This article will show you how to use the New Client Finder feature to run ads on Facebook and Instagram, helping you attract new clients by using a list of your top-spending clients in Phorest paired with Meta's ad algorithm.
Feature in Testing
This feature is currently in testing but will be available very soon. If you're interested in becoming a Phorest feature tester, click here.
Latest Version of Phorest Required
This feature requires Phorest version 8.4.25 or higher. You can get the latest version here on our Downloads page.
In this article
Creating an Ad Campaign
Go to Marketing > Manage my ads.
First time Using Ads Manager?
If this is your first time managing ads through Phorest, you'll be prompted to Connect to Facebook before continuing. Check out this guide if you need help getting connected.
Click Create New Ad to get started.
When creating your ad campaign, you'll need to update each of the four sections highlighted below.
Your campaign will save as a draft after you complete each section, so you can start and return to it later if you need to.
Campaign Name
Give your campaign a name. The name will appear on your Ads Manager page on Facebook, and each campaign created in Phorest will automatically have Phorest added to the end of the campaign name.
Ad Placement
Next, choose whether you'd like to place your ad on Facebook, Instagram, or both.
Budget and Duration
The budget is the amount you want to or are willing to spend. Your ad will never cost you more than the budget you set.
Set your ad campaign budget by choosing the amount you would like to spend per day under Daily Budget and how many days you would like your ad campaign to run under Duration.
Typically with Meta, the higher your budget, the larger your audience. However, this varies depending on your business size, location, audience, etc. If you want to run a small-budget ad, to begin with, here's a Meta article on best practices for minimum budgets.
For more information on how Meta charges for ads, please read this Meta help article.
The duration you set is completely up to you. However, it's worth mentioning that Meta's ad approval time is included in this duration. For example, if you choose a 3-day duration and Meta takes 1 day to approve, then your campaign will run for the remaining 2 days. Please see here for more information on Meta's ad review process.
The minimum spend per day is set by Meta/Facebook.
Content
Finally, create your Ad Content by uploading an Ad Image, then add your Primary Text and Headline, and click Save to finish.
When adding an image, upload any suitable image from your computer.
Square images (at a 1:1 ratio) are recommended for Facebook and Instagram feeds.
You can also use image editing software to customize your image before uploading it. Canva is a popular image editing software, for example.
You can find some information from Meta about best practices when designing your ad here. You can also find Meta's recommended image size and format here.
Reviewing and Submitting your Ad Campaign
Once you've finished setting up your campaign, click the Review and Submit button to see a final overview of the campaign, then click the Submit for Approval button once you're ready to submit the ad.
After submitting, your campaign will go to Meta for approval, and you'll receive an email notification from Meta to the email address associated with your Facebook business account once it has been approved. According to Meta, most ads are approved in 24 hours.
You can also return to the Review Ad overview screen later if you want, by using the Ads Manager dashboard (see below).
Ad Campaign Performance & Analytics
You can review the current status and performance of each ad campaign that you create in the Ads Manager dashboard (found under Marketing > Manage my ads).
To see how an ad is doing, click on the Name of the ad.
You'll then be able to see how the ad has performed, the date(s) the ad is/was running for, along with who created the ad.
Hover your mouse over the question mark symbol beside a stat to find out more information about that stat.
Click Meta Ad Manager to view the ad campaign within the Facebook/Meta Ad Manager, or click Review Ad to see the details of the ad settings when it was created and what it looks like.
You can also click End Ad to end the ad before the date it is scheduled to end.
FAQs
Can my ad campaign appear in people's Stories or Reels?
Currently, this is not possible. However, it is something we are hoping to implement in the future.
Can I run an ad to sell a product or a gift card online?
The New Client Finder feature is intended to attract new client appointment bookings into your business, and the call to action button in the ad will be related to booking an appointment, so advertising products or gift cards through it is not currently possible.
Can I run an ad for my existing clients?
Not right now, but we might make this possible in the future.
How does audience targeting work?
All of your existing client list in Phorest is excluded from targeting, so you don't waste your ad budget on people who are already clients.
We'll auto-target clients who are the most similar to your current top-spending clients.
I am a multi-location business. How does the New Client Finder work for me?
When creating your audience, your existing client list in Phorest from all of your locations combined is excluded from targeting, so you don't waste your budget on people who are already clients of your business.
Your ad campaigns will be targeted to people who are similar to the top-spending clients in the location you're logged into when you create the ad campaign. This means if you have very different client bases between your locations, you'll need to ensure to log into the correct location to target the right audience.
The targeted audience will also be directed to the Online Booking link for the location that you're logged into when you create the ad. However, if someone from the targeted audience changes to another location and books into another location, that booking will still be connected to and tracked on the ad campaign.