GuideMarketing
An introduction to Facebook advertising
A basic introduction to Facebook advertising. Learn how it works, why it is effective and how to get started.
Reviewed by Viktor Åkerlund
Marketing specialist at Skale4 min readUpdated
Short answer
Facebook ads are paid posts that appear in the feed, in Reels and in Stories on Facebook and Instagram. Their strength is the audience: you can target by age, location, interests and behaviour, or reach people who resemble your customers. Every campaign has an objective, such as traffic or sales, and is tracked in Ads Manager.
We have all scrolled through our Facebook feeds, looking at holiday photos, memes and the latest viral videos. Yet among all that personal content, one thing consistently catches our eye: Facebook ads.
Facebook advertising is a powerful tool that lets businesses of every size show their campaigns, products or services to a targeted audience across the wide Meta ecosystem. With billions of active users every month, it is easy to see why the platform is a game changer for businesses worldwide.
An introduction to Facebook advertising
Before we look at how to create and manage Facebook ads, let’s cover the basics of how they work.
Facebook ads are paid promotional messages from businesses, placed among the regular (or organic) content in your news feed. To run them, advertisers create campaigns with specific goals (called objectives) and build ads within those campaigns to help reach them.
For example, a traffic campaign on Facebook can increase the number of visits to a business’s website. It would start with ads built from images, video or other content, aimed at a specific audience, to send as many users as possible to the site.
The strength of Facebook ads lies in their targeting. When setting up an ad, advertisers can choose who sees their message based on a wide range of factors:
Demographics
Age, gender, job title and more.
Location
Ads can be shown to users in specific cities, states or countries.
Interests
Based on what users share on their timelines, the apps they use, the ads they click and more.
Behaviours
Activities users carry out on or off Facebook, drawn from Facebook’s partner data.
Lookalike audiences
Facebook can target users who resemble your known customers, based on their activity and interests.
Custom audiences
These are lists of known contacts (found via email address, phone number or the Facebook pixel). Facebook then shows ads to the users linked to those contacts.
Once an ad is set up and you have followed Facebook’s advertising guidelines, Facebook’s algorithm works out the best audience members based on the advertiser’s criteria and how relevant the ad is likely to be to each individual user. Ads are then placed in a user’s Facebook news feed, Instagram feed, Reels or even Stories, blending into their browsing experience and appearing as sponsored ads on Facebook.
If all goes well, the audience clicks the ad, makes a purchase on the website and becomes a loyal customer.
Et voilà!
That is Facebook advertising in a nutshell.
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Are Facebook ads still worth it?
Do Facebook ads still work? Facebook remains a dominant force, even in 2026.
There are other platforms and tools for reaching an audience through online advertising (Google Ads, TikTok, LinkedIn and so on), but Facebook ads offer a mix of sophistication, scale and precision that few can match.
Here are some reasons why Facebook ads are still worth the investment:
An unmatched user base
Even as new social platforms appear, Facebook holds its place: 69% of internet users in Sweden use Facebook and 45% use it daily (Svenskarna och internet 2026, the annual Swedish internet usage survey).
Advanced audience targeting
Over the years, Facebook’s ad targeting has only become more refined. With Instagram integrated and data drawn from across Meta’s family of products, advertisers can target by specific demographics, interests, behaviours and more.
A variety of formats
Facebook has consistently shown it can adapt to changing user behaviour and preferences. From engaging video ads to shoppable posts, there are ad formats to suit different marketing goals and audience preferences.
E-commerce solutions
The line between social media and e-commerce has blurred considerably. With features such as Facebook Shops and seamless integration with e-commerce platforms, businesses can not only advertise but also make direct sales on the platform.
Robust analytics
Facebook Ads Manager provides detailed insight into ad performance, audience engagement and conversion tracking. In a world where data-driven decisions are essential, this depth of metrics lets businesses keep optimising their strategies.
Conclusion
With so many businesses competing for attention in a crowded digital space, not using a tool as potent as Facebook ads can mean ignoring a huge source of potential revenue and new customers.
With Facebook and Instagram in the same ad tool, you can’t afford to miss what Meta has to offer.
Want to see what it looks like in practice? 08 Pool & Entreprenad received over 45 enquiries a month on a daily budget of just SEK 200.
FAQ
Good to know.
Where do Facebook ads appear?
In the Facebook feed, the Instagram feed, Reels and Stories, where they appear as sponsored posts among regular content.
Who can you target the ads at?
By demographics (age, gender, job title), location, interests and behaviours. You can also target lookalike audiences, who resemble your customers, and custom audiences made up of known contacts.
How do you track results?
In Facebook Ads Manager, which shows ad performance, engagement and conversions, so campaigns can be improved continuously.
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