# How to create a Facebook ad campaign URL: https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign Level 4: Run it as an ad (https://blackbox.plus/guides/run-ads) Updated: 2026-11-02 Time: about 10 minutes You'll end with: A Meta campaign drafted as a proposal on Plan’s calendar, ready to approve Do it in Blackbox: https://blackbox.plus/app/plan > Set up a Meta campaign yourself — goal and audience, ad sets, the ads, one budget, checks — and draft it as a proposal. Nothing spends until you start it. ## Short answer To create a Facebook ad campaign with Blackbox (blackbox.plus), connect a Meta ad account to your brand, open Plan, click + on a day and choose Meta ads. Under Or skip the plans, pick a goal such as Sell on the website. On Preset, check that Meta Ads is on and choose the places, ages and interests. On Ad sets, keep the one ad set or add more to test. On Creative, add the ads: start a blank one, fill one from a finished Studio post, or use a live post so its likes and comments carry over. On Budget, enter one amount, for the whole run or a day, and the dates; Blackbox splits it across the ad sets. Review runs checks that block a campaign which would fail or waste money, and shows what the draft creates, all paused. Click Draft the campaign and a proposal lands on Plan's calendar. Nothing is created until you approve it, and nothing spends until you start it. ## You'll need - **Meta Ads connected.** An ad account under the brand the campaign is for. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/connect-meta-ads) - **A Facebook Page and pixel picked.** On the ad account, in Settings under Ad accounts. Review blocks a campaign without them. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/set-your-ad-account-defaults) - **Something to run.** A finished Studio post, a live post, or your own pictures and words. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/make-instagram-carousel-with-ai) ## How to create a Facebook ad campaign in Blackbox 1. **Open New Campaign.** In **Plan**, click **+** on the day it starts, then **Meta ads** under **Campaign**. You'll see: **What is this campaign for?**, with goals to start from under it. Starts at: https://blackbox.plus/app/plan ![Create on this day, in the panel beside Plan’s calendar: Post, then Campaign ringed, with Meta ads and a Connect button for each ad platform not connected yet](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/01-new.png) 2. **Skip to a goal.** Under **Or skip the plans**, click a goal such as **Sell on the website**. To have it planned for you instead, describe it in the box. You'll see: **Preset**, with your goal under **Gets you** in the **Summary**. ![The foot of What is this campaign for?: Or skip the plans and set it up yourself, starting from a goal, with seven goals and Sell on the website ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/02-skip.png) 3. **Check where it runs.** Under **Where it runs**, check that **Meta Ads** is on with your ad account, then click **Continue**. You'll see: The ad account and its currency, with the campaign type under **Runs as**. ![Where it runs: Meta Ads switched on, the ad account with its currency, and Runs as Sales · Purchase, with Continue ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/03-channel.png) 4. **Choose who sees it.** Under **Who should see it**, set the **Places** and **Age**, and add any **Interests**. You'll see: Who it reaches under **Who** in the **Summary**. ![Who should see it: Brooklyn as the place, ages 25 to 44 and the Coffee interest, with the Summary beside it](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/04-who.png) 5. **Go to Creative.** Click **Next: ad sets**, keep the one ad set (or add more), then click **Next: creatives**. You'll see: **Creatives**, with a **New** button. 6. **Add a Studio post.** Click **New**, then **From a Studio post**, and **Use this post** on the post you want. You'll see: The creative open on **Copy**, filled from the post. ![The Creatives heading with the New menu open: Blank, From a Studio post ringed, Use a live post and From a competitor ad](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/06-source.png) 7. **Check the words.** On **Copy**, check the **Main text**, **Headline** and **Landing page**, then click **Save**. You'll see: The creative in the list, marked **Ready** and switched **In campaign**. ![The creative open on Copy, filled from the post: Main text, Headline and Landing page, with a preview of the ad and Save ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/07-copy.png) 8. **Set the budget.** Click **Next: budget**, pick **Lifetime** or **Daily**, and enter the amount. You'll see: What it spends **a day on average** and the results expected, under the amount. ![Budget & Duration: Lifetime picked and 700 dollars for 14 days ringed, 50 dollars a day on average, and the dates under Duration](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/08-budget.png) 9. **Set the dates.** Under **Duration**, click **Change** and pick the first and last day, or a **Length**. You'll see: The first and last day the campaign runs. 10. **Run the checks.** Click **Next: review**. You'll see: **Ready to draft**, or how many things to fix before drafting. ![Review and draft: 2 to fix before drafting, ringed, over the checks — Tracking and Page marked Block, each with Open Meta settings, and a warning — then 7 checks that pass](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/10-checks.png) 11. **Fix what blocks.** Click the button beside each check marked **Block**, or go back to the step it names. You'll see: **Ready to draft**, and **What the draft creates**, marked **All paused**. ![A Tracking check marked Block — Meta doesn’t know how a sale is measured — with Open Meta settings ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/11-block.png) 12. **Draft it.** Click **Draft the campaign**. You'll see: The **Campaign proposal** card beside the calendar. ![Which creative runs in which ad set, What the draft creates — 1 campaign, 1 ad set, 1 ad, all paused — and Draft the campaign ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/12-draft.png) ## Good to know - Two routes: describe the campaign in the box and get three plans to pick from, with the audiences, budget and stop rules worked out — see [How to plan a Facebook ad campaign](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign). Or skip the plans and set it up yourself, as here. - Drafting creates nothing on Meta. Approving the proposal creates everything paused, and only Start spends — see [Approve a campaign proposal and start it](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-campaign-proposal). - Select a brand asks which one first. A client that was only a tag shows a Make this a brand notice on Data. - It saves as you go. Close it, and the next New Campaign for the brand offers Continue it. Delete draft, at the bottom, removes a draft you don’t want. - A new campaign runs 14 days, starting today, until you change the dates. - From a Studio post fills the creative from a finished post — copy, button, link and slides — and leaves the post as it is. - Use a live post runs the post itself, so its likes and comments carry over; its card is locked, with no words to edit. Blank opens on Setup, and ends with Add creative. - Write a creative once per language; it joins every ad set in that language. On Review, tap a cell under Which creative runs in which ad set to leave a creative out of one. - Ad sets, after Preset, starts with one ad set made from Who should see it. Add more to test audiences, cities, languages or retargeting against each other, each with its share of the budget, or click Suggest ad sets and the AI proposes them, each with its reason — see [How to set up Facebook ad sets in one campaign](https://blackbox.plus/guides/facebook-ad-sets). - Where it goes, on Budget, splits each ad set’s share across the channels for you. Click Customize to set an amount yourself; Unpin hands it back. - Budget shows the break-even per result from your order value and margin. Click Edit beside it to set them. - Advantage+ audience is off, so the places, ages and interests you set are who Meta shows the ads to. - Running a Studio post as an ad? Launch as ad, on the post, opens this same New Campaign with the post as creative 1 — see [Turn an Instagram post into a Meta ad](https://blackbox.plus/guides/turn-instagram-post-into-meta-ad). - Competitors running now, on Preset, shows the ads your competitors run; From a competitor ad, on Creative, turns one into your own angle. To choose whose ads they are, see [How to do competitor analysis](https://blackbox.plus/guides/competitor-analysis). - Want sign-ups instead? Get leads with Native form puts Meta’s own form in the ad — see [How to run Facebook lead ads and download the leads](https://blackbox.plus/guides/facebook-lead-ads). ## Official docs - [Meta: about the Meta pixel](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/742478679120153) - [Meta: create ads from existing posts](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/374756690038600) ## Questions people ask **Select a brand says No brands with ads connected** Connect a Meta ad account under the brand on the Data page, then click + and New Campaign again. **I can’t switch on Meta Ads** Read the line under the row: it says why. If Meta Ads needs reconnecting, click its name to reconnect it on the Data page. **An ad account is greyed out** It bills in a different currency. A campaign runs in one currency, set by the first ad account you switch on. **The budget box is red** The amount is below what the ad sets need together. Click Meet every minimum to raise it, or turn an ad set off. **The button says Fix 2 first** Review found checks that would make the campaign fail or waste money. Click the button beside each one, or go back to the step it names and change it; the checks run again. **I’m worried drafting spends money** It doesn’t. Draft makes a proposal. Approving it creates everything paused, and nothing spends until you click Start ads.