Meta Ads

1---
2name: meta-ads
3description: >
4  Plan, build, audit or run Facebook and Instagram ads (Meta Ads) for a small business on a
5  small budget, with tracking that respects consent and with the owner approving every change
6  that spends money. Use this skill for the Meta Pixel and Conversions API (CAPI), event
7  mapping and deduplication, Events Manager, campaign objectives (Leads, Sales), instant forms
8  versus website leads, local radius and lookalike audiences, customer lists, ad creative from
9  real jobs, special ad categories (housing, employment, financial products), frequency and
10  budget, a weekly check, and when the user says "Facebook ads", "Instagram ads", "boost a
11  post", "Meta pixel", "CAPI", "cost per lead on Facebook" or "our Facebook leads are junk".
12---
13
14# Meta Ads: Real Work, Real Customers, Spend the Owner Approved
15
16**RULE: Track only with consent, show only real work and real words from real customers, and
17change nothing that spends money without the owner's written yes.**
18
19On Facebook and Instagram, people are not searching for a plumber. The ad must stop the
20scroll with something true and local (a real job, a real face, a real review) and make the
21next step easy. Meta's delivery system then finds more people like the ones who acted, so
22the events you send decide who sees the ads.
23
24## 1. Prerequisites
25
26- Conversion tracking in GA4 works (`google-analytics`), and the site's consent banner works.
27- The landing page or instant form is ready (`launch-landing-page`, `launch-lead-capture`),
28  and someone replies within minutes (`launch-speed-to-lead`).
29- The **owner's** Meta business portfolio owns the Facebook Page, the Instagram account, the
30  ad account, the dataset (Pixel) and the payment method. The agency gets partner access.
31  Never run ads from the agency's ad account: the owner loses the data when the agency leaves.
32- Verify the website domain in the business portfolio (Brand safety, Domains).
33- The owner gives a written monthly budget, the service area, the offer, and photos or videos
34  of real work that they have the right to use.
35
36## 2. Pixel plus Conversions API, with consent
37
38Send each result from the browser (Pixel) **and** the server (Conversions API, CAPI), with
39the same `event_id`, so Meta counts it once and still sees results that browsers block.
40
411. **Consent first.** Call `fbq("consent", "revoke")` before `fbq("init", ...)` where the
42   banner asks for consent, and `fbq("consent", "grant")` when the visitor accepts ad or
43   marketing cookies. Use the same banner choice as Google consent mode (`google-analytics`,
44   step 3). Store the choice with the lead.
452. **Server events only for consented visitors.** CAPI does not read the banner. The server
46   must check the stored consent before it sends.
473. **Hash the identifiers.** Email and phone are normalized (trimmed, lowercase, phone in
48   digits with the country code) and hashed with SHA-256 before they leave the server.
49   `fbp` and `fbc` cookies, IP address and user agent are sent unhashed, as Meta requires.
504. **Deduplicate.** The browser event and the server event share `event_name` and
51   `event_id` (use the lead id or order id).
525. Check Events Manager: the event match quality score, the deduplication rate, and the
53   Diagnostics tab.
54
55Code for the Pixel, the shared `track` helper and the CAPI call is in
56[references/conversions-api.md](references/conversions-api.md).
57
58## 3. Map events to the same results as GA4
59
60| Site event | GA4 (`google-analytics`) | Meta standard event | Optimize for it |