A few weeks ago, Sadie’s What We’re Reading post was about Facebook’s new Power Editor for Facebook Ads. Being the Facebook Ad enthusiast that I am, I set out to learn everything I could about this new feature. If you’ve ever used Google Adwords Editor, this is the Facebook version of that. It’s relatively easy to use, though there is a bit of a learning curve if you’re used to the current and standard way of setting up and managing Facebook ads. It is very different than the standard Facebook Ads Manager, so after years of personally using Facebook Ads one way, learning a different way has had its challenges.
Power Editor, however, does come with a few added bells and whistles as well as some pretty cool things Facebook Ads have been needing, like saving ads as drafts, advanced placements, etc. Below is a quick overview of Facebook Power Editor as well as some pros and cons that I’ve found so far. Be sure to come back next week for my Power Editor for Facebook Ads Part 2!
Power Editor: Dashboard
The Power Editor dashboard offers many of the same features as the standard Facebook Ads Manager. I find this layout, however, a little more intuitive. There are obvious and easy filtering options and you can choose to view ads, campaigns or other promoted content, etc. There are a few drawbacks and this structure is more rigid than the current, but once you’re used to it, it’s pretty awesome. You can see what each part of the dashboard does in the image below.
Power Editor: Creating an Ad
Creating an ad within Power Editor is VERY similar to creating an ad in the Standard Facebook Ad Manager. You have the same options (creative, audience, advanced, and pricing and status) but what this layout offers is that you can create parts of the ad out of order and save it without placing the ad. So, if you’ve got your targeting but not your creative you can go ahead and create the ad, save it and add the creative later. You can also do targeted “placements” (like Google Ads) for phones, iPads, etc. Pretty nifty.
Pros and Cons
So now that you’ve seen the basic dashboard and how to create an ad within Power Editor, here a few of my concerns and a few of the things that really got me excited.
Pro: Easier, more intuitive and more in-depth options – page posts, images only, etc. – for reviewing your ads and campaigns.
Con: To see any ads within a campaign, you must click “Ads.” To see any old campaigns you must click “All Campaigns” — this is a Power Editor nuance that is completely different from the standard Facebook Ads Manager. This isn’t bad but it’s different and (can be) frustrating based on habit and experience with the standard Facebook Ad Manager.
Con: Like Google Adwords Editor (but unlike Facebook Ads Manager) you have to “Upload” your ads once they’re finished, otherwise they’re just sitting in your account as drafts. Don’t forget this step otherwise your ads won’t be running.
Con: Power Editor is currently only available for Google Chrome (this is a problem, in my opinion, that I hope changes soon).
Pro: Ads can be created, saved, and edited at your leisure — FINALLY!
Pro: There are more targeting options — you can choose custom audiences, placements, campaign types, etc. It’s much more in-depth. We’ll discuss more on this next week!
Have you used Power Editor yet? Let us know what you think and tune in next week for our Facebook Power Editor Part 2!