This document contains frequently asked questions that arise when using the Facebook Ads data source. You can quickly navigate to a particular FAQ by using the table of contents below.
What permissions are needed for Facebook Ads?
Can I get my Instagram Ads data through the Facebook Ads connector?
Why doesn't my Facebook Ads data match what I see in my TapClicks dashboard?
Where are all my standard conversions and conversion fields?
If I want to see how many new leads I've gotten from a Facebook Ad, what metric should I choose?
I don't see any leads in TapClicks, so why does Facebook Ads Manager show leads in a leads export?
Can I see Ad Creatives from Facebook Ads in my TapClicks dashboard?
Can I render Facebook Ads data in a Geo widget on my dashboard?
Can I get Facebook Leads data in semi-real time?
Where can I report on my boosted posts?
What attribution setting does TapClicks pull data against for Facebook Ads?
What happens to my data if I change the attributions setting in Facebook?
How come I see some action data in TapClicks but the data is empty or blank on the Facebook Ads UI?
Why don’t Unique Metrics match the Facebook UI?
What are the data lookback periods for Facebook Ads?
Why is the Ad Body empty in Tap UI even though it appears in the Facebook Ads UI?
What if I need data from Facebook Ads that TapClicks doesn't quite support?
What fields are available for this data source?
What data can I assign to my Tap Client from this data source?
What permissions are needed for Facebook Ads
When you connect credentials for Facebook Ads, the system will go through the normal OAuth process. When the native platform loads and asks you to select permissions, we require the below permissions to be selected to get the data to flow into the dashboard.
- Public Profile
- Read Insights
- Manage Pages
- Ads Management
For Facebook Lead Ads, the authenticated user must be a "Page Admin" of the Facebook Page to download leads.
Can I get my Instagram Ads data through the Facebook Ads connector?
Yes, you can see your Instagram Ads data in the “Platform” data view, which is a child of the Ads data view. This should allow you to build the visualizations you’re looking for.
Why doesn't my Facebook Ads data match what I see in my TapClicks dashboard?
There are several reasons why your Facebook Ads data might not match what you see in TapClicks:
- Date Ranges: You may be comparing data for different date ranges, which could cause discrepancies. Always ensure that you are comparing the same date ranges in both Facebook Ads and TapClicks.
- Client Data: Data discrepancies might arise if you are not comparing data for the same clients. Make sure that the data being compared is for the same client in both Facebook Ads and TapClicks.
- Filters: Differences in filters applied on either platform might lead to mismatched data. Verify that the same filters are applied in both Facebook Ads and TapClicks when comparing data.
- Data Views: TapClicks pulls all its data from the Ads level via the Facebook API. Ensure that you are comparing Facebook source data with TapClicks at the Ads level to avoid inconsistencies.
Why don't my Reach and Frequency metrics from Facebook Ads match what I see in my TapClicks dashboard?
This has to do with the fact that Reach and Frequency values are stored on a daily level and then aggregated, or handled over a date range. TapClicks has several options for Reach and Frequency reporting. Check out additional information in this article.
Where are all my standard conversions and conversion fields?
Not all conversion fields are enabled by default in TapClicks to avoid overwhelming lists when building visualizations and working in other areas of the product. However, there is a switch for this data that will enable the fields as dedicated metrics on the Ads data view. This Additional Data View, when enabled, includes metrics like:
-
Mobile App Metrics:
- Applications Submitted / Value
- Appointments Scheduled / Value
- Contacts / Value
- Donations / Value
- Location Searches / Value
- Products Customized / Value
- Subscriptions / Value
- Trials Started / Value
-
Offline Metrics:
- Applications Submitted / Value
- Appointments Scheduled / Value
- Contacts / Value
- Donations / Value
- Location Searches / Value
- Products Customized / Value
- Subscriptions / Value
- Trials Started / Value
- Applications Submitted / Value
-
Total Metrics:
- Applications Submitted / Value
- Appointments Scheduled / Value
- Contacts / Value
- Donations / Value
- Location Searches / Value
- Products Customized / Value
- Subscriptions / Value
- Trials Started / Value
- Applications Submitted / Value
-
Website Metrics:
- Applications Submitted / Value
- Appointments Scheduled / Value
- Contacts / Value
- Donations / Value
- Location Searches / Value
- Products Customized / Value
- Subscriptions / Value
- Trials Started / Value
- Applications Submitted / Value
To enable these fields, reach out to your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com and we can enable them for you. Alternatively, you can use our On Demand widgets to get to the data you need, fast.
If I want to see how many new leads I've gotten from a Facebook Ad, what metric should I choose?
You would use the "On-Facebook Leads" metric to visualize and report on lead acquisition on your website as a result of your ad. To learn more about the available dimensions and metrics for Facebook Ads, please see the Facebook Ads Connectors page.
I don't see any leads in TapClicks, so why does Facebook Ads Manager show leads in a leads export?
Leads may have granular permissions that affect their visibility. First, ensure that the user who connected TapClicks to Facebook Ads is the same user who can download the leads file in Ad Manager. If not, you can either:
- Give the connected user permission to retrieve leads, or
- Add a new connection using the user who has access to the leads and move the mapping over to that new connection.
Can I see Ad Creatives from Facebook Ads in my TapClicks dashboard?
Yes, you can! There are several different preview fields (look for fields with this in the label) that will display your creative preview in different ways depending on your goals. Alternatively, you can expose the URL link to these previews depending on how you're making your data available to your customers. These fields also contain URLs in the field label.
Can I render Facebook Ads data in a Geo widget on my dashboard?
Yes, you can! Make sure to choose a data view that is geo-enabled. A geo-enabled data view will have a location pin icon (as illustrated below. You can find this pin when building a data widget. If you’re trying to render geo data in a way that isn’t currently supported, let our product team know by submitting a note to our Product Portal.
Can I get Facebook Leads data in semi-real time?
Yes, you can! To do this, the user that authenticates to the tile in Manage Data Sources needs to be a Page Admin of the Facebook Page that you want semi-real-time leads data from. This is a requirement from Facebook’s API.
Once this setting is confirmed, reach out to your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com to get this advanced module enabled. This data will flow into the Leads Management module in your dashboard.
Where can I report on my boosted posts?
Facebook Ads and Facebook Insights are two different connectors, so the numbers from each don’t directly impact one another from a connection standpoint. Typically, once a post gets boosted (i.e., Facebook Insights), it can then be tracked in Facebook Ads. When you look at boosted posts on the Post data view in Facebook Insights, these same posts will appear in the Ad data view (as “Ads”) in the Facebook Ads connector, assuming the Page and Campaigns are all mapped in TapClicks Facebook Insights and Facebook Ads connectors, respectively.
One option to tell the data story is to merge this data from Facebook Ads and Facebook Insights into a single channel to see the complete picture from organic posts to boosted paid data in unified visualizations.
What attribution setting does TapClicks pull data against for Facebook Ads?
TapClicks leverages the Facebook ‘use_unified_attribution_setting’ field, which ensures that data is pulled from Facebook with the setting that is expected for the ad set, campaign, or other object. This means that if one ad set has a 7-day click and another ad set has a 7-day click & 1-day view, we will respect the ad set settings when we pull data into your dashboard.
What happens to my data if I change the attribution setting in Facebook?
“Attribution Setting” is an attribute on the Facebook Ad Set/Campaign. As the Attribute Setting changes over time, TapClicks will modify how that data is pulled in to respect the data at the time it’s changed on the Facebook side.
For example, let’s assume that a Facebook campaign ran for three months. During months one and two, it was "7-day click" attribution setting. In month three it changed to "7-day click/1-day view". If the user looks at a date range of Month one, the most recent information for Attribution Setting would show from the database, "7-day click/1-day view".
How come I can see some Action data in TapClicks but the data is empty or blank on the Facebook Ads UI?
When different Ad Sets in a single Facebook campaign have different attribution settings, the Facebook UI will not aggregate those actions into a “total” value because the attribution settings are fundamentally different. In the Facebook UI, you will see a blank or empty cell.
On the TapClicks side, you are able to aggregate data across different attribution settings, but this is not recommended as it deviates from Facebook’s reporting. We recommend creating your widgets in such a way that either the attribution setting is displayed for accurate, separate reporting or where you have a filter applied to look at a single attribution setting at a time.
Why don’t Unique Metrics match the Facebook UI?
Unique metrics may not match the Facebook UI because TapClicks cannot de-duplicate the data in the same way that Facebook can, as it is Facebook's data. This limitation is due to how Facebook aggregates and presents unique metrics.
What are the data lookback periods for Facebook Ads?
- Initial Load: The first time the TapClicks system fetches data from Facebook Ads, it will retrieve the past 1 year from the date of assigning the data to a particular client.
- Daily Load: The daily fetch gets Facebook Ads data from the last 10 days and updates as needed.
Why is the Ad Body empty in Tap UI even though it appears in the Facebook Ads UI?
In Facebook, an Ad is actually a group of creatives. Internally, we refer to this as an AdGroup, meaning that for detailed insights, you should refer to the Creatives data view.
Additionally, creatives are categorized into two types:
- Normal Creatives
- Dynamic Creatives
For Dynamic Creatives, we provide separate Dynamic Creatives data views to accommodate their unique structure.
If you're looking for specific attributes of creatives, such as the Ad Body, you will need to check either the Creatives data view or one of the Dynamic Creatives data views, depending on the type of creative being used.
What if I need data from Facebook Ads that TapClicks doesn’t quite support?
There are a few ways to approach this situation.
1] Create a Smart Connector to bring data into your dashboard.
- This will allow you to get to your data fast.
- This path could be used in the long term.
- Or you can use this path while waiting for an enhancement to the Facebook Ads connector.
2] Review if the data you need can be accessed through On Demand Widgets.
- Similar to the Smart Connector option above, this will allow you to get to your data fast.
- This path has some limitations on which TapClicks features can be applied to the data set. For example, you cannot currently use Channels with on-demand data sets.
3] Submit a request to the product team to evaluate bringing this data into the Instant On connector.
- Make sure to include report extract examples so that we can review exactly the dimensions and metrics you’re looking for in your dashboard.
- If you need help with this process, feel free to reach out to your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com.
What fields are available for this data source?
After you connect a data source to TapClicks, you can use that data in your reports. These fields are organized into groups of similar types of data called Data Views.
For Facebook Ads, you will find a list of all dimensions and fields available for use in TapClicks, organized by data view, here: Facebook Ads.
What data can I assign to my Tap Client from this data source?
Level 1 - Account
Level 2 - Campaign