Alongside Google, Facebook is also a major advertising platform that is constantly changing and evolving. Facebook's business model is also based on placing and playing paid advertisements. Each platform has its advantages - and disadvantages. Facebook and Google know this, and so both giants are working to get better and better and to optimize and optimize and optimize the placement of campaigns and ads. The newcomer? Advantage+ from Facebook. Automation yay - or rather not? Let's take a look at this new settings option. 
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What are Facebook Ads? 

What is that actually - Ads? "Ads" is the abbreviation for "Advertising". Facebook Ads are advertising measures that are played out via the Facebook platform. Already in the 2nd year of Facebook's history there was the possibility to advertise via the platform, at that time via the "flyer" next to the newsfeed. Since 2012, when the first mobile ads were launched, the possibilities here have continuously evolved. 

What are the advantages? 
⁠Targeting is very precise and specific target groups can be addressed exactly. Search intentions and keywords are not so important with Facebook Ads, because the ads are displayed to users according to what interests the customer. Facebook Ads are visually appealing and offer many features that can motivate purchases. The possibilities of interactions are possible and can help with branding.

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Campaign creation on Facebook 

When we talk about campaigns in this article, we are always talking about "Paid Ads", i.e. ads or campaigns that are advertised and distributed for a fee. So how do you create a campaign like this? Campaigns are created in the Meta Ads Manager. At the beginning, a completely new campaign and ad group must be created here, if no campaigns exist yet. 
⁠Before a campaign can be created, it must be decided which advertising goals on Facebook fit the target idea of the respective company for which the ad is to be placed. Facebook has a good guideline for this, just take a look. At this point, it is not yet time to get down to the nitty-gritty, because once the target has been selected, it must be decided which booking type is to be selected for the campaign. Deciding on the booking type determines how ads will be paid for, which audience will be targeted, and how measurement can be done. 

There are two options and we'll take a quick look at them here: "Auction" and "Reach and Frequency". 
⁠The booking type "Auction" has a wide range and flexibility. All advertising targets can be selected with this booking type, but the forecasts are only day-dependent and more limited than with "Reach and Frequency". As the name suggests, this is an auction with bids: Prices can change during an auction and you bid along with others. More info on that can be found here.

"Reach and Frequency" is a rather new booking type that has been rolled out step by step to all advertisers on Facebook since September 2022. In this booking type, campaigns are planned and bought in advance. There are predictions about the performance target and so the frequency can also be better controlled. This booking type is limited to the advertising goals "traffic", "awareness" and "interactions". More information can be found here.

If you want to know how to create a campaign by booking type step by step, you should take a look at this guide from Facebook - here you will be guided through all the steps. 

Advantage+ or Advantage Plus

What is Advantage+ and why was it introduced? Or is it called Advantage Plus? Questions upon questions, let's take a closer look. Why Advantage+ exists is quite easy to answer: Facebook wants the setup of campaigns to be further automated and simplified. This should also make Facebook Ads more attractive overall, because you can't do much wrong with automatic settings. That's the thinking. 

Facebook promises that with this setting, you can get the most out of your budget and reach more people with these ads. Choosing Advantage+ means that you, as an advertiser, give Facebook a free hand. In one or the other marketing article, the connection to the Responsive Search Ad in Google Ads is made here and Advantage+ could thus be the FB equivalent.  

So let's summarize: Advantage+ is a campaign setting that is supposed to increase performance and was introduced because it is as good as automated. 

There are two ways to use this automation: Advantage+ placements and Advantage+ catalog ads.
⁠In the Placements variant, the budget is distributed to the better performing target group and allocated to the better performing placements. In the "catalog ad" variant, Advantage+ placements can also be selected. It is the same principle: the algorithm has a free hand and the promise includes that ads are played out in such a way that they are optimally tailored to the respective user. This should also lead to an increase in performance. 

Advantages and disadvantages

Now the question also arises for whom this form of automation is suitable, because knowledge of campaigns on Facebook, ads in general, as well as the ad manager should already be present. Those who want to find out where the performance is the strongest can use Advantage+. The budget also no longer needs to be distributed, everything is automated. Those who have little time and are basically familiar with Facebook Advertising can make their own picture of Advantage+. 

What are the disadvantages? 
⁠If, for example, you cover a niche market with your company and address a small, but very precisely defined target group, Advantage+ is not an option for you. Even if this small target group performs worse, if you know exactly for whom the advertising is intended and don't want to reach a huge audience, you should rather keep your hands off it.  

Summary 

Automated, simplified, more performance - that's a very rough summary of why Facebook introduced Advantage+. If the algorithm is given free rein, Facebook promises that more people can be reached. Whether performance can really be improved that much is still debatable among many advertisers - this also applies to the optimal use of the budget. It is difficult to generalize and say that every campaign setting can lead to more success for every advertiser in every company - so in conclusion there is only one thing to say: You should test, compare and find the right individual way.  

Discovering new things is also possible in the Flanke 7 blog - because there comes new content every week.