Lead Generation in Facebook Ads: 6 Steps to Run Your Campaign

Lead generation in Facebook Ads should be a critical part of any advertiser’s digital marketing strategy this year.

The social networking site’s popularity, alongside its Ad Manager’s streamlined functions, make it the perfect pay-per-click (PPC) platform for high-quality leads generation.

Given the effectiveness of this paid leverage, you might be on the lookout for tips on running expert PPC campaigns for lead generation with this social platform right now.

Looking to optimize your ads and take them to the next level? Then read this guide to discover industry insights on lead generation campaigns with Facebook Ads Manager today.

What is lead generation in Facebook Ads?

Traditionally, lead generation is the practice of interacting with potential customers to collect their information and populate a new customer database. When this process is done online, users are often punted from one platform to another – just to be able to fill out a form for some brand’s digital marketing purposes.

Lead generation on Facebook, on the other hand, makes the overall process of form completion easier for customers, and more efficient for advertisers. The platform’s Ads Manager function allows you to connect with customers using streamlined platform ads, thus driving better info generation performance in just a few taps.

How do Facebook Lead Ads work?

Essentially, Facebook lead ads are promoted forms. You pay to have fillable user information forms promoted to potential customers, in order to capture these users’ pertinent information for your company’s digital marketing purposes.

When a user clicks on this type of ad, they receive a streamlined survey form which they can easily fill up and submit. This lead generation form allows marketers like you to connect with customers while promoting your business, all at the same time.

Why use Facebook Ads for lead generation?

Given a broad idea of how lead generation works on Facebook Ads Manager, you might be wondering why it’s such a highly recommended tool for digital marketers. Here are a few reasons why you should consider this social networking site for your brand’s lead generation needs:

• Larger audience. Facebook is one of the most popular social networks in the world, with a massive and exciting potential customer pool of 2.963 billion monthly active users all around the globe.
• Precise targeting. At the same time, however, the app’s advertising functionality allows for incredibly precise audience targeting based on interests, demographics, location and more.
• Optimized for mobile. Facebook’s brand promotion functions are optimized for mobile thanks to their system’s responsive design. They also offer pre-built campaign templates, which are optimized for mobile and compatible with desktop as well.
• Streamlined UX. The social networking site’s ad forms, which you’ll learn more about in the following section, can be filled by users without having to redirect them to another landing page. This streamlines their user experience (UX) and avoids disruption.
• Simplified data collection. Once a user submits their pertinent information through the ad collection form, you’ll be able to collate their data right away through an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
• Cost-effective process. Overall, Facebook’s Ad Manager reflects the highest return on investment (ROI) versus other social media companies, making it a powerful tool for promoting your brand on the internet today.

From being a useful lead generation tool, to being a cost-effective advertising solution, Facebook offers much for marketers who are interested in effective info collection today. So make sure to read on to discover the most important steps to running a successful campaign for generating high-quality leads this year.

How to run a Facebook campaign for high-quality leads

With the help of Facebook’s Ads Manager, you can create an effective paid promotions campaign that’ll garner high-quality leads for your online business. So here’s what you’ve been waiting for: the six steps that you need take to run a successful leads campaign using the network’s own Ads Manager today:

1. Draft an Instant Form for your ad campaign.

   The first thing you have to do to run a successful campaign is to draft your brand’s Instant Form on Ads Manager. Do this by going to your company’s Facebook page and clicking the “Promote” button. Then, click “Get More Leads” to generate a window for making your Instant Form.

   An Instant Form is a Facebook ad functionality that allows brands to collect contact information from users, without requiring them to leave the app. Pertinent user info like names, email addresses, and phone numbers may be prefilled by the platform if the info is already provided, making it easier for users to submit the Instant Form.

   You can still include other custom questions in the new ad form to better reach your business goals. Just remember to review the questions you plan on asking your potential customers so that they follow the site’s Lead Ads Terms and Advertising Standards.

2. Customize your questionnaire.

   The next thing you might want to do is to customize your brand’s questionnaire. If you plan on asking custom questions, click the “Add Question +” button on the Instant Form builder, and then input your additional questions.

   Just remember to avoid overwhelming your audience with too many custom questions. When you ask for a lot of things on a questionnaire, you risk overwhelming potential customers and turning them off from your brand. Stick to a simple and user-friendly form design to make it easier for users to submit their personal info.

   After you add your custom questions, review your questionnaire one last time before clicking the “Next” button to complete the Instant Form.

3. Upload your ad creatives.

   Once you finish your Instant Form, you can upload your ad creatives. These ad creatives can come in the form of visuals, like a unique photo or video that’ll appear alongside your paid promo.

   But remember: your creatives should be engaging and relevant to your business goals. Your photos or videos should entice people to click on your ad. After all,  they should also clearly communicate your intent in having users fill out a questionnaire in the first place. Otherwise, these might just serve as a visual distraction for potential customers, thus stopping them from filling it out at all.

4. Collect and analyze your results.

   After you create and finalize your ad’s form, click the “Promote” button to run your ad today. This will allow users to view and fill up your questionnaire online.

   Once your online customers submit their user info, you can collect and analyze these results by downloading their data. You can either download leads data directly from Ads Manager, or you can ask for it through the site’s API.

   You can also access it through your integrated CRM automation – which you can learn more about in the coming sections of this guide.

5. Nurture your leads.

   Your new ad journey shouldn’t stop after you collect a user’s information. If you really want to run a winning campaign with your high-quality leads, then you need to nurture your customers’ trust with quick and relevant follow-up actions.

   A Harvard Business Review study found that brands who follow a customer up within the hour after they fill up a form are seven times more likely to secure a qualified lead. By following up with relevant business information, asking for feedback, or otherwise providing value for your users, you develop more user trust – thus making customers more invested in your brand today.

6. Test and optimize for your next campaign.

   The last step you can take to run a high-quality campaign is to test and optimize your ad for its next iteration.

A good digital marketer can drive an excellent online advertising campaign by A/B testing and fine-tuning their various ad elements. By running a test to compare cost per lead and cost per conversion, you can discover pain points in your campaign and optimize accordingly to meet your business goals in the long run.

Tips for different types of lead generation strategy

Now that you’re equipped with a basic understanding of running a successful info collection campaign, you can level up your expertise with different tips for ad campaign strategy. Check out these four collections of tips to drive digital success for your marketing execution right now:

1. Retarget strategies for lead generation.

   The first tip you can try to apply is to practice new retargeting strategies for your digital marketing.

   Retargeting is a form of PPC wherein you target ads towards users who’ve already checked your brand out in some way. Retargeted audiences are better primed for conversion than new audiences; these are users who have interacted with your brand before, and are therefore more likely to convert in this followed up circumstance.

   To set up Facebook retargeting for previously collected leads, first get a list of your customers’ contact information from your CRM. Then, go to your Ads Manager and create a new Custom Audience by uploading this customer list. Once you’ve created this Custom Audience, Facebook will process your data list and allow you to set up a new campaign for this retargeted audience.

2. Scale your lead generation campaigns.

   The next expert tip you can try to drive brand promotion wins on this social media platform is to scale your current campaign’s budget or target audience.

   When scaling a budget, you want to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck while extending the run of your current campaign. The great thing about using Facebook for advertising is that it has the Advantage Campaign Budget function, which allows you to automatically adjust your campaign’s budget for cost-effective budget scaling.

   You can also utilize the site’s Advantage Detailed Targeting to effectively scale your campaign’s audience targeting. With this automated function, you can use the social networking site’s own algorithm to expand targeting parameters for an ad. Just make sure to tick the “Advanced Detailed Targeting” box when setting up your new ad, to automatically optimize your target audience.

3. Explore advanced lead generation strategies.

   Want to explore even more forms of advanced information collection? Try your hand at lookalike audience targeting instead.

   A Lookalike Audience on Ads Manager is a Facebook-generated list of audience members that is modeled off your past campaigns’ most valuable customers. With this function, you can automatically target users who have similar interests, demographics, or behaviors as your best customers. This offers you an entirely new audience pool of qualified leads for your brand’s business needs today.

4. Troubleshoot common lead generation problems.

   The last Facecbook best practice you should enact is to observe and troubleshoot common lead generation problems before they happen in the first place.

   One mistake that marketers make, for example, is forgetting to include an intro section or completion screen in an ad. An ad intro section lets you introduce your brand, thus setting expectations for a helpful UX. A completion screen, on the other hand, lets you entice customers towards another action, thus continuing your connection with them even after a form is filled.

Without an intro section or completion screen, your user’s questionnaire experience will be incomplete, thus creating a more confusing submission experience for potential customers on your forms. So always remember to strategize your ad wisely and troubleshoot problems ahead of time for the best lead ad ever.

How to automate Facebook leads for better conversions

Remember how integrated CRM automation was mentioned in earlier sections of this guide? This is where you’ll gain more insights into automating your leads for better conversions today.

Once you collect a sizable user data list from your lead generation campaign, you’ll want to effectively  save and manage these customers’ important info. You can do this by either manually downloading and uploading data to a CRM tool, or by using Facebook’s available CRM system integrations for ads. Here’s how you can leverage this site’s specific ad functionality:

• Utilize direct integrations. A direct CRM systems integration allows you to connect your every Facebook ad campaign with Meta’s own CRM software.
• Leverage third-party integrations. Third-party integrations are an ideal option when direct integrations aren’t suitable for your business. With this integration type, you can use another system, typically Zapier, to connect a new leads list to a dedicated CRM system.
• Customize your own CRM. If you would prefer a custom-built system, then you can go ahead and create your own CRM tool to automate your leads, with the platform’s Webhooks and Graph API.
• Hire a Facebook Marketing Partner. If you can’t connect your CRM or leverage any of the options above, get help from a Facebook Marketing Partner instead. These trusted and vetted partners build solutions that also help you scale and optimize your new campaign.
• Explore AI CRM software. Automation is the future of better digital marketing work, and artificial intelligence (AI) software is designed to do just that. Try exploring AI CRM software to serve as a tool for boosting info collection and conversion for your brand.
• Have experts manage your systems. If all else fails, don’t hesitate to have experts manage your marketing automation for better conversions. With an expert hand, you’ll definitely have a better handle at leveraging systems to automate collection, thus prompting better conversions for your business in the long run.

Constant trial and error

At the end of the day, it’s always good to remember how great it is to learn and grow through trial and error. If you’re hoping to manage, optimize, and report on campaigns in the best possible ways, you need to be open to testing out new things for your business. So improve your every collection campaign by testing and experimenting on your strategies today.

Key takeaways

Take your advertising to the next level by running campaigns that work for your brand this year. Bring these key takeaways with you as you pursue a new lead generation journey on the most popular social media site to date today:

• Go for tools that streamline everything. From Facebook’s Ads Manager to the rest of Meta’s Business Suite, make the most out of a network’s streamlining tools to ensure the smoothest process possible for your user info collection needs.
• Continue past the generation phase. Always remember to nurture your leads to ensure these customers actually convert for your brand too.
• Leverage expert PPC services. Don’t be afraid to ask for expert help when you need it – especially if you want to drive wins for your brand’s digital marketing in the long run.

If you have any other questions, send us a message via our Facebook, X, and LinkedIn accounts. Let’s chat.

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