How Many Campaigns Should You Run on Meta?

Advertiser method. Meta does not publish this as a rule. The mechanics below come from Meta’s documentation; the method itself is common advertiser practice, and results vary.

You need as many campaigns as you have goals that must be kept apart, and few beyond that. In Meta’s structure the objective is set at the campaign level, and so is the optional campaign budget that its ad sets share. A new campaign fits when the goal or the budget pool has to differ. It does not fit when you only want to compare audiences or creative, because ad sets and ads do that inside one campaign.

What does a campaign decide for you?

Meta says you choose the advertising objective at the campaign level, and the ad set level then holds targeting, budget and schedule. A campaign can include several ad sets, each with its own targeting, scheduling and budget options. If you use Advantage+ campaign budget, you set one budget for the campaign and Meta distributes it in real time to the ad sets with the best opportunities. Meta says sales, leads and app promotion campaigns have it on by default.

When do advertisers open another campaign?

Three reasons to open another one:

A different objective. Traffic and sales are different goals, so they sit in different campaigns.
A separate budget pool. You want a fixed amount for one group of ad sets that other ad sets cannot draw on.
A clean read. Meta says that with a campaign budget you should analyze results at the campaign level. A separate campaign gives you its own result line.

If your reason is none of these, an ad set or an ad is probably the better place for the split.

What can go wrong with too many campaigns?

Meta says that when you create ad sets with overlapping audiences, several ads from your Page may enter the same auction. It then picks the ad with the highest total value to compete, and your other ads are not considered in that auction. Meta adds that this can limit delivery and keep an ad set from spending its full budget or exiting the learning phase. It also says running ads from separate ad accounts may not avoid overlap.

Meta also says that when a campaign starts, each ad set goes through an initial learning phase, and that combining similar ad sets and campaigns can help you get results faster. Campaigns with the same objective that reach similar people are worth checking for combining.

What limit does Meta set on campaigns?

For a regular ad account, Meta states up to 5,000 campaigns, and 10,000 for managed advertisers. The limit counts active and inactive campaigns, and deleted ones are archived and cannot be edited or undeleted. Check your own account against it before you plan a campaign per week or per product.

How do you decide for your own account?

List your distinct goals. Each one is a campaign.
Note which ad sets need a budget that others cannot take. Put them in their own campaign.
Look for two campaigns with the same objective and similar people. Ask whether they could be one.
If you use a campaign budget, remember Meta says it suits campaigns with at least 2 ad sets.

FAQ

Can one campaign hold everything?

Only everything that shares one objective. Meta says a campaign can include multiple ad sets with different targeting, scheduling and budget options, but the objective is set once at the campaign level. A sales goal and a lead goal need separate campaigns.

Do separate campaigns stop my ads competing with each other?

No. Meta says auction overlap happens between ads from the same advertiser, and that it can also occur across separate ad accounts. When two of your ads enter the same auction, Meta lets only the one with the highest total value compete.

What happens when I delete an old campaign?

Meta says deleted ads, ad sets and campaigns are archived automatically. Once archived you cannot edit, duplicate or undelete them, and an account can hold up to 100,000 archived ads or campaigns. Inactive campaigns still count toward your account limit, so weigh deleting against turning one off.