# How to plan a Facebook ad campaign URL: https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign Level 4: Run it as an ad (https://blackbox.plus/guides/run-ads) Updated: 2026-10-30 Time: about 10 minutes You'll end with: A plan picked, with one drafted Meta campaign per audience, its fix cards and a dashboard Do it in Blackbox: https://blackbox.plus/app/inbox > Say what the campaign is for in a sentence and get three plans — budget, audiences, stop rules, targets. Pick one, and its campaigns are drafted paused. ## Short answer To plan a Facebook ad campaign with Blackbox (blackbox.plus), click + in the Inbox, choose New Campaign and say what it is for, the way you would tell a colleague. Say what you are selling, by when, how many you can take, and whether it is a small test. Click Read the ask, check the one line it reads back, then click Looks right · propose three plans. A Campaign plans card in your brand's thread offers Lean, Recommended and Push, each in eleven sections: budget and dates, what to fix first, the audiences, the budget split by job, the messages, the stop rules and the results to judge it on. Every line is marked Proposed, Assumed or Measured. Click Pick this plan: it drafts one paused campaign per audience, ads in Studio, fix and question cards, the stop rules and a dashboard. Review each campaign, approve it and start it. Nothing spends before that. ## You'll need - **Meta Ads connected.** An ad account under the brand the campaign is for. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/connect-meta-ads) - **An admin login.** Anyone can ask for plans; an admin picks one. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/invite-your-team) - **A strategy, if you have one.** Plans use it when it’s approved. Without one, more lines are marked Assumed. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-your-strategy) ## How to plan a Facebook ad campaign in Blackbox 1. **Open New Campaign.** In the **Inbox**, click the **+** button, then **New Campaign**. You'll see: **What is this campaign for?**, with a box for your words. Starts at: https://blackbox.plus/app/inbox ![The Inbox with the + menu open: New Campaign, paid ads on a connected account, ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign/01-new.png) 2. **Say what it’s for.** In the box under **What is this campaign for?**, say what you’re selling, by when, how many you can take, and whether it’s a small test. You'll see: Your words in the box, with **Read the ask** under it. ![What is this campaign for?, with the pumpkin spice cold brew ask typed in the box, ringed, and its tip open beside it: say what you’re selling, by when, how many and whether it’s a small test](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/02-ask.png) 3. **Read it back.** Click **Read the ask**. You'll see: **We read it as**: one line with the occasion, the dates and the size, and the searches it will measure. ![We read it as: a launch, selling pumpkin spice cold brew, ads 1 Nov to 30 Nov, 400 cans, a small test, then the searches it will measure, with Looks right · propose three plans ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/03-read.png) 4. **Ask for three plans.** If the line is right, click **Looks right · propose three plans**. You'll see: Your brand’s thread, with a **Campaign plans** card writing them, in about a minute. 5. **Compare the plans.** Click **Lean**, **Recommended** and **Push** at the top of the card. You'll see: Each plan’s total on its tab, and its eleven sections under it. ![The Campaign plans card: the ask read back, the Lean $30, Recommended $90 and Push $135 tabs, ringed, and the Recommended plan’s at-a-glance numbers](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/05-plans.png) 6. **Check the budget.** Read the budget section: the total, split by the job each channel does. You'll see: Each channel’s amount and about how much it spends a day. ![The budget section, ringed: 90 dollars split by the job each channel does, one Meta line at about 3.10 dollars a day, marked Pinned ad set amounts](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/06-budget.png) 7. **Check who it reaches.** Read the audiences section. Each audience becomes its own campaign. You'll see: Each audience’s name, who they are, why they’d buy and its share of the budget. ![The audiences section: Brooklyn coffee drinkers near the shops and US online cold brew fans, each with who they are, why they’d buy, an Assumed label and its share of the budget](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/07-audiences.png) 8. **Check the stop rules.** Read **Learn, back the winners, then push**: the phases and the rules that guard the money. You'll see: Each rule with what it does, such as **Raises a card for you to approve**. ![Learn, back the winners, then push: a Launch and a Scale phase, then the rules — pause an ad set after 18 dollars with no result, move budget off one costing 2.5 times the best — each marked Raises a card for you to approve](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/08-rules.png) 9. **Pick one.** On the plan you want, click **Pick this plan**. You'll see: **This plan drafted 2 campaigns**, one row per audience, each with its state. ![The card after Pick: This plan drafted 2 campaigns, one row per audience with its amount, Ready to review and a Review button, ringed, and the line saying what else the pick made](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/09-picked.png) 10. **Review each campaign.** When a row says **Ready to review**, click **Review**. You'll see: New Campaign open on **Review**, filled in from the plan. ![New Campaign open on Review for one audience: the checks to fix, with the From the plan line naming what was left out, ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/10-review.png) 11. **Draft it.** Fix each check marked **Block**, then click **Draft the campaign**. You'll see: The row says **Drafted, waiting for you to approve**, with **Open the proposal**. 12. **Approve and start it.** Click **Open the proposal**, then **Approve & create** and **Start ads**. You'll see: The row says **Running**. 13. **Do the fixes.** Work through each **Fix first** card in the thread. Each says whether you do it or we do it with you. You'll see: A card per fix, with its deadline and a button where there’s something to open. ![A Fix first card in the thread: the ads need a page that sells the cold brew online, we write the landing page copy, before 31 Oct, with Open the draft ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/13-fix.png) 14. **Answer what we need.** On each **We need from you** card, click **Done** once it’s in. You'll see: The card leaves the thread. ![A We need from you card: the price per can, with Done ringed and Skip beside it](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/14-question.png) 15. **Let a rule act on its own.** Optional: in **Settings**, open **Autonomy** and switch on a rule marked **From a campaign plan**. You'll see: The rule marked **On**. Starts at: https://blackbox.plus/app/settings?tab=autonomy ![Settings, Autonomy: a rule From a campaign plan — after 18 dollars with no result, an ad set is paused — marked Off, with its switch ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/plan-a-facebook-ad-campaign/15-autonomy.png) ## Good to know - The three plans differ by budget and breadth, never by shape. Lean runs every channel at its minimum. Recommended is sized from the results you want and what a result is worth to you, capped by what you can sell. Push adds about half again, only where the audiences have room. - Proposed is a figure Blackbox suggests. Measured comes from a connected account or a lookup. Assumed is a claim no data backs yet; the first check-in proves or kills it. - Not quite · edit the ask puts you back in the box. On the card, Change something opens the ask again, and Not now puts the card away. - Pick makes, the same day: a draft campaign per audience, each with its own proposal; a Studio creative draft per audience; a Fix first card per fix; a We need from you card per question; the plan’s stop rules; and a dashboard with the plan’s targets. - Each campaign row moves from Drawing your ads, about a minute, to Ready to review, Drafted, Made on the platform, paused, and Running. - A city or interest Meta doesn’t know is left out of the campaign. The row and Review’s From the plan check name it, so you can add it under Who should see it. - The stop rules start off: when one is crossed, a card asks you to approve. Switching one on in Settings › Autonomy lets it act alone, and needs automatic changes on your plan. Only an admin sees Autonomy. - Rather set it up yourself? Or skip the plans, under the box, starts from a goal — see [How to create a Facebook ad campaign](https://blackbox.plus/guides/create-facebook-ad-campaign). ## Official docs - [Meta: minimum daily budgets](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1870791083202806) - [Meta: how ads are reviewed](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/204798856225114) ## Questions people ask **How much should I spend on Facebook ads?** Start from the plans. Lean is the least the channels need to run, Recommended is sized from the results you want and what each is worth to you, and Push adds more only where the audiences have room. Each says what to expect for its money. **The card says Couldn’t write the plans** Click Try again. If it fails again, click Report so we see it, or click + and New Campaign and say the ask another way. **It drafted two campaigns, not one** Each audience is its own campaign with its own proposal, so you can start, compare or stop them one at a time. **A row says Not added from the plan** Meta didn’t know that place or interest. Click Review, open Preset and add one like it under Who should see it, or go on without it. **A rule was crossed but nothing was paused** Rules start off, so a crossed rule raises a card for you to approve. To let it act on its own, switch it on in Settings › Autonomy. **I don’t see Pick this plan** The card says An admin picks a plan. Ask an admin in your workspace to pick it, or to make you one.