Let’s Get Your Facebook Ad Campaigns Organized

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By: Ceci Dadisman

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Are you advertising on Facebook by clicking the Boost Post button at the bottom of your posts?  That’s certainly one option to consider and fellow ArtsHacker Jonathan Eifert covered recently covered that option in a wonderfully detailed post but since ArtsHacker is all about options, I have something special to share with you.

Facebook has a handy structure for ad campaigns: Campaign > Ad Sets > Ads.

Here’s a fun graphic to show that in a more visual format:

facebook-ads-campaign-structure

If you are spending money on Facebook, I highly recommend you running your campaigns through your Business Manager, or Ads Manager if  you don’t have your Business Manager set up yet  (but if you need help doing that, I have just the thing for you).

When you make a post on Facebook, it automatically comes with the Boost Post button. When you click that oh-so-tempting Boost Post button, one thing to keep in mind is you will sidestep the ability to organize your posts into campaigns and/or ad sets. As a result, each of the individual Boost Post events is logged as a one-off like this in your campaign manager:

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 5.58.53 PM
Note: this screenshot is from a non-arts organization client #obvi

Do you see how each one of those “campaigns” is an individual post? If you only do a handful per season then that’s probably manageable but what happens when you dozens (if not hundreds) per season? Blerg!

Let’s Get Organized

Let's Get Your Facebook Ad Campaigns Organized

So, let’s take a look at how you can go about the process when you have more to organize.

First, resist the urge to click on that Boost Post button.  I know it is hard but you can do it!

Now, after you’ve created the post that you want to promote, go into your Ads Manager (whether through Business Manager or not) and create a Campaign:

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 6.05.21 PM

Your campaigns are most likely going to be grouped by show or large-scale deliverable.  For example, let’s say I’m an opera company and I’ve got three shows this season: Madama Butterfly, Carmen, and Così fan tutte.  I will probably have a campaign for each one of those.

Now within those campaigns you can have Ad Sets which is where the targeting lives.  So, let’s say that, for Carmen, you want to target opera lovers, people who might be new to opera but like other arts and culture events, and “young people” for your special under 3o ticket price.

You can create an Ad Set for each one of those targeted groups.  Here’s one I have set up for a current client:

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 6.13.19 PM

This ad set is where all of that targeting lives. So, the next time I want to target that group, I don’t have to select all of it again, I just add another Ad (promoted post) to that Ad Set.

Once you have that Ad Set created, you can load as many Ads (promoted posts) into it as you’d like and continue to track performance cumulatively over time and make adjustments if needed.

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 6.14.49 PM

When you reach the end of your campaign, you can easily see how much you spent and how each targeting group performed.

YAY!

Ceci Dadisman
Author
Ceci Dadisman
Ceci Dadisman is a marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience creating effective communications campaigns utilizing innovative, forward thinking methods. She is nationally recognized as a leader in digital marketing and specializes in multichannel communications campaigns. A frequent public speaker, Ceci’s recent and upcoming engagements feature national conference appearances at NTEN, Museums and the Web, National Arts Marketing Project, Arts Midwest, American Alliance of Museums, OPERA America, Midwest Museums Association, and Chorus America in addition to many other local and regional events. Known for her easy-going and vernacular style, she creates open learning environments with an emphasis on information sharing and useful takeaways. She is a member of the National Arts Marketing Project Advisory Committee and the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts Visiting Committee, and is a mentor in West Virginia University’s Creative Consultant program. She also teaches the arts marketing course at West Virginia University’s College of Creative Arts and is on the faculty of Chorus America’s Chorus Management Institute. Ceci was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from West Virginia University’s College of Creative Arts. She currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
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