The three campaign levels
FB advertising has three levels:
- Campaign — this is where you pick the objective (traffic, conversions, engagement) and the budget model (CBO/ABO);
- Ad set (adset) — this is where targeting lives (geo, age, interests), placements, schedule;
- Ad — the creative itself + copy + link to the lander.
One campaign can hold several ad sets, and each one can hold several ads.
CBO vs ABO
| ABO | CBO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the budget sits | at the ad set level | at the campaign level |
| Who allocates it | you, manually | FB's algorithm, across ad sets |
| Control | full | less |
| When to use | testing (equal terms for every variant) | scaling (the algorithm pours into the best) |
ABO (Ad Set Budget Optimization) — you set the budget for each ad set yourself. Handy for tests: every creative/audience gets an equal budget, so the comparison is fair. CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization) — the budget sits on the campaign and the algorithm pours it into the best-performing ad sets on its own. Handy for scaling.
A typical setup for a beginner
- Test: an ABO campaign, 3-5 ad sets, one creative in each, the same budget → you see the winners;
- Selection: turn off the weak creatives/audiences;
- Scale: gather the winners into a CBO campaign and gradually raise the budget.
How many creatives per ad set
At the test stage — 1 creative = 1 ad set (so you know exactly what converted). Once FB is doing the allocating in CBO, you can run 3-5 creatives per ad set and let the algorithm pick. More than 5-6 rarely makes sense.
Common mistakes
- Too many variables at once in a single ad set — you won't pin down the cause (it breaks the logic of a test);
- Touching the campaign too early — not letting it get out of the "learning" phase;
- The same lander on every ad set and account — footprint (you need unique landers).
Bottom line
ABO for tests (equal terms), CBO for scaling (the algorithm optimizes). Test in a structured way first, then gather the winners into CBO. And don't forget: different accounts need different unique landers (ready-made ones are in the pool). Before you start running traffic, the account needs to be warmed up.