How to Create a Facebook Ad Campaign in Ads Manager

Every ad you run sits inside three layers that you build in order. The campaign holds the goal, the ad set holds who sees it, when and for how much, and the ad holds what people actually see. Ads Manager walks you through all three in one flow, so the job is mostly knowing what each screen is asking for.

What do you decide at each level?

Level	What you set	Can you have several?
Campaign	The advertising objective, such as Traffic	Yes, one campaign can hold multiple ad sets
Ad set	Audience (location, age, gender and more), budget, schedule, placements and an optional bid	Yes, one ad set can hold multiple ads
Ad	The creative: images or video, text, headline and a call-to-action button	Not applicable

What do you need before you start?

1. Make sure your ad account has a payment method, because Meta requires one before you can publish an ad.
2. Open Account overview in Ads Manager if you’re new, since Meta says it guides you through the steps to set up your ad account.
3. Prepare your image, images or video and the text you want to show.

How do you build the campaign?

1. Go to Ads Manager and click + Create.
2. Select your objective and click Continue.
3. Review the campaign score if one appears on the right; Meta says it predicts how optimized your campaign is before publishing.
4. Complete the ad set: build your audience, set your budget and schedule, and choose placements.
5. At the ad level, use the ad setup dropdown to choose Create ad, Use existing post or Use Creative Hub mockup.
6. If you chose Create ad, pick a format such as single image or video, or carousel for 2 or more images.
7. Finish the ad creative section, then check the ad preview across placements.
8. Click Publish when you’re ready.

For the Sales, Leads and App promotion objectives, Meta now starts you in Advantage+ campaign setup, so you no longer choose a campaign setup type. Meta is rolling out a similar recommended setup for Traffic, Awareness and Engagement, while keeping manual options available, so your screens may differ slightly from these steps.

What happens after you click Publish?

Meta reviews ads against its Advertising Standards automatically before they begin running. You can follow the status of each ad in the Delivery column of Ads Manager. If you’d rather reuse a campaign that already works than start from a blank one, you can duplicate it and change only what you need.

FAQ

Can I create a campaign on my phone?

Yes. Meta offers the Ads Manager app for Android and iOS, so you can create and manage ads on a mobile device. Meta notes that not all features are available on mobile, so some settings may only appear in Ads Manager on a computer.

Do I need separate campaigns for Facebook and Instagram?

No. Placements are chosen at the ad set level, so one ad set can show your ad on both Facebook and Instagram. You can let Meta use placements with Advantage+ on, or choose the placements manually in the same ad set.

Can I promote a post I’ve already published?

Yes. In the ad setup section at the ad level, choose Use existing post, then click Select post in the ad creative section. The post becomes the ad’s creative, so you don’t upload a new image or video for that ad.