Paid ads: Meta, Google and TikTok

Plan, track, launch and test paid campaigns on Meta, Google and TikTok at a size you can measure and afford to learn from.

Most small businesses start paid ads the same way. They boost a post, pick an interest or two, set a budget, and stop a few weeks later because it did not seem to work. Nobody can say whether the targeting, the creative, the tracking or the budget was at fault, so they have nothing to apply next time. This course explains how Meta, Google and TikTok decide who sees your ad and what you pay. It then covers objectives, tracking, audiences, creative, each platform's setup, budgets, testing and the advertising rules for financial products. You finish with a launched, tracked test campaign and a written plan for what to change next.

What you'll be able to do

• Explain how Google's Ad Rank and Meta's total value decide which ad shows and what it costs
• Plan a campaign structure with an objective and conversion that match a business goal
• Install and test the Meta Pixel, Google tag or TikTok Pixel, adding server-side events where you can
• Write an audience plan and a set of search, feed and video ads for one offer
• Build a Google Search campaign with keyword groups, match types and negative keywords
• Set a test budget and bid strategy based on what a customer is worth to the business
• Run a fair ad test, read the results and decide what to scale
• Check financial product ads against platform policies and Singapore rules

Syllabus

Module 1: Understand how the ad auction picks a winner

How Meta, Google and TikTok choose which ad to show and what it costs, based on what each platform publishes. You will see why a relevant ad can beat a bigger budget.

• 1.1 The highest bid does not always win
• 1.2 What you pay and why it moves
• 1.3 TikTok and other platforms work on the same idea
• 1.4 Audit three live ads with auction eyes

Module 2: Pick the right objective and structure your campaigns

Pick the campaign objective that fits the result you want. Then set up campaigns, ad sets or ad groups, and ads so you can see what is working.

• 2.1 The objective tells the platform what to find
• 2.2 Campaigns, ad sets and ads: who controls what
• 2.3 Keep the structure simple enough to read
• 2.4 Plan your account structure

Module 3: Track conversions before you spend

Install the Meta Pixel, the Google tag and the TikTok Pixel, add server-side events, and check that real conversions are being counted before you spend any money.

• 3.1 What a pixel does and why the auction needs it
• 3.2 Server-side events and first-party matching
• 3.3 Consent, privacy and the PDPA
• 3.4 Install and test your tracking

Module 4: Reach the right people with audiences and targeting

Choose between broad targeting, interests, keywords, custom audiences and lookalikes, and see how much of the targeting the platforms now do for you.

• 4.1 Intent versus interruption: search and social target differently
• 4.2 Broad targeting and why platforms now push it
• 4.3 Custom audiences, lookalikes and retargeting
• 4.4 Write your audience plan

Module 5: Make ads people stop for and act on

Write ad creative for search, feed and short video that matches what your buyer wants, makes one clear offer and sends people to a page that keeps the promise.

• 5.1 Ads that look like the feed, not like ads
• 5.2 Search ad text that matches what people typed
• 5.3 One offer, one proof, one action
• 5.4 The landing page finishes the ad's job
• 5.5 Draft six ads for one offer

Module 6: Set up and run ads on Meta and TikTok

You will build a campaign in Meta Ads Manager and TikTok Ads Manager, from choosing the objective to launch. You will also choose placements and learn the setup mistakes that most often waste a first budget.

• 6.1 Accounts, pages and permissions done properly
• 6.2 Build a Meta campaign from objective to ad
• 6.3 TikTok ads: what changes and what does not
• 6.4 Mistakes that waste a first budget
• 6.5 Build your first social campaign

Module 7: Win the searches where buyers are ready to act

You will research keywords, pick match types, write a negative keyword list and build a Search campaign. Then you will decide whether Performance Max is worth adding.

• 7.1 Find the keywords buyers actually type
• 7.2 Match types and negative keywords control where you show
• 7.3 Build a Search campaign that matches ads to keywords
• 7.4 Performance Max: what it does and when to use it
• 7.5 Plan your Search campaign

Module 8: Set budgets, choose bids and survive the learning phase

Set a test budget you can justify, pick a bid strategy that matches your conversion data, and give each campaign time to learn before you judge or scale it.

• 8.1 Start from what a customer is worth
• 8.2 Bid strategies: manual, automated and targets
• 8.3 The learning phase: why results wobble at first
• 8.4 Write your budget and bidding plan

Module 9: Test, scale and stay within the rules

Run clean tests on your creative and audiences, scale the winners without breaking them, and follow the ad policies for financial products and services in Singapore.

• 9.1 Test one thing at a time and decide in advance
• 9.2 Scale what works without breaking it
• 9.3 Ad policies for financial products and services
• 9.4 Read results and decide what to change
• 9.5 Launch and review a tracked test campaign

Frequently asked questions

How long does the course take and how much will I spend on ads?

About twelve hours of lessons and exercises, spread over nine modules. The final project needs a small test budget that you set yourself, based on what you can afford to lose while you learn.

Do I need to have run ads before?

No, but you should know who your customer is and what you are selling. If you are not sure yet, take Digital marketing foundations: strategy before tactics first.

How is this different from Social media and short-form video?

That course covers organic social: posting, hooks and community, without paying for reach. This course covers paid ads: auctions, tracking, targeting, budgets and testing.

I am a financial adviser. Can I run my own ads?

Possibly, depending on your firm's policy, the platform's rules and MAS requirements. Module nine shows you where to find those rules. Check with your firm's compliance team before you run any ad.

Will the screens look the same as in the lessons?

Probably not exactly, because Meta, Google and TikTok change their tools and labels often. The lessons explain what each setting decides, so you can find it again when the screens change.

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