Build a campaign in the builder
Set up campaigns, ad sets and ads in the campaign builder.
The campaign builder is where a draft becomes a campaign: you add ad sets and ads, set the launch settings for each level, and publish when it's ready.
Before you start
- Start a campaign first. See Start a campaign.
- Make sure the right ad account is active. The builder uses its pages, pixels and audiences.
The header
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Campaign name | Click it to rename. Press Enter to save or Esc to cancel. |
| Campaign options | Edit name and Delete Batch. Delete Batch works like Clear All below. |
| Builder, Monitor, Activity | The builder itself, daily Slack updates and the campaign's activity. |
| Open Koast Agent | Opens the agent next to the builder, working on this campaign. |
| Publish button | Its label follows the state of the campaign. See How launching works. |
Build it
If the campaign is empty, you see Your campaign is empty with three ways in: New Campaign, Open Koast Agent and Clone Campaign. A fourth, Import Campaign, is there when the ad account can import. Pick New Campaign to build by hand.
Select + Add Ad Set. The Add Ads wizard opens, where you choose creatives, the ad format and the copy. See Add ads.
Open the settings for the campaign with Campaign Settings, and fill in each section.
Adjust ad sets and ads where they need to differ from the campaign.
Select Publish to check and launch. See Review, launch and read the results.
The toolbar
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Date range | Picks the dates for the metrics in the table, such as Today. It's greyed out until something is live. |
| Sync | Re-reads the campaign from the ad platform. It shows once something is live. |
| Table or Visual | Switches views. Table is the default, and Koast remembers your choice. |
| Clear All | Deletes the whole draft after you confirm in Delete batch?. Anything already published is deleted on Meta too, with its ad sets and ads. This can't be undone, and you land back in Ads Manager. |
| + Add Ad Set | Adds ad sets through the Add Ads wizard. On the Ads tab of the table it reads + Add Ad and adds ads to existing ad sets. |
Table view
The table has three tabs: Campaign, Ad Sets and Ads. The Ad Sets and Ads tabs carry a count. If you select ad sets first, the Ads tab shows only their ads.
- Search filters the rows on the current tab.
- Sort by clicking a column header, such as Status, Name or Budget.
- Bulk Actions (Ad Sets and Ads tabs) works on the rows you've ticked: Edit Settings, Duplicate Selected or Delete Selected.
- Campaign Settings (Campaign tab, when the draft holds exactly one campaign) opens the campaign's settings.
- Manage Columns picks which columns show.
- Budgets on live campaigns and ad sets can be edited in place. Select the pencil next to the budget (Edit budget).
- Ad set names can be edited in place too. Select the pencil next to an ad set's name (Edit name) to open Rename Ad Set, and change its Ad Set Name Format. On a live ad set the new name goes to Meta right away.
The row menu
Every campaign, ad set and ad has a menu:
| Item | When you see it |
|---|---|
| Campaign Settings, Ad Set Settings, Ad Settings | Always. Opens the settings drawer at that level. |
| Multi Account Launch | On a campaign that isn't live yet. See Launch into several ad accounts at once. |
| Duplicate Campaign (or Ad Set, or Ad) | Copies it inside the draft. |
| View in Ads Manager | Once it's live. Opens it on the ad platform. |
| Delete Campaign (or Ad Set, or Ad) | Always. A draft is deleted from the draft. Something live is deleted on Meta and from Koast, after you confirm. See Delete something live. |
Visual view
The visual view draws the campaign as a tree of nodes. Use Expand All and Collapse All in the view controls to open or fold every branch. Each node has the same menu as a table row.
The settings drawer
Settings live in a drawer that opens at one of three levels. Each level shows its own sections:
| Level | Sections |
|---|---|
| Campaign | Campaign Objective, Budget & Schedule, Placements, Targeting & Delivery, Assets & Tracking |
| Ad set | Budget & Schedule, Placements, Targeting & Delivery, Assets & Tracking |
| Ad | Assets & Tracking, Copy & Creative |
At the bottom of the campaign drawer are four switches: Multi Account Launch, Advantage+ Enhancements, Make Creatives Unique and Multi-Advertiser Ads.
How settings flow down. What you set on the campaign flows to its ad sets and ads straight away, and what you set on an ad set flows to its ads. If some of them keep their own value, Koast tells you how many it left alone, such as "2 ad set(s) keep their own settings and were not updated."
Giving an ad set its own settings. Each ad set has a Use Campaign Defaults switch: "When enabled, this ad set inherits all settings from the campaign." Turn it off to set that ad set by hand. It then stops following changes to the campaign. Even with the switch on, a value you changed on one ad set or ad stays when you later edit the campaign; only the values it still takes from the campaign are updated.
The details of each section are on their own pages: Budget and schedule, Targeting, Placements and enhancements, Assets and tracking and Naming conventions.
Good to know
- Nothing in the builder reaches the ad platform until you publish.
- The controls Koast shows follow your ad account. Settings it doesn't support are hidden or flagged.
- To save a set of settings for reuse, see Launch templates.