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3 tips for troubleshooting Facebook ads not spending

Facing issues with Facebook ads not spending after 24 hours? Don’t worry, Mega Digital is here to help! Let us help resolve your issues effectively.

Encountering the frustration of Facebook ads not spending your budget within the first 24 hours is a common issue for every advertiser. Our team of experts understands the intricate workings of Facebook advertising, and we specialize in resolving issues related to ads not spending as expected. We analyze your campaigns, find any issues, and make smart changes to boost performance.

Facebook ads active but not spending

Understanding Facebook ads spending algorithm

Your Facebook ad budget represents the sum you allocate to display your ads to the audience during the specified campaign duration. There are two types of budget frameworks:

  • Daily Budget: This signifies the average amount you intend to invest in an ad group or campaign daily. The daily budget is flexible and not rigidly enforced.
  • Lifetime Budget: This reflects the total amount allocated for your entire campaign or ad group duration. The lifetime budget is a fixed limit, not an average.

Daily budgets

Establishing a daily budget sets the bar for your average daily spending throughout the week. This means each day, we’re committed to maximizing your outcomes within that optimized daily budget. However, there are days when opportunities are ripe, and on such occasions, we may go above and beyond—up to 25% beyond, to be precise—your daily budget.

For example, if you set a daily budget of $20, on days when your ads perform well, we may spend up to $25. However, within that week, the maximum amount spent is still capped at $140 ($20 x 7). This implies that on days when $25 is spent, there must be other days with lower spending to offset, ensuring the total for the week remains at $140.

Facebook ads daily budget

Lifetime budgets

A lifetime budget proves beneficial if you wish to avoid exceeding the overall spending limit. This is most effective when you remain flexible regarding your daily expenditure preferences. With the standard distribution approach, our goal is to distribute the budget evenly throughout your campaign or ad group. For the most consistent daily spending, though, it’s recommended to utilize daily budgets.

Facebook ads lifetime budget

The consequences of Facebook ads not spending money

The consequences of running ads on Facebook without incurring costs or charges can involve significant issues related to advertising performance and your business objectives. Here are some potential consequences:

  • Poor Advertising Performance: If the ad campaign is not incurring charges, it means it is not being shown to your target audience. This can lead to a lack of engagement or conversions.
  • Reduced Ad Quality: Facebook assesses ad quality based on factors like engagement and content quality. If your ads consistently don’t incur charges, it may result in a lack of attention-grabbing elements or interaction.
  • Decreased Reach Potential: Facebook typically prioritizes displaying ads with good performance. If your campaign is not generating value, it can lead to a reduced reach with your target audience.
  • Risk of Account Review: If your ads violate Facebook’s advertising policies, there is a risk of your ads account being disabled.
Facebook ads not spending

4 common causes why your Facebook ads not spending

Ad Budget Misalignment with Target Audience

Excessive Targeting

When running an advertising campaign, it’s crucial to assess whether your target aligns with your budget. For instance, if you have a customer file with several million people but only allocate $10 per day, it leads to two consequences:

  • Your ads may struggle to reach the entire targeted audience you’ve set.
  • The budget might be too modest to adequately fuel Facebook’s machine-learning process.

Overly Specific Targeting

Having an excessive number of targets in your customer file, overly detailed, can lead to Facebook ads active but not spending problems. This, coupled with too few people engaging, becomes a significant factor in serious underperformance, where the ads fail to generate substantial results.

What to do:

  • Ensuring your customer file comprises a minimum of 500,000 individuals so your ads can reach the audience you desire. 
  • Before launching your ad campaign and deciding on the ad budget, conduct a customer analysis.
  • Calculate the spending based on the scale of your targeted customer file. Keep in mind, that a broader customer base demands a more generous budget for optimal campaign performance. Therefore, don’t skimp on your budget—invest wisely to guarantee the success of your strategic approach!

Random ad account audit

Facebook always has random review periods for all entities on its platform, including Facebook profiles, fan pages, groups, and ad accounts. These review periods occur regularly and do not have a fixed schedule. For Facebook ad accounts, when undergoing review, it leads to Facebook ads not spending issues.

What to do:

If this is confirmed as the reason, you should deactivate all ads on the account and wait for 24 hours. Then, you can recommence running ads normally. Alternatively, you may opt to take no action and patiently wait through the 24-hour review period. Should any problems arise during this time, you can then contemplate additional steps.

Sudden Cap Strategy Adjustment

Bid is the amount you are willing to spend to achieve the desired results from your target audience when running Facebook ads. If your bid wins, you secure an advertising position. If others win, the amount is retained in your advertising budget until another opportunity arises.

However, a higher bid does not always guarantee success because Facebook also considers ad quality, relevance, and conversion probability when comparing bids. There are four types of cap strategies:

  • Automated bidding
  • Cost cap
  • Bid cap

Assuming you start advertising with Automated Bidding, which is the default setting for Bid-Camp. Facebook will automatically optimize the bid price for you. It will find the best results for your campaign at the lowest cost, and you don’t have to do anything. Then, you switch to Cost Cap or Bid Cap, which are manual bidding strategies. In this case, if you don’t accurately determine an appropriate bidding amount, it may lead to a situation where the bid is lower than the general market level. The consequence after that is Facebook ads not spending and incurring charges as expected.

Facebook ads cap strategy

What to do:

You should test the new method on different ads to gauge its effectiveness beforehand. Avoid making abrupt changes to existing ads because after running an ad for a while, Facebook has learned from it, and it can be challenging to alter the bid strategy. To avoid encountering issues with Facebook ads not spending, advertisers can consider renting an agency account as a preventive measure.

Landing page error

When an ad receives excessive spam, it can be attributed to intentional spamming by competitors or a negative advertising experience with customers blocking ad content. In such cases, Facebook may disable the page’s publishing status, and your ads, while seemingly active, won’t run or incur charges. Although this is a passive reason, it can significantly impact the quality of your advertising.

Landing page error

What to do:

In this situation, you can go to page settings and republish the page after 30 minutes to 1 hour; then the ads will operate normally. Alternatively, you can optimize the ad content or create a new page with a stable interaction volume in case the page or ad is reported.

3 tips for optimizing Facebook ads budget

Optimal ad scheduling

Avoid letting Facebook accumulate funds! Advertisers should not set up ads with a large daily budget in the evening. Facebook will use that amount and spend it all, resetting it at midnight.

For example, if you set a daily budget of $30 and start running ads at 5 a.m., this $30 will be distributed over 20 hours from 5 a.m. to midnight. However, if you set ads to start running at 4 p.m., the $30 will be spent in 8 hours, from 4 p.m. to midnight. This situation is referred to as fund accumulation. Typically, when Facebook distributes ads hastily in this manner, it is often ineffective and may not even generate charges.

Utilize a Facebook agency ad account

Unlock the full potential of Facebook Agency Ads Accounts for rent:

  • Offer large spending caps and an unlimited advertising budget.
  • Combine unlimited ad sets and campaigns to tailor your marketing approach.
  • Choose from various payment options for a convenient and hassle-free experience.
  • Benefit from prioritized support directly from Facebook, complemented by dedicated agency assistance to manage your ad campaigns efficiently.
  • Ensure stability and receive specialized support for any technical issues that may arise during your advertising endeavors.

Mega Digital & Meta conducts comprehensive assessments of your advertising campaigns, ensuring both compliance and efficacy. Furthermore, in cases where Facebook ads not spending, leverage the distinctive capability of Mega Digital’s account to redistribute funds, offering increased control and robustness to your advertising strategies.

Reasonable cost calculation

The daily budget for the campaign will be calculated based on the number of ad sets in the campaign and the maximum budget for each conversion you desire. The maximum cost per conversion is the advertising cost that allows you to profit from 1 sale.

For example, if you need to sell an item for $30 with a base cost of $10, your profit will be $20. So, your Cost per Action (CPA) has to be less than $20 for you to make a profit. After accounting for costs, refunds, and management fees, you will be safe with a Max CPP of around $15.

You need to calculate the daily budget using the following formula:  Daily budget = Number of Ad Sets * Max CPA

In the example above, the amount you spend in a day would be: Daily Budget = 10 * $15 = $150.

Final words

If you’re facing challenges with Facebook ads not spending, the best solution is to partner with agencies like Mega Digital. Utilizing their Facebook ad agency account and tapping into their expertise can be incredibly beneficial. Learning from successful individuals can also enhance the creativity of your ads. Examine some of the most successful Facebook campaigns to glean valuable insights!

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