First time Facebook Advertising to US consumers - should we manage ourselves or pay someone to manage for us?

Just do it!

No, seriously, I'd not recommend to talk to someone, because it basically is more a thing of getting to know the interface and the quirks of doing x and y.

I'd neither advise someone to start using a 3rd party if you do have someone who can invest a bit time to learn the platform. However, if serious scaling is a close requirement, then you're forced to either get an in-house team or outsource it.

I usually reach <.5$ CPA and I also usually have best experiences with testing myriad of AD sets. Keep in your mind, always testing:
copy: tone, audience keywords, actionable keywords etc.
image: emotional triggers, quality, visual objects etc.
target audience: try to refine your scope to your buying persona, not your marketing persona

Here are some resources to begin with and set you up on a good track.

This is comprehensive enough to introduce you to most mechanics:
https://adespresso.com/academy/guides/facebook-ads-optimization/

This is a short list of what to optimize for beginners:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/optimize-your-facebook-ads/

If you do not yet know what you want to achieve with the ADs (brand-awareness, retargeting, CTR, other actions or conversion types), this post is listing most types and its use:
http://www.jonloomer.com/2015/05/05/facebook-ads-bidding/

Good Questions - If you have no idea what to do to start with FB ads, i would suggest getting on the phone with someone who knows the layout of the system, and how to access all the specifics of FB's targeting system.

You could spend a lot of money really quickly if you don't know what you're doing. And little friendly guidance can go a lot way - and then if you decide it's not for you to keep trying it, finding a FB ad Manager would be the next best step!

Hope this helps!

There is no need for a third party platform when you start out. Just spend a few hours going through the Facebook Blueprint program and you'll get a good idea on how to set things up. As you run ads, you'll eventually have more questions about the ads and how to get better results. Once you get to that point, look at bringing in an agency to help optimize things and manage your campaigns. Working with experts can help save you time and headaches. Remember you're spending your own money, so spending $100 and losing it because an ad isn't set up correctly is worse that spending $120 and having an agency ensure its being done correctly. Let me know if you need help, our agency (AdvertiseMint.com) specializes in Facebook and Instagram ads. - Brian

Hi,
I agree with both Cory and Brian on this one - you might be able to start off by yourself, but it's very likely that you will need some guidance later on. And I'm not just saying that because I'm managing other people's FB campaigns or do coaching.

We don't know much about your business, or which country it comes from, but the main thing you have to know is the cost of advertising in the US - it's significantly higher than in the rest of the world, reaching the CPMs of $20 or even $30 and more for some very specific audiences (that's $20+ just for getting 1000 impressions).

That means that a 'small scale' campaign in the US can cost up to 10 times more than in South America, Eastern Europe or South East Asia, for example. If you want to do that in the US and run some split-testing to analyse a few audiences, offers and ad designs, the bare minimum will probably be around $1000/month on ad spend.

Talking about agencies, some of them take a fixed fee per month, others charge a percentage from your total ad budget - that can vary from 15% to 30%. So you will have to ask yourself whether it's worth for you to experiment with ads, or if it's better to hire someone to help you, when the cost of a mistake is very high.

If you plan to spend $1000/month, and we can help you improve your ad campaigns by 10% after a single call by helping you with the right setup, audience selection, split-testing and optimisation... you're already in a positive. :)

I've had some great results from helping businesses optimise their Facebook ad campaigns - let me know if you need any help with yours.

Cheers!
Adomas

Just hire a VA to do this and get your approval, before submitting or making changes. Contact me if you need to know how to get a good Virtual Assistant for these tasks. It would be great if we all had endless amounts of time, but in order to be really successful you will have to focus your attention on what you do best.

Best of Luck,
Mike
From the Trenches to the Towers Marketing

The difference between Facebook Ad campaign success and failure is a strategy.

Once you have the right strategy, and creative in place for Ads, there is probably a way you can support the ad campaign on your own internally.

But before you start an ad campaign, you must speak to an expert to see how you should structure a campaign, and what each ad is doing in the campaign.

You also need to look at the landing pages you are sending your ads too. Are they the right type of page? Will they convert? Do you have them setup for testing? Are they mobile responsive? How fast are they loading.

Successful ad campaigns happen when the entire sales funnel, from the landing page through to all followup emails are tightly coordinated with ads.

I hope this helps.

Samuel P.N. Cook