Meta Ads

The second-largest advertising platform and the center of social advertising: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, WhatsApp (in some markets), and the Audience Network of third-party apps, all bought through one Ads Manager with one pixel and one Conversions API.

Where ads run

• Facebook feed, Stories, Reels, Marketplace, in-stream video, right column
• Instagram feed, Stories, Reels, Explore, Shop
• Messenger inbox and Stories
• Threads feed
• WhatsApp Status and click-to-message (market dependent)
• Meta Audience Network (in-app placements on third-party apps)

Campaign types

• Sales
• Leads
• Engagement
• Traffic
• App promotion
• Awareness
• Advantage+ (automated) versions of each

Targeting

• Advantage+ audience (automated, with optional audience suggestions as signals)
• Custom Audiences: customer lists, website (pixel), app, engagement, catalog
• Lookalike Audiences seeded from Custom Audiences
• Detailed targeting: interests, behaviors, demographics (reduced for housing, credit, employment, and social issue ads)
• Location, age, gender, language
• Exclusions of customers, converters, and engaged users

Buying

Auction-based, with the auction weighting bid, estimated action rate, and ad quality. Billed by impression (CPM) in nearly all cases; optimization goal (conversions, value, link clicks, ThruPlay, reach) determines what the algorithm chases. Bid strategies: highest volume, cost per result goal, bid cap, ROAS goal. Reach and Frequency buying offers predictable delivery for large brand campaigns. Minimum daily budgets are low (a few dollars) and scale with optimization goal. Ad set level is where budget, audience, placement, and optimization live; Advantage+ campaign budget moves budget to the campaign level.

Measurement

Meta Pixel plus Conversions API with event deduplication is the required setup. Attribution windows default to 7-day click and 1-day view, selectable per ad set; Meta reports modeled conversions where browser signals are missing, and iOS conversions are aggregated and delayed. Conversion Lift, Brand Lift, and A/B tests are built into Ads Manager; Advanced Analytics is Meta's clean room. The Meta Ad Library shows every active ad on the platform.

Watch

Meta has spent three years consolidating into automation: Advantage+ shopping campaigns, then Advantage+ audiences and creative, and since 2025 a merged Advantage+ campaign setup. Manual targeting remains available but is treated as a signal rather than a fence. Creative volume and refresh rate are the main performance levers now that targeting is automated. Meta's ad-free subscription in the EU (2023 onward) and the EU's Digital Markets Act decisions affect targeting data for European users. Political, social issue, housing, employment, and credit ads carry authorization and targeting limits.

Documentation

https://www.facebook.com/business/help

See also: benchmarks for typical costs, and the glossary for any term used above.