Are you running Facebook ads?
If not, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to grow your business. But if you are, there’s something very important that you need to do first. Here’s why.
You can’t just set up your ad account and start spending money without doing some prep work! There are 13 things that MUST be done before launching any of your Facebook ads. And this is the only guide that covers them all in one place! It’ll save you time and money by making sure everything is ready for success from day 1.
Before we begin, let us have a basic knowledge of what Facebook Business Manager is and how its assets connect to each other, particularly when it comes to your Facebook ad account.
Jump to the Checklist:
1: Create Business Asset Group
2: Connect IG Account to Ad Account
4: Create Offline Conversion Events Set
5: Assign Ad Account to Offline Events Set
7: Connect IG Account to FB Page
8: Connect WhatsApp Account to FB Page (Optional)
9: Configure Aggregated Event Measurement
11: Connect Catalog to Sales Channels
13: Customize & Publish Your Shop in Commerce Manager
What is Facebook Business Manager?
Facebook Business Manager (FBM) is a Facebook tool for businesses to manage their marketing efforts on Facebook. FBM allows you to create and manage Ads, FB Pages, Instagram Account, Product Catalog, Pixel, and Audiences, all in one place.
The key benefit of using FBM is that it allows businesses to share these assets with other team members, partners, or agencies. It can save businesses time and money by streamlining their marketing efforts and providing a single point of contact for managing Facebook activity.
FBM is available to all business owners who have a Facebook Page. To use FBM, you must first create an account at business.facebook.com.
You may refer to the quick guide as published by Facebook.
We won’t further detail what FBM is in this article; instead, we’d like to draw your attention to a few of the necessary Business Manager setup instructions you need to know first before running your advertisements.
The Key Assets in Facebook Business Manager
Understanding the key assets of FB Business Manager is crucial since they are all interconnected, and we must double-check that the settings are correct before running your Facebook Ads.
In a nutshell, you should understand these nine assets in Facebook Business Manager to set them up correctly.
Domain – Refers to the domain of your website or online store. By verifying your domain in Business Manager, you can claim the ownership to manage editing permissions and content to help prevent misuse of your domain.
Facebook Page – Refers to social pages for your business or brand to share your stories/ content and connect with people on Facebook.
Instagram Profile – Refers to your business/professional account on Instagram.
Ad Account – Refers to your advertising account to manage your ad campaigns on Facebook media and its network.
Commerce Account – Refers to your account under Commerce Manager to manage your product catalog and sales on Facebook and Instagram. You will have first to create a Commerce account to sync your product catalog from your online store (e.g., Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce) to Catalog, and then you can set up the shop on both Facebook & Instagram. It now supports direct checkout on FB or IG for specific countries, while for the rest, still mainly checkout on the website.
WhatsApp Account – Refers to your business account on WhatsApp. Connecting your Catalog to your WhatsApp account allows you to send your Catalog within WhatsApp.
Pixel – Refers to a tracking code that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions people take on your website.
Offline Conversions – Refers to your offline events data, like in-store purchases, phone bookings, or qualified leads, that you can upload to Facebook to measure the performance of your FB ads.
Custom Conversions – Allows you to create rules for events or URLs based on Pixel or Offline Conversions to measure more specific customer actions. For example, you can filter all purchases to measure just purchases of women’s bags over $100.
Catalog – Refers to the product catalog you want to advertise or sell on Facebook and Instagram.
Business Creative Folders – Refers to a folder that you can use to share and upload images and videos for Facebook ads.
Facebook Business Manager Configuration Checklist
Now that you understand the assets of FB Business Manager and its relationship, we want to highlight that there are 13 configuration checklists you have to look into and make sure you have set them right.
#1: Create Business Asset Group
A business asset group is a collection of assets within a Business Manager. Business admins can create business asset groups to organize assets and the people who have access to them. Once you’ve created a business asset group, it will make it easier for you to manage the access for your team members, partners, or agencies and add/remove the assets from the business asset group.
Click the blue ‘Add’ button and fill out the fields to name it accordingly. Then click the “Add Assets” button to assign the relevant assets to your Business Asset Group.
Add team members who need access to assets in this group by clicking on the “Add People” button and choosing their names from the list.
If you want to assign external partners or agencies with access to the assets, click the “Assign Partners” button, enter the Business ID that you get from your partners, and then set the access permission for each asset in this group.
That’s it! Repeat these steps for each asset group! So, if you have multiple business units or brands that will need access to this tool with different sets of users and assets within them, create a new Business Asset Group for each.
#2: Connect IG Account to Ad Account
Be sure to connect your Instagram business account to your respective ad account for easier management. Follow these simple steps:
- Go to Business Settings > Instagram accounts and select your IG profile.
- Then click “Add Assets” and choose your ad account from the list in the pop-up
#3: Assign Ad Account to Pixel
Assign your ad account with the correct Pixel for easier management and accurate tracking.
- Go to Business Settings > Data Sources > Pixels and select your Pixel.
- Then click “Add Assets” and choose your ad account from the list in the pop-up window.
#4: Create Offline Conversion Events Set
This setting is beneficial for businesses with offline sales channels or those who need to close the deal offline after getting the leads. Creating offline events set and linking it to your Facebook ads help you measure the potential impact of your Facebook Ads on your offline sales and its ROAS (Return on Adspend). For example, we had an experience that the ROAS for offline conversions can achieve more than 20x, which is pretty impressive. And based on our retail analytics and business intelligence, we found that those customers who purchased online and offline tend to have higher CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) than those who only purchased online or offline.
To create offline conversion events set,
- Go to Business Settings > Data Sources > Offline Events Set.
- Click the “Add” button to create your first offline conversion events set.
#5: Assign Ad Account to Offline Events Set
Assign your ad account to the correct Offline Event Sets for easier management and accurate auto-tracking. To do so, follow the simple steps below:
- Go to Business Settings > Data Sources > Offline Events Set and select your offline events set.
- Click the “Assign ad accounts” button and choose your ad account from the list in the pop-up window.
- Be sure to turn on the “Auto-Tracking” feature for your ad account.
#6: Verify Domain
Add a new domain or select from the existing domain and follow the instruction to verify your website’s domain(s).
- Go to Business Settings > Brand Safety > Domains
- Click the “Add” button to add a new domain or select from the existing domain.
- Choose your preferable way to verify the domain. There are 3 options available:
- Add a meta-tag to your HTML source code (recommended and also the easiest way, which you may even do it yourself without any help from a technical person if you are using a system like Shopify, WordPress)
- Upload an HTML file to the root directory of your website
- Update the DNS TXT record with your domain registrar (e.g., GoDaddy)
#7: Connect IG Account to FB Page
Connecting your FB page to your Instagram account will make it easier for your FB Page admins, editors, or moderators to manage and post content or ads on Instagram, managing comments and direct messages.
- Go to Facebook Page > Page Settings > Instagram
- Click the “Connect account” button to connect your FB page to a professional Instagram account.
But if you connect a personal Instagram account, it will be switched to professional automatically.
#8: Connect WhatsApp Account to FB Page (Optional)
Like the previous step, connecting your WhatsApp account to the FB page will sync your business contact info from Facebook to WhatsApp. Other than that, you can also set up Facebook ads that allow people to engage with you on WhatsApp.
- Go to Facebook Page > Page Settings > WhatsApp
- Enter your WhatsApp Business phone number and click the “Connect” button to connect your account.
#9: Configure Aggregated Event Measurement
Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement is a protocol that allows measuring web and app events from people using iOS 14.5 or later devices. Aggregated Event Measurement limits domains and mobile apps to 8 conversion events configured and prioritized for Aggregated Event Measurement reporting. At this time, only prioritized events can use Aggregated Event Measurement data to help improve conversion optimization. We recommend doing this step after your domain is verified. To do so, please see the simple steps below:
- Go to Events Manager > Select Pixel > Aggregated Event Measurement
- Click the “Configure Web Events” button to start configuring the prioritized events.
You may see below for the recommended configuration for the online store.
If you are offering B2B services, you may configure the web events as following:
#10: Turn On Advanced Matching
Facebook’s Advanced Matching can help you optimize your Facebook ads to drive better results. By turning on the Advanced Matching, you can choose which customer information to send to Facebook, which can help you attribute more conversions and reach more people.
- Go to Events Manager > Select Pixel > Settings
- Scroll to the Advanced Matching section and turn on the necessary (We recommend turning on all customer information for better performance optimization)
#11: Connect Catalog to Sales Channels
Be sure to select the correct Catalog (which is currently in sync with your online store) and ensure your Facebook Page, Instagram Account, and WhatsApp Account are connected. By doing so, not only can you tag the products on your Facebook and Instagram posts, but you can also set up and publish your shop on all Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp channels.
- Go to Commerce Manager > Settings > Business Assets
- Click the “Add Account” button to connect the Catalog to respective sales channels.
#12: Connect Catalog to Pixel
By connecting Catalog to the Pixel, you will be able to track which customers have seen or interacted with your Catalog across channels. In addition, you can then use Facebook Ads for retargeting those who interacted with your shop on Facebook and Instagram.
- Go to Commerce Manager > Settings > Business Assets
- At the Event Sources section, click the Edit button and choose the respective Pixel from the list to connect.
#13: Customize & Publish Your Shop in Commerce Manager
Be sure to select the correct Catalog (which is currently in sync with your online store) and set up/edit the layout of your shop on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Once it is done, you can publish it to live.
- Go to Commerce Manager > Shops
- Click the “Edit Shop” button to start customizing the layout and style of your shop for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Conclusion
There you have it! By following the simple steps above, you’ll be on your way to setting up a successful Facebook advertising campaign. If you’re looking for more pro-tips on how to run a successful Facebook ad campaign, be sure to check out our blog posts below:
- 7 Pro-Tips on Building Effective Facebook Ads in 2022
- How to Setup Effective Audience Targeting on Facebook Ads?
- Facebook Automated Rules: What is It & How It Can Help Optimize Your Ads?
- How to Analyze Your Facebook Ads Performance Effectively?
Please let us know if you need any help optimizing your existing Facebook ads. Our team of experts is ready and waiting to partner with you to create a Facebook ad optimization plan that drives better results.
