Meta Ads management that optimizes for leads and sales, not reach
Facebook and Instagram advertising for e-commerce, DTC and lead-gen companies. Pixel and Conversions API set up so the algorithm sees real conversions, creative testing on a calendar instead of when something breaks, and retargeting that doesn’t burn out your audience.
Setup from $1,000 · management from $1,000/mo · minimum ad budget $2,000/mo[Express audit card - Meta variant]
When Meta Ads “isn’t working”
Meta is the only channel that creates demand where none exists yet: someone wasn’t looking for your product, saw it, and wanted it. That’s the strength and the problem. Point the account at the wrong objective and the algorithm will find you thousands of people who want to look and nobody who wants to buy. Four situations I see most:
Reach, but no conversions
Campaigns optimize for traffic, reach or engagement instead of purchases or leads. Meta delivers exactly that: people who click and scroll. Buyers weren’t in the brief.
Cheap leads that never answer
Instant forms with autofill, no qualifying questions, no follow-up within minutes. Someone taps, forgets, and gets a call two days later asking what they wanted. $4 CPL, zero revenue.
Creative fatigue
One ad running for three months, frequency above 5, the same audience seeing the same thing daily. Cost per result climbs every week and nobody can see why, because nobody is looking at frequency.
Everything got worse after iOS 14
Pixel without Conversions API. Half the conversions never reach the account, the algorithm learns from incomplete data, and reports show worse results than reality. A lot of businesses decided in 2021 that “Meta is dead” when only their tracking was.
Recognize any of these? Send me read-only access - within a business day you’ll know exactly what’s broken.
---What a Meta Ads setup includes
A setup is an account where the algorithm sees real conversions, audiences don’t overlap, and creatives rotate on a schedule. Here’s what I do:
Niche and Ad Library audit
Which competitor creatives have been running for 30+ days - those are the ones working. Which offers, formats, landing pages. Not to copy, but to avoid testing what they’ve already tested with their money.
Business Manager
Correct structure: business account, ad account, page, Instagram, domain - all owned by you, access by role. Domain verification, billing on your card. This is also the main protection against account restrictions.
Pixel and Conversions API
Pixel through Google Tag Manager plus Conversions API via server-side GTM or direct CMS integration (Shopify, WooCommerce). Standard events mapped to your funnel: lead, purchase, add to cart, initiate checkout. Deduplication so nothing counts twice. Details on the tracking page.
Audiences
Interest and behavior targeting for cold traffic. Lookalikes from customer lists, purchasers, leads. Retargeting from site visitors, Instagram engagement, video views. Exclusions so buyers don’t see “buy now” and cold traffic doesn’t see “come back”.
Campaign structure
Cold / warm / hot with separate budgets and creatives. Advantage+ where there’s data, manual where there isn’t. For e-commerce: catalog setup and Advantage+ Shopping. Three or four campaigns you can read, not ten “for testing”.
Creatives
A brief for your designer, or ready static and simple video ads in 3-5 variants per test: different offers, different first seconds, formats for feed, Stories and Reels. Ad copy. A monthly testing calendar so creative production is planned, not reactive.
Lead forms or landing pages
Instant forms with qualifying questions and CRM integration (HubSpot, Zapier, Make) so sales gets the lead in a minute, not the next morning. Or website conversion campaigns when you need a more educated buyer.
Looker Studio dashboard
Spend, results, cost per result, frequency, CTR - by campaign and creative, in real time.
Timeline: 5-7 business days from access to launch.
What ongoing management looks like week to week
On Meta, creatives burn out in 2-4 weeks, audiences saturate, and the platform ships new rules monthly. An account that was set up and left alone gets expensive faster than on Google.
Weekly
- Frequency and fatigue: pause creatives with frequency 4+ and falling CTR.
- Scale winners: more budget where cost per result is lowest.
- Kill losers: without “let’s test it a bit longer”.
- Event check: are conversions arriving, is CAPI matching.
Every two weeks
- New creatives into testing: 2-3 variants.
- New audiences or refreshed lookalikes.
Monthly
- A report in plain numbers and a 30-40 minute call.
- Creative plan for the month: what to shoot, what to design, which offers.
Always on
- Cost-per-result and policy monitoring.
- Appeals for rejected ads or restricted accounts.
Which Facebook and Instagram ad formats fit your business
| Format | Good for | Skip it when |
|---|---|---|
| Instant lead forms | Services, B2B, education, real estate - anywhere sales calls the lead | Products bought on-site; teams that can’t follow up fast |
| Website conversions | Anyone with a landing page and Pixel + CAPI | Sites without conversions or traffic |
| Catalog and Advantage+ Shopping | Online stores with a feed: dynamic retargeting, prospecting | Services, single-product offers |
| Messenger and Instagram DM | Local business, beauty, hospitality, Instagram-only shops | Businesses where nobody answers messages |
| Video and Reels | Products that need to be seen; brand; cold traffic | No video and no plan to make any |
| Retargeting | Anyone with traffic or a customer list | Brand-new projects - start 2-4 weeks after launch |
Facebook or Instagram isn’t decided by “where our audience is” but by the algorithm, from data. I launch across all placements and cut what doesn’t convert rather than guessing upfront.
From access to first report
- Express audit - 1 day. Account, Pixel, site or lead forms. An honest call on whether it’s worth launching.
- Strategy - 2 days. Goals, budget, funnel, audiences, creative plan, KPIs. In writing.
- Tracking - 1-2 days. Pixel, Conversions API, events, lead form to CRM integration.
- Launch - 2 days. Campaigns, audiences, 3-5 creatives in testing. Daily checks in week one.
- First report - after 2 weeks. Which creatives and audiences work, what we scale, what we produce next.
Meta Ads case studies
Gapsy Studio - design agency selling to US and EU clients
[Lead generation for a services business with international clients: task, approach, result - after details.] Read the case study
[E-commerce case - when available]
Meta Ads management pricing
Two parts: my fee, and your ad spend paid directly to Meta from your card.
Meta Ads
Setup + management. Business Manager, Pixel and CAPI, audiences, structure, test creatives, lead forms or landing page, dashboard, monthly report. From $1,000 setup + from $1,000/mo management.
Meta Ads + Google Ads
Two platforms, shared tracking. Everything above plus Google Ads, bi-weekly reports, monthly call. From $1,700 setup + from $1,500/mo management.
Ad budget above $7,000/mo: 12-15% of spend, minimum $1,000/mo. Full audit $500, credited. Minimum ad budget $2,000/mo per platform. Full creative production and video shoots quoted separately.
Meta Ads questions
How much does Meta Ads management cost?
From $1,000 setup and from $1,000/mo management, or 12-15% of spend above $7,000/mo. Ad spend is separate and paid directly to Meta.
What’s the minimum budget for Meta Ads?
$2,000/mo per platform - enough for 3-4 creative and audience tests a month, which is the minimum to learn what works and have something to scale. With $500, results are random, and I’ll say so upfront.
Do you produce creatives?
Copy and simple static or video from your existing assets - yes, included. Full design, motion and shoots go to your designer or my contractor with a brief, quoted separately.
Do you set up Conversions API?
Yes, through server-side GTM or direct integration - Shopify and WooCommerce have native ones. It’s the first thing I check in any account set up after 2021, and the most common reason performance “dropped for no reason”.
Does Meta Ads work for B2B?
For retargeting and lookalikes from your customer list, yes, and well. Cold B2B prospecting on Meta is usually more expensive than Google Search because people are scrolling, not searching. For B2B I usually recommend starting with Google Ads and adding Meta to bring back people who’ve already visited.
Do you work with Shopify stores?
Yes: catalog setup, Advantage+ Shopping, dynamic retargeting, Pixel and CAPI through the Shopify integration. WooCommerce too.
Who owns the ad account and Business Manager?
You do. I work as a partner in your Business Manager with the access I need, and leave with nothing but the invoice. I don’t use rented or agency-owned accounts.
Send your account for an audit
Within one business day you’ll get a list of what to fix and an honest take on whether it’s worth scaling. No account yet? Describe your niche and what you sell.
Start with a free express audit
Leave your website or ad account - within one business day you'll get a list of what to fix and an honest take on whether it's worth scaling.