How To Use Meta (Facebook) Ads Manager in 2026

Facebook and Instagram are key sales channels for small businesses. Advertising on social media gives you the ability to reach potential customers with a small budget and turn browsers into buyers. Facebook Ads Manager makes that process as seamless and streamlined as possible.

Opening the Meta Ads Manager for the first time can be overwhelming. You’ll find multiple dashboards, ad format options, and audience insight tools. Plus, as the platform introduces new artificial intelligence (AI) features, it can be tricky to distinguish where AI can add value in the ad creation process.

Luckily, creating Facebook ads is not as complicated as it seems. Below, find out how to make ads using Ads Manager, and manage successful campaigns.

What is (Meta) Facebook Ads Manager?

Ads Manager is Meta’s platform for running ads across Facebook, Instagram, and other networks owned by the company. With Ads Manager, you can set up campaigns, choose your audience, upload ad creatives, and adjust ad settings to maximize performance.

Ads Manager key features

• Monitor live social ad campaigns
• Edit or duplicate ads
• Set budgets and audiences
• Upload custom audiences, such as customers or email subscribers
• Produce graphs and tables to report ad performance
• Retarget website visitors with dynamic Facebook ads
• Refine ad audiences based on factors like age, location, and job title

Benefits of using Facebook ads

Meta holds the second-largest share of the digital ads market, after Google. This makes Facebook ads almost indispensable for ecommerce businesses.

Facebook ads offer powerful audience targeting thanks to Meta’s detailed user data. Use Facebook Ads Manager to run campaigns with precision based on the exact traits of people you want to see your content.

Plus, adding the Meta pixel to your website’s code lets you match website activity with Facebook users. With this information, you can create Facebook ads to reengage visitors who’ve shown interest in your products but perhaps didn’t complete their purchase—an effective way to reduce cart abandonment.

Before using Ads Manager: What you need

Setting up with Facebook Ads Manager is straightforward but requires a few key elements.

First, you need a Facebook business page to use Ads Manager. If you don’t already have one, create a new page and add basic details like your brand name and logo. Return to your page later to add more details.

Once you’ve created a business page, you’ll automatically have access to your Ads Manager account.

If you use Instagram for marketing, connecting your Instagram account to your Facebook page makes it simple to advertise across both platforms. To run ads on Instagram, you’ll also need a professional account.

Next, add a payment method to handle the costs associated with your ads. Then confirm all your account details are correct in the Advertising Settings and Ad Account Settings tabs.

Facebook ads terminology

When creating your first ad campaign, it’s helpful to understand how Facebook Ads Manager organizes ads. Here’s a breakdown:

• Campaigns. Campaigns define your main goal, like increasing website visits or driving sales.
• Ad sets. Within each campaign, ads are grouped into sets based on the target audience. You can allocate different budgets for each ad set.
• Ads. These are your individual creative units within each ad set. Experiment with different Facebook ad formats to discover what resonates best with audiences.

Pre-launch checklist: Objectives, success metrics, and assets

Once you’ve got your Ads Manager account set up, there are a few extra steps you need to take before you can run a campaign. 

Map objectives to KPIs

Ads Manager has a handful of campaign objectives. It uses these to optimize your campaign—if you set the objective as “reach,” for instance, Facebook’s algorithm will show your ads to as many people as possible. 

The campaign objective you choose should tie back into your overall business strategy. If your plan is to retain existing customers, for example, sales might be the best marketing objective. You could run retargeting campaigns to drive people back to your website and make a repeat purchase.

Map specific key performance indicators (KPIs) to your goal to measure your success. Using the same example, that KPI might be:

• Repeat purchase rate
• Customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Cart recovery rate 

Must-have assets

Spend some time gathering these essentials to get Facebook Ads Manager up and running quickly:

• Pixel. This is how Facebook tracks activity happening on your website as a result of your campaigns. Follow this setup guide to install the Pixel on your site, then use the Meta Pixel Helper to check it’s configured properly. 
• Product catalog. Ads Manager pulls information from your product catalog to advertise specific products on the platform. The simplest way to sync this is with the Facebook app for Shopify, which you can also use to create a Facebook Shop.
• UTM tracking. Some users block cookies, which can make Pixel data unreliable. See the full picture with UTM parameters—small snippets of code that let you filter Facebook traffic in an analytics tool. 
• Creative assets. You can advertise on Facebook using images and videos. Follow Facebook ad specs to design assets that match your brand style guide—you can also speed up this process with generative AI tools.

How to run ad campaigns using Ads Manager

1. Create a new campaign
2. Select campaign details
3. Choose ad set goals
4. Set an ad budget
5. Build an audience
6. Build your ads
7. Review campaigns and publish

Now that you’ve got the basics, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to launch a campaign inside Facebook Ads Manager: 

1. Create a new campaign

Click on the green Create button in the top left corner of the Campaigns tab. Here, you’ll choose an objective for your ads, as well as a billing method.

Your campaign’s objective is its overarching Facebook marketing goal. Meta offers six objectives:

• Sales
• Leads
• Engagement
• App promotion
• Traffic
• Awareness

Your choice of objective impacts how Meta will show your ads. For example, if you select an Awareness objective, Meta will position your ads to reach the largest number of people. Choosing an Engagement objective, on the other hand, results in Meta showing your ad to the people most likely to interact. Become acquainted with the differences between campaign objectives, and take time to consider which objective will best serve your business.

For example, children’s clothing retailer Sydney So Sweet started Facebook advertising with one goal: sales. However, CEO Jen Greenlees soon realized this objective was “too short-sighted” and didn’t help the brand grow. When the company chose to optimize ads for engagement instead, it saw exponential growth in its Facebook account. 

“As a store owner, it’s easy to get caught up focusing on sales as your only goal,” says Jen, “but by increasing our overall engagement on Facebook, we have actually seen a greater return on our conversion ads.”

On the same screen, you’ll also choose whether to pay for your ad campaigns using a Reservation method or an Auction method. Reservation has more predictable performance goals, while the Auction method allows for more flexibility, at the cost of less predictable results.

Quick creation vs. guided creation

Ads Manager gives you two options when creating a new campaign:

• Guided creation Facebook ads. Best if you’re navigating Facebook Ads Manager for the first time. This option explains the structure of a campaign and guides you through each step. 
• Quick creation Facebook ads. Best for experienced marketers who already know the fundamentals of Ads Manager and want to create multiple ad sets or complex campaigns. It lets you skip over certain steps and scale campaigns quickly. 

2. Select campaign details

On the next screen, name your campaign and declare if your ads will be related to credit, employment, housing, social issues, elections, or politics—what Meta calls “special ad categories.”

Here, you’ll also decide whether to refine your ads using A/B testing and smart budget distribution. Turning on “Advantage campaign budget” will give Meta permission to automatically allocate funds to ad sets with the best opportunities, and reduce spending on underperforming ads.

Advantage+ campaign

End-to-end Advantage+ campaigns use artificial intelligence (AI) to maximize campaign performance. The algorithm uses real-time data to fine-tune your ads across the entire campaign, from audience targeting to the creative assets used. According to Meta, sales campaigns that use this feature have 20% improved cost per action.

If you still prefer some control over your campaigns but want to experiment with AI, opt for single-step Advantage+. This applies AI to specific parts of the campaign setup process, such as:

• Audience automation
• Placement automation
• Budget automation
• Creative automation 
• Destination automation

3. Choose Ad Set goals

Once you’ve finalized the details of your new campaign, Facebook Ads Manager will ask you to create your first ad set. On this screen, choose from a selection of goals relevant to your campaign objective.

If your objective is Awareness, for example, Meta will ask whether to show your ads to as many people as possible (reach), or as many times as possible to a smaller audience (impressions). For Traffic campaigns, Meta will ask whether your Ad Set is intended to drive traffic to your website, app, or social accounts.

When setting up your ad campaign, you can choose specific placements. You can choose between Automatic Placements (where Facebook optimizes ad placements across its platforms, including Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network) or Manual Placements (where you select specific placements).

4. Set an ad budget

If you turned on Advantage+ campaign budgeting in the previous step, you’ll have already set a budget. If not, pick a daily or lifetime budget on the Ad Set settings screen.

Daily budgets are averaged over the course of a week. Meta may spend more or less per day, depending on available opportunities, up to 75% more than the daily budget.

Experts like Ezra Firestone, founder of Smart Marketer, recommends investing between 10% and 30% of your store’s revenue in Facebook and Instagram ads. If you generate $100, for example, between $10 and $30 should go back into online advertising.

Depending on campaign criteria, however, Facebook Ads Manager also accepts lower budgets, which can cost as little as a dollar. It’s possible to launch a new ad with a minimal budget for several days, then evaluate its performance.

When you’re budgeting for Facebook ads, remember you’re not only spending money to buy customers. You’re also acquiring prospects, including audiences of people who’ve visited your site, watched your videos, or subscribed to your email list. That’s why Ezra says Facebook advertising “is one of those things where you’ve got to be willing to consistently spend over time.”

At this stage, you’ll also choose a campaign start date. Campaign end dates are optional, but help prevent overspending.

5. Build an audience

Next, define the type of person whom you want to see your ads. Do this by building one of three types of audience:

• Custom audience
• Lookalike audience
• Advantage+ audience
• Detailed targeting

Custom audience

Custom audiences consist of people who have shown an interest in your business or product.

Create a custom audience by using data from your own sources, like the Meta pixel tracking on your website or a list of customer emails. Alternatively, you can utilize interactions on your Facebook page or other Meta-owned platforms.

Lookalike audience

A lookalike audience is based on an existing custom audience. Meta uses the existing audience to find a new group of people who share similar traits. This method increases the chance a new audience will be interested in your ads.

You decide how similar these groups should be, choosing from a closeness range of 1% to 10%. A 1% lookalike is most similar to your existing customer list, and will be a smaller, but possibly more relevant, audience.

For the best results, create multiple lookalikes with different levels of similarity to your source.

Advantage+ audience

Use Meta’s artificial intelligence to find new potential audiences based on your chosen parameters as well as data from past interactions.

To create an Advantage+ audience, Meta starts with the audience suggestions you provide, seeking out the closest matches before searching more widely.

Detailed targeting

No matter which audience type you choose, fine-tune your targeting using a variety of demographic filters such as:

• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Language
• Interests (like hobbies or preferences)
• Demographics (including education level, income, or relationship status)
• Behaviors (like device usage or shopping habits)

As you set these parameters, an estimated audience size appears in the right-hand column. It’s a good idea to start with a broad audience, then refine your ad targeting as you begin to see patterns in campaign data.

Whatever type of audience you build, take time to sort through Meta’s audience demographics, interests, and behaviors. Whether you want a wide reach or a niche group, these settings are instrumental in driving your ad’s performance.

6. Build your ads

Once you have a campaign and an ad set, you’re ready to create the most important part of your Facebook advertising strategy: the ads themselves.

How your ads look has a major impact on the likelihood of meeting your goals. People are most likely to engage with an ad that is high-resolution, well written, and grabs their attention in a crowded news feed.

First, select an ad format. Choose from a single image or video ad, a scrollable carousel of content, or a full screen collection of product listings.

Next, upload your creative assets and write your ad copy. Depending on the campaign objective and ad set settings, you’ll have the option to write headlines and descriptions—and even add music. Meta’s AI can help you generate variations on your copy.

Again, depending on the ad type, you can also add a call-to-action button and a link to your website or app. A pop-up will display in the sidebar to show how your ad appears in the selected placement. 

Hector Gutierrez, CEO of plant milk brand JOI, recommends revisiting ad visuals after launch. “People get burnt out when they constantly see the same ads,” he says. “Create a collection of ads for the same campaign and change the images and colors used on a single offer to boost engagement.”

7. Review campaigns and publish

Whichever ad format you use, check the preview screen to review your ad creative. Facebook ad specs differ by device, so select a ratio that works across tablets, desktops, and phones.

Before publishing your new Facebook ads, review the information you’ve added so far. Images, videos, and copywriting should convey a compelling message to the Facebook users you’ll reach with the campaign.

If you’re happy with each element, hit the Publish button to submit the campaign for approval. It can take up to 24 hours for Facebook to review and approve the ad, though it’s typically much sooner—within a few hours. 

Meta ads cost and budgeting basics

Money you’re investing into Meta ads need to pay off. Here’s how to optimize budgets and set expectations for your return on ad spend.

Budgeting frameworks and expected ranges

Budgeting is one half of the equation when running Meta ads campaigns that drive a return on investment. A smart approach to spending money puts your advertising dollars where they’ll get maximum impact. 

Facebook Ads Manager offers two budgeting options:

• Advantage+ campaign budgets. These use AI to determine how much of your overall budget gets assigned to a particular ad within the campaign.
• Ad set budgets. These give you more control over how much money you spend on each ad set. If you’re running one campaign with two ad sets for new versus returning customers, for example, you might assign more budget to the “new customer” ad set to account for the fact it costs more to acquire a new customer.

Pay close attention to your results inside Ads Manager. Benchmark your results against Birch’s Facebook ads cost analysis. It collects the average Facebook ad cost for different KPIs:

• Cost per mille (CPM): $13.86
• Cost per click (CPC): 74¢
• Cost per engagement (CPE): 7¢
• Cost per lead (CPL): $13.39
• Cost per app install (CPI): $2.30

💡Tip: Bear in mind that these averages vary by industry. The average CPC for a brand in the apparel industry, for example, is 45¢, while finance and insurance companies pay roughly $3.77 for every click on a Facebook ad.

Allocating spend by objective and stage

Not every campaign you run through Facebook Ads Manager should be designed to make a sale. Customers flow through the sales funnel when they’re making a purchase—your Facebook ads should reflect this to show the content they’re most likely to engage with at each stage. 

The stage of the funnel also dictates how much budget you’ll allocate to campaigns that target each user. People at the top of the funnel might need to see your awareness campaigns multiple times before they recall your brand or products, which impacts how much you’ll spend. If you’re retargeting a custom audience of loyal customers, on the other hand, you might only need to spend a smaller portion of your budget to encourage a repeat purchase.

Here’s an example of what spending might look like in practice:

Manage campaigns on mobile with Ads Manager app

Say you want to check up on your campaigns on the go—Meta has an Ads Manager app for that. It’s available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, and lets you complete the following tasks seamlessly right from your mobile device:

• Turn campaigns on or off
• Create and edit ads
• Track campaign performance
• Manage budgets
• Adjust ad schedules

How to report ad performance with Ads Manager

Launching your first ad campaign is just the beginning. It’s important to monitor ad performance to see whether your campaigns are meeting their goals or need refinement.

Find the Ads Reporting tab inside Facebook Ads Manager. You’ll see a reporting dashboard with performance metrics including reach, impressions, and your primary goal (such as clicks). Filter the dashboard to prioritize metrics and show results for each ad set and ad creative.

Hit the dropdown menu to use a premade reporting dashboard, or create a custom pivot table with the most important metrics for your business.

Best practices for Facebook ad reporting include:

• Breaking down your data. See when conversions are happening by breaking down your reporting dashboard by day, time, action, or delivery format. If one ad isn’t performing well, remove it from the ad set.
• Running ads for at least two weeks. This gives Meta the opportunity to optimize your ads. Take note of click-through rates and purchases. This will give you a sense of whether an ad is worth keeping, investing more in, or scaling.

Core metrics to track by objective

Metrics you’ll use to benchmark the success of your campaign depends on the objective:

Test, iterate, and scale

Facebook ads are a balance of art and science. What works for one target audience might not work for another—it takes trial and error to piece together what works best for your audience.

If your first campaign doesn’t produce the results you want, use the Meta Ads Reporting tab to better understand performance and ensure the right people are seeing your ads.

If your core demographics are showing signs of interest in your ads, chances are you’re on the right track. You may see positive results by making minor edits to your creative assets and distribution settings.

There’s value in testing different copy, art, or audiences to see what performs best for your business. “I believe that having a volume of effective ad creatives is the only way to scale an ad account,” says Savannah Sanchez, founder of social ad agency The Social Savannah. “It’s not about any media buying hacks or crazy tactics. It all boils down to doing weekly creative testing and learning from those, so you know what works and what doesn’t.”

Sell on Facebook with Shopify

Facebook plays a key role in small business marketing. Optimize your Facebook ad campaigns to unlock access to your target customers’ feeds.

Add Facebook as a marketing channel in your Shopify dashboard to manage campaigns, sync your product catalog, and report on performance—all from one place.

When you connect Facebook with Shopify, you’ll be able to create a social media storefront with in-app checkout, so users can shop without leaving the Facebook app.