One of the many perks of Facebook Ads is that you get a wide range of ad types that you can choose. They offer anything from simple image ads to slideshow and lead form ads.

Yes, you read that right. You can create a Facebook lead form without leaving your Ad Manager.

In this article, we’ll go over the advantages of using Facebook lead ads and how to set them up.

Why would you need Facebook form ads?

Traditionally, to have a user fill out a lead generation form, you have to take them off Facebook.

This method is great for collecting high-quality leads since only people who are really interested in your brand would go through the hassle of stopping everything they’re doing to fill out your form.

On the flip side, you’ll be missing out on a lot of users who may be mildly interested in your offer. That may be the case for users who are hearing about your brand for the first time. Such users wouldn’t just leave Facebook and fill out your form just because you’ve asked them to do so.

Enter Facebook lead ads

Well, that’s where Facebook lead ads come in to save the day. By setting up a Facebook lead form, you allow users to submit their data, such as their name, email address, phone address or anything else without leaving the platform. They can do it right on the spot, where they encountered your ad, be it their feed, messages, stories, articles or any other placement.

Not only does that reduce friction in the lead generation path, but it also leaves a positive impression on your leads and boosts conversions.

Benefits of Facebook lead ads

Here are some of the benefits of using a Facebook lead form:

Powerful targeting and focused segmentation

Just like other types of Facebook ads, lead form ads allow for highly targeted segmentation. Some of the targeting options you can use include demographics, interests, etc. In other words, the leads you acquire through a Facebook lead form are already qualified for whatever you’re offering.

They’re more functional

These days, users are bombarded with ads everywhere they turn. That’s why you need to find a way to get them to convert and submit their data with as little friction as possible. That’s where Facebook lead ads come into play.

By setting up a Facebook lead form, you avoid disrupting the user experience of your users. After all, they can fill out the form without having to leave Facebook. That makes it less likely for them to get frustrated and give up on completing the lead generation process.

There’s even a handy “auto-fill” feature that automatically fills in the fields with the Facebook information of the users. That makes the experience even more effortless, and you’re guaranteed to get more conversions.

They look great on any device

No matter which device your potential customers are using, they’ll be able to fill out your Facebook lead form seamlessly. That’s because Facebook optimises your ads for any device, and that goes for lead ads.

Easy integration and data collection

Thanks to Facebook’s lead ads, you don’t need to worry about setting up a new landing page or conversion path. Everything you need to generate a new lead can be found on the Facebook Business Manager.

Furthermore, Facebook makes it easy to connect your favourite CRM, be it Hubspot, Salesforce or anything else, thus keeping all your lead data within your loop.

How to set up a Facebook lead form

Before setting up your form ad, make sure that the form fields you’re planning to add are in line with Facebook’s Leads Ads Terms and Advertising Policies.

Now that we got that out of the way, here’s how to create a Facebook lead form:

Open your ads manager

Start by logging in to your ad account and navigating to your Ads Manager. Next, click on ‘Create new campaign’ in the top left.

Choose your objective

In the next screen, select Leads as your ad’s objective then click Continue.

Add your campaign details

Here’s what you have to do in the Campaign section:

1. Start by naming the campaign. We recommend being as detailed as possible here so that you can compare different campaigns later
2. If your ads are related to credit, housing, employment, social issues, politics or elections you have to declare them as such from the Special Ad Category dropdown menu
3. Next, choose whether you’re going to do A/B testing
4. Finally, set your budget for the campaign
5. Once all of that is done, click Continue

Add your ad set details

Think of the Ad Set as the basket holding all your ads for a specific target audience. Here’s what you have to do in the Ad Set section:

1. Give a name to your Ad Set. The name of the ad set should reflect that. An example would be Restaurants – 30-50 – London
2. Select the conversion location. Since we’re going to create a Facebook lead form, choose Instant Forms
3. Next, choose the Facebook business page you’re going to use from the dropdown menu. If you only have one business page, it should already be selected. If it’s your first time running a lead ad on the page, click on View Terms then select I Agree to Terms and Conditions after taking a look
4. Optionally, you can take advantage of the dynamic creative feature. This option allows you to upload a bunch of different creative assets for Facebook to generate the right combination automatically. This can be a viable option if you’re not planning to split test yourself
5. Set the budget for your Ad Set

Identify your target audience

Within the same window, you can select all the traits and characteristics of your target audience. Thanks to Facebook’s powerful segmentation, you can select your audience based on location, interests, demographic information (such as age and gender), behaviour, and connection. Connection refers to how the users have interacted with your brand or business before. You can even exclude people based on certain criteria as to not waste ad spend.

Choose your ad placement

In this section, you can determine where you want your ad to be placed. Facebook includes plenty of placements to choose from, including feeds, stories, in-stream, messages, search and many more. You can also decide whether you want your ads to be displayed on desktop or mobile and on which platform (Facebook, Instagram, audience network).

If this proves to be too much of a hassle to do manually, you can select “Automatic placements.” That option allows Facebook to place your ad automatically based on performance.

How to pick the right placements

When choosing your ad’s placements, your goal should be to determine where your ad performs best. That can be done through one of two ways:

1. Set “automatic placements,” for a specific period of time then analyse the results to see what works and what doesn’t
2. Select the placement that best matches your target audience. Remember that you’re always making guesses at first before testing and optimising. That’s why it’s crucial to know your audience before advertising on Facebook

Once you’ve added all the necessary details for the Ad set, click Continue.

Add your ad details

Here’s what you have to do in the Ad section:

Name your ad

The name of your ad will help you keep track as you test, optimise and create new ads within your ad set.

Select your social accounts

Besides the page you’ve already selected within the ad set section, you can also add an Instagram account.

Select the ad format

You can go with either a single image or a carousel. A single image is self-explanatory. A carousel, on the other hand, can be used to display multiple product offerings or to spark interest by displaying steps or parts of an image split into a carousel.

Upload your media

This is where you can upload your creative assets, which can be images or videos. You can upload up to six versions of your ad to be displayed. That can be great for split testing and determining what works best.

Add your copy

Add your headline, text, description and relevant URL. You can check Facebook’s auto-generated previews to see how your ad would look in different placements.

Pick your Facebook lead form fields

Here’s what you have to do in this section:

• Select the format, copy and style of your Facebook lead form
• You can customise the form fields as you wish to gather the data you need
• Enter the link to your privacy policy page
• Customise the “thank You” screen and add your website link

Remember to only add the fields that you actually need users to fill. The more fields your form has, the less likely users will take the time to fill it out. That’s why we recommend sticking with the bare minimum. Here, it’s essential to find a balance between collecting what you need and achieving higher conversion rates.

Submit Your ad campaign

Once you’ve taken care of all of the above, submit your ad campaign for review. If everything’s in line with Facebook’s terms and conditions, your ad should start running and generating leads in no time.

Need help with Facebook Ads?

Lead ads, just like other types of Facebook ads, can be hard to manage. Fret not, though, as we’re here to help. Book a discovery call today, and we’ll show you how we can take your business to the next level with Facebook ads.

---

Facebook Lead Form – FAQ