related to whatever you’re offering in your ad. In my case, we identified an older post I had written about Periscope.

We then installed a Facebook pixel (It’s not hard…Click here to learn how!) on that page. This now meant we could identify who visited that page, and then show my ad to them (for my Periscope Jumpstart Guide).

I was also able to tell Facebook to target users who were very similar to those who read my post (using a “lookalike audience”), meaning I could reach a MUCH larger audience.

The result? An almost 19% cost reduction!

Want to try it out yourself? I’ll walk you through it in my post How To Turn a GOOD Blog Post Into A GREAT Facebook Ads Audience.

#4  Boost your most popular posts

I see it all the time: page owners who try to boost unsuccessful page posts to get more visibility. And while I understand the sentiment behind this strategy it’s rarely effective.

This is because a post that’s doesn’t get much reach organically is unlikely to be successful when it’s boosted!

This is why I recommend only “boosting” posts that have already proven popular, both in terms of clicks and conversions.

Simply go to your Facebook Insights, click on “Reach” to bump up your most popular posts from the past 90 days, and then click “Boost Post” next to any of your posts!

#5  Optimize your ads for clicks and conversions

Whether you’re spending $1 on ads or $100, you want to make sure that money is spent as effectively as possible. This means making sure your ads are optimized for both click-throughs (to your site, Facebook page, etc.) and for conversions.

Some of my best tips for doing this include:

• Sending traffic to a dedicated landing. Do NOT send your Facebook ads traffic to your home page! The goal is to capture their email address, so make sure your landing page promotes a free offer in exchange for their email.

• Place a Facebook pixel on your site to help you report conversions (i.e., to know which ads are actually working, and which aren’t!).

• Choose your ad image carefully: Research suggests that using an image of a smiling woman can increase clicks and conversions. Other tips include using bright colors, close-up shots and surprising images that users will be likely to click on.

• Test different versions of your ads. You can never really tell how an ad is going to perform until you run it. Test different color palettes, calls to action, headlines, etc.

Final thoughts

You don’t have to have a ton of money to succeed with Facebook ads. The trick is to create the most effective ad possible, then to show it to the people who are most likely to click/buy. The five tips above should help you accomplish this!

Looking for more tips for your Facebook ads? These should help:

15 Simple But Powerful Ways To Optimize Your Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads Success Blueprint

Do you use Facebook ads? Are you getting results on a small budget? Share below!

About Author

Kim Garst

Kim Garst is a renowned marketing strategist and speaker who is trailblazing the use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing. With over 30 years of experience as an online entrepreneur, Kim helps entrepreneurs grow their business and authority online by using AI technology. She is leading the way with proven AI frameworks that help entrepreneurs build authority in their space.

She is keynote speaker and an international best-selling author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media.

Named by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer, Kim is well-known for her skill to simplify complex technology and make the use of AI understandable for business growth. Her relatable, actionable advice helps guide new entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI to succeed in digital marketing. Kim is leading the way in combining human and technological skills to create a new model for AI-powered marketing.

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