Create an ad and manage its budget

A standalone ad is one you build from scratch rather than boosting a post: its own picture, headline and link, a goal, a budget and the people who should see it. You create it here and the network runs it and bills your ad account.

Before you start

• An ad account connected under Marketing › Ads › Campaigns, with a payment method on the network. See Connect an ad account and boost a post.
• A picture for the ad. JPG or PNG, 1200 × 628 pixels works best, up to 30 MB. You can make one with image ads.
• The page you want people to land on.

Steps

1. Go to Marketing › Ads and click Create ad.
2. Write the Primary text, the main words that appear above the picture.
3. Under Media, click Drop a picture, or choose one and pick your picture.
4. Write the Headline, for example "Hand-poured candles, made in Bristol".
5. Paste the Destination URL, the page people land on when they click.
6. Give it an Ad name you will recognise in the list, such as "Autumn collection – traffic".
7. Under Platform and account, choose which ad account runs it.
8. Choose a Goal: - Engagement: likes, comments and shares. - Traffic: visits to your site. - Awareness: as many people as possible. - Video views: people who watch it.
9. Set the Budget: an amount, Per day or Total, and for how many days.
10. Under Targeting, leave All audiences, or click Edit audience to choose one of your Saved audiences or set towns or cities, a radius in km, an age range and interests.
11. Tick Create as paused if you want to check it on the network before it spends anything.
12. Click Create ad. A message says "Ad created." or "Ad created, paused."

Manage a running ad

1. Find the ad in the Campaigns list. Use the filters to narrow it: Which kind (Boost or Standalone), platform, account, status, dates, and How to sort (Newest first, Spend or Results). Clear filters resets them.
2. On the ad, click Pause to stop spending or Resume to start again.
3. Click Edit budget, enter the Amount, choose Per Day or Total (lifetime), and click Save.
4. A draft you no longer want can be removed with Delete draft.

What happens next

• Each ad shows Spent, Seen, Clicks, Results and CTR, and its status: Draft, Pending review, Active, Paused, Completed, Rejected or Failed.
• Figures come from the network once a day. Click Refresh above the list to fetch them now.
• The network bills your own ad account. Nothing is taken from your wallet.

Troubleshooting

It says "Write a headline for the ad." The Headline is required. Add one and click Create ad again.

It says "Set a budget first." Type an amount under Budget.

It says "That picture did not upload." Use a JPG or PNG under 30 MB and try again.

The ad says "Not approved" with a reason. The network rejected it. Read the reason under the ad, change what it asks for (often the picture or the words), and create the ad again.

The ad says "Did not start". Usually the ad account has no payment method on the network, or is still being reviewed there. Fix it on the network, then create the ad again.

The figures have not changed today. They are fetched once a day. Click Refresh to fetch them now.

Related

• Connect an ad account and boost a post
• Build ad audiences
• Collect leads with lead forms
• Make a batch of image ads