Testing Campaigns vs. Ad Sets vs. Ads
If you are new to creating ads in Facebook Business Manager, the process and interface can be daunting. There are campaigns, ad sets, and ads to decipher, conversions and events to set up, and the Facebook pixel to install. Even still, Facebook Ads can be a great way to increase your brand awareness and sales once you get a handle on it.
What is Facebook Business Manager?
Business Manager allows advertisers to run and track ads, manage assets for pages and ad accounts, and allow an external agency or marketing partner to help manage campaigns. It comes with the added bonus of keeping your personal Facebook profile separate from your business. (A good thing!)
How to set up an Ad Campaign in Facebook Business Manager
Campaigns
Every campaign should share a common conversion goal (you may have one or many campaigns depending on your needs). For example, you may have one campaign with the goal of increasing brand awareness, a second for increasing app installs, a third for page likes, etc.
Ad Sets
Ad Sets are ideal for testing different audiences. For a basic campaign, we typically have three types:
- Interest-based audience e.g. home improvement in the screenshot below (This can also be a good place to test different interest groups e.g. home improvement versus likes home decor)
- Lookalike audience based on some desirable action completed on your website (Learn more tips on Lookalike audiences.)
- Remarketing audience to reach people who already visited your site from Facebook Ads (often the most affordable) or those who exist on an email list
Ads
Ads are the place to test various iterations of ad copy and images. There are lots of different ways to customize your ads, but remember to take into consideration what audience you are marketing towards. For example, has this person already seen your product/service, are they a returning customer, or are they potentially brand new to your website or brand?
Time saving tips for Facebook ad set up
Once you have an understanding of each tier, you can begin setting up your ads. Save time by setting up a campaign, one ad set audience type, and however many ads you are planning to test (a simple A|B test to start with is great). Once that is complete, copy the ad set to the same campaign and update the audience. This way you can quickly create many ads without having to set everything up each time.
If the ads you are serving could also apply to another campaign objective, e.g. brand awareness and conversions, consider copying the entire campaign and changing the objective as well.
Facebook ads can be complex, and there are many other facets we can dive into. We hope this helps simplify the layout process of your ads so you can focus on getting them ready and live!
