7 Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram etc) Checks You Can Complete in 30 Minutes
A quick Meta Ads review should not become an afternoon of changing budgets, audiences and adverts at the same time. The purpose is to identify the one or two issues most likely to be wasting Facebook and Instagram advertising spend, then decide what needs a proper investigation.
Set a 30-minute timer, use a meaningful date range and work through these checks in order.
Work through the checks
- Objective, four minutes. Confirm the campaign objective and performance goal match the business action. Sales should normally optimise for a purchase event and lead generation should optimise for a completed lead, not cheap traffic.
- Tracking, five minutes. Open Events Manager and check Diagnostics, recent activity and event values. Use Test Events if anything looks wrong. Look for missing events, duplicates and purchases without value or currency.
- Audience, four minutes. Check geography, age restrictions, exclusions and any customer lists. Make sure existing customers are excluded where the offer is acquisition-only, and avoid overlapping small ad sets that compete for the same people.
- Creative, five minutes. Review delivery by advert. Identify assets taking most spend, check frequency and preview Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Stories and Reels. Record the next creative gap rather than editing live winners immediately.
- Landing page, four minutes. Open every destination on a phone. Confirm it loads quickly, matches the advert, shows the offer clearly and makes the next action easy. Complete the form or checkout yourself.
- Cost, four minutes. Compare cost per verified lead or sale with the maximum the business can afford. Include lead quality, discount cost and margin rather than relying only on Meta return on ad spend.
- Result, four minutes. Compare Ads Manager with Shopify, CRM or inbox totals. Write down one action, its owner and when it will be reviewed. A quick audit is useful only if it changes what happens next.
Do not make seven changes
The audit has seven checks, but the output should normally be one clear priority. Fix broken tracking or a broken customer journey immediately. For performance issues, change one meaningful variable and give the campaign enough time to show whether the action helped.
Source checked
This guide was checked against Meta for Business advertising guidance.
Olivia Robinson
After arriving at a fork in the road in my career I decided to take the plunge and wander purposefully, with determination, into the maelstrom of consultancy in online sales. It's been the most exciting decision I've ever made and I've been able to work with some of the most interesting brands the UK has to offer. I specialise in the intersection of ecommerce and marketing, the part of the Venn diagram that eCommerce & Marketing people don't like to occupy because it takes a lot of plate spinning - this is where I thrive.
We will happily conduct a free, no-obligation audit on your digital channels, with several key takeaways you can action yourself or request for us to assist you with. It's completey free for now but it is a limited time offer.
Explore more blogs
