The secret to optimizing FB rule-based campaigns

Divide and rule

The basic, manual optimization algorithm consists of two stages:

1. Split campaign into non-overlapping adsets. For example, splitting basic targeting by gender, age, GEO, or device. For example, from targeting MZh18-30 we make 4 adsets: M18-24, M25-30, Zh18-24, Zh25-30;
2. Independent management of each of the adsets (monitoring targets, adjusting the rate, budget, switching the adset on and off.

This optimization algorithm is simple and efficient, applicable to any type of campaign. Independent management of adsets allows you to find an effective rate for each adset, to keep at specified KPIs, and where it is not possible, turn off the adset on time and not waste your budget. Despite the simplicity, this algorithm has a significant drawback - it requires a lot of time from the manager and constant routine operations (which leads to errors).

Automation

This problem is solved by automation. The robot is ready to perform the specified actions around the clock with a frequency of once every 15 minutes, regardless of whether it is a working day or a day off, 7:00 pm or 4:00 am. In this article you will learn how we do it at http://fb.aitarget.com

How it works?

1. We go into the campaign and select the list of adsets that we optimize (technically, optimization works with both one and several adsets)
2. Click the automation icon
3. In the window that appears, fill in the parameters
   
   • Name - the name of the automation (choose a name that characterizes the automation)
   • Sync Period - frequency in minutes with which the robot will check adsets (at least 15 minutes)
   • AdSets - list of adsets for optimization (selected adsets are shown here)
   • Rules - create rules from scratch or based on existing patterns
   • Add Condition - Add a block with the rules and subsequent actions - click on it
   
   
4. In the appeared block there are two parameters:
   
   • Action - the action that will be triggered when the rules are executed.
   • Set Rules - the rules themselves, which are checked adsets in optimization. These rules can contain any parameters from statistics, checks more, less than equal, values ​​and period (today, yesterday, last 7 days, etc.) In addition, logical AND or OR operations can be applied to the rules.
   
   
5. In the example, we optimize the cost of installing a mobile application (we are striving for $ 0.22) and apply three blocks of rules:
   
   • If the cost of installation is higher than $ 0.22 and the number of installations is more than 10 - lower the rate by 5%. (here the second condition is used in order not to draw conclusions on a small number of installations, which is statistically insignificant)
   • If the cost of the installation is below $ 0.22 and the number of installations is more than 10, we increase the rate by 5%
   • If the number of installations is less than 10 - raise the rate by 10%.
   
   
6. Save - Done! Now every 15 minutes, adsets will be checked for these rules and, in the event of a trigger, the rate will go down and up. Each rule is applied independently to a separate adset, so each adset has its own rate balance, which results in the execution of a KPI.
7. According to the results of each change, a report is sent to the email, with adsets on which the rules have worked, as well as old and new rates values.

Important points

1. The rate change only works on fixed rate adsets (i.e., where the autobid is set, the rate will not change)
2. It is important that when splitting the adsets do not overlap in the audience (i.e. that the same person does not belong to two different adsets at the same time), otherwise internal competition between the adsets will be created, which will lead to poor results.

What else can be automated?

1. Stop adsets when the required indicator is reached (for example, stop campaigns at the moment, as 1300 likes will be done)
2. Stop adsets when the critical indicator is exceeded (for example, stop adsets, the frequency of advertising on which exceeds 3)

You can try to automate adsets in our tool http://fb.aitarget.com