Meta Ads

---
name: meta-ads
description: "Diagnoses and scales Meta/Instagram ad accounts: 'why is CPA up', 'CBO vs ABO', 'pixel vs CAPI mismatch', 'ad rejected', 'what does Marketing API error X mean'. Covers ODAX, Advantage+, attribution, policy, unit economics, canonical API error catalog. Not API launch/grey infra (meta-grey-ops), cross-account kill/scale (senior-buyer-ops), tracker math (tracker-ops) or causal test validity (measurement-experimentation-ops)."
---

# Meta Ads

Operate as a senior Meta Ads practitioner. Treat UI, eligibility, policy, API
behavior, prices, benchmarks as volatile — verify current primary sources when
the answer depends on current behavior. Research reviewed per file (see each header); only sections marked verified 2026-09-2x were rechecked against primary sources. Baseline 2026-09-03 (Sonnet 5
blind, 4 tasks): 3 [W] (attribution/targeting fields, enhancement opt-outs, error codes), 1 [A]; rerun with skills fixed 5/5 flagged items.

## Route references

Read only what the task needs:

| Need | Reference |
|---|---|
| Evidence labels, source priority, refresh | `references/00-evidence-and-maintenance.md` |
| Portfolio, assets, access, billing, security | `references/01-business-portfolio-setup.md` |
| Ads Manager UI, metrics, reports, rules | `references/02-ads-manager-interface.md` |
| Objectives, structure, CBO/ABO, special categories | `references/03-campaign-objectives-structure.md` |
| Placements, formats, ratios, creative | `references/04-instagram-placements-creatives.md` |
| Advantage+ and manual audiences, geo, retargeting | `references/05-targeting-audiences.md` |
| Budgets, bidding, learning, scaling, costs | `references/06-budgets-bidding-costs.md` |
| Policy, restricted verticals, review, appeals | `references/07-policies-restricted-niches.md` |
| Pixel/dataset, CAPI, events, UTMs, attribution | `references/08-tracking-pixel-optimization.md` |
| Intake, economics, diagnosis, test design | `references/09-diagnostics-unit-economics.md` |
| Sourced cases and post-mortems | `references/10-practical-case-library.md` |
| Budget/funnel playbooks by business model | `references/11-budget-and-funnel-playbooks.md` |
| Creative metrics, audits, exports, scenarios | `references/12-creative-diagnostics-account-audits.md` |
| API/MCP governance, identity, billing, launch gates (token/scope/MCP mechanics live in `meta-grey-ops/02`; launch tooling in `meta-grey-ops/scripts`) | `references/13-api-access-billing-launch-operations.md` |
| API errors: code → cause → fix | `references/14-api-error-catalog.md` |

Always read 00 for current policy, eligibility, numerical claims, or external
benchmarks. Read 13 before API/MCP automation, accepting tokens, billing work,
restrictions, or activation.

## Guardrails

Tripwires that must fire before any reference is read:

- Do not assume the retired location-presence selector exists; Special Ad Audiences are
  discontinued (full retired-concepts table → `00` §4).
- Pixel is the web data source; datasets group events (`08`). Interests/lookalikes and Advantage+
  availability vary — verify the live flow (`05`).
- `50 events/7 days`, budget-change percentages, frequency caps, and refresh cadences are
  heuristics, not universal rules. Hard limits consolidated in `00` §4.2.
- Card verification, balance, payment eligibility, and restriction are separate states, as are
  portfolio membership, ownership, and creation quota. `Leave` does not equal deletion; "warmed"
  assets guarantee neither approval nor payment trust (`01`, `13`).
- Treat support replies as account-specific evidence, not platform contracts (`00` §2).
- System User tokens are bearer secrets. Never expose them in chat, URLs, screenshots,
  repositories, or logs.
- Do not delete/rebuild assets or profiles to evade enforcement.

## Evidence rules

Label material claims when useful: official behavior, Meta-reported result,
independent benchmark, practitioner heuristic, or unverified. Preserve source
population, geography, objective, date, methodology. Never convert a benchmark
or case lift into a platform rule or forecast.

## Minimum context

Infer first; ask only for missing inputs that change the decision:

- country, currency, vertical, special-category status;
- business model, offer, destination, sales cycle;
- objective, conversion location/event, attribution;
- spend/date range, structure, delivery state, recent edits;
- CPM, CTR, CPC, LPV, CVR, CPA/CPL, value/ROAS, frequency;
- backend revenue, margin, lead quality, refunds, lag;
- Pixel/dataset, CAPI, UTMs, consent, Diagnostics.

State assumptions and continue when possible.

## Model

```text
Portfolio -> assets/access/billing/security
  Campaign -> objective/category/budget
    Ad set  -> event/audience/placements/bid/schedule/attribution
      Ad    -> identity/creative/copy/CTA/destination
```

Diagnose at the level owning the setting. Check campaign, ad-set, and ad
effective status separately.

## Workflow

1. Derive break-even CPA/CPL/ROAS from margin, value, and close rate.
2. Verify authentic ownership, least privilege, 2FA, billing, policy/category.
3. Choose the closest measurable business outcome and conversion location.
4. Validate one event per real outcome, parameters, CAPI deduplication, UTMs.
5. Consolidate enough to learn; avoid redundant low-spend ad sets.
6. Choose Advantage+ audience/placements deliberately; use available hard
   controls and manual structure only for a reason.
7. Use distinct concepts with native 4:5 and 9:16 assets; preview placements and
   enhancements.
8. Predefine KPI, lag, observation window, stop/scale/rollback conditions.
9. Before activation verify Account Quality, billing, identity, schedule,
   currency, budget, destination, previews, and effective statuses.
10. Reconcile Meta with analytics/CRM/backend before optimization conclusions.

For API launch, verify scopes and exact asset tasks, then create every object
`PAUSED` as a zero-spend write probe. A successful `GET` does not prove write
access. (A PAUSED ad created via API is still submitted for review at once; the grey-ops
launcher creates ACTIVE by default, `meta-grey-ops/00`.)

## Diagnose in order

```text
eligibility/billing -> delivery -> auction -> attention -> click quality
-> landing continuity -> conversion -> business value -> attribution
```

- No spend: inspect restrictions, billing, status, schedule, eligibility,
  audience/placement, bid, and creative.
- High CPA: decompose CPM -> CTR -> click-to-LPV -> CVR -> value/quality.
- Meta/backend mismatch: validate count/deduplication, then attribution, lag,
  consent, modeled/view-through results, refunds, and qualification.
- Creative: use reference 12; define hook/hold denominators before diagnosis.
- Export audit: request stable IDs, raw counts, daily/placement exports,
  attribution context, and backend joins; run `scripts/analyze_ads_export.py`.
- Restriction: capture exact affected asset/reason, correct it, then appeal. (Operator lane, own BM: on an ad disapproval do not edit or resubmit; disabled account → `meta-grey-ops/23`.)
- API read-only failure: inspect scopes, System User asset tasks,
  app/business relationship, identity, and restriction state.

## Output

Lead with the decision. Include evidence level/assumptions, exact actions at the
correct level, measurement window, stop/rollback conditions, and remaining
uncertainty. Use cases as mechanism analogies, not outcome promises.

For regulated or sensitive verticals, verify current Meta policy and local law.
Cloaking, replacement accounts, and review-layer filters are Circumventing
systems. This skill does not own that lane — operational grey execution is
`meta-grey-ops`.