Facebook Author Ad Account Audit
What It Is and Why You Need One
Running Facebook ads as an author can feel like navigating a maze. Are you targeting the right audience? Setting the right goals? Spending your money wisely? These are some of the questions that a good ad account audit can help you answer.
In this post, we’ll cover what an ad account audit is, why it’s important, and how you can approach one to ensure your author advertising is set up for success. We’ve even included a worksheet (and a free Resource Group link) to guide you through this process. Plus, there’s a video embedded below where we break it all down.
What Is an Ad Account Audit?
An ad account audit is a deep dive into your Facebook Ads Manager account to figure out what’s working, what’s not, and what tweaks you can make to improve your ad performance. Think of it as a health check for your ads, helping you identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.
Essentially, a Facebook ad account audit focuses on these core components:
- Brand Readiness – Are you even ready to run ads?
- Campaign Goals – What do you want your ads to achieve?
- Ad Set Optimization – Are you targeting the right audiences with the right parameters?
- Ad Performance – Are your ads visually and contextually on point?
- Data Insights – What does the data tell you about improvements?
Are You Ready to Run Ads?
Before diving into ads, there’s a key question to answer: Is your author brand ready? This is where many authors stumble. Even if you’re eager to run ads, it’s critical to have your basics covered, including:
- A professional author website or landing page.
- A strong, clear brand identity.
- A marketing funnel to guide readers to your books.
If you’re unsure whether you’re ready, we offer a free 7-day challenge to help authors figure it out. You can apply this challenge to a single book, a series, or even your broader brand. By completing it, you’ll know whether it’s time to invest in ads or work on your foundation first.
Breaking Down the Audit Process
Step 1: Starting With Your Brand
The first step in any ad account audit is assessing if your brand is prepared for ads. Can you at least double your ad spend with the setup you currently have? If not, it might be better to hold off on running ads until you’ve refined your strategy.
Here’s what we assess during this phase:
- Are your design elements cohesive?
- Does the book or series have a clear marketable hook?
- Are your books positioned to convert sales?
If you want help figuring this out, we also offer a free worksheet and the option to sign up for a brand spotlight session.
Step 2: Campaign Goals Matter
Every ad campaign should have a clear goal. A campaign without purpose is like wandering without a map. Some common goals for authors include:
- Building an email list (lead generation).
- Promoting a new release or sale.
- Driving traffic to a book page.
- Boosting conversions for a first-in-series freebie.
Before setting up ads, think hard about what you want to accomplish. If you’re running ads without a specific goal—like driving traffic to a website but not capturing emails or closing sales—you’re not setting yourself up for success.
Step 3: The Ad Set – Targeting and Testing
This is where much of the action happens. Each ad set within your campaign allows you to define audience targeting, which is crucial for testing and optimizing.
Here’s what we recommend for ad sets:
- Target by country: Don’t limit yourself to only the United States. Include UK, Canada, and Australia to broaden your reach.
- Test audiences: Experiment with different genres, interests, and demographics.
- Refine ad settings: Decide whether you want to optimize for clicks, Impressions, or conversions.
By testing these variables, you can find what resonates with your audience and narrow down the approach that gets you the best return on ad spend.
Step 4: Analyzing the Ads Themselves
Your actual ad is where the rubber meets the road. Whether it’s the images, headlines, or copy, every detail matters. Here’s the checklist we use when auditing the ads themselves:
- Image quality: Use clean, professional visuals. Avoid overly text-heavy graphics.
- Headline impact: Is it grabbing attention? Avoid generic phrases like “New Book!” and focus on intrigue or benefits.
- Primary text: Does the body of the ad include a direct call-to-action (CTA) that speaks to your audience? Examples include using blurbs, reviews, or excerpts.
Avoid using emojis, profanity, or formatting tricks like bold or italicized text that can get your ad flagged. Always keep it simple and user-friendly.
Key Metrics to Watch
Once your ads are live, the performance data tells the real story. During an ad account audit, these metrics become your best friend:
- Cost Per Click (CPC): Ideally, aim for a CPC under $0.30. However, higher CPCs can be okay if your ads are converting well.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): This percentage shows the proportion of viewers who clicked your ad. A CTR above 1% is considered decent.
- Impressions: If your ad isn’t getting seen, it could mean Facebook isn’t finding it relevant. Sometimes pausing the ad and restarting with tweaks can help.
- CPM (Cost Per Mille): This metric reflects the cost per thousand impressions. While not always the focus, lower CPMs can signal efficiency.
If these numbers seem overwhelming, no worries! Our ad account audits help simplify and explain them in plain English.
What Happens After the Audit?
With every audit, the goal is to leave you with actionable steps. We take notes on what’s working, what isn’t, and provide tailored advice on next steps. Many authors only need small tweaks to unlock major results. When you know what to adjust, you can save money, improve conversions, and ultimately make your Facebook ads more effective.
Join Us for an Ad Account Audit
Running ads doesn’t have to be stressful, and you don’t have to figure it out alone. Whether through a scheduled audit with us or by using our free worksheet, we want to help you build an ad strategy that works.
Want to get started? Grab the worksheet, sign up for our free 7-day marketing challenge, and join our community of authors.
Don’t forget to share this post with your author friends—because when everyone succeeds, readers win too.
Be sure to check out our resources and join our Facebook group linked below. Let’s make your ads work smarter, not harder.
