Facebook Ads can do a lot more than drive sales. In fact, one of their most valuable roles is at the very beginning of your marketing funnel where potential customers first hear about you, start to care, and begin their journey from complete strangers to loyal followers.
That first phase is called top-of-funnel (TOFU) lead nurturing, and Facebook is an ideal platform to do it well.
In this guide, we’ll walk through how to build top-of-funnel campaigns that generate awareness, attract the right audiences, and move cold prospects closer to conversion one smart, strategic step at a time.
What Is Top-of-Funnel Lead Nurturing?
Top-of-funnel lead nurturing is all about creating initial engagement with people who haven’t heard of your brand before. These are users who aren’t ready to buy and may not even realize they have a need yet.
They’re scrolling casually. They might pause on something helpful, entertaining, or relatable — but they’re not looking for a product.
Your goal at this stage is not to sell. It’s to spark interest. Introduce your brand. Offer something of value. Show that you understand your audience’s world.
If you earn attention early on, you create the opportunity to nurture that interest over time. And that’s when Facebook Ads become a powerful top-of-funnel tool.
Why Facebook Ads Are Ideal for TOFU Nurturing
Facebook and Instagram (through the same ad platform) give you the reach, targeting options, and creative formats needed to connect with new audiences in a personal way.
Here’s why they work so well for TOFU:
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Massive reach: Billions of people use these platforms daily, giving you access to cold audiences at scale.
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Behavioral data: Facebook’s algorithm knows what content each user tends to engage with, helping you reach the right people with the right message.
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Flexible formats: You can deliver value through video, carousels, stories, and lead forms — all optimized for mobile.
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Progressive nurturing: You can build audiences based on who engaged with your top-funnel content and then retarget them with more specific messages later.
This combination makes Facebook one of the most effective platforms for beginning a lead nurturing journey.
Choose Objectives That Support Early-Stage Engagement
The first step in creating TOFU campaigns is choosing the right campaign objective.
Avoid “Sales” at this stage. That objective tells Facebook to optimize for users who are ready to take a bottom-funnel action, like making a purchase or signing up. But top-of-funnel audiences aren’t ready for that yet.
Instead, use objectives that support discovery and low-pressure interaction:
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Awareness – Great for storytelling, problem awareness, or light education.
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Engagement – Ideal for reactions, comments, and shares that grow visibility.
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Traffic – Useful if you’re driving to a blog post, quiz, or educational content.
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Lead Generation – Only if your lead magnet is simple, free, and quick to consume.
These objectives help you gather useful signals, like who watched your content or clicked your link, which you can use for retargeting later.
Not sure which campaign type to select at the TOFU stage? This breakdown of Meta Ad Campaign Objectives will help you match the right goal to your audience's readiness.
Build Ads That Deliver Value, Not Just Visibility
Top-of-funnel Facebook Ads should never feel like a sales pitch. Instead, they should feel like helpful, relevant content that happens to come from a brand.
Good TOFU ad creative offers one or more of the following:
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Education – Teach something useful. A “3 common mistakes” post or explainer video works well.
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Entertainment – Add a touch of humor or storytelling that’s easy to engage with.
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Empathy – Show that you understand the audience’s struggles or goals.
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Inspiration – Share ideas or outcomes that motivate people to think differently.
Here are a few TOFU-friendly ad examples:
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A marketing software company creates a 45-second video breaking down outdated lead-gen tactics.
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A wellness coach shares a carousel of tips to fix common sleep mistakes.
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A local real estate agency promotes a blog post, “5 things first-time homebuyers always overlook.”
Remember, the goal isn’t to promote your product — it’s to help people see that you understand their challenges and have something valuable to say.
Want to go deeper on pairing your TOFU ads with strong lead magnets? Here’s a full walkthrough on how to build a lead magnet funnel with Facebook Ads.
Smart Targeting for Cold Audience Reach
When you’re running top-of-funnel campaigns, the audience is usually cold. That means they haven’t interacted with your brand before — which makes targeting especially important.
Here are a few proven strategies:
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Interest targeting: Combine 2–3 relevant interests to filter Facebook’s massive user base into a more focused group.
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Lookalike audiences: Use your customer or email list to create lookalike audiences that share similar behaviors or demographics.
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Broad targeting (with strong creative): Facebook’s algorithm can optimize who sees your ad, but only if your creative is clear, engaging, and relevant.
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Boosted organic posts: Use post engagement campaigns to promote high-performing organic content and build your warm audience from there.
The targeting should be wide enough to discover new leads, but not so broad that your message becomes irrelevant.
If you’re just getting started with interest-based or lookalike targeting, check out our Facebook Ad Targeting 101 guide for a clear overview of how to reach the right people.
Retarget Based on Real Engagement
Once people start interacting with your TOFU ads, you can move them into the middle of the funnel using retargeting.
For example, you can create custom audiences from:
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People who watched at least 50% of a video,
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Visitors to a specific blog post,
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People who clicked a quiz or checklist,
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Users who engaged with your Facebook or Instagram page.
These actions show that someone is interested, even if they haven’t opted in yet.
From here, you can retarget them with content like:
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A case study or testimonial,
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A webinar invite,
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A downloadable guide,
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A soft lead form or consultation offer.
This step is where you shift from general awareness to relationship-building. Need help getting your retargeting sequences in place? This guide on how to set up Facebook retargeting covers it step-by-step.
Track the Metrics That Actually Matter
Top-of-funnel success doesn’t show up as revenue — at least not right away. So what should you measure?
Focus on early indicators like:
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CTR (Click-through rate): Are people interested enough to click?
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Video completion rate: Are they watching your content all the way through?
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Post engagement: Are they liking, commenting, or sharing?
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Lead magnet interactions: If you’re offering something lightweight, is it converting affordably?
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Audience growth: Are you building new segments for retargeting?
These metrics tell you whether your content is working and whether your audience is warming up. Later, you’ll see the results in lower conversion costs and better-qualified leads.
Final Thoughts
Top-of-funnel lead nurturing takes patience. You’re not chasing a sale — you’re earning attention. You’re building trust. You’re creating space for someone to see value in your brand before they’re ready to act.
Facebook ads are one of the most effective ways to do that. With the right objectives, creative, targeting, and measurement strategy, you can consistently attract cold audiences and turn them into warm leads that are ready for your middle- and bottom-funnel offers.
So if you want your funnel to perform better long-term, start with the top and start with value.
