Collecting data from Facebook Ads

Follow this guide to collect data from Facebook Ads and preview the data.

Introduction

This guide explains how to collect data from Facebook Ads and preview the data.

This guide does not cover the whole functionality of the Facebook Ads Connector. For more information on all features of the Facebook Ads Connector, see Facebook Ads Connector reference.

For more information on the data fields that you can collect from Facebook Ads, see List of supported fields.

Understanding Datastreams and Authorizations

When you connect to Facebook Ads through Adverity, you authorize Adverity to access your account. Adverity stores this authorization information in an Authorization, and stores the data collection configuration in a Datastream.

You can create several Datastreams using the same Authorization. The Datastreams collect information from the same source, with the same login credentials, with different configurations.

Prerequisites

Before you start collecting data from Facebook Ads, perform all of the following actions:

Ensure that the account you use to connect to Facebook Ads has the correct roles and permissions to collect the data. Edit these roles and permissions in Facebook Business Manager. For more information, see the Facebook documentation.

  • Add the Employee or higher business manager role to the account.

  • For an ad account, add the View performance permission.

  • Add the View Page performance permission to the classic page.

Depending on your specific configuration, the following additional permissions may be required:

  • Leads Access or Manage Page: To access lead form results.

  • Manage catalogue: To obtain metadata for advertised catalog objects.

  • Manage line of business: To retrieve data specific for attribution reports.

Alternatively, if you do not use Facebook Business Manager, configure the roles and permissions on the page level. For more information, see the Facebook documentation.

Creating Facebook Ads Datastream

Connecting to Facebook Ads

To connect to Facebook Ads, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  2. In the top right corner, click + Create A Datastream.

  3. Search for and click Facebook Ads.

  4. Choose one of the following options:

    • Click Setup a new Authorization and set up the new Authorization with your own login credentials.

    • Click Send an access request to ask someone else to set up the new Authorization. In the Email field, enter the email address of the person you want to ask to authorize the new Authorization.

    • If you already have an Authorization to Facebook Ads, choose an existing Authorization.

  1. Click Next.

  1. In Set up or Edit Ad Accounts, choose one of the following options:

    • Choose Grant access to all Ad Accounts, including those created in the future to allow Adverity to access all existing Ad Accounts and all Ad Accounts created in the future.

    • Choose Select specific Ad Accounts to which you want to grant access to determine the specific Ad Accounts that you want Adverity to access. Adverity will not automatically have access to Ad Accounts created in the future. You will need to grant Adverity access to Ad Accounts created in the future.

  1. Click Next.

Choosing what data to collect

To choose what data to collect and customize the Facebook Ads Datastream configuration, follow these steps:

  1. Click Custom Configuration.

  1. Click Next.

  1. (Optional) Rename your Datastream.

  1. In Businesses, Accounts, and Campaigns, select the businesses, accounts, and campaigns for which to collect data. If you do not select any items in a drop-down list, Adverity collects data for all items in the drop-down list.

  1. In Fields, change the list of fields that you want to see in your Data Extract.

  1. Click Next.

Choosing where to transfer your data

To choose where to transfer your data, follow these steps:

  1. To assign Destinations to your Datastream, select their checkboxes. For more information on Destinations and their configuration settings, see Introduction to transferring data.

  1. Click Next.

Collecting initial data

To collect the initial data, follow these steps:

  1. Choose the time period for which data is collected.

  1. Click Run Fetch.

Previewing data collected from Facebook Ads

The fetch collects data from Facebook Ads which takes some time. The Overview page of the newly created Datastream is now displayed. To preview the collected data, follow these steps:

  1. In the All tasks tab, find the task at the top of the list, and click Show extracts.

  2. Click the top hyperlink.

  3. The Data Extract is displayed in a table containing the data that you have fetched.

Additional information

For more information on rate limiting, see the Facebook documentation.

What’s next?

After collecting data from Facebook Ads, harmonize your data so that it conforms with Adverity's unified naming and formatting conventions.