Solved: Facebook Ads Engagement Campaign Likes Not Showing

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out about this. It’s a really common and frustrating problem on Facebook Ads, so you’re definitely not alone in seeing this. It looks simple on the surface, but there's a technical reason for it and, more importantly, a bigger strategic issue with the campaign objective itself that's probably holding you back more than you realise.

I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on both the quick fix and the better long-term strategy. Let's get this sorted.

We'll need to look at the technical reason this is happening...

Okay, so first, the technical bit. What you're experiencing is the difference between a 'Page Post' (the original post on your timeline) and an 'Ad Post' or 'Dark Post' (a post that only exists as an ad and doesn't appear on your page organically).

When you use the Post ID, you're telling Facebook, "Hey, I want to put ad spend behind *this specific post*." In a perfect world, all the likes, comments, and shares would pile up on that original post, giving you the social proof you're after. However, Facebook's system has a few quirks that can fracture this process. The platform will often create new, invisible versions of your ad for different placements or audiences, and each of these new versions gets its own unique (and invisible) post ID. The engagement then gets split across all these variations instead of consolidating on your original.

The number one culprit for this, about 99% of the time, is an option at the Ad Set level called Dynamic Creative. If you have this toggled on, you're giving Facebook permission to mix and match your headlines, images, and text to create the 'best' combinations. By its very nature, this process creates dozens of unique ad variations, and it completely breaks the link to your original post ID. The likes aren't lost; they're just spread thinly across all these test versions that no one will ever see again once the ad stops running.

Other, less common causes can be certain ad placements. For example, how a post is displayed in the Facebook Feed is very different from how it appears in an Instagram Story. Sometimes, to make it fit, Facebook has to create a new version, which again splits the engagement. But honestly, it's almost always Dynamic Creative.

I'd say you need to fix your campaign setup...

The good news is that the fix is straightforward. You need to go back into your campaign and check your settings at the Ad Set level. You'll find a toggle for 'Dynamic Creative' there. Make sure it is switched OFF.

Then, at the Ad level, double-check your setup. Instead of 'Create Ad', you must have 'Use Existing Post' selected. From there, you can either select the post from a visual list of your page content or click 'Enter Post ID' to paste it in manually. Once you've done that, and with Dynamic Creative disabled, any ad spend you put behind it will result in likes, comments, and shares that appear directly on the original post on your Facebook page.

This is the direct answer to your question. But to be brutally honest, fixing this is like fixing a leaky tap on the Titanic. The bigger problem isn't *how* you're running the engagement campaign; it's that you're running an engagement campaign at all.

You probably should question your entire objective...

Here is the uncomfortable truth about awareness and engagement campaigns on platforms like Meta. When you set your campaign objective to "Engagement," you are giving the algorithm a very specific, and very literal, command: "Find me the largest number of people, for the lowest possible price, who are most likely to click the like or comment button."

The algorithm, being the incredibly powerful machine it is, does exactly what you asked. It scours your target audience and identifies the users who have a long history of liking, sharing, and commenting on things. But crucially, these are often the same users who have a history of *not clicking through to websites*, *not filling out forms*, and absolutely, positively *not buying anything*. Why? Because their attention is cheap. They aren't in high demand from advertisers who are running conversion campaigns, so Facebook can sell you their eyeballs for pennies.

You are actively paying the world's most powerful advertising machine to find you the worst possible audience for your actual business goals. You're filling a room with people who love to clap but will never buy a ticket to the show.

Social proof is nice to have, but it's a vanity metric. A post with 1,000 likes and zero sales is a failure. One campaign we worked on for an eCommerce client selling maps and navigation products generated over $71,000 in revenue with an 8x return—those are the results that matter, not the like count. The best form of brand awareness for any business is a happy customer, not a casual liker. And you only get customers by optimising for actions that lead to sales.

You'll need a better campaign structure...

So, what should you do instead? You need to structure your advertising around a proper sales funnel. In our agency, we think of this as Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu).

ToFu (Top of Funnel - Cold Audiences): This is where you introduce your brand to people who've never heard of you. But instead of an engagement campaign, you'd run a 'Conversions' campaign with your pixel optimised for an actual business goal. You'd target audiences based on interests, behaviours, and demographics that align with your ideal customer. The goal isn't likes; it's to drive traffic to your website and get them to take an action—sign up for a newsletter, download a resource, or even make a small purchase.

MoFu (Middle of Funnel - Warm Audiences): This is for people who have shown some interest but haven't converted yet. Here, you'd retarget people who have visited your website, watched a percentage of your videos, or engaged with your page in the past. Again, you'd use a 'Conversions' objective, perhaps sending them to a specific product page or a landing page with a compelling offer.

BoFu (Bottom of Funnel - Hot Audiences): These are people who are on the verge of converting. They've added a product to their cart but didn't check out, or they visited your pricing page. You retarget this group with a direct, urgent message to complete their purchase or sign-up. This is where you see the highest return on ad spend.

In this structure, the social proof you're looking for will build up naturally on your best-performing ads—the ones that are actually making you money. It becomes a welcome side effect of a profitable strategy, not the entire goal of a loss-making one.

You'll need to understand what you can afford to pay...

This all brings us to the most important question in advertising. The real question isn't "How low can my cost per like go?" but "How high a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) can I afford to acquire a truly great customer?" The answer lies in its counterpart: Lifetime Value (LTV).

If you don't know your numbers, you're flying blind. You'll always default to chasing the cheapest, lowest-quality metrics because you have no framework for what a good customer is actually worth. Let's do some simple maths.

Let's say your average customer brings in £100 per month (Average Revenue Per Account), your profit margin is 70%, and you lose about 5% of your customers each month (Churn Rate). Your LTV would be:

LTV = (£100 * 0.70) / 0.05 = £70 / 0.05 = £1,400

This means each customer you acquire is worth £1,400 in gross margin to you over their lifetime. A healthy business model aims for at least a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means you can afford to spend up to £466 (£1,400 / 3) to acquire a single new customer. Suddenly, paying £20, £50, or even £100 for a high-quality lead from a conversion campaign doesn't seem so expensive, does it? It looks like a profitable investment. This is the maths that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth and frees you from the tyranny of cheap likes.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

To sum up, while the technical issue with the Post ID is an easy fix, the real opportunity here is to completely shift your approach to advertising on Facebook. By moving away from vanity metrics and towards a funnel-based conversion strategy, you start building a predictable system for growing your business.

Moving from chasing likes to building a proper conversion-focused advertising system is a significant shift. It requires a deep understanding of audience psychology, ad creative, landing page optimisation, and the technical nuances of the ad platforms. It's not just about flicking a switch; it's about building a machine that reliably turns ad spend into profit.

This is where professional expertise can make a huge difference. An experienced consultant or agency can help you bypass the costly trial-and-error phase. For one of our clients, a medical job matching SaaS, we reduced their cost per user acquisition from £100 down to just £7 by implementing a proven, conversion-focused strategy. This ensures your budget is working as hard as possible to grow your business, not just your like count.

If you'd like to discuss how we could apply a more robust, conversion-focused strategy to your business, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can take a look at your ad account together and map out a clear plan of action.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh