Meta Ads — Reading the Numbers

1

Campaign structure for MM clients

MM clients typically run Meta campaigns for brand awareness and lead generation. The structure follows the Meta campaign hierarchy:

Level	What it controls	What you'll typically see
Campaign	Objective (awareness, leads, traffic)	One campaign per objective. Most clients have 1–2 active campaigns.
Ad Set	Audience, budget, placement, schedule	1–3 ad sets per campaign targeting different audiences
Ad	Creative — image/video, copy, CTA	2–4 ad variations per ad set for testing

2

Key metrics — what they mean

Metric	What it means	Benchmark
Reach	Unique people who saw the ad	Context-dependent — compare to previous periods
Impressions	Total times the ad was shown (includes repeat views)	—
Frequency	Average times each person saw the ad	Above 4–5 on awareness campaigns = audience fatigue. Flag to Josh.
CPM	Cost per 1,000 impressions	Varies significantly by audience and season. Compare to account history.
CTR (Link)	% of people who clicked the link	Above 1% is healthy for most automotive clients
CPC (Link)	Cost per link click	Compare to account history — no universal benchmark
Results	Conversions recorded by Meta (pixel events)	Compare to WhatConverts. Meta often over-reports due to view-through attribution.
Cost per Result	Spend ÷ Meta-recorded conversions	Use as a directional signal only — always cross-reference WhatConverts
ROAS	Return on ad spend (only meaningful if values are set)	N/A for most MM clients who don't pass revenue values

⚠️

Meta over-reports conversions. Meta's default attribution window includes view-through conversions (someone saw the ad but never clicked). Always compare to WhatConverts lead count before drawing conclusions about Meta performance.

3

Normal vs not normal

What you see	Normal?	What to do
Meta shows more conversions than WhatConverts	Normal	Meta's view-through attribution inflates numbers. Trust WhatConverts.
Frequency above 5 on an awareness campaign	Flag to Josh	Audience may be saturated. May need to expand audience or refresh creative.
Zero results for 7+ days	Investigate	Check pixel is firing in Events Manager. Check campaign is active and budget is live.
Ad account disabled	Escalate immediately	Flag to Josh immediately.
Ad rejected	Check reason	Read the rejection reason. Some are auto-fixable (text amount). Others need Josh.
Spend drops significantly with no change made	Investigate	Check audience size, bid cap, ad approval status. Flag to Josh if unclear.

4

Meta Pixel checks

The Meta Pixel fires on the client's website and reports events back to Meta Ads Manager. If the pixel breaks, Meta stops recording conversions.

How to check if the pixel is firing

1

Go to Meta Ads Manager → Events Manager

2

Select the client's pixel

3

Check Activity — recent page view events should be visible if the pixel is firing

4

If no recent events: the pixel may have been removed by a site update. Flag to Teddi to reinstall.

🚨

The Meta Pixel is separate from GTag and WhatConverts — it has no connection to Google Ads or GA4. If it breaks, it only affects Meta reporting. But it's worth catching early.

5

When to escalate

Situation	Who to escalate to
Budget changes (increase / decrease)	Josh
Audience changes or new targeting	Josh
Creative refresh needed	Josh (strategy) + Teddi (production if needed)
Ad account disabled	Josh immediately
Pixel not firing	Teddi
Attribution window questions from client	Josh
Campaign objective change	Josh