Setting Up: Meta Campaign Walkthrough

By the end of this lesson you will have a campaign structure ready to launch correctly configured so you are spending on the right objective, reaching the right people, and getting data you can act on

The Campaign Structure: Three Levels

Meta Ads are organised in three levels.

Campaign sets the objective which is what you want Meta's algorithm to optimise for. Budget can be set here or at the ad set level.

Ad Set defines who sees your ads through audience targeting, where through placement, when, and how much you spend per day.

Ad is the actual creative including your image or video, primary text, headline, and CTA.

One campaign can contain multiple ad sets targeting different audiences. One ad set can contain multiple ads testing different creatives. For your first campaign keep it simple: one campaign, one ad set, and 2 to 3 ads.

Step 1: Campaign Objective

Go to Meta Ads Manager, click Create, and select Campaign.

Choose your objective.

Leads means Meta optimises to get people to fill in a form. Use this if you have a form or landing page you want people to complete. This is best for service businesses because you want enquiries and not purchases.

Traffic means Meta optimises for clicks to your website. Use this only if your landing page has no form and you want people to read something like a blog post or portfolio.

Engagement optimises for likes, shares, and comments. This is not useful for lead generation.

For most Claude Code builders choose Leads.

Set your campaign budget if using Campaign Budget Optimisation where Meta distributes your budget across ad sets automatically. For one ad set the campaign budget and the ad set budget are the same.

Starting budget: £5 to £10 per day.

Step 2: Ad Set Setup

Audience Targeting

Meta's Advantage+ Audience is the recommended starting point in 2026. Instead of manually selecting detailed interests and demographics you describe your audience and Meta's algorithm finds people most likely to convert based on that description and your pixel data.

To set it up: select Advantage+ Audience which is the default in most accounts now. Under "Audience controls" set age to 25 to 65 or narrower if your specific client has a clear age range, set location to your target geography such as the UK, a specific city, or a radius around a location, and set language to English.

Add "Audience suggestions" to describe your ideal client. Add job titles, interests, and pages relevant to your target. These are suggestions to Meta and not hard filters. Examples include job titles like "business owner," "self-employed," and "managing director," and interests like relevant industry pages, business management, and specific tools they might use.

Note: In 2026 Meta's AI has enough data that broad targeting with good creative often outperforms narrowly targeted campaigns. If Advantage+ gives you high CPLs after £50 to £100 of spend, test switching to manual detailed targeting as a comparison.

Placements

Choose Advantage+ Placements which is automatic placement. Meta will show your ads in the formats and placements where they perform best covering Facebook feed, Instagram feed, Stories, Reels, and others.

Only switch to manual placements if you have a specific reason such as a vertical video ad that should only run in Stories and Reels and not in desktop feed.

Step 3: Ad Creative

Upload your image or video and add your primary text, headline, and CTA button.

Upload specs for Meta in 2026: a 1:1 square image at 1080 by 1080 pixels under 3MB, a 4:5 portrait image at 1080 by 1350 pixels which performs well in feed, a 9:16 vertical at 1080 by 1920 pixels for Stories and Reels, and video in MP4 or MOV format with 15 to 60 seconds recommended for most formats.

Add 2 to 3 ad variations within the same ad set using different creative with the same copy or different copy with the same creative. Do not test more than one variable at a time within an ad set. If you change both the image and the headline you will not know which drove the difference.

Step 4: The Pixel and Conversion Tracking

Before you launch confirm that your Meta Pixel is installed on your landing page or website. The Pixel tracks what people do after clicking your ad including form submissions, page visits, and purchases.

Without the Pixel your campaign is running blind. You will see clicks but not what happens after them.

To check: in Events Manager in Meta Ads Manager your pixel should show activity. Install the browser extension "Meta Pixel Helper" and visit your landing page and it will confirm if the pixel fires correctly.

The conversion event to use for lead generation is Lead which fires when someone submits the form.

Step 5: Review and Launch

Before hitting Publish run through this checklist.

Objective is Leads and not Traffic or Engagement. Budget is set at £5 to £10 per day. Audience targeting is saved with Advantage+ Audience and controls set. Pixel is firing on the landing page. Ad creative is uploaded in the correct dimensions. Primary text, headline, and CTA are entered correctly. 2 to 3 ad variations are in the ad set. Campaign name and ad set names are descriptive and not "Campaign 1."

Use this naming convention: service then audience then month for campaigns, and hook type then creative format for ads.

Launch. Do not touch anything for 5 days.

What Happens After You Launch

Days 1 to 3 is the learning phase. Meta shows your ads to a broad set of people to understand who responds. Results will be inconsistent. Do not pause and do not edit.

Days 4 to 7 gives you early data. Check CPL and CTR. If CPL is more than 3x your ceiling something fundamental is wrong. Otherwise wait.

Day 7 and beyond gives you enough data to make a first decision. Keep winners, pause losers, and test one new variable.

Do not edit a running campaign unless it is clearly failing with zero clicks or a very high CPM. Every edit resets the learning phase.

Your Action Right Now

Set up your campaign in Meta Ads Manager using the structure above. Upload 2 to 3 of the ad copy versions from the Meta ad copy lesson. Do not launch until your Pixel is confirmed as firing.

Once launched leave it alone for 5 days. The testing framework lesson will tell you what to do with the data.