There’s a point where books are kind of useless.  When it comes to navigating the world of Facebook ads to drive clients to your doors, well…I’ll wager that there isn’t a book in print that delivers the knowledge one go-round of real-world experience can provide.

So, I just did it. I created a pair of Facebook ads.  They had a cage match.  And the one I thought would win showed up a bleeding, wheezing mess.  (Shows what I know.)

In the interest of any of you dear readers taking the ad-creation plunge, here’s how I went about crafting my Facebook ad campaign.

I created two ads, one centered on the holidays and one centered on the fun experience that’s to be expected with my portrait business.  I figured pushing the holidays would be a big hit, and the other one would get practically no attention. I then chose two images indicative of my body of work to accompany the ads and their copy.

When creating the ad, I set an incredibly modest budget of $10 per day, per ad, and ran the ads during the same five days.  (Read: I’m only losing $100 if I screw this thing up, big time.) I chose the attributes of my target market (gender, region, education-level, marital status, etc…) and let the ads play out.

The experience-based ad got SIX times the clicks of the holiday ad, and resulted in a few inquiries, one of which resulted in a booking.  Not exactly off-the-charts-remarkable, but not an utter failure.

The video below outlines how to make a Facebook ad with screen captures and the like, for those needing a more technical explanation of how to make this work.

So, what did I learn that I can pass on to you?

1. CHOOSE YOUR AD VENUE WISELY.

My potential clients chill on Facebook when they catch a moment of down time.  Yours might be drawn to Google, or on a certain blog or forum, and if that’s the case, please oh please spend your ad money there!  I chose Facebook for my business, and encourage you to choose the venue right for yours.

2. LET YOUR ADS HAVE A CAGE MATCH.  IT’S MORE FUN THAT WAY.

Yes, creating an ad can be a bit dull, BUT checking your ad stats is a little bit fun.  (Way more fun than having just one would be, anyway.)  Just hit up http://www.facebook.com/ads/manage while logged into your Facebook account.  In my case, the ‘lame’ ad got click after click, while the ‘good’ ad languished.  This also helps me to hone in on what appeals to my target market, providing valuable insight for later campaigns and brochures.

3. CREATE A LANDING PAGE FOR YOUR AD.

I got lots of people to click the ad, and not too many conversions.  In part, I’m sure, that’s because my photography isn’t cheap.  But for those Moms that were interested, creating a landing page on my blog that gives them the rundown of who I am, what I do, and what I’d like them to do (Call or e-mail me!) would have been a lot less confusing than clicking on a link that just takes them straight to my website.

While my website is great, those who click ads want to find a purpose for their click quite quickly, and I failed to provide that.  Next time!

4. JUST DO IT, ALREADY.

I couldn’t stand the not-knowing: what if one ad resulted in a year’s worth of bookings?  I HAD to know if this was an effective way to reach the people who value my work.  Turns out it is, but I need to tweak my message and my conversion methods.

I’d love to hear about your adventures in small-time, small-budget advertising, peeps — let’s learn together!