So, just to be blunt, solo ads and Facebook ads are two completely different animals.
About the only thing these two have in common is that they're paid traffic sources.
Sure, you can use them for similar things, but let's quickly discus each one.
Facebook Ads
Facebook ads offer a very robust platform to target your ideal prospect or customer on a super granular level.
This is real traffic - after all Facebook is a publicly traded company, so they're not going to screw and scam their customers...that would not be good for business.
But, the hurdle or barrier to entry is that if you really want to get good at it, it's a little bit more complex than just selecting an image and targeting and direct linking to your offer or optin page.
You do need to understand some things about psychology, copywriting, design, and how to track sales and conversions to really master this platform.
Some great resources for improving your Facebook ads skills are:
Nicholas Kusmich's The Perfect Ad Template
Dan Henry's Funnels & Ads For Entrepreneurs
Solo Ads
On the other hand we have solo ads.
Solo ads essentially give you the opportunity to place your ad or offer in front of someone else's targeted email list.
They've already built the audience, and a lot of times you don't even have to write the email copy.
Most solo ad vendors will do that for you, you just need to provide them with your offer link.
So, solo ads are a very attractive solution to novice marketers because they're "easy"...But, the downside to solo ads is that there are a lot of vultures out there.
So, you need to make sure you're protecting yourself when buying solo ads by at least cloaking your offer links with a click tracker solution like ClickMagick.
A click tracking tool will give you the ability to see the kinds of clicks the solo ad vendor is sending you and the amount.
So, if they tell you they are going to send 300 clicks to your offer from the US, but through using a click tracking service you see that they only sent 200 clicks and it was all from lower quality regions, you'll know that particular vendor is shady and can quickly cut your losses and move on to another vendor, instead of losing your shirt by purchasing from them again and again because you weren't using click tracking software and you were completely in the dark in regards to the data.
Another tip with buying solo ads is to start small and scale small.
You'll want to test the quality of traffic a vendor has by first purchasing a small set of clicks from them.
Then, if you see great results with the initial clicks, you can start to scale up.
But, scale up slow.
Just because you bought 200 clicks that resulted in a good amount of sales does not mean the 10,000 click package will produce the exact same results.
So, start small and scale small.
Additionally, to really get a positive ROI from investing in solo ads, you NEED to have an email followup sequence.
You're more than likely not even going to break even from sending traffic directly to an offer or from your initial optin form to your offer.
You'll need to have an email sequence planned out and loaded into your autoresponder to nurture that lead over time, and built rapport, so that they will begin to know, like and trust you...
Which will eventually result in them giving you money or purchasing products or services you recommend.
That is where most people fail with solo ads.
They buy one 200 click package, don't make a dime initially, and then completely give up.
Even the best online marketers typically don't break even or make a profit for several weeks.
You've got to play the long game.
So, in summary, both Facebook ads and solo ads are great targeted traffic sources for getting exposure for your offers and making sales, but I would concentrate on one at a time and master that one traffic source FIRST, before moving on and exploring alternatives.