Course description

If you already post on Facebook and Instagram and want to try paid ads, this course shows you how to run your first campaigns properly, on a budget you can afford to lose while you learn. You'll work out what a customer is worth before you spend anything, set up your accounts safely, build a campaign step by step, and read the results honestly enough to know whether to carry on.

It explains Meta's ads tools by what each feature does, not by exact menu paths, because the buttons move often. It also covers the UK rules that apply to every ad: the CAP Code and the ASA, special ad categories, prices and offers, regulated products, and the cookie rules for tracking pixels, with a consent-gated set-up described in plain words.

There are 10 sections and 52 written lessons, and each one ends with a short, practical exercise. You follow Bimala, who runs a pottery studio in Folkestone, through her first six months of ads: the boosts that brought likes from the wrong places, the budget she nearly typed into the wrong box, the ad Meta rejected, the pixel that fired before consent, the split comparison she nearly called after three days, and the honest review at the end. A second business, a shoe repairer in Ashford, shows a campaign that didn't pay and what to do about it. Every figure is made up and clearly labelled, and every sum adds up. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers and a cheat sheet, plus tools such as a break-even spreadsheet, a set-up and safety checklist, an audience planner, a creative brief, an ad rules checklist, a tracking and consent plan, a results calculator, a split comparison sheet and a campaign plan with a 30-day review.

What you'll learn

• Is paid advertising right for you?: how paid ads work, when they make sense for a small business, the sums to do before you spend, and a learning budget you can afford to lose.
• Setting up safely: boosting a post compared with the full ads tools, the accounts behind your ads, access and two-step verification, billing, VAT on ad spend and fake 'Meta support' scams.
• Campaign structure and objectives: campaigns, ad sets and ads, the six objectives in plain words, budgets and schedules for small spends, the learning phase and a pre-launch check.
• Audiences: location targeting for local businesses, age and broad audiences, custom audiences from your own data, lookalikes, and the privacy limits on targeting.
• Placements and ad formats: feeds, Stories and Reels, image ads, video made on a phone, carousels, shapes, safe zones and previews.
• Ad copy and where the click goes: the first line, headlines and buttons, landing pages, lead forms done properly, and different messages for new, interested and existing customers.
• Ad policies and UK advertising rules: Meta's advertising standards, special ad categories, the CAP Code, prices, offers and prize draws, and regulated products in outline.
• Tracking and consent: what the Meta Pixel and the Conversions API do, UK cookie rules, a consent-gated set-up you can check yourself, events, and what tracking can't see.
• Reading results and trial campaigns: reach, frequency, CPM, CTR, CPC, cost per result and ROAS with worked examples, reading reports honestly, trial campaigns and fair split comparisons.
• Retargeting and your campaign plan: retargeting without being creepy, a six-month review, and a final project: your own first campaign plan and a 30-day review.

Who it's for

Small business owners in the UK who already post on Facebook or Instagram and want to try paid ads for the first time, or who've boosted a few posts and want to do it properly. It's a natural next step after an Instagram or social media course. You don't need any experience of advertising, just a Facebook Page or Instagram professional account and a budget you're comfortable with.

What this course is, and isn't

This is a practical course for small businesses spending small amounts. The rules sections give general information about UK advertising and data protection law, checked in October 2026, and point you to the regulators' own guidance. They aren't legal advice. Money figures are invented examples, and Meta's tools change often, so the course shows you how to check the current details for yourself.

What will I learn?

• Decide whether paid ads make sense for your business, work out your break-even cost per result and set a learning budget you can afford to lose
• Choose between boosting a post and the full ads tools, and set up your accounts, access, two-step verification and billing safely
• Spot fake ‘Meta support’ messages and other scams aimed at advertisers, and know how to report them
• Build a campaign with the right objective, ad sets and ads, a sensible budget and schedule, and a pre-launch check
• Choose audiences by location, interests, your own data and lookalikes, within the privacy limits and special ad category rules
• Make image, video and carousel ads with copy, headlines and buttons that match where the click goes, and set up lead forms properly
• Check every ad against Meta's policies and the CAP Code, including prices, offers, prize draws and regulated products
• Explain the Meta Pixel and the Conversions API, and set up tracking that waits for consent under UK cookie rules
• Read reach, frequency, CPM, CTR, CPC, cost per result and ROAS honestly, and run trial campaigns and fair split comparisons
• Retarget interested people ethically, and plan, launch and review your first campaign over 30 days

Frequently asked questions