Lead forms or landing pages
One of the first choices in any paid social campaign is where people respond.
Native lead forms open inside Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, often prefilled with the person's name and email. They are quick to complete, which also means some submissions come from people who tapped without much thought. Adding a qualifying question or two can help.
Landing pages send people to your own site. More people drop off on the way, but those who finish have read about the service first, and the visit can feed retargeting audiences.
Neither is right for every offer. Many advertisers test both. Whichever you use, the form data has to reach your CRM or inbox quickly enough for someone to follow up, which is a setup question as much as an ad question.
The first month of a paid social campaign
- Access and audit. Get access to your Meta business portfolio or LinkedIn Campaign Manager, check pixel or Insight Tag status, and look at any past campaigns.
- Tracking and forms. Set up or fix conversion events, build lead forms or confirm landing pages, and connect form submissions to your CRM or inbox.
- Audiences and creative. Build the first audiences, write copy, prepare a first round of creative, and check whether a special ad category applies.
- Launch and watch. Start with a modest set of ad sets, check delivery and rejections daily at first, and gather your feedback on the first leads.
After that the work moves to the weekly routine: frequency, creative refresh, budget shifts and lead quality checks with you.
What you supply for paid social
- Access to your Meta business portfolio (formerly Business Manager) or LinkedIn Campaign Manager, as a partner or user.
- Admin or editor access to your Facebook Page, Instagram account or LinkedIn Company Page.
- Access to Google Tag Manager or your website, for the pixel and Insight Tag.
- Your logo, brand colors and any photos or video you are happy to use.
- A description of your buyer: role, company size, industry.
- Customer or prospect lists for audiences, if you have consent to use them that way.
- A monthly ad budget.
- Someone to approve ads and give feedback on the leads that come in.
Questions about paid social campaigns
Should I use Meta or LinkedIn?
It depends on your buyer. LinkedIn targets by job title, seniority, company size and industry, which suits offers aimed at specific roles, and clicks usually cost more. Meta reaches business owners in their personal feeds and relies on interests, website visitors and customer lists. Many advertisers test one before adding the other.
What is a special ad category?
Meta requires it for ads about housing, employment, credit or other financial products, and social issues or politics. It restricts targeting by age, gender and ZIP code and limits lookalike audiences. Whether your offer falls in a category is your decision, ideally checked with your own counsel.
Who owns the Facebook Page and ad account?
Your business should. The Page, Instagram account, ad account, pixel and customer lists belong in a Meta business portfolio owned by you, with the provider added as a partner. LinkedIn works the same way: your Company Page and Campaign Manager account, with the provider added as a user.
If your ads, pages or follow-up need attention, describe the problem and get a scoped quote.
Describe the workOther services
Search campaigns
Keywords grouped by intent, ads written for each group, and tracking that shows which searches turned into inquiries.
Landing pages
Pages written and built to match each campaign, on a tool you can edit later, checked on mobile before traffic arrives.
Tracking audits
A check of what your tags count today, what they miss and what they count twice, with a written list of fixes.