Solved: Facebook Ad Campaign Underperforming and Barely Spending?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I've had a look over the situation you described with your Facebook ad campaign and I'm happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience. It can be proper frustrating when a campaign doesn't spend, especially when you've put time and money into it. Don't worry, these issues are often down to a few specific things that can usually be sorted out.

You've got a few things going on here, from the campaign objective to the targeting and the fact it's a new account. Let's break it down. I'll walk you through what I suspect is happening and what I'd normally do in this situation. My aim here is just to give you some clear, actionable advice that you can hopefully use to get things moving in the right direction.

We'll need to look at your campaign objective...

Okay, the very first thing that jumps out at me is the conflict in your campaign setup. You mentioned you're running an 'Engagement' campaign but your actual goal is 'Conversions'. Tbh, this is probably the biggest reason your campaign isn't spending your budget. It's a very common mistake, so don't feel bad about it, I see this quite a lot when auditing new accounts.

Think about it from Meta's perspective. You've given the algorithm two contradictory instructions. The 'Engagement' objective tells the system to find people who are most likely to like, comment, share, or click on your ad without necessarily leaving Facebook. It's optimised to get you surface-level interactions. But then you've told it your *real* goal is a conversion, which means you want people to leave Facebook, go to another page (like a Spotify pre-save link or your website), and complete a specific action that your Pixel is tracking. The algorithm is probably completely stumped. It doesn't know wether to show your ad to someone who likes lots of posts, or someone who historically clicks off-platform and converts. When the system can't confidently predict who to show the ad to for a good result, it often defaults to simply not spending your money. It's trying to avoid wasting your budget on the wrong people, but the result is that nothing happens at all.

My advice here is always very direct: I’d definitely optimise for conversions if conversions are the goal. You need to scrap the current campaign and build a new one from scratch. This time, choose the 'Sales' objective (this is what Meta now calls the conversions objective for the most part) and then select 'Conversions' as your performance goal. This gives the algorithm a single, clear instruction: "find me people who are most likely to perform the specific conversion event I've set up with my pixel". It removes all the ambiguity. It'll mean you get fewer vanity metrics like 'likes' and 'comments', but you'll be focusing the budget entirely on what actually matters for your song's launch.

The fact it's a new account could also be a contributing factor. New ad accounts are sometimes treated with a bit more caution by Meta. They might spend slowly at first as the system tries to understand your ads and business. However, a £15/day budget is small enough that this shouldn't be a major blocker. The conflicting objective is almost certainly the main culprit here. Starting over with a clean, correctly configured 'Sales' campaign is your first and most important step.

I'd say you need to rethink your targeting strategy...

Now, let's talk about the audience. You mentioned you first made it narrow, then super wide, and neither worked. This is a classic problem. Going too narrow with a small budget means Meta can't find enough people to serve the ad to. Going too wide, especially on a new account with no data, means the algorithm has no idea where to even begin looking for your ideal listener. You're basically asking it to find a needle in a massive haystack, and without any previous conversion data to guide it, it just gives up.

As a consultant, when I audit Meta accounts, it seems that a lot of people test audiences that don't really align with their actual target audience or their conversion goals. You need a structured approach to testing. For a new account like yours, you have to start with what's called 'ToFu' or Top-of-Funnel audiences. This means using detailed targeting based on interests, behaviours, and demographics. Lookalikes and retargeting will be powerful later, but you need data first. You need at least 100 conversions tracked by your pixel before you can even think about creating effective lookalike audiences.

So, how do you pick the right interests? The key is to be specific and relevant. Think like your ideal fan. What do they *actually* like and follow on social media? For instance, if you're targeting owners of eCommerce stores, targeting the interest "Amazon" is a terrible strategy. Why? Because millions of shoppers like Amazon, not just store owners. It's too broad. You'd be better off targeting interests like "Shopify", "WooCommerce", or pages of well-known eCom marketing gurus. The same logic applies to promoting your song.

Here's how I'd approach it for a musician:
-> Artist-Based Interests: Who does your music sound like? Don't just pick massive artists like Taylor Swift or Drake unless your sound is identical and you have a huge budget. Start with smaller, niche artists who have a dedicated fanbase that aligns with your style. If you make indie-folk, target interests for artists like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, or The Lumineers. People who like them are far more likely to be receptive to your music than a general 'pop music' audience.
-> Genre & Sub-Genre Interests: Go deeper than just "Rock" or "Hip Hop". Look for sub-genres like "indie pop", "lo-fi hip hop", "synthwave", or "dream pop". The more niche you can get, the more qualified your audience will be.
-> Related Media Interests: What blogs, magazines, or YouTube channels does your ideal fan follow? Do they like Pitchfork, NME, KEXP Radio, or Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop)? Targeting these can be incredably effective.
-> Lifestyle & Behaviour Interests: What else are they into? If you make chill electronic music, maybe interests like "meditation", "yoga", or "co-working" could work. If you make high-energy punk, maybe "skateboarding" or "tattoo" interests are a better fit.

The trick is to create a few different ad sets, each one testing a different 'theme' of interests. For example:
- Ad Set 1: Similar Artists (e.g., a group of 3-5 similar indie artists)
- Ad Set 2: Genre + Media (e.g., "indie pop" layered with "Pitchfork")
- Ad Set 3: Lifestyle (e.g., "music festivals" + "vinyl records")

By splitting them up, you can clearly see which audience theme performs best. After a few days, you'll see which ad set is delivering conversions at a reasonable cost. You then turn off the losers and put more budget behind the winner. This methodical testing is so much better than just lumping a dozen random interests together or going completely broad. You have to guide the algorithm, especially at the start.

You probably should focus on your creative and landing page...

You mentioned your creative is good, and I'm sure it is, but 'good' is subjective. What works in paid advertising is what gets a result. Even the best song needs to be packaged correctly for an ad. I’d always split test creative and targeting within the same campaign. This is non-negotiable for finding what works.

For a song promotion campaign, you shouldn't just run one video ad. You need to test different variations to see what resonates. Here are some ideas you should be testing:
-> Different Video Clips: Don't just use one 15-second clip from the music video. Test the chorus, the intro, a visually striking part of the video. Different hooks appeal to different people.
-> User-Generated Content (UGC) Style: This is huge right now. A simple video of you talking to the camera, explaining what the song is about and asking people to check it out, can feel much more authentic and perform better than a polished music video. We've seen several SaaS clients get really good results with UGC videos; the principle of authenticity translates across all niches.
-> Static Image vs. Video: Test your cover art as a static image ad against the video ads. Sometimes, a striking image with a clear call-to-action can cut through the noise better than a video, especially on a platform like Instagram stories.
-> Different Ad Copy: Test different headlines and primary text. One version could focus on the genre ("My new indie-pop track is out now!"), another could focus on the mood ("The perfect song for a late-night drive..."), and a third could use a quote from a review or a compelling lyric.

Now, let's talk about the landing page. This is just as important as the ad itself. Where are you sending people when they click? Is it a Spotify link? Apple Music? A Linktree page with multiple options? The user experience after the click is absolutley vital. If people click your ad and land on a page that's confusing or slow to load, they will just leave. Your conversion rate will be terrible, and Meta's algorithm will notice this and start penalising your ad by showing it less often.

Just looking at a website for a small business, for example, I can often see why their ads are failing. A cluttered page, no clear call-to-action, not looking trustworthy. The same principles apply here. If you're sending them to a Linktree or similar bio link page, make sure the link to your new song is the very first, most prominent button. Remove any clutter or unnecessary links that could distract them. If you're sending them directly to Spotify, that's often a good move as it's a single, clear action. However, be aware that you're relying on them to already have the Spotify app and be logged in for a seamless experience. The key is to make it as easy as possible for someone to complete the conversion. One click, one action. That's the goal.

You'll need to set realistic expectations...

A big part of running successful ad campaigns is understanding the numbers and being realistic about what you can achieve, especialy with a small budget. A question I get asked all the time is "What conversion price should I expect?". The honest answer is that it varies hugely depending on your targeting, your creative, your objective, and the countries you're targeting.

Based on my experience running campaigns for things like app signups and course registrations, which are somewhat comparable to a song pre-save or stream, we can make some rough estimates. Let's talk about developed, English-speaking countries like the UK, US, Canada, etc. -> Your Cost Per Click (CPC) will likely be in the £0.50 - £1.50 range. -> A decent conversion rate on your landing page (i.e., the percentage of people who click the ad and then complete the action) would be around 10-30%.

So, if we do the maths, your Cost Per Conversion (let's call it a 'Cost Per Action' or CPA) could be anywhere from £1.60 (£0.50 / 30%) on the very optimistic end, to £15.00 (£1.50 / 10%) on the higher end. With a £15 daily budget, this means you might only get 1 conversion per day on a bad day, or maybe 8-9 on a really good day. Seeing a cost of around £4 per conversion would be quite normal and shouldn't be a cause for alarm.

We've run campaigns that have achieved amazing results, like growing an app to over 45k+ signups at under £2 per signup, but that comes after significant testing and optimisation. You won't get there on day one. Your initial goal is to find a combination of creative and targeting that can get you conversions within that realistic range. Once you find a winning ad set that's consistently delivering, you can start to think about scaling the budget. But trying to scale before you have a proven, repeatable system is just a way to burn money fast.

Remember that this is a long-term process. You're not just promoting one song; you're building an audience. Every person who converts is someone you can potentially retarget for your next release. Every bit of data your pixel collects makes your future campaigns smarter and more effective. Be patient, be methodical, and focus on gathering data and optimising based on what it tells you.

I know this is a lot of information to take in. Paid advertising seems simple on the surface, but getting it right involves a lot of interconnected parts. From the high-level strategy of choosing the right objective down to the nitty-gritty of picking the perfect audience interest, every decision matters. I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Getting this whole process right—the strategic setup, the detailed audience research, the constant creative testing, and the ongoing analysis and optimisation—is a full-time job. It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. It's about building and managing a complex system designed to grow your audience efficiently.

This is where working with a professional can make a huge diference. As I mentioned, we helped an app grow to over 45k+ signups at under £2 per signup using Meta ads, Tiktok ads, Apple ads and Google ads. With years of experience across countless campaigns, we can help you skip a lot of the painful (and expensive) trial-and-error phase. We can implement a proven structure, identify the best audiences and creative angles from the start, and manage the entire optimisation process for you, ensuring that every pound you spend is working as hard as possible to grow your fanbase.

Hope this helps! If you'd like to discuss this further and see how we could help you implement a professional strategy for your music, we offer a free initial consultation where we can take a deeper look at your specific goals.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh