Meta Ads Launch Checklist: Facebook & Instagram Setup

Feed image: 1080×1080px minimum (1:1 ratio). Story/Reels: 1080×1920px (9:16 ratio). Landscape video: 1920×1080px (16:9). Carousel cards: 1080×1080px each. All images: under 30MB. Videos: H.264 codec, AAC audio, MP4 or MOV format. Always preview across all placements before publishing — sizing errors cause poor delivery.

The Meta Pixel (now called Meta Pixel or simply the Pixel) is a snippet of JavaScript code placed on your website that tracks visitor actions — page views, product views, add-to-cart, purchases, lead form submissions. It is essential for: (1) Building Custom Audiences for retargeting (website visitors, cart abandoners), (2) Creating Lookalike Audiences from purchasers or leads, (3) Optimizing campaigns for conversion events (purchases, leads), (4) Measuring the ROI of Meta Ads accurately. Without the Pixel, your ads cannot optimize for conversions — only for clicks or reach, which are much lower-value objectives. Install it before running any Meta Ads, ideally via Google Tag Manager.

ABO (Ad Set Budget Optimization): you set the budget at each individual ad set level. Gives you direct control over how much each audience gets. Best for: testing new audiences side-by-side with equal spend, protecting spend on specific high-performing audiences. CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization): you set one budget at campaign level and Meta automatically distributes it to the ad sets it predicts will perform best. Best for: scaling campaigns where you want Meta AI to find the best-performing audiences efficiently. Recommendation: use ABO for initial testing (equal budgets, fair comparison), then switch to CBO to scale the winner and let the algorithm optimize distribution.

Meta audience targeting layers: (1) Core Audiences: demographic targeting + interest targeting. Effective for cold prospecting when combined with tight demographic filters (location, age, income level, life events), (2) Custom Audiences: retargeting your own data — website visitors (best performing), customer email list uploads, video viewers, Instagram engagers, (3) Lookalike Audiences: Meta finds new people similar to your Custom Audience source. 1% Lookalike (most similar) typically outperforms broader percentages for conversion campaigns. Best practice: start with warm audiences (Custom Audiences of website visitors and customer lists), prove your offer converts, then expand to Lookalike Audiences. Cold interest targeting typically delivers highest CPL — use it only when warm audiences are exhausted.

Minimum viable budget to exit the learning phase and gather meaningful data: ₹20,000–30,000/month per ad set. With ₹10,000/month you will collect data too slowly to optimize effectively. For initial testing with 2–3 ad sets: ₹60,000–90,000/month total. Realistic budget for consistent lead generation for a service business in India: ₹30,000–60,000/month. For e-commerce with multiple SKUs: ₹50,000–100,000/month to test sufficient creative and audience combinations. Budget is not the only lever — strong creative (video, UGC, specific testimonials) can outperform high spend with mediocre creative. Start with minimum viable budget, prove the funnel works, then scale.