The days of being able to optimize your budget at the ad set level on Facebook are over. Facebook is now mandating and implementing that all ad spend be managed at the campaign level. The reason? AI (artificial intelligence).
For the past year, online paid media platforms have been strengthening their automated intelligence. In 2020 you’re already seeing less marketers using manual bidding strategies (unless you have a program like Kenshoo or WordStream) and more marketers using automated bidding strategies. Campaign level budgets gived Facebook another tool to get more people to rely on automated bidding.
Is this good or bad for marketers?
Why Campaign Budgets Are Good
For marketers or owners that don’t make a living managing PPC (pay-per-click) accounts, campaign budgets are great. Not only will they make it easier to keep your campaigns on budget, they also let Facebook do the heavy lifting when it comes to optimizing your campaigns.
When placing budgets at the Ad Set level, novice marketers often force Facebook to breakout monthly budget based off what the marketer THINKS will lead to the most conversions (or whatever their campaign objective is). This often leads to wasted spend, a higher cost/conversion, and less overall conversions. With a campaign level budget, Facebook will be able to take all your Ad Sets and gear it towards maximizing whatever campaign objective you have.
Why Campaign Budgets Are Bad
For professional marketers or those who are using a 3rd party automation platform, campaign budgets will now limit your control. No longer can you optimize your budgets by placing different spend allocations on individual Ad Sets. However there is an answer.
Ad Set Spending Limits.
Marketers might not be able to say “Facebook, Spend $35 a day on our Cat Meme Ad Set” but marketers CAN say “We want to spend a MINIMUM of $30 a day on our Cat Meme Ad Set and a MAXIMUM of $40”. One thing to note, Facebook won’t guarantee that the minimum will be met, but they will guarantee that the maximum isn’t exceeded.
This might not be the perfect solution, but it should offer professional marketers a little bit more control.
As always, AdToro hopes that this helps our Facebook marketers plan their Ad accounts for the foreseeable future.
