Ads Manager and most articles about it use words that nobody explains. Here are twenty-one of them in plain English, grouped by topic. Where a term is Meta's own, the definition follows Meta's help pages as read on 6 October 2026.
Accounts and structure#
Ad account
An ad account is the account you use to manage ads on Facebook and Instagram. It holds your campaigns, it is what Meta bills, and it shows your results. Keep it in your own name. More in Business portfolio vs ad account vs Page.
Ad set
An ad set is the middle layer of a campaign. It holds who the ad is shown to, where it appears, the budget and the schedule. A campaign contains one or more ad sets, and each ad set contains one or more ads.
Business portfolio
A business portfolio is Meta's container for a company's Pages, ad accounts and the people allowed to use them. It lets you give someone access without sharing your login.
Campaign
A campaign is the top layer. It holds the objective, which is the result you want from the ads, such as leads or sales.
Money#
Account spending limit
An account spending limit is a cap you set on the total your ad account can spend. Meta says that when spending reaches it, your ads pause. It is a useful backstop.
CPC, or cost per click
Cost per click is what you paid divided by the number of clicks on your ad. It tells you what it costs to get someone to tap. It does not tell you whether they became a customer.
CPM, or cost per thousand
CPM is what it costs to show your ad 1,000 times. It measures how expensive it is to reach your audience.
Cost per lead
Cost per lead is what you spent divided by the number of leads you got. A lead is an enquiry, such as a form, a message or a call. The figure only means something once you have decided what counts as a lead. See What can you afford to pay for a lead?.
Daily budget
A daily budget is the average amount you are willing to spend on an ad set or campaign each day. Meta says it may spend up to 75% over it on a given day, and no more than seven times the daily budget in a calendar week.
Location fee
A location fee is a charge Meta adds for ads shown in certain countries, to cover digital services taxes. Meta lists 2% for the United Kingdom, shown as its own line on the invoice. See How much do Facebook ads cost in the UK?.
How ads are delivered#
Advantage+
Advantage+ is Meta's name for its automatic settings in Ads Manager. Advantage+ audience uses Meta's AI to find who should see a campaign, and Advantage+ placements choose where the ad appears. See Madder or Meta's own tools.
Boosted post
A boosted post is a quick ad made from a post you already published. Meta says it has fewer customisation and targeting options than an ad made in Ads Manager. See Boost post or Ads Manager?.
Learning phase
The learning phase is the period when Meta's delivery system is still learning how an ad set will perform. Meta says performance usually stabilises after about 50 results in the week after the last significant edit. See How long do Facebook ads take to work?.
Learning limited
Learning limited is the label Meta shows when an ad set is unlikely to get about 50 results in a week. Meta says it is not a penalty. It is common on small budgets.
Reach
Reach is the number of accounts that saw your ad at least once. Impressions count the times the ad was on screen, so one person can account for several impressions.
Tracking and results#
Lead form
A lead form, which Meta calls an instant form, is a short form that opens inside Facebook or Instagram when someone taps your ad. Meta says it collects information from people without requiring them to leave the app. See Lead form or your website?.
Meta pixel
The Meta pixel is a piece of code that you put on your website. Meta says it lets you measure how well your ads work by understanding the actions people take on your site. Meta shows what the pixel records under a dataset in its Events Manager. See What is the Meta pixel?.
Retargeting
Retargeting means showing ads to people who have already visited your website. It needs the pixel on your site to know who those people are.
Research#
Ad Library
The Ad Library is Meta's public, searchable collection of ads. Meta says it contains all active ads shown across its apps and that anyone can search it. It does not show what an ordinary business spends. See How to see what ads your competitors run.
Two newer terms#
AI ads agent
An AI ads agent is software that does parts of the advertising job for you: reading your site, drafting a campaign, building ads, and proposing or making changes. Tools differ most in what they may change without asking you. See Can an AI spend my ad money without asking me?.
AI media buyer
AI media buyer is another name some companies use for an AI ads agent. A media buyer is the person at an agency who sets up and manages paid ads.
How Madder uses these words#
Madder is an AI ads agent for small businesses on Facebook and Instagram. In the product it keeps to a short list of plain words. It says "leads" and "cost per lead", and it shows budgets in your account's currency. Until you have confirmed which actions count as a lead, it shows no lead count at all. See Deciding what counts as a lead and How Madder works.
Questions people ask#
What is the difference between a campaign, an ad set and an ad?
A campaign holds the goal. An ad set, inside it, holds the audience, the placement and the budget. An ad, inside the ad set, is the picture and words people see.
What is the difference between reach and impressions?
Reach counts accounts, as an estimate. Impressions count views. If one person sees your ad three times, that is a reach of one and three impressions.
What is a good CPM or CPC?
There is no single good figure, because both vary by country and trade. They matter less than your cost per lead, which tells you what an enquiry cost.
What does Advantage+ mean on Facebook ads?
It is Meta's label for automatic settings. With Advantage+ on, Meta applies AI across the audience, the placements and how the budget is spread. You still create the ad and choose the amount.