Facebook gives Ads Manager a design refresh and launches new cost cap bidding strategy

Facebook announced on Tuesday it is refreshing its Ads Manager interface to improve navigation and deliver a cleaner design to help advertisers manage campaigns. The company also said it will be updating its Business Manager platform later this year to make it easier for agencies to on-board new clients within the system.

Facebook also introduced a new “cost cap” bidding strategy for advertisers, giving them a third option beyond bidding strategies focused on conversion volume and cost predictability.

Ads Manager gets a refresh. Starting on Tuesday, Facebook began rolling out a design refresh to its Ads Manager, with more simplified navigation features, cleaner interface and an updated campaign management experience. The platform includes a new navigation bar to offer more space for managing campaigns and highlights ad performance and reporting tools.

Advertisers also have a new copy and paste feature for building ads, and an auto-naming feature designed to help advertisers quickly customize campaigns, ad set and ad names.

Facebook said it plans to launch “more intuitive” ad-level creative and placement editing tools, but they may not be available for all advertisers until next year.

A new bidding strategy for advertisers. Facebook advertisers will now have a third bidding option in addition to bid cap (which focuses on conversion volume) or target cost (which focuses on cost predictability). The newly introduced cost cap bidding strategy maximizes both cost-efficiency and results.

“We’ve heard from business that in order to achieve certain campaign goals, it would be helpful to have a bid option that both controls cost and drives volume,” wrote Facebook on its business blog.

With the cost cap option, advertisers will be able to set a maximum CPA/CPI via an updated, guided bid experience that is rolling out to all advertisers throughout the year: “By entering a cost control, we will aim to meet that cost with our cost cap bid strategy.”

Coming Business Manager updates. For agencies managing client accounts, Facebook plans to update its Business Manger platform later this year. The updates will include an easier way to on-board new clients within the system, enhanced management features for clients’ historical reports and a new way to organize assets and make them accessible to approved users.

Why we should care. Knowing your way around Facebook’s newly updated Ads Manager will help you better manage your (and your clients’) campaigns, streamlining the time and effort it takes to create and monitor your Facebook ad strategies. And the newly added cost cap bidding strategy could help you maximize your ad spend without costing you results.

For any ad agencies using the Facebook Business Manager, you now have a heads up on coming changes to the platform so that you can take advantage of the new features once they become available.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.