Starting in September 2019, Facebook is changing the way users distribute their ad budgets with campaign budget optimization, also know as CBO. If you have a current Facebook Business account, you may have received an email outlining this change. In this blog, we will dive into how you can prepare for this change and increase your Return On Ad Spend (ROAS).
What is Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO)?
The campaign budget optimization tool allows Facebook to distribute your entire campaign budget among your most successful ad sets. Essentially, CBO distributes the risk of one underperforming ad among multiple ads, therefore, as Facebook states, “generating results and a lower cost”. The graphic below from Facebook shows how the ad with a lower number of conversions will receive less of the campaign budget compared to the ad set that receives a higher number of conversions.
Morphology of a Facebook Ad Campaign
First, we need to discuss the structure of a Facebook advertising campaign. In Facebook Ad manager you can make multiple campaigns. For example, you may have one campaign for whitening ads and another for Invisalign ads. Next, under the umbrella of a campaign, you can create ad sets. This may include three variations of a Valentines Day whitening discount with each ad set targeted to a different lookalike audience derived from previous ads or your website. Then, under each ad set, you can create multiple individual ads.
How does CBO work?
If you want to try CBO today, turn on ‘campaign budget optimization’ when you create a campaign. Remember, in September, CBO will be the default for each campaign. Next, create 4 to 6 duplicate ad sets. Then, change one variable in each ad set, for example, use different lookalike audience, graphic, or caption to slightly vary each ad set. Once you start the campaign Facebook will show each of your ad sets to their designated audiences. After Facebook has generated enough data, it will optimize your entire campaign budget by distributing a higher budget to the successful ad sets and a lower proportion of the budget to the less successful campaigns. Therefore, ensuring your entire campaign budget is spent to increase your ROAS.
Recap: right now, you have the choice to use CBO or traditional budgeting, in which you can manually set the budget for each ad set under the campaign. Starting in September, you will be forced to use CBO for every campaign and ad set.
Using CBO in Your Dental Practice
Now, let’s discuss how you can use CBO for your dental practice. First, create a campaign by clicking the green ‘+ create’ button on the left of your screen in Ads Manager. In this example, your office is running a whitening campaign this quarter and you want to promote a $100 off whitening special on Facebook. You call the campaign ‘Whitening 2019 Q2’. The next step is to set up an ad set. Name the ad set (ex. Web Visitors – 180 days) and create an audience from people who have visited your website since the last 180 days. To do this, make sure you already have a Facebook pixel installed on your website. If you want to learn more about how to install a Facebook Pixel, contact one of our Lucent Spot Marketing experts.
Once you have completed the content for your ad set, duplicate the ad set to create a total of 4 to 6 ad sets in the campaign. This will give Facebook enough data to determine the best-performing ad set and distribute the budget accordingly. Next, alter the audience in each ad set by selecting a lookalike audience next to the custom audience box. When your ad completes in a month, mark the lookalike audiences that were most successful. Use these audiences and lookalikes of these audiences in your next whitening campaign to increase the acuity of your targeting.
Now, that you have learned how to use CBO, are you ready to start your first CBO ad? Overall, this change will benefit all users because it will help them maximize their results and minimize their spend. For more information about Facebook advertising or dental marketing, contact our Lucent Spot Marketing experts, today!