The very first thing you're asked to select when you create a Facebook ad is your campaign objective. The objective is the goal that you want your ad to achieve. Sure, you're looking to scale your business sales, but that's not how digital marketing works right out of the gate. You must first build a following, then grow leads, nurture those new subscribers, then make an offer.

Select the right campaign objective for the goal you're trying to reach in that moment

Have I selected the right campaign objective for my ad?

When you set up your Facebook Ad, the first thing you’re asked to do is to pick your marketing objective.

Think carefully about what you want your ad to achieve. Is it a direct conversion that you want, or are you trying to build an audience? Your campaign is unlikely to reach the right people unless you get this step right.

For example, if you want to get more social proof on one of your Facebook posts, don’t choose Traffic as your objective. Choose Engagement. Engagement means that Facebook will serve up your ad to the people in your audience who are more likely to like, comment, or share your post.

Why would you want more social proof on a post?

Social proof gives you the “bandwagon effect” of marketing. That means your content has been validated by others, which makes more people perk up and pay attention to what you’re doing.

What if you’re past that point though, and you’re ready to send people to your website to sign up for one of your free offers? That depends. First of all, are you sending people to a custom audience of people who have interacted with you before? Or are you serving these ads to a freezing cold audience who has no idea you even exist yet?

If you’re sending this to a large, cold audience, go ahead and choose the Conversion objective. Just remember that you need your Standard Event Code that’s installed on your thank you page to match the conversion you’re going for. That means if you’ve installed the Lead event on your thank you page, then you must choose the Lead conversion at the ad set level to match.

Let’s say that your audience is actually smaller and more warmed up to you, such as website visitors over the last 90 days. You may want to try the Traffic objective instead. These people are not perfect strangers to you anymore, so you don’t necessarily want Facebook to scrutinize who they’ll serve your ads to within your warm audience. You want everyone to see it.

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