Setting Up Your First Campaign

Ready to launch a properly tracked marketing campaign? This guide walks you through the exact steps, from planning to launch to measurement.

Before You Start

• •BlackBox pixel installed ✓
• •Your campaign destination URL (landing page)
• •Marketing platform account (Facebook, Google, etc.)
• •15 minutes

1. Planning your campaign structure

2. Creating UTM-tagged links

3. Setting up the campaign

4. Testing before launch

5. Monitoring results

Step 1: Plan Your Campaign Structure

• •Objective: Sell spring collection shoes
• •Budget: $500 for the week
• •Audience: Women 25-45 interested in fashion
• •Creative: 3 ad variations (carousel, video, single image)

• •utm_source: facebook (the platform)
• •utm_medium: cpc (paid advertising)
• •utm_campaign: spring_shoes_2024 (descriptive name)
• •utm_content: carousel_1, video_1, image_1 (to differentiate ads)

Step 2: Create Your UTM Links

Use BlackBox UTM Builder

1. Go to UTM Builder

2. Select "Facebook Ads" template

3. Fill in the fields:

https://yourstore.com/collections/spring-shoes

spring_shoes_2024

carousel_1
video_1
image_1

Generate 3 Links

The builder will create:

https://yourstore.com/collections/spring-shoes?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring_shoes_2024&utm_content=carousel_1

https://yourstore.com/collections/spring-shoes?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring_shoes_2024&utm_content=video_1

https://yourstore.com/collections/spring-shoes?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring_shoes_2024&utm_content=image_1

Step 3: Set Up in Facebook Ads Manager

Create Campaign

1. Go to Facebook Ads Manager

2. Click "+ Create"

3. Choose objective (e.g., "Sales")

4. Name campaign: "Spring Shoes 2024"

Create Ad Set

1. Set your audience targeting

2. Set budget: $500/week

3. Choose placements (Facebook Feed, Instagram, etc.)

Create Ads (3 variations)

• •Upload carousel creative
• •Headline: "Step into Spring"
• •Website URL: [Paste your carousel_1 UTM link]
• •Preview and confirm URL shows in browser

• •Upload video creative
• •Headline: "Spring's Hottest Shoes"
• •Website URL: [Paste your video_1 UTM link]

• •Upload single image
• •Headline: "New Spring Collection"
• •Website URL: [Paste your image_1 UTM link]

Double-Check Before Publishing

• •Each ad has a unique utm_content parameter ✓
• •Links go to the right landing page ✓
• •All UTMs are lowercase ✓
• •No spaces in parameter values ✓

Step 4: Test Before You Launch

Test Each Link

1. Click your carousel_1 link

2. Check the URL in your browser - do you see the UTM parameters?

3. Browse your site for 30 seconds

4. Check BlackBox dashboard - do you see the visit?

Make a Test Purchase (Optional but Recommended)

1. Use a test credit card or complete a real order

2. Check if it appears in BlackBox within 5 minutes

3. Verify the source shows as "facebook"

4. Verify campaign shows as "spring_shoes_2024"

Step 5: Launch & Monitor

Day 1: Launch

• •Publish all 3 ads in Facebook
• •Set a calendar reminder to check results tomorrow

Day 2: First Check

• •Visits from utm_source=facebook ✓
• •Campaign name showing correctly ✓
• •All 3 content variations tracking separately ✓

• •Are ads approved and running? ✓
• •Any overspending on budget? ✓
• •Which ad has the best CTR (click-through rate)?

Day 3-7: Daily Monitoring

• •Which utm_content variation drives the most sales?
• •What's the conversion rate by ad variation?
• •What's the ROAS (return on ad spend)?

• •If carousel_1 has 2x the sales of video_1 → shift budget
• •If image_1 has $0 sales after 3 days → pause it
• •If overall ROAS below 2.5x → adjust targeting or creative

Week 1 Results: What to Expect

• •$500 ad spend
• •150-300 website visits
• •3-10 purchases (1-3% conversion rate)
• •$1,250-$2,500 revenue (2.5-5x ROAS)

• •You quickly identify the winning ad variation
• •You pause underperformers, scale winners
• •Week 2 ROAS improves as you optimize

• •No sales by day 3 → check your targeting and creative
• •Sales happening but not tracking → check UTM links
• •High traffic, no conversions → landing page issue

Common First Campaign Mistakes

Mistake 1: Not Using Unique utm_content

Mistake 2: Forgetting to Lowercase

Mistake 3: Not Testing Links First

Mistake 4: Impatience

Your Post-Campaign Checklist

After week 1, ask yourself:

• •☐ Which ad variation performed best?
• •☐ What was my overall ROAS?
• •☐ What was the conversion rate?
• •☐ What was the cost per purchase?
• •☐ Should I run this again with the winning creative?
• •☐ What would I change for next time?

Scaling What Works

Week 2 strategy:

• •Keep the winning ad variation
• •Increase budget by 20-30%
• •Test one new creative against the winner
• •Expand to lookalike audiences

Analyze why:

• •Was targeting too broad?
• •Was the offer not compelling?
• •Was the landing page confusing?
• •Did people click but not buy? (check heatmaps)

Next Campaign Ideas

Once you've mastered Facebook, try:

• •Google Shopping ads
• •Email campaign
• •Instagram influencer partnership
• •TikTok ads
• •Pinterest promoted pins

1. Plan UTM structure

2. Create tagged links

3. Set up campaign

4. Test tracking

5. Launch and optimize

Learn More

• •UTM Parameters 101
• •Platform-Specific UTM Guides
• •How to Read Your Dashboard

Go to UTM Builder →