A Health Check for Your Meta Advertising Campaigns
A Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads account audit is a thorough evaluation of your social advertising efforts. Just as a Google Ads audit reveals hidden issues and wasted spend, a Facebook/Meta audit uncovers what’s holding your campaigns back and how to fix it. The biggest mistake in Meta advertising is misalignment: for example, choosing a campaign objective that doesn’t match your true goal can doom performance from the start. A professional audit helps you avoid such missteps, ensuring your budget isn’t being wasted on the wrong settings, audience, Event Quality Match rate or creative approach. In short, we perform a full diagnostic check-up on your Facebook/Instagram ads, then prescribe exact recommendations to improve click-through rates, conversion volume, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Why DEANLONG.io’s Google Ads Audit is Different
- Fractional CMO Expertise, Fraction of the Cost: You’re getting a senior-level strategist (10+ years experience) who has managed big-budget campaigns – without the full-time price tag. Dean brings the perspective of a Fractional CMO and the hands-on skills of an analyst/optimizer, so you get strategy + execution in one audit package.
- Laser-Focused (Max 3 Clients at Once): Unlike big agencies juggling dozens of accounts, Dean caps his client engagements to no more than 3 at a time. That means you get personal, focused attention and deep analysis. Your account isn’t handed off to juniors; the person auditing your ads is the one with the expertise.
- No Lock-In Contracts: This audit is a one-time service (typically completed within a week). If you choose ongoing management afterward, it’s month-to-month, cancel anytime. We let results speak for themselves – no long-term tie-ups or hard sells.
- Straight-Talking Insights & Playbook: We deliver actionable, jargon-free insights. Many “free audits” just scratch the surface, but our audit goes deeper. You’ll receive a checklist and playbook of recommendations ranked by impact, so you know what to tackle first. It’s not a generic PDF – it’s tailored to your business and goals, essentially a PPC strategy playbook you can follow step by step.
“His technical skills are second to none. His work ethic is extremely impressive and it is clear that Dean puts an immense amount of passion into everything he does.”
– Gloria, Client Solution Manager @ TikTok (via LinkedIn testimonial)
Our Results in a Nutshell
- CTR Boost: 4D creative framework drove average 3.8% CTRs (up to 10.4%) vs. ~2.5% industry norm.
- ROAS Surge: Scaled ROAS from 5× to 35× by reallocating budget to top performers.
- Better Data: CAPI setup lifted Event Match Quality from 4/10 to 8/10, unlocking more accurate optimization.
- A/B Testing Wins: Creative tests delivered a 30% CTR lift and 10% higher conversion rate.
- Video Engagement: 95% view-through rates jumped +272% YoY, supercharging retargeting funnels.
- Brand Recall: Achieved 11.03% lift in ad recall vs. ~10% benchmark through strategic reach & frequency.
Common Issues in Facebook/Meta Ads Campaigns
Even savvy marketers can run into pitfalls on Meta’s ad platforms. Here are some frequent issues that might be hurting your Facebook and Instagram ad performance:
- Misaligned Objectives: Using the wrong campaign objective for your goal – e.g. running a “Traffic” or “Engagement” campaign when you really want sales. (Facebook offers 11 different marketing objectives, so it’s easy to get confused without guidance) This can result in lots of clicks or likes but little actual ROI.
- Poor Campaign Structure: Lack of a clear structure for prospecting vs. retargeting, or mixing too many targets in one campaign. Without an organised, objective-based campaign structure, it’s hard to optimise budgets and learnings across your funnel.
- Overstuffed Ad Sets: Cramming too many ads into a single ad set can confuse Meta’s learning algorithm. A dozen different creatives in one ad set means each ad gets too little delivery to exit the “learning phase,” leading to suboptimal results. It’s often better to test systematically and prune underperformers rather than run everything at once.
- Inadequate Tracking: Not properly implementing the Meta Pixel or the Conversions API (server-side tracking) means you’re flying blind on conversions. Missing or misconfigured events (like Purchase or Lead) make it impossible for Meta’s AI to optimise for your true goals. It also leads to a low Event Match Quality, meaning Facebook struggles to match your site’s visitors to real user profiles. (Upgrading from just an “OK” 4/10 match score to 8/10 or better can noticeably improve campaign efficiency, since Meta recommends at least a 6/10 score for optimal performance)
- Targeting Mistakes: Relying solely on broad interest targeting without refinement can waste spend – studies show roughly 30% of Facebook’s interest data may be inaccurate or irrelevantdeanlong.io. On the other hand, over-targeting (too narrow audiences or layering too many constraints) can limit scale. Failing to use Custom Audiences (like your website visitors or customer list) and Lookalikes means missing out on warmer prospects. And if you’re not excluding past converters or irrelevant audiences, you might be paying to reach people who won’t convert again.
- Neglecting Remarketing: Many advertisers focus only on cold audience campaigns and forget to re-engage users who already showed interest. That’s a big missed opportunity – remarketing audiences are highly likely to convert, and their higher click-through and conversion rates actually drive your costs down. Not leveraging features like Facebook’s engagement retargeting or video view retargeting means leaving easy wins on the table.
- Weak Creative or Messaging: In the fast-scrolling social feed, you have mere seconds to grab attention. If your ad creative doesn’t stop the thumb (due to poor design, bland copy, or unclear value), you’ll suffer low CTRs. Remember, the average person spends <2.5 seconds on a piece of content in the feed. Likewise, ads that aren’t optimised for mobile (e.g. wrong aspect ratios, too much text on image, videos that require sound) can underperform. Lack of fresh creative is another issue – if you’re showing the same ad for months, ad fatigue sets in and performance declines.
- Outdated Strategies: The Facebook/Meta ads platform evolves quickly. Advertisers often miss new features or best practices – from campaign budget optimisation tools to new ad formats. For example, not testing Advantage+ placements or Advantage+ Creative options, ignoring new formats like Reels ads, or failing to use automated rules can mean you’re a step behind competitors who do. In a similar vein, sticking to manual bidding when Meta’s automated bidding could yield better results (or vice versa) might limit your growth. Staying up-to-date is key.
If any of the above sounds familiar, don’t worry – these are exactly the kinds of problems a Meta Ads audit will identify and help you fix.
Boost Your Meta Ad Performance: What Our Audit Covers
In our Facebook/Meta Ads audit, we conduct a comprehensive review of your account, pinpointing strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. We leave no stone unturned. Major areas of focus include:
Goals & Objectives Alignment
- Business vs. Campaign Goals: What is your business ultimately trying to achieve (sales, leads, awareness) and do your Facebook campaign objectives reflect that? We often find cases where the selected objective (e.g. Reach or Traffic) isn’t aligned with the desired outcome. We ensure you’re using the right objective – for instance, Conversion campaigns when you want purchases, or Engagement campaigns if the goal is to build brand community.
- Funnel Strategy: We examine if you’ve structured campaigns for different stages of the customer journey. For example, Awareness objectives (Brand Awareness, Reach) for cold audiences, Consideration objectives (Traffic, Video Views, Engagement, etc.) for those warming up, and Conversion objectives for retargeting warm prospects. Each stage requires a distinct approach in messaging and optimisation, which we’ll validate and recommend adjustments for.
- Conversion Tracking Goals: Are your conversion events (e.g. “Complete Registration” or “Purchase”) clearly defined and tracked? We verify that your Meta Pixel events match your business KPIs so that the campaign can optimise toward meaningful actions.
Account & Campaign Settings
- Account Structure: We review how your campaigns are organised. Are you separating campaigns by product line, region, or marketing funnel? A well-structured account (with meaningful campaign naming conventions and segmentation) makes for easier optimization. If things are messy or overlapping, we’ll suggest a re-structure to simplify management and improve results.
- Campaign Budget & Bidding: We assess budget allocation and bid strategy. Are you using Campaign Budget Optimisation (CBO) appropriately, or using ad set budgets where it makes sense? Is your bid strategy (Lowest Cost, Cost Cap, Bid Cap) suited to your goals and spend level? Misconfigured budgets or bids can either throttle performance or overspend with little return.
- Placement & Schedule Settings: We check if you’re leveraging Advantage+ Placements (formerly automatic placements) or manually selecting placements wisely. For instance, if you ran a video ad but didn’t include Stories or Reels placements, you might miss out on users who spend 40% of their time on Facebook watching videos. We also look at ad scheduling (are your ads running 24/7 or only when your audience is most active?) and geo-targeting settings to ensure they match your target market.
- Policy Compliance & Setup: An often overlooked aspect – we verify your account’s health regarding policy (no disapproved ads lingering, no spending limits hitting unintentionally, etc.), and that your Business Manager, ad account, pixel, and other assets are properly linked and configured.
Targeting & Audience Analysis
- Audience Types: We dive into your ad sets to review the audiences you’re targeting. Are you making good use of Custom Audiences (website visitors, customer lists, app users)? These high-intent groups often yield better ROI, especially for retargeting. We also examine Lookalike Audiences – e.g. a 1% lookalike of your best customers can be a goldmine if used correctly. If you’re not using these, we’ll highlight it as an opportunity.
- Detailed Interest Targeting: If you’re using interest or behaviour targeting, we analyse how effective those choices are. Facebook’s interest predictions are powerful but not perfect We check if your interest targeting is too broad (wasting spend on uninterested people) or too narrow (over-constrained). We might recommend interest stacking (combining multiple related interests to broaden reach) or interest layering (using the “Narrow further” to ensure an audience has qualities from two groups) as needed.
- Audience Exclusions & Overlap: We see if you’re excluding the right people – for example, excluding existing customers when prospecting, or excluding recent website visitors in cold campaigns. We also check for audience overlap between ad sets (which can hurt performance if two ad sets compete for the same users).
- Placement Targeting: Beyond audiences, we consider if certain placements or devices are underperforming. For instance, if Instagram Stories yield a much lower CTR or higher CPA in your data, perhaps budget should shift elsewhere. Our audit digs into placement reports to find such insights.
- Remarketing Setup: We specifically review any retargeting campaigns. Are you re-engaging people who added to cart but didn’t purchase? People who watched 50%+ of your video? Engagers of your Facebook page or Instagram profile? We ensure you’re capitalising on these low-hanging fruit audiences. If not, we’ll propose a remarketing strategy – backed by the fact that retargeted audiences click and convert at higher rates, improving your cost per conversion.
Ad Creatives & Copy Review
- Visuals and Format: We audit the images and videos you’re using in ads. Are they properly sized for each placement (e.g. 1080x1080 square for feeds, 9:16 vertical for Stories)? Are they high-quality and eye-catching? Remember, you have moments to capture attention – visual appeal and clarity are key. We check for compliance with Facebook’s guidelines (e.g. minimal text overlay on images) to avoid any delivery penalties.
- Video Best Practices: If you use video ads, we assess their effectiveness. Do the first 3 seconds hook the viewer? (This is critical since users scroll quickly – <2.5s per post on average!). Are videos optimized for sound-off viewing (captions or clear visuals) since many people watch without audio? We also consider newer formats like Reels ads – vertical videos which currently enjoy high engagement and even a 12% higher conversion rate on average when paired with audio. If you haven’t tried these, we might suggest doing so.
- Ad Copy & Messaging: We read through your ad headlines, text, and calls-to-action. Effective ad copy should resonate with your target audience’s pain points and clearly convey your value proposition. We check for use of strong CTAs and whether the messaging is consistent with the landing page. If the copy is too generic or not compelling, that’s feedback we’ll provide along with suggestions.
- Creative Testing & Refresh: We look at how often new creatives are tested or rotated in. If frequency is high and relevance scores/feedback (now via the ad relevance diagnostics) are declining, it may be time for a refresh. We examine any A/B tests you’ve done in Facebook (if available) or suggest a structured testing plan – for example, trying different formats (carousel vs. single image), different messaging angles, or incorporating UGC-style content. (We often use a 4-dimensional creative framework combining product highlights, lifestyle context, social proof, and a strong call-to-action – this approach has driven CTRs of 3.8%–10.4% in our campaigns, significantly above the ~2.5% Facebook ad average)
Conversion Tracking & Analytics
- Pixel & Conversions API: A critical part of the audit is checking your Facebook Pixel installation and the use of the Conversions API (CAPI). We verify that the pixel is firing on all the right pages (e.g. the Purchase event on the thank-you page, Lead on the form submission, etc.), and that you aren’t missing any important standard events. If your industry requires custom events, we make sure those are set up. We also check if the Conversions API is implemented to send server-side events (which can capture conversions that browser tracking might miss). If your Event Match Quality is low (below Meta’s recommended 6/10), we’ll suggest ways to improve it – for instance, by passing more customer data (emails, phone numbers in a hashed form) or enabling Advanced Matching. A higher match rate means more of your conversions are attributed properly, which helps Meta’s algorithm optimize and can result in better ROAS.
- Analytics & Attribution: We review how you’re measuring success. Are you relying solely on Facebook Ads Manager’s reported results, or also using Google Analytics/CRM data for verification? We’ll ensure your UTM parameters are in place so you can track ad traffic in Google Analytics. We also consider attribution settings – for example, using the appropriate attribution window (Facebook’s default 7-day click) and looking at the Conversions API event deduplication status to avoid double-counting. Our goal is to make sure you have an accurate picture of performance so you can make data-driven decisions.
- Performance Metrics Deep-Dive: Using your historical data, we analyze key metrics for each campaign and ad set. What’s the CTR relative to benchmarks? (Across industries, Facebook lead-gen ads average ~2.5% CTR, and conversion campaigns ~1.5% CTR – if your ads are far below these, that’s a flag.) How does your conversion rate compare to the ~8.8% Facebook average? Which ads or audiences have the best CPA (cost per acquisition) or ROAS? We identify the top and bottom performers and find patterns – for instance, certain ad creative styles might consistently yield higher conversion rates, or one lookalike audience might vastly outperform interest-based audiences. These insights feed into our recommendations on where to scale spend versus where to cut or optimize.
Landing Page & Funnel Continuity
(While not strictly “in” the Facebook Ads platform, we include this because it directly affects your ad performance.) We inspect the landing pages your ads point to: Are they relevant to the ad copy and creative? A disconnect here can hurt your conversion rates and also your Facebook ad quality (Facebook’s algorithm can detect when people bounce quickly). We look for a clear call-to-action on the page, mobile-friendly design, and fast load times. If the landing page experience is poor, ad money is being wasted driving traffic that won’t convert. We’ll call this out and suggest improvements or tests (like trying a simplified landing page, or ensuring the page has the same message/offer as the ad). Additionally, if you have an e-commerce funnel, we consider if your Facebook ads strategy covers all stages – e.g. running dynamic product ads to bring back cart abandoners, etc., which ties back into the remarketing review.
Ready to elevate your Meta advertising? 🚀 Get in touch to schedule a free initial consultation. We’ll discuss your goals, dive into any challenges you’re facing, and see if a Meta Ads Audit & Management service is the right move for you. No hard sell, just an honest chat about how we can help make the world see your brand (and deliver the ROI you deserve). Let’s turn your Facebook advertising into a powerhouse for your business!
Sources: For further reading and reference, you might explore some of our insights and case studies on Facebook Ads:
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