What is the difference between a campaign, an ad set and an ad on Meta?

The campaign holds the objective, such as sales or leads. The ad set holds the audience, schedule, bidding and optimisation goal, and the budget unless the campaign uses a campaign budget. The ad holds the creative people see, such as the image, video, text and link.

How many ad sets should a Meta campaign have?

Meta does not set a number, but it recommends combining similar ad sets so each one gets enough results to exit the learning phase. It says Advantage+ campaign budget suits campaigns with at least two ad sets. For reporting by audience, Meta suggests combining ad sets and using breakdowns instead of splitting them.

Should I use a campaign budget or ad set budgets on Meta?

A campaign budget, which Meta calls Advantage+ campaign budget, lets Meta move one budget between ad sets in real time toward the best opportunities. Ad set budgets fix how much each ad set can spend. A campaign with several ad sets and no campaign budget shows Advantage+ off.

Is broad targeting better than detailed targeting on Meta?

Meta often recommends broad audiences because they give its delivery system more room to find lower-cost results. In Meta's own tests, Advantage+ audience gave 7.2% lower cost per result for the sales and app promotion objectives. Meta does not recommend Advantage+ audience for retargeting campaigns.

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Campaign structure and Advantage+

A Meta ad account has three levels. The campaign sets the objective. The ad set holds the audience, placements, schedule, bidding and optimisation goal, plus the budget unless the campaign uses a campaign budget. The ad holds the creative. Sales, app promotion and leads campaigns now start with Advantage+ audience, placements and campaign budget switched on, so Meta automates much of what advertisers used to set by hand.

Structure decides how much data Meta's delivery system gets for each ad set. An ad set usually needs about 50 results in a week to leave the learning phase, so a budget split across many small ad sets learns slowly. The articles here explain what Advantage+ sales campaigns automate and how the learning phase works.

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Common questions

What is the difference between a campaign, an ad set and an ad on Meta?: The campaign holds the objective, such as sales or leads. The ad set holds the audience, schedule, bidding and optimisation goal, and the budget unless the campaign uses a campaign budget. The ad holds the creative people see, such as the image, video, text and link.
How many ad sets should a Meta campaign have?: Meta does not set a number, but it recommends combining similar ad sets so each one gets enough results to exit the learning phase. It says Advantage+ campaign budget suits campaigns with at least two ad sets. For reporting by audience, Meta suggests combining ad sets and using breakdowns instead of splitting them.
Should I use a campaign budget or ad set budgets on Meta?: A campaign budget, which Meta calls Advantage+ campaign budget, lets Meta move one budget between ad sets in real time toward the best opportunities. Ad set budgets fix how much each ad set can spend. A campaign with several ad sets and no campaign budget shows Advantage+ off.
Is broad targeting better than detailed targeting on Meta?: Meta often recommends broad audiences because they give its delivery system more room to find lower-cost results. In Meta's own tests, Advantage+ audience gave 7.2% lower cost per result for the sales and app promotion objectives. Meta does not recommend Advantage+ audience for retargeting campaigns.

Campaign structure and Advantage+

Key terms

Common questions

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