Facebook recently made the decision to reverse its push for mandatory campaign budget optimization. While this change may not affect many campaigns, it is important to understand what Facebook’s campaign budget optimization is, and how the reversal of the decision to make it mandatory may impact certain campaigns. In order to fully understand this change, there are a few main questions you may need to have answered.
What is Campaign Budget Optimization?
Campaign Budget Optimization, or CBO, was introduced in 2017 in order to make the optimization of Facebook advertising campaigns quicker and simpler. By using campaign budget optimization, advertisers can assign one central budget for the campaign, rather than assigning budgets at the ad set level. By using campaign budget optimization, you allow Facebook’s algorithm to determine the most effective use of the budget, distributing more of the budget towards the campaign’s highest performing ads and cutting down on less effective spending.
Was This Ever Mandatory?
Although Facebook had made the decision to make campaign budget optimization mandatory in 2019, the change was never fully implemented. Facebook announced in Q1 of 2019 that by September 2019 they would be requiring campaigns to use CBO, with no way to turn it off. As September came around, Facebook made the decision to delay the mandate to take place in February of 2020. The change was never implemented in February, and Facebook made the call in April to ultimately abandon the push to mandate CBO. It is unclear if Facebook will make the push once again in the future, but for now, campaign budget optimization is still optional for Facebook advertising campaigns.
What Caused This Change?
Although campaigns utilizing campaign budget optimization tend to yield greater results, each scenario is unique, and Facebook wanted to provide advertisers with the extra flexibility in buying strategies by allowing them to continue to allocate budget at the ad spend level if they choose. For campaigns that require a greater amount of control over the budget at the ad set level, using CBO can make that process a bit more difficult. Amidst the pandemic, Facebook decided to allow those who need that extra control over their spend to utilize that option.
So, What Exactly is Happening?
In short, no major changes will be taking place to the interface. Although Facebook is reversing the mandate of campaign budget optimization, it is not going anywhere. Facebook is not taking away the option to utilize the tool, but rather continue to offer it as an option, rather than a requirement. This allows every advertiser to continue optimizing budget at the ad set level if they choose, even though campaign budget optimization is still recommended. Although no changes will be actively taking place, this is a win for advertisers who would have been forced to make the switch to CBO that requires a higher level of budget control.
What Does This Mean?
The decision to pull back the mandate may go unnoticed by those who are already utilizing campaign budget optimization, but it allows those who are currently budgeting at the ad set level to continue running their campaigns in the current format, uninterrupted. As stated above, most campaigns yield greater results under campaign budget optimization, although it can limit control for campaigns that require specific control over delivery of each ad set. However, campaigns using campaign budget optimization still allow minimum and maximum amounts of spend for each ad set, so all control is not lost at the ad level when using CBO.
If you currently optimize budget on your campaigns at the ad set level, it is still a good idea to take the time to understand campaign budget optimization, how it can possibly help your campaigns and to test this optimization method to see if your overall results improve!
Written by Zachary Thompson