Configuring Ad Sets for Facebook Ads: The Beginner’s Guide

After your campaigns are structured, the next step is configuring the ad sets within them. Optimizing the targeting and configuration of ad sets is crucial for driving results.

Ad sets are the components within a Facebook campaign that contain the actual ads. Configuring the targeting, placements, schedules, and other settings for your ad sets effectively is key to their success.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything beginners need to know to set up high-performing ad sets. You’ll learn how to define audiences, choose placements, set durations and schedules, implement bidding strategies, and structure ad sets for optimal results. Let’s get started!

The goal is to group similar initiatives, offers, and audiences into tightly themed ad sets for optimal testing and observation. Keeping ad sets focused this way allows you to maneuver each part independently.

Here are some best practices for organizing Facebook ad sets by initiative or theme:

• Structure ad sets around each product, service, or promotion you want to advertise. For example, have separate ad sets for your email course product and your 1-on-1 consulting service.

• Create ad sets focused on specific customer segments you want to target like small business owners or young parents.

• Use separate ad sets for each stage of the funnel - awareness, consideration, conversion.

• For local businesses, have ad sets organized by geographic region.

• Organize seasonal or holiday-specific promos into dedicated ad sets.

• For educational ads, group ad sets by topics, course levels, programs etc.

• If running nurture campaigns, structure based on phases - new subscribers, engaged, inactive and so on.

• For complex products, organize ad sets around features, product lines, or use cases.

Facebook advertising is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes to reach their target audience and achieve their marketing goals. But with so many options and features available, it can be tough to know where to start.

We have managed hundreds of Facebook and Instagram campaigns for businesses of all sizes, and we know what it takes to achieve success.

If you're a business owner and ready to take your Facebook advertising to the next level, schedule a meeting with us today. We'll help you create a custom campaign that meets your specific needs and budget, and we'll manage everything from start to finish so you can focus on running your business.

Click here to schedule a meeting and learn more about our Facebook ads management service.

Creating and Structuring Ad Sets in Facebook Ads like a Pro!

Within Ads Manager, click "Create Ad Set" and follow these best practices:

Define Audience

When creating Facebook ad sets, you need to define the target audience. You can create 3 types of audience for an adset:

1. Interests, Behaviors & Demographics

• Research your customer personas and select detailed targeting like job titles, interests, and behaviors that your ideal audience has.

• Use combinations like "entrepreneurs AND business coaching" or ages 21-45.

• The more precise the targeting, the better. Avoid going too broad.

2. Custom Audiences

• Create saved audiences from your website visitors, email lists, past customers etc.

• Use the Facebook pixel or import contacts.

• Target people who already know you with custom audiences.

3. Lookalike Audiences

• Have Facebook find new users who match your followers or buyers.

• Choose 1-10% for tight matches or more for broader.

• Expand reach with lookalikes of proven audiences.

Other Tips

• Limit to 1-2 interests/audiences per ad set for testing.

• Try layering audiences like interests + behavior.

• Continually add new audiences for fresh reach.

The size of the audience is an important factor to consider when selecting interests to target in Facebook ads. Here are some tips on how audience size should influence interest selection:

• For very broad interests with huge audiences, narrow down with additional targeting like behaviors or demographics. This prevents waste.

• Check the audience size estimate Facebook provides once you select interests. Aim for audiences above 100K or 200K+ if possible.

• For smaller niche interests with under 100K people, you may need to loosen targeting or add interests to expand reach.

• Unless you have a sizable budget and asset creation capacity, ultra-targeted interests under 50K may limit scale.

• Balance targeting precision with reach - not so broad that messaging gets irrelevant, not so narrow that there's limited frequency and impact.

• Consider creating a Custom Audience first if you have assets like an email list to build from. This guarantees reach.

• Lookalike Audiences can help expand narrow interests in a relevant way too.

Test a mix of granular and moderately broad interests, and pay attention to estimated audience size in Ads Manager to strike the right balance for your goals and budget.

Precise, intentional audience definition is key for relevant messaging and strong ad performance. Test specific audiences per ad set to see what resonates best.

Set Placements

When setting up Facebook ad sets, you need to determine the placements - where you want your ads to be shown. The main placement options are:

• Facebook News Feed

• Facebook Stories

• Facebook Right Column

• Instagram Feed

• Instagram Stories

• Instagram Reels

• Instagram Explore

• Messenger Inbox

• Audience Network

Once you understand the placements, you can configure where the ads from each ad set are shown:

Automatic Placements

Have Facebook automatically choose placements based on expected performance. Good for beginners. Why?

• This has Facebook automatically choose placements to show your ads.

• It will display ads where they perform best based on the optimization goal.

• Good for beginners as it requires less manual testing.

Specific Placements

Manually select desired placements - this allows more control to test and optimize.

You can select exactly where the ads show up such as News Feed, Instagram Feed, Stories. This allows more control to test performance by placement. Ideal once you know what works to focus budget on optimal placements.

Best Practices

• Start with automatic while getting familiar with ads.

• Focus budget on winning placements once identified.

• Continuously revisit performance and turn off poor performers.

• Leverage a mix of automatic and specific for optimization.

With the full range of placements in mind, strategically choose automatic or specific options based on your goals, audience, and creative. Continual iteration will improve ad results over time.

Configure Duration

Set Start and End Dates

• Use distinct start and end dates to align ad sets to initiatives, promotions, or campaigns.

• End dates can add urgency. Start dates allow launch coordination.

• Schedule ad sets to run in proven high-converting periods.

Schedule Ad Delivery

• Configure ad delivery schedules in the ad set or campaign.

• Limit delivery to certain days and hours when engagement is highest.

• Consider time zones of your audiences.

• Schedule ads for when ideal customers are browsing.

Best Practices

• Use durations and scheduling to concentrate budget on key periods.

• Avoid ending too abruptly; use 'ramp down' approach if needed.

• Test seasonality - what durations and schedules optimize performance.

• Align new initiatives to start and end with ad set dates.

Thoughtful ad set durations and strategic delivery scheduling help focus ad efforts for maximum impact. Always monitor and optimize based on results.

Adjust Budgets

When configuring your Facebook ad set durations, it’s recommended to use daily budgets rather than lifetime budgets, and here are some of the reasons why:

• With a lifetime budget, it's harder to control pacing and spend flexibility week to week. Daily budgets give more control.

• If you set the lifetime budget too low, the ad set could stop very quickly and prematurely limiting results.

• It's difficult to allocate budget properly across multiple evergreen ad sets using lifetime budgets.

• As campaigns run, their ideal budget needs often change based on performance. Lifetime budgets don't account for this dynamism.

• Monitoring and optimizing becomes more difficult without clearly seeing daily spend and pacing metrics.

• Pausing campaigns temporarily pauses lifetime budget counting which can be misleading when resumed.

• Facebook's AI optimization works better with cadence it can adjust daily budgets for.

Tips about Set a Daily Budget

• Establish a daily budget cap for each ad set instead of lifetime.

• Consider historical costs and performance for budget amounts.

• Ensure the budget aligns to your goals for the initiative.

• Allow flexibility to adjust budgets weekly or monthly.

Monitor Pacing

• Track daily spend to ensure pacing is on track.

• Look for consistent spend without drastic peaks or valleys.

• Make sure the budget isn’t being depleted too quickly.

Optimize Scheduling

• Concentrate budget on key days and hours.

• Use the schedule tool to limit or increase budgets on certain days.

• Refine schedule based on performance.

How to adjust budgets for an Adset in Facebook Ads?

When to Increase Budgets

• If the ad set is achieving strong ROI and your goal is more conversions

• If the CPA/CPC is within your target and you want additional volume

• To spend excess budget from underperforming ad sets

• To increase reach for awareness campaigns with good engagement

Signs Budget is Too Low

• Seeing high ROAS but spending is capped out early

• Not enough conversions because of limited impressions

• High CTR and engagement but impressions are low

When to Decrease Budgets

• If CPA or CPC is too high and unprofitable

• If low CTR or engagement indicate poor performing ad set

• To free up budget for better performing ad sets

• If changes to targeting or creative caused drop in metrics

Signs Budget is Too High

• Increase in CPC or CPM over time

• Decline in CTR or other engagement metrics

• Sudden spike in CPA or drop in ROAS

Monitor metrics closely and adjust budgets promptly based on performance. Optimization requires vigilance.

How to A/B Test Ad Variations

• Duplicate existing ad sets to create a near-identical version

• Change one variable in the duplicate like creative, audience, placement etc.

• Run both ad sets simultaneously

• Compare performance to see which variation does better

Why A/B Testing is Effective

• Lets you evaluate multiple options to determine what resonates best

• Provides learnings that can be applied to optimize future ad sets

• Minimizes risk of changing strategies in existing ad sets

• Gives clearer data to make optimization decisions

• Can improve results by focusing investment on better-performing variations

Is it Necessary?

• While not absolutely mandatory, A/B testing is highly recommended

• It provides valuable data on what messaging, targeting, creative etc works

• Even minor changes can impact performance significantly

• Helps boost results over time by continually testing and optimizing

Leveraging A/B testing in Facebook ad sets is an impactful way for beginners to learn what resonates and systematically improve performance.