Bidding Overview

A bid expresses how much you value your ad reaching a target audience and delivering results on your optimization_goal. bid_amount is the amount you want to spend to acquire a given event based on optimization_goal, and bid_strategy is the the how you want to control your spend on a given event based on optimization goal.

At Facebook's ad auction, Facebook evaluates your bid strategy, bid_amount, the probability of acquiring your optimization_goal to calculate an effective bid so that you only win auctions and have your ads delivered when you are likely to reach your optimization_goal at a centain bidding constraints such as cost per result.

Bidding and Optimization core concepts include:

iOS 14.5 Updates

In response to Apple’s new policy, we are announcing breaking changes that will affect SDKAdNetwork, Marketing API and Ads Insights API endpoints.

Optimization goals that will be impacted by the new attribution fields are as follows:

  • Campaign objectives that are either WEBSITE_CONVERSIONS or PRODUCT_CATALOG_SALES must have the following optimization goal:

    • offsite conversion
    • return on ad spend
    • incremental offsite conversions
  • For apps, only the APP_INSTALLS objective can have is_skadnetwork_attribution set to true.

    • Exception: Mobile App Install CPA Billing will no longer be supported; billing_event cannot be APP_INSTALLS if optimization_goal is APP_INSTALLS.
  • The API call would fail if conversion_domain doesn't match the domains mapped to the pixel+event or custom conversion selected on the ad set level.

Enforcement will only occur after Apple requires their AppTrackingTransparency prompt.

To learn more about how Apple’s iOS 14.5 requirements will impact Facebook advertising, visit our Business Help Center aricles and our changelog:

Bid Setup

When you choose your bid:

  • Bid your true value: Think about your advertising objective and bid the maximum amount you're willing to pay for that objective.
  • Decide whether you want to maximize for profit or for growth.

You can also set objective and billing_event but neither directly impact bid_amount or your effective bid. If a bid_amount is set, your actual cost per result is usually around or less than bid_amount, depending on your Bid Strategies.

For example, use these settings to spend about $10.00 for 1,000 daily unique views:

  • Campaign objective: APP_INSTALLS
  • Ad set optimization_goal: REACH
  • Ad set billing_event: IMPRESSIONS

However, to spend $10.00 for each app install, use these settings:

  • Campaign objective: APP_INSTALLS
  • Ad set optimization_goal: APP_INSTALLS
  • Ad set billing_event: IMPRESSIONS

Optimization Goals

Define advertising goals you want to achieve when Facebook delivers your ads. We use your ad set's optimization_goal to decide which people get your ad. For example with APP_INSTALLS, Facebook delivers your ad to people who are more likely to install your app.

optimization_goal defaults to a goal associated with your objective. For example, if objective is APP_INSTALLS, optimization_goal defaults to APP_INSTALLS.

Validation

These older objectives are deprecated with the release of Marketing API v17.0. Please refer to the Outcome-Driven Ads Experiences mapping table to find the new objectives and their corresponding destination types, optimization goals and promoted objects.

Certain campaign objectives support only certain ad set optimization_goals:

Campaign Objective Default optimization_goal Other valid optimization_goal

APP_INSTALLS, promoting an Instant Experiences app

APP_INSTALLS

IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT

APP_INSTALLS, promoting a mobile app

APP_INSTALLS

OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS, LINK_CLICKS, REACH and VALUE

BRAND_AWARENESS

AD_RECALL_LIFT

REACH

CONVERSIONS

OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS

IMPRESSIONS, LINK_CLICKS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH, VALUE, LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS, and CONVERSATIONS

EVENT_RESPONSES, promoting an event

EVENT_RESPONSES

IMPRESSIONS, REACH

EVENT_RESPONSES, promoting a Page post

EVENT_RESPONSES

IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH

LEAD_GENERATION

LEAD_GENERATION

QUALITY_LEAD, LINK_CLICKS, and QUALITY_CALL

LINK_CLICKS

LINK_CLICKS

IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH, LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS

LINK_CLICKS, promoting an Instant Experiences app

ENGAGED_USERS

APP_INSTALLS, IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH

LINK_CLICKS, promoting a mobile app

LINK_CLICKS

IMPRESSIONS, REACH, OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS

MESSAGES

CONVERSATIONS

IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, LEAD_GENERATION, and LINK_CLICKS

PAGE_LIKES

PAGE_LIKES

IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH

POST_ENGAGEMENT

POST_ENGAGEMENT

IMPRESSIONS, REACH, and LINK_CLICKS

PRODUCT_CATALOG_SALES

OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS or LINK_CLICKS

IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH, CONVERSATIONS, and VALUE

REACH

REACH

IMPRESSIONS

VIDEO_VIEWS

THRUPLAY


FAQ

Most actions in an ad, including link clicks, app installs, video viewing over a certain period, tag photo, like, comment, share, and so on.