Effectively Monitor Your Facebook Ads

Why Monitor Your Facebook Ads?

Many Facebook marketers -professional and non-professional- make a costly mistake while launching their ad campaign by possessing a "Set it and Forget" attitude, never experiencing the full potential of what the platform has to offer. Some would only measure their campaign's result once it has run its course.

This article will emphasize the importance of monitoring your Facebook Ad campaigns while running, which is as important as measuring the results. By the end of this post, you should have an understanding along with several tips that may help you on your journey.

Introduction: Effectively Monitor Your Facebook Ads

To review your Facebook data from your ad campaigns, use Facebook Ad Manager. Once you have started the campaign, you should see the results being filled in each column on your dashboard. Facebook defaults to the "Performance" view, outlining campaign details like delivery and budget alongside various performance metrics. You can view your recent performance of a campaign by filtering them down to a specific time frame, using the date selector in the top-right corner. Here, you can also see that you can compare two different time frames.

The default settings in Ads Manager should give you a good overview, but if you can dig deeper for a better picture by adjusting and changing a couple of things!

Managing Data with Columns and Breakdown in Facebook Ads Manager

Below, you can see that the data are separated into columns that you can customize to your preference.  

There are many more metrics, all of which can be separated into categories. Here are a few:

1. Performance: Results, Reach, Impressions, Cost Per Result, Video Average Watch Time, etc.
2. Engagement: Post Comments, Post Shares, Link Clicks, Page Likes, Offer Claims, Sign-Ups, etc.
3. Clicks: Link Clicks, Cost Per Link Click, CTR, Clicks, etc.

You can customize the columns however you want by clicking on the "Columns" drop-down menu and selecting your dashboard preferences (as shown above). However, these setups are standard- meaning that by applying this, you may be limiting the visibility of the performance metrics that matter to your campaign, possibly missing out on valuable optimization opportunities.

You can customize the columns yourself by clicking on "Customize Columns" to counter this obstacle. Once you've chosen your metrics and set the attribution window, you can save your custom configuration as a preset.

Moreover, you can use the "Breakdown" menu instead of metrics to sort your data based on the following categories: Delivery, Time, and Action. This gives you insights into individual components of your campaigns, allowing you to see which variations are getting the results you want. You should use this opportunity to learn and improve your skills for future ad optimizations.

You visit this Facebook page for tips and more information.

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What Metrics Should You Include?

As you saw in the last section, there are many metric options that you can choose from, which might make it challenging to determine which ones are valuable. Though there isn't any one-size-fits-all approach to this, you can learn about the metrics individually and customize your columns based on the type of campaigns you're running.

If you're only just getting started, keeping some of the default performance metrics is a great start; as you advance, it's helpful to employ different metrics to help you better understand your campaign's performances. We will be discussing this in more detail later, but keeping some of the standard performance metrics (CPC, CTR, Impressions, Reach, etc.)  is a great start!

Automatic Campaign Reporting

Facebook Ad Manager also provides automatic reports via email as a .xlsx or .csv file!

However, you will need to set up a report first. Here are the steps to taking advantage of this feature:

1. Click on the 3-by-3 dotted icon in the top-left corner and select Ads Reporting.

1. Click on Create Report and choose from the options provided- pivot table, trend line chart, or bar chart.
2. Create your report using the bar on the right side to add the metrics you want to see.
3. Click on the blue hyperlink in the top-left corner. Note that Your hyperlink may look different depending on your country, the number of ad accounts you're reporting on, etc.
4. Lastly, on the new window, toggle on Schedule Email, add to the Ad Accounts and Subscriber sections and set the delivery frequency according to your preference.

While Facebook Ads Reporting doesn't have the feature to create data visualizations- like Google Data Studio- Ads Manager can be an effective tool for providing performance data to investors. Leveraging Facebook's customizable dashboard and reporting features will enhance your understanding of performance and simplify your optimization approach. Still, you can also use these data to create more effective marketing strategies for the future.

Tips to Monitor Your Facebook Ads

It can be challenging to determine which selections will be most valuable to you as a digital marketer, given the unlimited metric choices and performance views you can choose from. As mentioned earlier, there isn't any correct way of doing this, but customization of columns based on types of campaigns proves to be an effective and great way to start. We also mentioned that the standard performance metrics are a great start, but they don't paint the whole picture.

We'll look at two different types of campaigns:

1. Lead Generation

Lead Generation is capturing information from users who show interest in your product or service. For example, say Stiddle wants to acquire the email addresses of as many interested parties as possible, the company would ask for it in exchange for something, usually free. The free item could be an e-book or a seat at an upcoming webinar that discusses the software.

So, you must put some time into understanding the sales process and a user's journey to conversion, the endpoint. It'll help you know what metrics will best fit your strategy. If you're trying to drive the customer to a lead form on your website, including "Landing Page Views" into one of your columns would be a good move since it tells you how many users are successfully landing. Since lead generation is heavily reliant on performance metrics, it would be good to add Result, Cost per Result, Result Rate, Spend, and Purchase ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).

With these, you should have complete visibility into the performances of standard event goals and conversions. Click here to learn more about lead generation with Facebook Lead Ads.

1. Purchase Event
   Technically, you don't need to change the default columns to analyze purchase events, but it doesn't paint the complete picture of your user's journey through the sales funnel. Adding various new metrics to the columns can help you optimize your campaigns during each step.Therefore, incorporating Add to Cart, Checkouts Initiated, and Website Purchases can help you understand users' "drop-out point" in the buyer's journey and improve retargeting campaigns to convert them in the future.
3. Purchase ROAS- mentioned in the last example- is also a valuable metric since it allows you to see the return on your money and understand the value of your marketing efforts. You can find this in "Conversions" in the "Customize Columns" menu below.

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Monitor Your Facebook Ads With Stiddle

Though many tools can help you monitor your Facebook Ad campaigns, none prove better than Stiddle. Stiddle was created as the most straightforward approach to social media advertising by displaying the metrics that matter to your goal(s).  

Upon integrating your Stiddle account with Facebook pixels, your data will be recorded and displayed in your analytics dashboard numerically and visually. We understand that everyone views things differently and possesses different monitoring techniques. This is why we made the software customizable to your taste, prioritizing the metrics you care about. Simply select the metrics you care about in the drop-down menu, and Stiddle will organize them into your custom analytics page. Moreover, you can track individual or multiple campaigns.

Marketing jargons are sometimes hard to remember and confusing- we agree! This is why our software presents to you all the metrics worded in simple-to-understand English, providing you with an in-depth understanding of your ad performance at first glance.

If you're tight on time or don't understand how to analyze campaign performances, don't worry! We got you covered with our Stiddle Ad Rating- our own indicator and the single ad performance metric to rule them all.

With Stiddle, you can also create beautiful reports to share with your team, clients, or whoever needs them.

You can have one in your inbox in just a few clicks whenever you see fit.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that there isn't anyone method that can guarantee success in digital marketing. You'll most likely have to run trials to test your theories and find a way that best fits your campaign(s).

No online guide can help you all the way. Only you know how your business works, who your customers are, what metrics will best serve you, etc. You must constantly update your techniques and strategies as Facebook ad marketing evolves; we recommend checking out how the new Apple update will affect marketing on Facebook. Check out our other blogs to discover new tips to get ahead of your competition and expand your business.

Checkout What is the difference between Google Ads and Facebook Ads?

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