Starting a Facebook campaign is easy. Knowing whether you’re putting your budget in front of the right people takes more thought.

You choose a location, select a few interests, upload your creative and launch. The clicks start coming in. Perhaps you receive a few enquiries.

But how much of that targeting is based on evidence—and how much is an educated guess?

Even when you understand your ideal customer, identifying that person inside an advertising platform can be difficult. An interest in property, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean someone is ready to buy a home. An interest in business doesn’t mean someone needs a new website.

For businesses selling something people already search for, I’d consider a different starting point: use Google Search Ads to reach existing demand, then use what you learn to inform your Facebook and Instagram advertising.

Here’s how that approach works, and when I would recommend it.

Start with people who are already looking

Google Search Ads and Facebook Ads reach people in different circumstances.

Someone searching Google for “website designer for small business” is actively looking for information or a provider. That doesn’t guarantee they’ll become a customer, but their search gives you a useful signal about what they need.

On Facebook or Instagram, your advert usually reaches someone while they’re doing something else. Your job is to earn their attention and give them a reason to act.

Both can work. The question is which starting point makes the most sense for your business, your offer and your budget.

If there is meaningful search demand for your service, Google Search can help you reach people who have already expressed an interest through their search.

It can also help you learn which searches lead to worthwhile enquiries.

Put the tracking in place before you spend

Before launching, I want to know what we’ll be able to measure.

That means setting up and checking website analytics, Google Ads conversion tracking and the Meta Pixel, with the appropriate privacy and consent arrangements.

The Meta Pixel can help record eligible website visits and actions for use in Meta’s advertising tools. Installing it before a Google campaign means you can start collecting those signals while relevant visitors arrive.

But installing a pixel is only part of the setup.

A page view is different from an enquiry. An enquiry is different from a qualified opportunity. And a qualified opportunity is different from a paying customer.

If every visit is treated as equally valuable, it becomes much harder to understand what your advertising is achieving.

Track the actions that matter to your business, and check that they are recorded correctly.

Use the first month to learn

For some businesses, I would use the first month primarily to test and improve a focused Google Search campaign.

We would look at questions such as:

  • Which search terms are bringing people to the website?
  • Are those searches relevant to the service being advertised?
  • Does the landing page clearly answer what the visitor is looking for?
  • Which enquiries are suitable for the business?
  • Are any keywords attracting the wrong type of visitor?

This is where campaign management matters.

A campaign can generate plenty of traffic while attracting job seekers, students, people outside your service area or people looking for something you don’t sell.

Building an audience from that traffic won’t fix the problem. It can carry the same problem into the next campaign.

The aim is to build a useful picture of demand while generating enquiries—not to buy traffic simply to fill an audience.

Turn useful traffic into a starting audience

Once relevant visitors are reaching your website, there are two ways that activity may support your Facebook and Instagram advertising.

Retargeting: reconnect with people who visited

A website Custom Audience can help you reach eligible visitors again.

For example, someone might explore your services but leave before making contact. A follow-up advert could answer a common question, explain your process or give them a reason to return.

This is retargeting: continuing the conversation with people who have already encountered your business.

Lookalikes: find new people with similarities

A Lookalike Audience uses a source audience to help Meta find new people with similar characteristics.

That source might be website visitors, people who completed a meaningful action or an eligible customer audience.

The distinction matters: retargeting reaches people who already know you; lookalikes help you reach new people.

A lookalike also doesn’t give Meta your Google keywords or let you target everyone searching for the same phrase. It uses the source audience you provide.

That makes the quality of the source important.

Where there is enough usable data, I’d rather test an audience based on qualified enquiries or customers than assume every website visitor represents an ideal prospect.

Thirty days isn’t a magic number

A month is a useful review point. It isn’t a guarantee that you’ll have enough suitable data.

A business with a modest budget in a small market might need longer. Another might already have a valuable customer audience and have little reason to wait.

The decision should depend on audience availability, traffic quality, enquiry outcomes and the campaign’s economics.

When the data supports it, we can test a lookalike against other suitable audience approaches and compare the results.

The goal is to find what produces worthwhile business—not to prove that one targeting method must win.

When I wouldn’t use this approach

I wouldn’t recommend Google-first for every business.

If people rarely search for your offer, Google Search may provide limited opportunity. A highly visual product, an unfamiliar service or a business with strong existing customer data might have a good reason to start with Meta.

Search advertising can also be competitive. If the cost of reaching relevant searches doesn’t make commercial sense, a different approach may be better.

Facebook advertising isn’t automatically wasted money. Equally, paying for a Google click doesn’t automatically make that visitor valuable.

The strategy needs to fit the business.

Connect the whole journey

The part that often gets overlooked is what happens after the advert works.

A relevant visitor still needs a clear landing page. An interested prospect needs an easy way to enquire. That enquiry needs to reach the right person and receive a useful response.

You can improve your targeting and still lose opportunities through a confusing website, a broken form or an enquiry that sits unanswered.

At Potent Pixel, we look at how those pieces work together: the advertising, the website and the follow-up.

Starting with Google Search can be a sensible way to capture existing demand and build evidence for your next move. But the strongest result comes from connecting that learning to the rest of your marketing.

Before increasing your budget, make sure every step gives the right person a reason to continue.