Troubleshooting Facebook Business Manager campaign performance issues requires a systematic approach to identify and resolve common problems affecting ad delivery, costs, and results. Meta’s official support resources outline three primary scenarios: ads not running, ads running with insufficient results, and ads running with high costs. Each scenario demands specific checks, such as reviewing delivery statuses, account recommendations, and potential policy violations. Performance issues often stem from technical setup errors, audience targeting misconfigurations, or creative fatigue, all of which can be diagnosed using Meta Ads Manager tools like the Delivery column, status alerts, and A/B testing features.

• Three core troubleshooting scenarios: Ads not running, insufficient results, or high costs ^[1][2]
• Key diagnostic tools: Delivery status indicators (e.g., "Learning," "Bid limited"), account recommendations, and Meta’s Status Page for platform outages ^[3][8]
• Common fixes: Removing spend limits, updating creatives, checking billing/policy compliance, and recreating underperforming ads after 48 hours ^[4][10]
• Proactive measures: Regular A/B testing, audience segmentation, and monitoring for ad fatigue to sustain long-term performance ^[9]

Diagnosing and Resolving Facebook Business Manager Campaign Issues

Addressing Ads That Aren’t Running

When campaigns fail to launch or stop delivering, the issue typically traces back to technical setup, policy violations, or platform limitations. Meta’s troubleshooting guides emphasize verifying the delivery status of campaigns, ad sets, and individual ads as the first step. The Delivery column in Ads Manager displays critical statuses like "Learning," "Learning limited," or "Bid limited," which signal whether the system is still optimizing or facing constraints. For example, a "Learning limited" status may indicate insufficient conversion data, while "Bid limited" suggests the bid is too low for the target audience ^[3][4].

Beyond status checks, common culprits include:

• Spend limits or scheduling conflicts: Advantage+ campaign budgets may be blocked by manual spend caps or incorrect scheduling. Meta recommends temporarily removing all spend limits to test if they’re the cause ^[4].
• Billing or policy issues: Inactive ads often result from payment method failures, disapproved content, or violations of Meta’s advertising policies. The Delivery column may show errors like "Account disabled" or "Ad not approved" ^[10].
• Audience size or targeting errors: Too narrow an audience (e.g., under 1,000 people) can prevent delivery. Meta advises expanding targeting or adjusting location/interest parameters ^[4].
• Technical glitches: Platform outages or slow Ads Manager performance—caused by browser extensions, heavy JavaScript, or poor internet—can halt campaigns. Checking Meta’s Status Page and clearing cache often resolves these ^[6][8].

If ads remain inactive after 48 hours, Meta suggests deleting and recreating them or contacting support, as prolonged issues may stem from irreparable backend errors ^[4].

Optimizing Underperforming or High-Cost Campaigns

When ads run but yield poor results or excessive costs, the problem usually lies in suboptimal targeting, creative fatigue, or bidding strategies. Meta’s guides highlight the importance of ad delivery statuses (e.g., "Learning" phase) and account recommendations in Ads Manager, which flag potential improvements like audience expansion or bid adjustments ^[3]. For instance, ads stuck in the "Learning" phase beyond the typical 7-day window may need more conversion data or broader targeting to exit this stage.

Key optimization strategies include:

• Combating creative fatigue: Ads with high frequency (impressions per user) but low engagement signal audience exhaustion. Refreshing visuals, ad copy, or offers—such as switching from static images to videos—can revitalize performance. Meta recommends A/B testing new creatives against existing ones to isolate effective elements ^[9].
• Refining audience targeting: Overlapping audiences or overly broad segments dilute results. Using Ads Manager’s "Audience Overlap" tool to identify competition between ad sets and narrowing demographics (e.g., age, interests) can improve relevance scores and lower costs ^[9].
• Adjusting bids and budgets: High costs often result from aggressive bidding in competitive auctions. Meta suggests testing lower bid caps or switching to "Lowest cost" bidding for conversion campaigns. For Advantage+ budgets, ensuring the campaign’s performance goal aligns with the bid strategy (e.g., "Conversions" vs. "Link Clicks") is critical ^[4].
• Leveraging A/B testing: Duplicating ads to test variables like headlines, images, or call-to-action buttons—rather than editing live ads—prevents disruption to the learning phase. Meta’s "Experiments" tool can automate this process ^[3][9].

Persistent high costs may also indicate ad fatigue or market saturation. In such cases, pausing underperforming ads and launching new variations with updated messaging or offers can reset audience engagement. For example, a Reddit discussion on poor ad performance emphasized that "there is no quick fix"—sustainable improvements require iterative testing of multiple elements, from objectives to placements ^[5].