When launching a new ad account, especially if your goal is to drive conversions right away, it’s important to build trust with the algorithm, establish a healthy optimization pattern, and avoid early issues like low thresholds or poor delivery.
✅ 1. Don’t Launch with Conversion Campaigns First #
While your main goal may be conversions (like Leads or Purchases), it’s risky to start with a conversion campaign on a fresh account.
Why?
- The algorithm has zero learning data.
- Thresholds are very low (your campaign may stop after spending $25).
- The pixel hasn’t received enough signals.
Best Practice:
Start with a Traffic or Engagement campaign for 3–5 days to warm up the account.
- Drive people to your website or post.
- Let Meta begin learning who’s interacting with your content.
- Keep audiences broad and creatives soft-sell or educational.
✅ 2. Install Pixel + Conversion API from Day One #
- Ensure Meta Pixel and CAPI are installed properly.
- Verify that core events (PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, Lead, etc.) are firing.
- Even organic traffic or the warm-up campaign can feed early events to the pixel.
✅ 3. Start with Moderate Budgets #
- Avoid starting with aggressive daily budgets.
- Use $20–$50/day total across 1–2 campaigns maximum.
- Increase gradually based on performance and delivery.
- This avoids triggering Meta’s fraud or spam detection systems.
✅ 4. Verify Payment Method & Raise the Threshold #
- Add a valid payment method early on.
- Let a small campaign spend and get billed to raise the initial threshold (usually $25–$50).
- Higher billing thresholds reduce the risk of account pauses and ad set resets.
✅ 5. Build Trust Across All Meta Assets #
- Verify your Business Manager and your domain.
- Complete all Page details: about, contact info, logo, and profile picture.
- Connect your Instagram account.
- Post a few organic pieces of content before launching ads.
- A complete and active profile = more trust = better delivery.
✅ 6. Avoid Narrow Targeting Early On #
- New accounts don’t have enough data to optimize well for small audiences.
- Use broad or interest-based audiences for the first few weeks.
- Introduce custom audiences or lookalikes after enough pixel data is collected.
✅ 7. Suggested Structure for First 14–21 Days #
Week 1:
- 1x Traffic or Engagement campaign
- Objective: Warm up pixel, build account trust
- Audience: Broad or light interest-based
- Budget: $20–$30/day
Week 2:
- Launch a Lead campaign (Form or Website Conversion if events are firing)
- Begin testing ad sets and creatives (2 ad sets, 3 creatives minimum)
- Keep warm-up running if budget allows
Week 3:
- Launch Conversion Campaign
- Only if your pixel has at least 50 optimization events per week (i.e., Leads, AddToCart)
- Keep testing and begin optimizing
✅ 8. Use UGC/Educational Creatives at First #
- Soft-sell, testimonial, or UGC-style videos perform well early.
- They help identify engaged users faster.
- This feeds the algorithm with stronger signals for optimization.
✅ 9. Monitor Daily & Avoid Learning Phase Traps #
- New accounts are sensitive — monitor performance daily.
- Watch for red flags: high CPMs, no delivery, rejected ads.
- Pause underperformers quickly to avoid wasted learning budget.
Final Thoughts #
Launching a new Meta ad account doesn’t have to be frustrating — if you set it up the right way. By warming up your account, verifying all assets, and feeding early signals to the pixel, you’re setting the foundation for successful conversion campaigns later on.
Avoid shortcuts. Meta rewards consistency, gradual trust-building, and strong data signals.