A campaign sets the objective, an ad set sets the audience, budget, placements and schedule, and an ad is the creative with copy and a call-to-action that people see.
Meta Ads
Meta Ads Basics: Reach, Engage, Convert
How Facebook and Instagram ads are structured, which terms matter and which numbers to track. HR Digital builds and manages Meta Ads for businesses across India.
CampaignObjective: the result you want, such as leads, sales or messages.
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Ad SetAudience, budget, placements and schedule.
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AdThe creative, copy and call-to-action people see.
Building blocks
- Campaign
- The top level where you choose the main advertising objective.
- Ad Set
- Controls the audience, budget, placements and schedule.
- Ad
- The creative that people actually see.
- Objective
- The business result you want from the campaign.
- Audience
- The people you want to reach.
- Budget
- The amount you plan to spend.
- Placement
- Where your ad appears, such as Feed, Stories or Reels.
- Creative
- The image, video, copy and button used in the ad.
Key metrics
- CPM
- Cost per 1,000 impressions.
- CPC
- Cost per link click.
- CTR
- Share of people who click after seeing the ad.
- CPL
- Cost per lead.
- CPA
- Cost per acquisition or action.
- ROAS
- Revenue generated divided by ad spend.
- Frequency
- Average number of times one person sees your ad.
- Impressions
- Total number of times the ad is shown.
- Reach
- Number of unique people who saw the ad.
Tracking and targeting
- Meta Pixel
- A website tracking tool that measures actions after a click.
- Conversions API
- Sends website events to Meta from your server for more reliable measurement.
- Retargeting
- Showing ads to people who already interacted with your business.
- Lookalike Audience
- People similar to a source audience, such as your existing customers.
Meta Ads Questions
It depends on the goal. For leads, watch CPL and CTR. For sales, watch CPA and ROAS. CPM, reach and frequency show how efficiently the ad is delivered.
They are strongly recommended. The Pixel and Conversions API let Meta measure actions on your website, which helps with optimisation, retargeting and lookalike audiences.