How To Set Up Facebook Ad Campaigns The Right Way?

Quick Overview

If Facebook ad campaign retention appears flat on Amplitude, the likely cause is improper data ingestion or filtering, specifically related to not passing attribution data (like UTM parameters) or advertising IDs as user properties, or incorrectly filtering by 'live users' instead of 'all users' in the retention chart setup.

Key Points: Flat retention after launching a Facebook campaign on Amplitude suggests an issue with tracking or filtering, not necessarily campaign failure. The initial retention chart showed flat lines because the filter was applied to 'live users' only, potentially excluding relevant data. Attribution data from Facebook (like UTMs or ad account IDs) is not automatically ingested as user properties by default in Amplitude, which is why retention reporting based on this data is initially absent. To fix this, users must ensure that attribution data (UTMs, ad IDs) is passed as event properties or user properties during event ingestion, potentially requiring server-side implementation for mobile apps due to iOS restrictions on one-to-one user data. The recommended troubleshooting steps involve removing the 'live users' segment filter, and checking the 'Sources' list in Amplitude settings to confirm Facebook Ads integration status and the 'Events' section to verify if UTM parameters are being recorded on events like 'Start Session'. For mobile apps, attribution is harder because iOS restricts one-to-one user data sharing, meaning relying solely on automatic tracking for campaign attribution might not work unless specific UTM parameters are passed through the mobile attribution platform (like AppsFlyer) into Amplitude.

Context: The video addresses a common issue where a newly launched Facebook advertising campaign shows flat retention metrics within Amplitude, leading to concern that the campaign is failing. Two Amplitude experts discuss troubleshooting steps, focusing on how marketing attribution data (like UTMs and Ad IDs) is tracked and surfaced within Amplitude's analytics platform, differentiating between mobile (iOS/Android) and web tracking limitations.