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Creating Campaigns, Ads, and Audiences on Meta

Use this skill when creating campaigns, ad sets, ads, or audiences on Meta — the build chain and the settings that matter, step by step.

Ivan FalcoBy Ivan FalcoAds Engineer @ Frontal
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SKILL.md
name:
creating-campaigns-ads-audiences
description:
Use this skill when creating campaigns, ad sets, ads, or audiences on Meta — the build chain and the settings that matter, step by step.

Creating Campaigns, Ads, and Audiences on Meta

The full build chain, end to end. Meta's structure is strict and nested:

Campaign (objective, budget if CBO)
  -> Ad Set (audience, placement, budget if ABO, optimization goal, schedule)
    -> Ad (references a creative + an ad set)
      -> Ad Creative (media, copy, CTA, link, url_tags)
Custom / Lookalike Audiences (built at the account level, referenced by ad sets)

Golden rules (always):

  • Everything is created PAUSED. Never set a campaign, ad set, or ad to ACTIVE without explicit user confirmation. Spend only starts when the user says go.
  • Budgets are in cents. 5000 = $50.00.
  • Build order: audiences first (ad sets reference them) -> campaign -> ad set -> creative -> ad.
  • Full field-level schemas (every param, every enum) are in ../api-reference.md. This guide is the flow; the api-reference is the dictionary.

1. Audiences

Custom audience (from a customer list, pixel traffic, engagement) - use the script:

python create_custom_audience.py --name "CRM - Closed Won" --type CUSTOM --subtype CRM

For B2B, follow the data hierarchy in audience-strategy.md: CRM lookalikes (Tier 1) -> third-party data (Tier 2) -> broad (Tier 3). Validate audience quality before scaling creative.

Lookalike - create the source custom audience first, then create a lookalike from it (subtype=LOOKALIKE, with origin_audience_id and country/ratio). See api-reference.md for the lookalike spec.

2. Campaign

Use the script:

python create_campaign.py --name "Q2 Leads" --objective OUTCOME_LEADS --daily-budget 5000
  • OUTCOME_LEADS for lead gen. Objectives are listed in create_campaign.py.
  • Add is_adset_budget_sharing_enabled: "true" for CBO (budget on the campaign) or "false" for ABO (budget on each ad set). ABO is the default for audience testing - one ad set per audience source, same ads across all.
  • Starts PAUSED. The script prints the campaign_id for the next step.

3. Ad Set

Endpoint: POST /{account_id}/adsets (see api-reference.md "Ad Set Schema" for all fields). Create with api_post from client.py. Key fields:

  • campaign_id (from step 2), name, status: "PAUSED"
  • optimization_goal (e.g. OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS, LEAD_GENERATION), billing_event, bid_strategy
  • targeting (JSON): the audience - custom_audiences, geo_locations, age, plus flexible_spec for interests if broad. For B2B, lean on your custom/lookalike audiences and let creative do the ICP filtering (see meta-ads-operating-system.md).
  • daily_budget (cents) only if ABO.
  • promoted_object when optimizing for conversions/leads (pixel + custom event, or the lead form / page).

Validate the audience before scaling: one ad set per audience source, same ads across all, audit lead quality by job title and company.

4. Ad Creative

Endpoint: POST /{account_id}/adcreatives (see api-reference.md "Ad Creative Schema"). The creative holds the actual content via object_story_spec (page id + link data: image/video, message, headline, description, CTA, link). Notes:

  • url_tags (UTMs) are set at creative-creation time and cannot be edited later - get them right up front.
  • Creative IS targeting on Meta. The copy must call out who the ad is for. On broad audiences the creative does the filtering (see creative-strategy.md).
  • Never invent ad copy. Use exactly the headline / body / description / CTA the user provides.

5. Ad

Endpoint: POST /{account_id}/ads. Fields: name, adset_id (step 3), creative: {creative_id} (step 4), status: "PAUSED". That wires the creative into the ad set.

6. Go live

When the user confirms, flip status to ACTIVE (campaign, ad set, and ad all need to be ACTIVE to spend):

python update_campaign.py --campaign-id <id> --status ACTIVE

Confirm the budget and audience one more time before enabling spend. Maintain 4-6 unique creative concepts per campaign so the algorithm has diversity to learn from.