Meta Ads: running Facebook and Instagram advertising
Meta Ads Manager is the platform for building and running ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network. In Azerbaijan it is the social ad channel with the widest reach.
- Made by
- Meta
- Billing
- Per impression or result
- Measurement
- Pixel and Conversions API
- Automation
- Advantage+
What is Meta Ads?
Meta's ad system shows each ad to the people most likely to complete its goal (traffic, leads, sales). That needs conversion signals from your site: the Pixel sends them from the browser and the Conversions API from the server.
As browser restrictions grow, Pixel-only measurement loses data. With the Conversions API and correct event deduplication, the data the campaign learns from is complete.
What Meta Ads makes possible
Conversion campaigns
Optimising for sales and leads.
Advantage+ campaigns
Automated audiences and placements.
Conversions API
A reliable signal from the server side.
Lead forms
Enquiries without leaving the platform.
Catalogue ads
Dynamic product ads for e-commerce.
A/B tests
Creative and audience tests.
What Meta Ads works with
- Open the guide
Google Tag Manager
Managing tracking tags and the dataLayer without code.
- Open the guide
Google Analytics 4
Event-based web and app analytics. Funnels, conversions and audiences.
- Open the guide
Google Data Studio
A free dashboard tool. Shows GA4, ad and spreadsheet data in one place.
- Open the guide
Google Meridian
Google's open-source marketing mix model (MMM).
- Open the guide
TikTok Ads
Short-video campaigns, Spark Ads and a young audience.
My experience
Projects where I used Meta Ads:
- Conversions API setup for Irshad
- [Project: brand, what I built, result %]
Meta Ads resources
Questions about Meta Ads
Is the Conversions API a must?
I recommend it for sales and lead campaigns. It is set up together with the Pixel and recovers lost signals.
What budget can I start with?
A budget that can collect at least several dozen conversions per ad set per week is ideal for the algorithm to learn.
Why do Meta's results differ from GA4?
The attribution window and model differ. Meta also counts view-through conversions, while GA4 is based on sessions on the site.