I was discussing the optimization of Facebook ads with a sponsor contact recently, and it occurred to me that there are some Facebook-specific elements that are perhaps not all that well understood.

One of these is what Facebook calls the Learning Phase. This is the period once you first put an Ad Set live in which the algorithm is learning what works best for achieving your conversion goals.

It takes around 50 goals to be achieved over a week for Facebook to have learned enough to move forward in an optimal manner – these goals likely being defined as a lead being generated when someone submits a pre-screener form for a clinical trial.

The reason the Learning Phase is important is your ads won’t perform as well as they could be if they remain in this phase – i.e. if you don’t achieve 50 goals in a 7 day period. I’ll discuss this further in the next vid.