I recently walked a couple of team members through campaign creation in Facebook and I remembered how different and sometimes overwhelming the Facebook interface can be when you’re just beginning. You eventually develop a workflow and know how to find things, but up until then, Facebook’s interface can feel clunky and weird. I realized that there’s a couple of handy features that I haven’t been fully utilizing or that are new to Facebook. I hope they’re helpful!
Split Testing
Easily identify what campaign settings, audiences and ad placements give you the best results with Facebook’s new split testing feature! There’s an endless list of possibilities in Facebook when it comes to targeting, audiences, geographies, etc., but this feature will make your testing easier by being able to choose which variable you’re testing. To get started with testing, you’ll want to make sure to select “Create Split Test” when setting up your campaign. (Tip: To see the screen below you’ll want to select “use guided creation.”)
You can choose which variable you will test: delivery optimization, audience targeting strategies or ad placement. You can create multiple ad sets and see how differences in strategies and targeting impact your ad performance.
You can also select how you split your budget among ad sets and when your test will start and end. There’s an additional option to end the test as soon as a winner is determined.
If you want to know more about setting up split testing in your accounts, check out this article on Facebook Business Help or this Social Media Examiner post.
Power Editor’s Edit Name Feature
Living in the Quick Edit dropdown on the ad set tab lies a feature that has really changed the way I am able to name and track ad and ad set performance. I like to have consistency across my naming conventions and this feature makes that not only possible but easy.
Simply select your ad sets or ads and select “edit name.” As long as there’s some differences between your ads and ad sets (which I’m assuming there is), you can select how you want them named and voila! My favorite ad naming pieces are the call to action, headline and date pieces.
Power Editor’s Find & Replace Function
Also within the Power Editor Quick Edit drop down is the Find and Replace function. This is a function that seems simple and not overly important… until you don’t have it. At the ad set level, you can simply swap out words or phrases in the ad set name but at the ad level you can swap out names, See More URLs, Headlines and messages.
New Ad Placement Category Exclusions
You can exclude your ads from running next to certain content by excluding categories on your ads, similar to what AdWords allows advertisers to do. While editing your ad set, you can find this under Placement > Exclude Categories. You’re able to exclude your content for the in-steam video, Audience Network and Instant Article placements for categories pertaining to dating, gambling, debatable social issues, mature content and tragedy and conflict.
If you need more control over placements and prefer to block certain websites, here’s a guide to all that Facebook currently offers.
What hidden features of Facebook do you love that weren’t on this list? We’d love to hear your favorite features and ideas in the comments!
