A first Meta ads setup for a local business needs four things: a business account you own, working tracking, one simple campaign aimed at your area, and a page that turns clicks into enquiries. You do not need a complex structure to start. This guide shows the order that avoids the usual beginner mistakes.
Set up the accounts in your own name
Meta ads run on Facebook and Instagram and are managed in one place, the Ads Manager. Before you create an ad, get the ownership right. This matters more than any targeting trick.
- Create a business portfolio in Meta Business Suite (it used to be called Business Manager) with your business email.
- Add your Facebook Page and your Instagram account to it.
- Create the ad account inside this portfolio and add your own payment method.
- Turn on two-factor authentication for every person with access.
If an agency or freelancer helps you, give them partner access to your account. Do not let anyone run your ads from an account you cannot see. Then the history, the audiences and the data stay with you if you change helper.
Avoid the blue "Boost post" button for now. It is quick, but it gives you fewer choices than Ads Manager.
Install tracking before you spend
Without tracking you only see clicks. You do not see which ad produced an enquiry. The Meta Pixel is a small piece of code on your website that reports actions such as a sent contact form. The tracking pixel guide explains it in plain words.
- Create a pixel (Meta calls it a dataset) in Events Manager and add it to your website.
- Set up one main event, for example "Lead" when the thank-you page after your form loads.
- Send a test enquiry and check in Events Manager that the event arrives.
Consent: in the EU and the UK a marketing pixel may only load after the visitor has agreed in your cookie banner. That means you will not see every conversion. This is normal and not a fault in your setup.
Build one simple campaign
Start with one campaign, one or two ad sets and three or four ads. More than that splits a small budget too thin.
| Setting | Simple first choice |
|---|---|
| Objective | Leads, with the conversion on your website or an instant form |
| Location | Your town plus the distance you really travel or deliver |
| Audience | Broad within that area, sensible age range, few interest filters |
| Placements | Let Meta choose (Advantage+ placements) |
| Budget | A daily amount you can leave running for a few weeks without stress |
A local area is already a small audience. If you add many interest filters on top, the audience can become too small for the system to work with.
If your ads are about housing, jobs or credit, Meta treats them as a special ad category and limits the targeting. Declare this honestly when you create the campaign.
Write ads that look like your business
Local ads work best when people recognise something real: your van, your shop front, your face, a finished job. Phone photos and short phone videos are fine.
A simple text pattern you can copy:
Line 1 (who and where): Homeowners in [town]: is your boiler due a service?
Line 2 (offer): Fixed-price service by a Gas Safe engineer, appointments this month.
Line 3 (next step): Tap below and send us your postcode. We call you back the same day.
- Make three or four versions with different pictures and first lines.
- Say the price or a "from" price if you can. It filters out people who are not a fit.
- Do not make claims you cannot prove, and follow Meta's advertising rules for your trade.
Send clicks to a page that matches the ad
The ad only creates the click. The page creates the enquiry. Send people to a page that repeats the offer from the ad, loads fast on a phone and has one clear action. The landing page checklist lists what to check.
An instant form inside Facebook or Instagram is an alternative. It is easy to fill in, so you often get more enquiries, but some of them are less serious. Add one qualifying question, such as the postcode or the kind of job, and call back quickly.
What to check each week
Give a new campaign some days before you change anything. Meta needs time to learn, and daily numbers jump around.
- Enquiries: how many came in, and how many were real?
- Cost per enquiry: spend divided by enquiries. For example, if you spend 200 and get 8 enquiries, each one cost 25. Compare that with what a new customer is worth to you.
- Ads: pause the clearly weakest ad and add one new version.
- Reply time: did every enquiry get an answer the same day?
Nobody can honestly promise what your ads will cost or bring in. It depends on your area, your offer and your follow-up. If you would rather not do the setup yourself, Astranode offers an ads setup service by quote: account, tracking, first campaigns and landing page. You pay the ad budget directly to Meta, and no results are promised.
Own your accounts, install tracking first, and start with one simple campaign for your real service area. Judge it by real enquiries and reply fast to each one.