facebook-ads

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from review. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: facebook-ads
description: Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram) platform expertise. Audit campaigns, audiences, creative strategy, pixel tracking, and CAPI. Use when the user asks about Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Meta Ads, social media advertising, Advantage+ campaigns, or Meta pixel/CAPI setup.
license: MIT
origin: custom
author: Rebecca Rae Barton
author_url: https://github.com/thatrebeccarae
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  category: paid-media
  domain: meta-ads
  updated: 2026-03-11
  tested: 2026-03-17
  tested_with: "Claude Code v2.1"
---

# Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram)

Expert-level guidance for Meta Ads — auditing, building, and optimizing campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network.

## Install

```bash
git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/facebook-ads ~/.claude/skills/
```

## Core Capabilities

### Campaign Auditing & Optimization
- Full account audit: structure, objectives, audiences, creative, tracking, attribution
- Identify creative fatigue, audience overlap, and budget inefficiencies
- Diagnose performance drops (iOS privacy, audience saturation, creative burnout)
- Advantage+ Shopping and Advantage+ Audience recommendations

### Campaign Objectives (Outcome-Based)
- **Awareness** — Reach, brand awareness, video views
- **Traffic** — Link clicks, landing page views
- **Engagement** — Post engagement, messages, conversions on-platform
- **Leads** — Instant Forms, Messenger, website lead gen
- **App Promotion** — App installs, app events
- **Sales** — Website conversions, catalog sales, Advantage+ Shopping

### Audience Strategy
- **Core Audiences** — Demographics, interests, behaviors, location
- **Custom Audiences** — Website (pixel/CAPI), customer list, app activity, video viewers, engagement
- **Lookalike Audiences** — 1-10% based on custom audience seed (value-based LALs preferred)
- **Advantage+ Audience** — Meta's AI-driven targeting (audience suggestions as signals, not constraints)
- **Broad targeting** — No interests/LAL, rely on creative + pixel data + Meta's ML

### Creative Strategy
- Ad format selection: single image, carousel, video, collection, Instant Experience
- Creative testing frameworks: concept testing vs iterative testing
- UGC (user-generated content) integration and creator whitelisting
- Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) vs manual A/B testing
- Creative fatigue signals and refresh cadence
- Platform-specific creative (Feed, Stories, Reels, Explore)

### Tracking & Attribution
- **Meta Pixel** — Standard events, custom events, microdata, aggregated event measurement
- **Conversions API (CAPI)** — Server-side tracking for privacy resilience
- **Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM)** — iOS 14.5+ handling, 8-event prioritization
- Attribution settings: 7-day click + 1-day view (default), 1-day click, 28-day click
- UTM parameter strategy for GA4 cross-reference
- Conversion lift studies and incrementality testing

## Key Benchmarks

| Metric | Good | Great | Warning |
|--------|------|-------|---------|
| CTR (Link Clicks) | 1-2% | 3%+ | <0.8% |
| CPC (Link Click) | $0.50-$1.50 | <$0.50 | >$2.00 |
| CPM | $8-$15 | <$8 | >$20 |
| Conversion Rate (Landing Page) | 3-5% | 8%+ | <2% |
| ROAS (ecommerce) | 3-4x | 6x+ | <2x |
| Cost Per Lead | Industry dependent | Below industry avg | Rising trend |
| Frequency (prospecting) | 1.5-2.5 | 1-1.5 | >3.5 |
| Frequency (retargeting) | 3-6 | 2-3 | >10 |
| Thumb-Stop Rate (video) | 25-35% | 40%+ | <20% |
| Hook Rate (3s video views %) | 30-40% | 50%+ | <25% |

## Campaign Structure (Modern Best Practice)

```
Ad Account
├── Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ecommerce)
│   ├── Broad targeting (Meta AI optimizes)
│   ├── Existing customer budget cap (10-20%)
│   └── Mixed creative (image, video, UGC, carousel)
├── Prospecting Campaign (Conversions/Sales)
│   ├── Ad Set: Broad (no targeting, trust the pixel)
│   ├── Ad Set: Lookalike 1-3% (value-based)
│   └── Ad Set