What are the different Facebook Ad campaign types?

Facebook Ads Manager can be a scary place. There are so many options to choose from and your Facebook Ads campaign type is one of the first decisions you’ll have to make when setting up a Facebook Ad. This post, I’m diving into all the different Facebook Ads campaign types so that you can choose the right one next time you’re running some ads.

 

 

What are the different Facebook campaign types?

Today, I'm looking at a few of the different Facebook ads campaign types you might encounter when you set up a Facebook Ad inside Facebook Ads Manager. Don't confuse these Facebook Ads with boosted posts (if you're confused, check out my blog post on the difference between Facebook Ads and boosted posts).

When you're setting up a Facebook Ad Campaign, the first thing you have to do is pick is your Facebook Ad campaign type. This tells Facebook what your goal for the campaign is so it can optimise your ads based on this goal.

I'm only going to cover the most common ones in this post because I don't want to overwhelm you. You certainly don't need to know every single campaign type out there because chances are you'll most likely only end up using 3-4 of them, most of the time.

One great way to get better results from your Facebook Ads is to ensure you're using the right image. These pre-made Facebook Ad templates are a great, simple way to do that!

Facebook Ads campaign type #1: Engagement

I touched on this one briefly in my post comparing boosted posts and Facebook Ads but, basically, an engagement campaign tells Facebook that your goal for the campaign is to get more engagement. So, more reactions, comments and shares.

Whilst this might sound great, if you're trying to get sales or trying to get people to visit your website, this really isn't the right campaign objective for you.

When would you use an engagement campaign? Well, I would only really use it if I was wanting to build up social proof on a certain Facebook post.

Facebook Ads campaign type #2: Traffic

A traffic campaign is a good place to start if you want to start getting people to click through to your website but you don't have anything to sell or anywhere for them to opt-in, or if you don't yet have the Facebook Pixel installed, so you can't track conversions.

It's also really good if you're trying to get more people to read your blog posts. The objective basically tells Facebook that you want lots of people to click through and visit your website, so they'll optimise your ads to show to people when they're most likely to click through to your website.

Facebook Ads campaign type #3: Conversions

Conversion campaigns are my personal favourite because you're basically telling Facebook that you want to convert more people into sales or leads. Facebook will look at your data from your previous conversions and use it to determine who to show you ads to, to get the most conversions.

However, this will only work if you have the Facebook pixel installed and you have event tracking set up. If you're using Shopify, simply placing your pixel ID into your settings will do both of these things. But, if you're in WordPress, it can be tricky. I recommend the Pixel Your Site plugin for setting up the Facebook Pixel in WordPress.

You also need to be getting enough conversions so that Facebook can actually collect this data and use it to optimise your ads for future conversions. Otherwise, you're better off running traffic ads.

Facebook Ads campaign type #4: Lead Ads

These are the Facebook Ads where the box pops up inside the Facebook app and collects the person's info without them having to leave the app. If you don't have an opt-in page set up, then you can run lead ads as an alternative way to build your email list. Or, even if you do have an opt-in page, this is something you can test to see what gets you a lower cost per lead.

Facebook Ads campaign type #5 + #6: Reach and brand awareness

These two are same same, but different. The reach campaign tells Facebook you want it to show your ads the most people possible at the lowest cost possible, while brand awareness tells people that you want it to show your ads to people who might be interested in your brand.

Sounds good, right? Not really. If you're on a limited budget, I wouldn't usually recommend either of these campaign types.

Facebook Ads campaign type #7: Video views

This one is fairly straightforward: You want Facebook to show your ads to people who are most likely to view your videos. I love using this campaign type to get people to watch videos and then I set up a retargeting audience of people who have viewed the videos and run ads to them.

Facebook Ads campaign type #8: Catalogue sales

So you know how sometimes you view a product on a website and then ads follow you around Facebook forever? This is where you can set those ones up.

You'll need to have the Facebook pixel installed and you'll also need to have a catalogue set up inside Facebook Business Manager before you can run these ads. How you set this up will depend on which platform your business is set up on. I know there are some easy integrations for Woocommerce and for Shopify, so I recommend you look at the help section for your specific platform and see what the instructions are there.

Pin this?