How to run facebook ads for shopify

Install the Facebook & Instagram sales channel in Shopify

From the Shopify admin, go to **Sales channels → add channel → Facebook & Instagram (by Meta)**. This is the official, Meta-maintained channel - skip third-party apps that wrap the same API. Connect your Page, your Business Manager, and your Pixel during the install wizard. The channel handles three jobs: pixel injection, catalog sync, and the Shop surface.

Verify the Pixel is firing and add Conversions API

Open **Meta Events Manager → your Pixel → Test Events**. Visit your store, add to cart, start checkout. You should see PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, Purchase fire in real time. Then enable **Conversions API** via the Shopify channel toggle - this is server-side and recovers 15-30% of conversions iOS 14+ kills. Match quality should land at 7-9/10 once email/phone hashing is on.

Push your product catalog and verify the feed

The Shopify channel auto-creates a Meta catalog and syncs every published product. Open **Commerce Manager → Catalog → Items** and confirm: image quality (1080x1080+), product titles under 65 chars, availability accurate, price in correct currency. Fix any 'item not approved' errors before launching - rejected items can't run in Advantage+ Shopping campaigns.

Pick the campaign type by store stage

**Under $50k/mo revenue**: run **Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC)** with broad targeting + your full catalog. ASC is Meta's auto-targeted, auto-bidding e-commerce campaign and consistently beats hand-built campaigns at this stage. **$50k-$500k/mo**: run ASC as workhorse + a second 'Manual Sales' campaign for new-creative testing. **$500k+/mo**: ASC + Manual Sales + retargeting + a dedicated prospecting campaign for hero creative.

# Campaign structure at $100k/mo:
# 1. ASC (broad, all products) - 60% of budget
# 2. Manual Sales (creative testing, broad) - 25%
# 3. Retargeting (180-day site visitors) - 10%
# 4. Catalog Sales (carousel/collection) - 5%

Build creative for the placement, not just the brand

Shopify Facebook ads run on Feed, Reels, Stories, and Marketplace. **Vertical 9:16 video** is the priority asset in 2026 - it works on Reels and Stories where the cheapest impressions are. Then **1:1 product imagery** for Feed. Avoid 16:9 unless you have a hero TV cut. For each product, ship: 1 founder UGC hook (15s), 1 product demo (15s), 1 customer testimonial (20s), 1 lifestyle image carousel.

Set the budget and bidding for ASC

Start ASC at $50-100/day with **Highest volume** bidding (no cost cap). Cost cap and ROAS bidding strangle ASC's exploration in the first 7-14 days. Once the campaign exits learning and you have 50+ purchases, you can layer a **ROAS goal** at 80% of your current ROAS to push the algorithm toward higher-value buyers. Below 50 purchases, leave the goal off.

Set up the retargeting audiences

Three retargeting audiences worth building: **180-day all site visitors** (top of funnel), **30-day AddToCart but no Purchase** (cart abandoners), **180-day Purchasers** for exclusion (negative audience on prospecting campaigns). Don't build dozens of micro-segments - they cannibalize each other and starve the algorithm.

# Custom audience setup in Audiences:
# Source: Website → All visitors → 180 days
# Source: Website → AddToCart, exclude Purchase → 30 days
# Source: Website → Purchase → 180 days (USE AS EXCLUSION)

Launch and observe the 7-day learning window

Meta needs ~50 optimization events (purchases) per ad set per week to exit learning. Don't edit ad sets in the first 7 days - any edit restarts learning. Watch the **breakdown by placement and age** in Ads Manager around day 5: if Reels delivery is over-indexed or one age bracket is dominating, you'll know where to push on the next round of creative.

Scale through duplication, not budget jumps

When a campaign hits target ROAS at $100/day, **don't** bump it to $300/day - that resets learning and tanks performance for days. Instead **duplicate** the winning ad set at the new budget and let the original keep running. This preserves the learning state of the winner while letting Meta find a new equilibrium at the higher spend.