Apple’s privacy changes have undoubtedly impacted Facebook advertising, but their efficacy remains strong. Sprout Social reports a 56% surge in Facebook’s ad revenue in 2021 alone, while Statista reveals a staggering 10 million active advertising accounts, equivalent to 150 football stadiums filled with Facebook advertisers!

This signifies the enduring power of Facebook ads and the vast number of advertisers on the platform. To stand out and maximize your budget, mastering Facebook ad optimization is crucial. And that’s precisely where this post comes in. We’ll explore 10 valuable Facebook ad optimization tips shared by PPC experts and influencers, equipping you to make the most of your campaigns.

Table of contents

1. Perfect your account structure
2. Set up the Pixel with Google Tag manager
3. Consolidate your conversions
4. Choose the right bidding strategy
5. Optimize for your objective
6. Use the fast takeoff method
7. Target parallel interests
8. Target influencers’ audiences
9. Scale optimization with automated rules
10. Have a full-funnel strategy

Optimizing Your Facebook Ads

Within this compilation, you’ll uncover a mix of strategies and tactics – some straightforward, others ingenious – all crafted to help you maximize both time and budget. Each tip comes from seasoned professionals deeply immersed in the platform daily.

1. Streamline Your Account Structure

This is less an optimization and more of a fundamental practice – a cornerstone for Facebook Ads success, emphasized by Brett McHale, Founder of Empiric Marketing, LLC, in his post about the habits of highly effective Facebook advertisers. Often, advertisers structure campaigns based on target audience instead of campaign objective. Let’s say you have an SEO ebook for small businesses with three versions: one for physical therapists, one for interior designers, and one for lawyers. Instead of creating separate campaigns for each audience, create one campaign for the ebook, and within it, create three ad sets targeting each profession. This aligns perfectly with the intended use of Facebook campaigns and ad sets. This streamlined structure facilitates efficient ad management and optimization, enabling seamless scaling of your efforts and offerings.

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2. Configure the Meta Pixel via Google Tag Manager

That’s right – Google Tag Manager isn’t limited to Google Ads conversion tracking. For any paid media strategy involving website conversions, a tracking pixel is essential. Facebook Ads Manager offers codeless Meta Pixel setup through partner integrations, but some can be cumbersome. Brett recommends a relatively simple method: Google Tag Manager. Though not entirely codeless, his years of experience highlight its ease of use. Install a container code on each website page with Google Tag Manager. This eliminates the need to add code for every new pixel installation; simply connect it to GTM. Google’s page on GTM is here.

This method also works for setting up the Facebook Conversions API. For a comprehensive view of ad performance (essential due to privacy measures), use both the Facebook Conversions API and the Meta Pixel in tandem. This provides insights into post-ad visitor actions and their demographics, enabling data-driven optimizations and retargeting of previous site visitors.

3. Consolidate Your Conversions

Another valuable tip from Brett: once your pixel is set up, define the conversion events to track within Facebook. Returning to our SEO ebook example, while separate conversion events for each ebook download are possible, this leads to a fragmented campaign-level view:

You’d need to delve into each ad set’s data for total campaign conversions. Creating a single “ebook download” conversion event provides an immediate, aggregated conversion count at the campaign level, saving time and expediting decision-making. Moreover, Aggregated Event Measurement necessitates conversion consolidation. While events beyond your eight priority events can be created, they won’t be reported for iOS 14+ users who’ve opted out of Facebook tracking.

4. Select the Ideal Bidding Strategy

Facebook Ads offers five bidding strategies:

1. Highest volume (formerly lowest cost)
2. Highest value
3. Cost per result (formerly cost cap)
4. ROAS goal (formerly minimum ROAS)
5. Bid cap Cost per result bidding is suitable for lead generation campaigns with a well-defined funnel, including cost and conversion rate projections. If unsure about an ideal cost per conversion, choose highest volume. For ecommerce businesses running ads for purchases with a fixed conversion value, cost per result, ROAS goal, or highest value are recommended. Manual bidding, offering strategic control over ad delivery, is less common and suitable only with a firm grasp of costs and conversion rates. This knowledge comes with experience; initial campaigns might benefit from automatic bidding to establish a baseline. PPC influencer and international speaker Navah Hopkins (also a nexus-security alum!) emphasizes setting conversion values whenever possible, even for non-ecommerce businesses. Learn how to set conversion values for any business here.

5. Align Optimization with Your Objective

The ad set stage of Facebook campaign creation includes an “Optimization for ad delivery” section, which might seem confusing with options like Conversions, Landing Page Views, Link Clicks, Impressions, and more. But haven’t you already defined your goal with the campaign objective? This setting refines your target audience within your broader settings. Generally, stick with Facebook’s default option, typically mirroring the campaign objective. Here’s a breakdown:

• Awareness campaigns: Facebook’s default, reach, is ideal for maximizing reach. Impressions, on the other hand, repeatedly serve the same ad to the same user for maximum exposure.
• Traffic campaigns: Facebook defaults to link clicks. Ben Heath, founder of Lead Guru, suggests using landing page views to filter out accidental clicks prevalent on Facebook and Instagram.
• Engagement campaigns: Stick with Facebook’s default, ThruPlay (15 seconds), over 2-second continuous video views.
• Leads and sales campaigns: Opt for the default (conversions).

6. Leverage the Fast Takeoff Method

This strategy, courtesy of AdEspresso, accelerates the Facebook Ads learning phase. Newly launched campaigns require time for Facebook to optimize ad delivery for your goals, as it gathers sufficient data. Limited budgets can lead to infrequent ad serving, prolonging this learning phase. The fast takeoff method involves launching your campaign with a budget exceeding your intended spend. Once it reaches 10,000 impressions, reduce the budget to your desired level. This accelerates learning and provides data for informed optimizations.

7. Explore Parallel Interests

PPC Influencer Michelle Morgan highlights this in her scaling Facebook ads post, echoed by Steve Bruce in his post on Facebook ad mistakes. Facebook offers granular interest targeting. Instead of directly targeting interests identical to your product or service, consider lateral thinking. For example, when advertising toys, target children’s clothing instead of just “toys.” For workout equipment, explore interests like electronic music or healthy recipes.

8. Target Influencers’ Audiences

Similar to targeting parallel interests, this strategy comes from Lyfe Marketing. Even with precise interests, audience size remains unknown until selection. Some audiences are inherently small, while others shrink due to privacy changes. Conduct market research on pages your followers engage with – not direct competitors, but influencers and related brands. This provides a creative edge in Facebook advertising. For example, if you’re promoting pet supplies or an adoption agency, analyze the National Humane Society’s page:

2.5M followers. Leverage this insight by inputting it into the detailed targeting section of your ad set, instantly accessing a sizable audience.

You can even refine it further by targeting specific geographical areas.

9. Implement Automated Rules for Scalable Optimization

Credit for this tip goes to Klientboost. Effective PPC management demands consistent monitoring and adjustments, such as:

• Pausing low-performing ads after a set timeframe.
• Adjusting campaign budgets based on click or conversion thresholds.
• Increasing bids for underperforming campaigns. Automated rules in Facebook Ads Manager automate these tasks based on your predefined parameters.

However, exercise caution. While automation streamlines management, it shouldn’t be a “set and forget” solution; regular monitoring and adjustments are still necessary.

10. Embrace a Full-Funnel Approach

This final tip, courtesy of Michelle, addresses a common Facebook ad mistake. Running top-of-funnel campaigns without nurturing leads through the funnel limits their effectiveness and impact on revenue. While running traffic campaigns, collecting emails, and nurturing them through email sequences is one approach, why not leverage additional Facebook campaigns for nurturing? For instance, after running awareness or traffic campaigns, create remarketing lists of engaged users and target them with leads or sales-focused campaigns.

Facebook’s diverse objectives across the funnel serve a purpose. Learn how to construct a comprehensive full-funnel Facebook advertising strategy.

Time to Optimize Your Facebook Ads

This list offers a range of Facebook ad optimizations to explore and implement. Remember, any campaign changes require at least 24 hours for Facebook to adjust and recalibrate its delivery optimizations before drawing conclusions. Here’s a recap of our optimization tips:

1. Streamline Your Account Structure
2. Configure the Meta Pixel via Google Tag Manager
3. Consolidate Your Conversions
4. Select the Ideal Bidding Strategy
5. Align Optimization with Your Objective
6. Leverage the Fast Takeoff Method
7. Explore Parallel Interests
8. Target Influencers’ Audiences
9. Implement Automated Rules for Scalable Optimization
10. Embrace a Full-Funnel Approach