I’m sure I’m not the first person to tell you that just because you have a big quantity, doesn’t mean you have more quality. In the same vain, more ad volume doesn’t mean better performance, says Facebook, as the platform is preparing to limit the number of ads run by pages starting February 2021. And you might be surprised to know that most social media marketers tend to agree!

Frankly, if you run your marketing strategy according to Facebook’s best practices, you shouldn’t really be impacted by this new measure...But still... What is this new Facebook ad limit per page all about and how will it impact businesses across the network?

Find answers to the most burning questions concerning this breaking new measure below: 

How will the limit be set?

Limits will be based on the highest ad spend of a month in the previous year. There are four ad volume tiers starting with a limit of 250 ads per page for any page that runs budgets below $100.000. Here is a comprehensive list that shows the limit guidance. 

Since most companies spend under $10000 per month on social media management, the first tier of ad limitation will contain a great chunk of Facebook pages. Big spenders with big budgets, however, will have over 20,000 ads to play with. 

Where can you see your page’s limit?

If you want to see where you land, navigate to the Ad limits per Page tool, through the Business Manager menu. Next to your page name, you will see the status column which shows the current number of running or in-review ads counted towards the ad limit for a Page and your overall page limit column. For new pages, the limit will go into effect on February 16, 2021. Existing pages will see the limits go into effect as they navigate to the Ad limits tool. 

What is the purpose of this measure?

Basically, better results for the budget spent. As explained by Facebook, “when an advertiser runs too many ads at once, each ad delivers less often. This means that fewer ads exit the learning phase, and more budget is spent before the delivery system can optimize performance." Also, in the long run, Facebook wants advertisers to drop ad personalizing and testing through creating extensive ad volumes and utilize more Facebook's machine learning-driven products instead. Dynamic formats and creatives and dynamic ads are just a few examples. You just don’t need that many different ads, and it winds up hurting you more than helping.

Can I skip the imposed ad limitation somehow?

The limitation is attached to the pages you manage and not your ad accounts, so you shouldn’t be able to bypass it. Don’t create new pages to extend the limit, as this might hurt your overall performance and diffuse/confuse the message. Also, I would recommend you watch out for multiple ad account users creating campaigns for your page. Use the ad limits per page tool to set additional permissions for people using your accounts. 

What are the best practices for managing ad volume in your account?

Not sure how to reduce the number of ads you have so that you fit within your page limit? Use these Facebook best practices below to get started. 

1. Combine ad sets - consolidate overlapping audiences and use budgets more wisely
2. Decrease ads per ad set - Facebook recommends 3–6 ads in each ad set.
3. Turn off ads that aren't delivering - less likely these will win auctions in the future.
4. Keep an eye on “learning limited” ads as it means they aren’t getting enough impressions. 
5. Fix the problem that’s preventing your ads from exiting the learning phase or stop them altogether if they get stuck there.

As you might imagine, this new development is constantly changing and evolving so be sure to check back for a more in-depth article about how to prepare for Facebook’s new ad limit per page measure with ad volume best practices.  

For now, you can read the official announcement from Facebook's right here.