Mastering Frequency Caps for Facebook Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide
If you’re in social advertising, you might’ve run into this issue: negative comments on your Facebook Ads because they’re shown to the same person too many times.
Luckily, there’s a solution to reduce Facebook and Instagram ad frequency—and it’s all about mastering frequency caps.
Learn how to set and use this optimization feature to improve your ad performance.
What are frequency caps?
Facebook Advertising introduced frequency caps to prevent bombarding the same person with repeated ads in a short period. A frequency cap is the maximum number of times one user sees an ad over a specific period.
This feature helps limit the number of times a user sees your ad on their newsfeed.
Why are frequency caps necessary?
Frequency caps are crucial because they impact your overall reach. Here’s how it works:
- A lower frequency cap shows your ad less often, allowing you to reach a larger audience.
- A higher frequency cap displays your ad more often, but to fewer people.
Your choice of frequency cap should align with your campaign goals and audience. For example:
- Brand awareness: Set a low frequency cap, like two views per week, to reach new users.
- Retargeting: To encourage previous website visitors to purchase, set a higher frequency, around 4-5 views per week.
If your budget is large but your audience is small, the same users will see your ad repeatedly. To reduce this frequency, lower the budget or expand the audience.
The number of ads in your ad set also plays a role. Facebook calculates frequency based on the total impressions from the ads in a set. If you have multiple ads in the same set, users will see different content, which can help prevent ad fatigue. Consider lowering the frequency cap if you have fewer ads in the set.
How to set frequency caps for your ads
There are two main ways to set frequency caps in Facebook Ads:
Control frequency at the ad set level
- Awareness Campaigns: For auction campaigns focused on awareness, go to the ad set settings and select a custom frequency cap under “Optimization & Delivery.”
- Reach and Engagement Campaigns: The custom frequency cap option is available at the bottom of the ad set settings for campaigns with traffic, engagement, or awareness goals.
Create automated rules at the campaign level
- Open Facebook Ads Manager.
- Choose a specific campaign to apply the rule.
- Open the Rules drop-down menu.
- Click ‘Create a new rule’.
- Enter a name in the Rule Name field.
- Choose whether to apply the rule to all active campaigns or not.
- Select between two options for the rule.
- Turn off the campaign if the frequency gets too high
- Decrease the budget (daily or lifetime) if the frequency gets too high.
- Note: This tactic cannot keep the frequency below a set amount, but it can help automatically decrease or pause a budget-conscious campaign.
- Under Conditions, set the rule’s desired frequency limit and a time range.
In the same window, adjust the schedule for your rule. Choose to run:
- As frequently as possible – typically every half an hour,
- Daily, at a specific time, or
- Particular days and times for the rule.
What’s your campaign goal?
Frequency caps need to align with your campaign’s objective. Choose a lower frequency to maximise reach, and a higher frequency to increase conversions.
Remember, frequency caps avoid spamming users, which could negatively impact business results. Always consider budget and audience size. For example, a $100/day budget for a small retargeting audience will quickly lead to high frequency rates that annoy potential customers.
Conclusion: Boost Facebook campaign performance
Beyond frequency caps, many ways exist to optimize Facebook ad campaigns and boost performance. Learn more about how you can build successful e-commerce ads on Facebook—and how to make this part of a great social advertising campaign.
Ready to take your Facebook and Instagram ads to the next level? Contact Perfect Search to get expert guidance and start optimizing your ad strategy for better results today!
Recommended reading (Helpful links)
- How to Build Successful E-commerce Ads on Facebook
- Facebook Launches Multiple Text Options for Responsive Ads
- How to Create and Test New Marketing Strategies
Max Engler is a Minnetonka, Minnesota native who trekked to Indiana University for college. When he’s not working in digital marketing, Max enjoys researching and reselling men’s clothing. He nerds out over the different label designs on the back of T-shirts.