Running a successful Facebook campaign involves a lot of moving parts which requires you to be super-organized.

And except you’re Marie Kondo, then chances are you sometimes struggle with being organized. If that’s you, then we strongly recommend that you begin using checklists.

Checklists help you avoid expensive mistakes and could also simplify outsourcing specific tasks.

In this post, we will be looking at some helpful marketing checklists specifically for running Facebook Ads in 2024. To keep things organized, we’ve put these checklists into four categories;

1. Getting Started On Facebook Checklist
2. Before You Launch Your Campaign Checklist
3. After You Launch Your Campaign Checklist
4. Facebook Optimization Checklist

Let’s dive in!

Checklist for Getting Started On Facebook

If you’re new to Facebook advertising, ensure you check off all these steps before you try to create an ad.

• Create a Facebook account
• Create a Facebook Business page
• Upload a profile picture to your Business page
• Create a Facebook Business manager account
• Create an ad account in your Business manager
• Link your Business page to your Business manager
• Make that page your primary page
• Add a credit/debit card to your billing
• Verify your Business through Facebook
• Add admins to your Business manager (if needed)
• Create a pixel for your ad account
• iOS 14: Verify your domains on Facebook
• Create your first campaign
• Choose your budget, audience, and placement
• Upload your ad image or video.
• Add your ad copy
• Set your destination link
• Publish your ad

Checklist Before You Launch Your Campaign

Use this checklist to make sure your Facebook/Instagram ad is created properly so you can run ads and see conversions.

• Create your campaign with a clear name that includes the offer and placement(s)
• Check budgets on your campaign and in your ad sets.
• Double-check your targeting makes sense: location, age, gender, language, interests, and behaviors (if applicable).
• Did you exclude the right audiences in your targeting (for example: leads who opted in already)?
• Is your ad placed on the right devices, platforms, and placements? (within the ad set)
• Preview each ad in your Newsfeed from the Ad level.
• Always check for grammar, spelling, and clarity.
• Is there less than 20% text in the ad’s thumbnail or image?
• Where is your ad going? Click the button in the preview to check if the destination (URL) loads correctly.
• Are your landing page images, video, headlines, bullet points, etc. good?
• Is the content on the page what someone would expect to see after clicking your ad?
• Check that your contact form or checkout form is working by clicking the button and entering your info (just for testing).
• After you put in your info, did you reach the correct next page?
• Test all funnel steps to make sure they are set up correctly. Bump? Upsell? Downsell? Confirmation page?
• Check your integrations. Did your test lead go into your CRM or email marketing service (e.g. Mailchimp)?
• Check your automation and trigger. If you have an automated email, did it send? If it’s an automated SMS, did you verify the phone numbers and did the SMS deliver?
• Are your pixels working (use the Facebook Pixel Helper Chrome extension to check)? Did they show on Facebook too?
• Test everything on mobile. Does everything fit, function, and look good? How about the font sizes?
• Take a deep breath and smile… you’re now ready to turn on that campaign.

Checklist for After You Launch Your Campaign

Once your ad starts spending, what do you do next? How can you tell if it’s performing well or not? Use the checklist below as a guide.

In Facebook’s ads manager

• Check that everything is “Active” and approved on the campaign, ad set, and ad levels (look under the “Delivery” column).
• Customize your column to include all of your important metrics (e.g. Cost Per Click, Leads, Cost Per Leads, Purchases, Cost Per Purchase, etc.)
• Refresh the page frequently to view how much you’re spending and how everything is performing (it may take several hours for your campaign to start spending).
• Don’t just monitor your ads on the campaign level. Make sure individual ad sets or ads are not overspending and consider pausing any low-performing ones.
• Create a process to track your campaign stats daily.

Determining the health of your campaign

• Few clicks on your ad? Look into switching over to new audiences, consider testing a different offer, or change the ad image/video.
• People are clicking on the ad but not entering their info on your landing page? Try changing the headlines/messaging of the landing page to be cohesive with the offer, ask better questions, or give more incentives.
• Are you getting leads but no sales? You may not be contacting your leads fast enough or at all! Add urgency and incentive on your Thank You Page or Sales Page.

Facebook Optimization Checklist

Are your leads or sales too expensive? Use this checklist to improve your ads. But keep in mind that you shouldn’t make many changes all at once. You’ll want to be able to track which modification makes the difference or improvement and go from there.

• Check that your campaign, ad set, and ads are approved and running.
• Sort columns by your best metrics.
• Depending on your goal, sort rows to see the lowest-performing ads.
• Having a high cost per click? Edit your targeting placement or ad.
• Not getting clicks? adjust your targeting or message.
• Getting clicks but no opt-ins? Edit your ad or landing page.
• If your video has a low watch time, introduce hooks, in the beginning, to capture their attention sooner.
• Change your offer if no one is clicking or engaging.
• If your ad isn’t spending, increase the audience size, bid, or budget.
• If you want to scale, increase your budget by 20%.
• To reduce your costs, look to see which demographics are cheaper.
• Separate your placements into their own Ad sets
• Always test your funnel and ads.
• Make sure your call to action is clear and specific.
• Make sure your landing page is mobile-friendly
• Try a different campaign objective
• Duplicate and refresh your Ad to combat ad fatigue.

Conclusion

The checklists we have provided are not in any way exhaustive. You may need to customize the checklist to fit the uniqueness of your business and campaign objectives.

Overall, keeping a checklist when running Facebook ads will not only make your life easier – it will also save you from making ugly, expensive mistakes.

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Author: Tola Masters.
Tola is the founder of TolaMasters Digital, a digital marketing agency in Lagos Nigeria that helps B2C & B2B brands accelerate their growth using best-in-class digital strategies, tactics, and creative ideas. You can connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin – @tolamasters.