How to Use Facebook Power Editor

In a previous blog post, I wrote about the benefits of using Facebook Power Editor. If you aren’t using Power Editor or a third party application that utilizes the Facebook advertising API, you don’t have access to several great features, including advertising on mobile devices.

Today I’m going to get into the details of installing and using Power Editor.

What Is Power Editor?

According to Facebook…

Power Editor is a free tool that replaces and enhances the capabilities of the Bulk Uploader. Power Editor makes it easy to create, edit and manage ads and campaigns in bulk, even across a large number of different ad accounts.

Install Power Editor

Want to use Power Editor? Well, you can only use it through Chrome browsers. Install the plugin here.

Once installed, you can access Power Editor by going to https://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/powereditor.

Use Power Editor

I won’t get into the minute details of using Power Editor here. You can read the Power Editor Guide for that.

Once you install Power Editor, you’ll be asked which accounts you’d like to download into the tool. My guess is that you’ll want access to all of the ads you created previously, so you’ll select “all.”

Now you’ll have access to every campaign and ad that you’ve created.

Virtually everything that is available on Facebook.com/ads/manage will be available here, plus some additional features.

1) View Stats
When you’re viewing individual ads, the final columns will display key stats for those ads. If you want to view more stats, simply click Options and then Settings at the top right to select other columns.

2) Create a New Campaign
When viewing campaigns (click on the left), click Create Campaign at the top. An “Untitled” campaign will then populate on the left. Click it to begin to fill in the details (those details will go into the bottom panel).

3) Create a New Ad
When you’re within a campaign, click Ads at the top and then Create Ad. Once again, fill in all of the details in the main panel on the bottom.

4) Bulk Update Campaigns or Ads
If you want to edit multiple campaigns or ads at once, simply select the ones you want (with a Mac, you use the Command or Shift keys) and start editing in the bottom panel. These changes will apply to all campaigns or ads that you are editing.

5) Don’t Forget to Upload and Download!
The Power Editor is definitely not perfect. When you make changes outside of the Power Editor, you’ll need to make sure to click Download. When you have created or edited campaigns or ads within Power Editor, you’ll need to click Upload before they will take effect. These buttons are at the top right.

6) Access to Other Features
As mentioned before, you also have access to the following features when using Power Editor or the Facebook advertising API:

• Create an ad that appears within News Feeds (other than Promoted Posts)
• Create an ad that appears on mobile devices
• Create ads that use CPM, but not Optimized CPM

If you are currently advertising with the regular old Facebook.com interface, you have no idea what I’m talking about.

Final Notes

Be careful with Power Editor. It’s definitely not perfect. It isn’t nearly as dynamic as it should be. I created a campaign that I thought I set at a $10 lifetime limit that ended up being $350. This is an issue that happens within the main interface as well, but I never have a problem catching it. Things don’t react the same way within Power Editor, so make sure you check and double check before uploading.

But in the end, if you want to access some great features that you may have been missing, Power Editor is definitely worth checking out.

Have you tried out Power Editor? Let me know your thoughts below!