On this blog, I answer a lot of questions you have about how to run Facebook ads successfully. I know that there’s so much to cover when it comes to what makes an ad campaign a success… How to create ads that build your audience. How to best get conversions. What type of content to place in your ad.

What I usually come back with when asked these questions is that the answers often depend on your specific business and goals. That’s why I do what I do – no two businesses are exactly alike, so they won’t necessarily get the same results from using the same methods.

Much of the advice I give is information that you can use as a guide to help you find what works in your business. In this post, I’m covering some common time-related questions about Facebook ads, like how to schedule campaigns and the best length of time to run them, because time plays a crucial role in the success of your ads.

IS SCHEDULING FACEBOOK ADS HELPFUL? HOW CAN I DO IT?

You know how you can schedule Pinterest and Facebook posts to show up on your board or page when you want them to? You can do the same with Facebook ads.

The most obvious reason you’d want to schedule your ads is convenience. It can be helpful for businesses that have several ad campaigns going at any given time or during a product/program launch. Instead of coming back to your Ads Manager day after day to set up a new campaign, you can set them up in bulk and then set the scheduled date and time when you need them to run.

Another reason to schedule your ads further in advance is that sometimes ads aren’t approved for one reason or another. If you’re in the middle of a launch and you need to set up time-sensitive ads, and you’re doing so an hour before they need to go live, you may have a stressful situation on your hands. Inevitably, if I’m running behind, the Ads Manager is glitching, approvals by Facebook are taking longer or some other tech nightmare happens. To avoid these situations, schedule your ad campaigns to go live well in advance and marvel at how much smoother things run:)

HOW LONG SHOULD I RUN FACEBOOK ADS?

It’s also common for people to want to know how long to run Facebook ads; should they run for just a few days, or should you spread the budget over a period of several weeks?

Obviously, the answer will first depend on what you’re advertising. If you have a two-day promotion, for example, running an ad for the days preceding (building hype) and the days during your sale is a good idea.

But for non-time-specific ads, what’s the best length of time?

The truth is (and as annoying as it sounds), it really does depend on your goals, what you’re advertising, your industry, and how well the ad market is doing at the moment.

For example: If you have some kind of list builder (free offer) campaign, you certainly can run it indefinitely. You’ll simply need to watch for a decline in performance, at which time you can add new audiences, change out the creative (image and copy), and turn them live again. 

I’d say I run about 50% time-sensitive campaigns for clients and 50% evergreen (running all the time).  Another example: We try to run some kind of engagement campaign in the weeks leading up to a launch. This helps nurture audiences in advance and we find that it translates quite nicely into more sales. The engagement campaigns are often run anywhere from 3-5 weeks, while the launch ads are all time-sensitive (running for no more than 7-10 days).

Learning how to run Facebook ads takes commitment because there are so many facets to a successful ad that vary with your industry, promotion, etc. Conquering the time aspect of a Facebook ad campaign can get you one step closer to an improved and more consistent return on your investment.

Got any questions? Feel free to drop ‘em below in a comment!