The Modern Meta Ads Account Structure: Why 'Consolidation' is King (2024)

2019 Strategy:

• Campaign 1: Lookalike 1%
• Campaign 2: Lookalike 1-3%
• Campaign 3: Interest A (Dogs)
• Campaign 4: Interest B (Cats)
• Result: 50 Ad Sets. Data is fragmented.

2024 Strategy:

• Campaign 1: Broad (Open Targeting).
• Result: 1 Ad Set. Massive data density.

Why? Facebook's AI needs 50 conversions per week per Ad Set to exit the "Learning Phase." If you split your budget across 50 Ad Sets, none of them get 50 conversions. They all stay "Learning Limited." Performance is unstable.

Part 1: The "Power 5" Evolution

Facebook officially recommends Simplification. By merging audiences, you give the AI a bigger pool of data to find patterns.

The Broad Targeting Thesis: If you select No Interests, No Lookalikes, Just Age/Gender, you are effectively saying: "Facebook, you have 3 billion users worth of data. You know who buys my stuff better than I do. Go find them."

And it works. Because pixel data → human guess.

Part 2: The Ideal Structure (The Triangle)

You only need 3 campaigns.

1. The "Testing" Campaign (CBO)

• Goal: Find new winning creatives.
• Structure:
  • Ad Set 1: Dynamic Creative Test (Broad).
  • Ad Set 2: Dynamic Creative Test (Broad).
• Budget: 20% of total.

2. The "Scaling" Campaign (CBO / ASC)

• Goal: Spend money efficiently.
• Structure:
  • Ad Set 1: The Winners. (Contains only the winning Post IDs from the testing campaign).
  • Targeting: Broad (or Stacked Interest).
• Budget: 70% of total.

3. The "Retargeting" Campaign (Optional)

• Goal: Capture drop-offs.
• Structure:
  • Ad Set 1: Website Visitors (30D) + Social Engagers (30D).
• Budget: 10% of total.
• Note: Often, Broad campaigns pick up retargeting automatically, so this campaign is becoming less necessary.

Part 3: What about different products?

"But I sell Men's Shoes and Women's Shoes. Should they be in one campaign?"

No. Consolidate by Unit Economics / Pixel Goal.

• If "Shoes" and "Socks" both optimize for the same "Purchase" event and have similar CPA goals ($40), Consolidate them.
• If "Shoes" ($300 AOV) and "Laces" ($5 AOV) have different goals, Separate them.

Summary

Complexity is the enemy of scale. Every time you create a new Ad Set, you reset the learning.

1. Kill the granular interests.
2. Merge Lookalikes.
3. Use Broad.
4. Feed the machine with Creative.

Trust the consolidation.