Performance Marketing Intern Here – Trying to Understand Meta Ads Beyond Just “Getting Leads”

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TL;DR: I’m a fresher working as a performance marketing intern at a small agency. We mainly run Meta lead generation campaigns using Instant Forms. I’m trying to understand how experienced media buyers evaluate campaigns, improve lead quality, set budgets, decide when to change creatives, and whether upper-funnel campaigns are necessary when clients only care about leads. Hi everyone, I recently joined a small digital marketing agency as a Performance Marketing Intern. I’m completely new to the industry apart from a digital marketing course that I completed. Right now, my work is almost entirely focused on running Meta ads, mainly Lead Generation campaigns using Instant Forms. The agency already has a process in place, so I’m mostly following what is already being done. However, I’m trying to learn the “why” behind the decisions rather than just clicking buttons inside Ads Manager. I have quite a few questions and would really appreciate guidance from experienced media buyers. 1. Evaluating Lead Campaigns When running a lead generation campaign: What metrics should I primarily focus on? How do I know whether a campaign is actually working or not? What metrics matter the most and which ones are just vanity metrics? 2. Lead Quality Problems One issue I hear often is: “The leads are coming, but the quality is bad.” When a client says this: What steps do you take to improve lead quality? How do you identify whether the issue is the targeting, the creative, the offer, or the form itself? What is your troubleshooting process? 3. Campaign Duration How long do you typically let a campaign run before making a judgment? Is there a minimum amount of spend or number of leads you wait for? At what point do you decide a campaign is good, bad, or needs changes? 4. Meta AI Features Meta keeps adding AI-powered options and enhancements everywhere. Do you generally leave these features ON or OFF? Which AI enhancements have actually helped performance in your experience? Which ones should beginners be careful with? 5. Awareness, Traffic, Engagement & Retargeting This is something I’m struggling to understand. Many of our clients only care about leads. If the end goal is leads: Should I even run Awareness, Traffic, or Engagement campaigns? Are they actually useful or just something marketers like to talk about? How do you measure success for awareness campaigns? How do you measure success for traffic campaigns? I understand retargeting in theory, but how important is it for smaller clients with limited budgets? 6. Ad Copy / Primary Text Maybe this is a stupid question, but: I personally barely read primary text when I see ads. How important is primary text compared to the creative? Have you seen major performance differences from changing copy alone? What do experienced advertisers prioritize first: creative, offer, audience, or copy? 7. Instant Forms: More Volume vs High Intent Our agency usually uses the More Volume option instead of High Intent forms. When I asked my boss why, he said: “If we use High Intent, fewer people will submit the form.” Is this generally true? When do you choose More Volume? When do you choose High Intent? How do you balance lead quantity vs lead quality? 8. Budget Decisions Usually my boss tells me what budget to use, but I’d like to understand the reasoning. How do you decide what budget a campaign should have? Is there a framework for this? What’s the purpose of setting budgets at the Ad Set level versus the Campaign level? 9. Creative Fatigue Let’s say a campaign is performing well. How do I know when it’s time to introduce new creatives? Is there a timeline you typically follow? What metrics indicate creative fatigue? I know this is a long post, but I’m largely self-learning and trying not to go to my manager with every single question. I’d appreciate any advice, resources, frameworks, or lessons you’ve learned from managing Meta campaigns. Thanks in advance! Used AI to structure my thoughts.   submitted by   /u/Limerence06 [link]   [comments]