There are two types of Facebook advertisers. Which one are you? You set up a new campaign, then return every 6h to see how the results have changed.
You set up your Facebook ads leave them be, reviewing the results every week or month. It also seems to me that the smaller the budget, the more impatient the advertiser. You want to make sure that you're getting any results for your limited budget.
So what is the optimal timing for reviewing Facebook ad results? And how often should you make changes? Because as you probably already know, Facebook algorithms need some time to learn. And too many frequent changes will rather damage than improve the results.
I'll try to explain my ways of thinking about Facebook ad campaign changes.
The first thing to discuss is the "Learning phase."
Whenever you make significant changes to your Facebook campaigns, they enter the Learning Phase.
This is a period when algorithms are still learning about your audience and ads, so the results might be slightly lower. Both Facebook and ad agencies swear by the "We need to exit the Learning Phase to start seeing good results" mantra.
In my experience, it is not necessarily critical to exit the Learning Phase. I always prioritize important changes over avoiding re-entering the campaign or ad set into another Learning Phase.
For example, if I have a new target audience or new ad creatives that I believe will improve campaign results, I prefer to apply them immediately and as often as once a week.
When creating a new Facebook ad campaign...
If I set up a new Facebook ad campaign, I give it at least 48h to start delivering. If after the 48h I see that the results are terrible, I apply changes to make it work.
If the campaign isn't still delivering the expected results after 5 days and one round of optimization (changing the audience, delivery optimization, creatives, etc.), I prefer to pause it and rethink my strategy.
When reviewing and improving existing campaigns...
I like to review Facebook ad results on a weekly basis. Read about the metrics that I track here.
Every Monday, I check the previous week's campaign results and come up with the changes I could make to campaigns in order to improve results.
Then I apply all the changes to campaigns at once and won't touch them until the next week.
Updating Facebook ad creatives...
It is said that out of all the new Facebook ad creatives that you test, only around 20% will become top-performers.
This means that you should test new ad creatives often. On the ad accounts that I work with, we create and upload new ad creatives every 2 weeks, pausing some old ones that bring low results.
It is a best practice not to have more than 6 active ad creatives per ad set. I tend to stretch this rule and have 8-10 ad creatives (a mix of static and video ads) in each ad set.
To sum up...
I would recommend reviewing and updating your Facebook ad campaigns on a weekly basis, but not more frequently. Ideally, your ad sets should be able to exit the Learning Phase at some point. But don't be too worried if your budget's too low for that. I've seen plenty of campaigns in the Learning Phase deliver just as good results.
Get connected on LinkedIn or Instagram for additional marketing advice. Need help with your Facebook ad creatives? Maybe we can work together. Find out more about my experience and reach out here.