Facebook Merges Ads Manager and Power Editor for a Superpowered Advertising Experience

Facebook delighted advertisers on September 12th by announcing the merger of Power Editor and Ads Manager into a single, streamlined platform.

The next time you access Business Manager, you’ll be greeted by a revamped Ads Manager interface (RIP Power Editor). This updated version retains the functionality of its predecessor while integrating popular Power Editor features, such as the ability to create and save ad drafts before publishing. Forget to save your work in the new Ads Manager? No worries! Facebook will remind you to save or publish your changes.

According to Facebook, this updated Ads Manager will also “[incorporate] the comprehensive charts and activity history of Power Editor with the breakdowns, summary rows, date benchmarks, exported insights reports and the ability to customize columns from Ads Manager,” allowing for seamless optimization without switching between platforms.

Transitioning from basic boosted posts to full-fledged Facebook Ads is like upgrading from a dingy basement studio to a luxurious brownstone overlooking a park.

This upgrade, much like moving into a new home, brings about important decisions with significant impact.

“Down duvet or comforter?”

“Are gargoyles necessary?”

“Ads Manager or Power Editor?”

That final question can be a real head-scratcher.

Facebook offers two distinct platforms for ad creation and optimization. Newcomers usually gravitate towards the default Ads Manager interface, while seasoned marketers like myself are drawn to the allure of “Power Editor,” assuming it holds the key to advanced tactics.

It’s easy to become comfortable with one platform and avoid the other. After all, why bother learning two interfaces when mastering one seems sufficient?

Here’s the catch: that approach is wrong.

To truly unlock the potential of Facebook Ads for your business, you need to harness the strengths of both Ads Manager and Power Editor.

This article will guide you through the optimal scenarios for utilizing each platform and offer strategies for navigating between them without feeling overwhelmed.

First, let’s establish a basic understanding.

Facebook Ads Manager: A Guided Approach to Ad Creation

According to Facebook, Ads Manager empowers you to:

• Create and launch your Facebook ad campaigns
• Reach your desired audience with targeted ads
• Establish and manage your budget
• Monitor the performance of your ads
• Access and review your billing summary

Talk about a marketer’s paradise!

Ads Manager serves as Facebook’s primary platform for ad creation, management, and optimization. It offers a more structured and guided experience compared to Power Editor, making it ideal for those new to digital marketing.

However, if you’re a seasoned AdWords user eager to delve into the advanced features, you might find Ads Manager somewhat limiting. As you become more familiar with Facebook’s intricacies and your ad account expands, the guided approach might feel restrictive.

That’s where Power Editor enters the scene.

Facebook Power Editor: Streamlining Your Paid Social Efforts

Power Editor can be compared to AdWords Editor – a powerful, browser-based tool (no downloads required!) enabling bulk actions and scalability by simplifying processes like ad creation and duplication. It also incorporates a crucial review process, ensuring that no action taken in Power Editor goes live without your explicit approval. This significantly reduces the risk of launching unfinished ad sets – a safety net particularly beneficial for beginners.

While not visually appealing, Power Editor is undeniably…powerful.

Power Editor demands a steeper learning curve than Ads Manager, and the lack of hand-holding can be initially overwhelming. Additionally, keep in mind that Power Editor can be somewhat unstable (read: buggy) due to its role as a testing ground for new Facebook advertising features.

Marketed as a tool for experts, this claim is supported by those in the know. Facebook marketing guru Brett McHale states, “Power Editor possesses all the capabilities of Ads Manager without the hand-holding. It empowers you to clone any element and effortlessly modify multiple assets without a clunky, tutorial-like interface.”

Now that you understand the fundamental differences between Ads Manager and Power Editor, let’s explore the strengths of each platform.

Ads Manager Excels in Account Overview

Ads Manager’s Account Overview section is a data haven, allowing you to generate clear visualizations of Facebook’s key performance metrics across any desired date range. Even better, you can seamlessly switch between four different metrics without requiring a page refresh (beginners will appreciate the helpful “I” icons next to each metric, offering explanations and links to relevant resources).

This feature simplifies the process of monitoring the impact of your optimization efforts from a broader perspective. Notably, the “Objective” box located beneath the line graphs efficiently organizes your campaigns based on their initial objectives, allowing for easy access and modification of individual campaigns.

But wait, there’s more!

Ads Manager’s Account Overview tab also lets you analyze these metrics based on age, gender (or both simultaneously), and by hour of day or region.

In contrast, Power Editor presents a rather bare-bones overview tab.

The Account Overview in Power Editor only provides the initial section available in Ads Manager:

This makes sense considering Power Editor’s focus on creation rather than analysis. If you’re utilizing Power Editor for account building, it shouldn’t be your primary tool for high-level data analysis and reporting. Instead, switch to Ads Manager to initiate your Facebook optimization strategies.

(That is, until it’s time to implement those strategies.)

Power Editor: Your Gateway to Efficient Campaign, Ad Set, and Ad Creation

Upon selecting a Facebook ad account, you’re directed to the “Campaign” tab, not the Account Overview tab, which would be a more intuitive starting point (Zuck, if you’re reading this, consider it a free tip!). When you decide to explore the world of affordable leads beyond your business’s familiar Facebook page, you land directly on Ads Manager’s “Campaign” tab.

The Campaign tabs in both Ads Manager and Power Editor are essentially identical; they display your active and inactive campaigns and allow for column customization. The only significant difference is that PE enables you to view “draft” campaigns (unpublished) and export data to a spreadsheet.

In the Ad Set tab, Ads Manager offers a range of customizable columns (similar to the Campaign tab shown above) but little else…

Power Editor, on the other hand, provides a more extensive set of actions, such as:

• Quick duplication and audience segmentation
• Swift editing capabilities (activate, deactivate, adjust budget, modify name, find and replace)
• Saving audiences
• Exporting data
• And the invaluable “revert” function:

However, where Power Editor truly shines is in the creation of new Campaigns and Ad Sets.

Ads Manager adopts a guided approach to campaign creation, beginning with selecting a campaign objective…

From there, Facebook guides you through each step of the campaign creation process. A handy visual aid located on the left side of the Ads Manager interface tracks your progress:

This workflow can be quite lengthy. However, once you’ve narrowed down your targeting (arguably the most time-consuming aspect, and for good reason!), set your budget, and designed your ad, you’ll end up with a Facebook ad that looks something like this:

While Power Editor produces the same end result, the process lacks the helpful guidance that characterizes Ads Manager. Unless you want those features! Notice the bar on the right side of the “Create Campaign” menu below? When building a Campaign or Ad Set in Power Editor, you always have the option to activate guided creation (Facebook’s term for the “Ads Manager way”).

Creating ads from scratch is identical in both Ads Manager and Power Editor (check out the Facebook Creative Hub for inspiration). But what happens when you need to generate variations quickly?

Power Editor to the rescue!

When duplicating an existing ad in Ads Manager, Facebook presents you with a purchase confirmation screen. While it’s reassuring to confirm your spending, having to click through this screen every time you want to A/B test can be incredibly tedious.

Power Editor eliminates this unnecessary step.

Simply select the ad(s) you want to duplicate and specify the Campaign and Ad Set where you want the duplicates to reside (or create new ones):

Once you’ve tweaked your new ad variations, simply click the “Review Draft Items” button at the top of your Power Editor interface to examine your changes collectively (note: if your new ads are subpar, there’s a “Discard Changes” option, which Ads Manager lacks):

If you’re comfortable with Facebook Advertising and prioritize speed and precision, Power Editor is your ideal platform. However, if you’re still learning the ropes, stick with Ads Manager until you feel more confident. Regardless, if split-testing is part of your strategy, mastering Power Editor is essential.

Ads Manager: The Hub for Effective Account Optimization

Beyond A/B testing, Facebook optimization primarily revolves around managing your audience, bids, and budget.

“Ads Manager. All the way.” - Brett, our resident Facebook Ads expert, on whether to optimize campaigns in Ads Manager or Power Editor.

While Power Editor excels at account setup and efficient ad creative generation, Ads Manager is equally adept at providing a comprehensive view of your efforts and making high-level adjustments.

As mentioned earlier, Ads Manager’s Account Overview tab offers a more insightful, well, overview of your account. From there, you can quickly delve into campaign groups based on shared objectives and modify budgets/adjust bids based on performance over a specific period. If something isn’t working as intended, Ads Manager will alert you.

Combining the Best of Both Worlds

The most effective approach to managing your Facebook Ads account involves integrating Ads Manager (for overview and optimization) and Power Editor (for creation) into your workflow.

If juggling two separate interfaces for Facebook, in addition to your current PPC workload, seems daunting, there’s a solution that can enhance your results without increasing your workload.

nexus-security Advisor enables you to manage your Facebook, AdWords, and Bing campaigns within a single interface, consolidating cross-platform performance data into one user-friendly dashboard.