Yes, you can edit a Facebook ad after publishing. One of the great things about Facebook ads is that they are flexible and allow for changes even after being published and running. There are a few different ways you can edit active Facebook ads.
Editing Ad Content in Ads Manager
The easiest way to edit a live Facebook ad is directly in Ads Manager. Here are the steps:
- Go to Ads Manager and locate the ad you want to edit.
- Hover over the ad and click the three dots icon to open the dropdown menu.
- Select “Edit”
This will open the ad editor where you can make changes to elements like the text, images, links, etc. Once you save your changes, they will be applied to the live ad. Changes typically take effect within a few minutes.
Duplicating the Ad
Another option is to duplicate the existing ad and make edits to the duplicate. Here is how:
- Find the ad in Ads Manager and click the three dots.
- Choose “Duplicate”.
- Make your edits to the duplicated ad.
- When ready, click “Publish” to run the edited ad.
This allows you to make changes and test them while still having the original ad remain live. Once you’ve confirmed the duplicate is working as expected, you can pause the original ad.
Creating a New Ad from Scratch
For major changes, it may make more sense to create an entirely new ad from scratch and pause the old one. The steps would be:
- Click the “+” button in Ads Manager and select your ad type (like single image, video, etc).
- Build the new ad using the updated images, text, links you want.
- Enter the same audience, placements and budget as the original ad.
- Publish the new ad.
- Pause the old ad so only the new one is running.
This can be helpful when you want to completely rework the ad creative or message. Maintaining the same targeting, budget, and schedule reduces the risk of impacting performance.
Best Practices When Editing Facebook Ads
When making changes to live Facebook ads, keep these best practices in mind:
- Avoid changing the ad objective or core elements like the Offer or destination link mid-campaign, as it resets the learning phase.
- Test new ad variations in a duplicated ad or by creating a new campaign to isolate impact.
- Make text changes under 20% of the character count to minimize learning impact.
- Only pause old ads once the new variation is running smoothly to avoid gaps in delivery.
What Can Be Edited in a Facebook Ad?
Many elements of a Facebook ad can be edited after publishing. Here are some of the key components you can change:
| Ad Component | Editable? |
|---|---|
| Ad image/video | Yes |
| Ad headline | Yes |
| Ad text | Yes |
| Call to action | Yes |
| Display link | Yes |
| Destination URL | Yes* |
| Audience | Yes |
| Placements | Yes |
| Budget and schedule | Yes |
| Ad objective | No |
* Changing the destination URL requires going through the review process again which can delay the change.
What Happens When You Edit a Facebook Ad?
Here is an overview of what happens behind the scenes when you edit a live Facebook ad:
- Ads Manager pushes the new version of the ad into the Facebook ad auction, competing against the old ad version.
- The new ad version is treated as a completely new ad by Facebook’s machine learning algorithm. It must go through the learning phase again.
- Delivery and optimization data starts accumulating for the new ad version.
- The majority of impressions gets shifted to the new ad version over time.
- The old ad version gets phased out as the new one takes over.
- Overall performance may dip temporarily before the new version is fully optimized.
So in summary – editing an ad causes a restart of the learning and optimization process, but allows you to incrementally improve ads over time.
How Long Does It Take for Facebook Ad Edits to Take Effect?
It typically takes less than 1 hour for ad edits to fully publish and reflect in Facebook reports. However, it can take much longer for the edits to be fully optimized by Facebook’s system. Here are some estimates:
- Minor text edits: 24-48 hours
- Major text changes: 3-7 days
- New image or video: 5-14 days
Performance often dips for the first few days as the new version goes through the learning curve again. Maintaining most of the core components will help minimize disruption.
Can You Edit an Ad After It Ends?
Once an ad ends and is marked as “Expired”, you can no longer edit it directly. However, you do have a few options:
- Duplicate the expired ad to make edits and re-run it.
- Create a new ad using the expired ad as a template and updating any components.
- Refer back to the expired ad for notes if creating a brand new ad.
Reviewing performance data on expired ads can provide helpful insights to improve your new ads. But you cannot retroactively edit ads that have already ended.
Tips for Successful Facebook Ad Editing
Here are some tips to keep in mind when editing Facebook ads:
- Avoid changing objectives or core components mid-campaign.
- Test new variations in a duplicate ad before pausing original.
- Make incremental changes rather than dramatic edits to minimize impact.
- Give new ad versions 2-3 days to overcome the initial learning curve dip.
- Edit one ad component at a time to isolate impact.
- Consider creating brand new ads if making major structure changes.
- Review expired ad data before launching new versions.
Facebook Ad Editing Checklist
Here is a handy checklist you can use when editing Facebook ads:
- Locate ad in Ads Manager
- Duplicate ad or open editor
- Avoid changing objective, budget, audience
- Apply minor text tweaks first
- Update visuals if needed
- Consider new display link
- Review changes and save
- Let run alongside old version for 2 days
- Pause old ad once new one is optimizing
- Check back on performance after 5-7 days
Common Facebook Ad Editing Mistakes
Here are some common mistakes to avoid when editing Facebook ads:
- Dramatically changing the ad copy or visuals
- Switching the ad objective mid-campaign
- Changing the destination URL
- Removing core components like headlines or images
- Ending the original ad too quickly before the new one optimizes
- Making too many edits at once for accurate isolation
Edits should be incremental and methodical. Give new versions time to optimize while minimizing impact on overall campaign performance.
Tools for Editing Facebook Ads
In addition to the built-in Ads Manager editor, there are some useful third-party tools for editing Facebook ads:
- AdEspresso – Provides visual editor to easily swap creative assets and edit ad components.
- Smartly.io – Allows editing ad elements directly in the visual canvas with pre-defined templates.
- Ad Manager by Hootsuite – Lets you edit ads and posts in one dashboard and collaborate across teams.
- Buffer – Edit, collaborate, and schedule ads in bulk rather than having to edit one by one.
These tools can streamline the Facebook ad editing process, especially for larger accounts and teams.
Conclusion
Editing Facebook ads after publishing is certainly possible and often encouraged to incrementally improve performance. Minor tweaks can be made directly in Ads Manager, while major changes may warrant duplicating or recreating an ad to minimize impact. Give new ad versions time to re-optimize and avoid dramatically changing objectives or targeting. With a methodical and incremental approach, editing ads can be an effective way to boost Facebook ad performance over time.