Viewing the edit history for campaigns and ads in Facebook Ads Manager can provide valuable insights into how your ads have been optimized over time. Having a record of changes made to target audiences, placements, budgets and creatives can help inform future advertising decisions. While Facebook does not provide a dedicated edit history feature, there are a couple of methods advertisers can use to essentially view a log of changes made in Ads Manager.
Why view edit history in Ads Manager?
Here are some of the key reasons why accessing edit history can be useful for advertisers:
- Identify what changes may have led to increases or decreases in campaign performance – Understanding when and how optimizations impacted metrics like cost per result or conversion rate can help guide future tests.
- Learn when assets were changed – Knowing dates creatives or ad copy were altered provides context into performance changes and can aid creative testing.
- View campaign structure changes – Seeing when placement edits, audience expansions/reductions, budget adjustments etc. were made gives perspective into pivot points during a campaign.
- Check sibling ad consistency – Viewing edits helps ensure sibling ads in ad sets have consistent targeting and creatives.
- Reference for notes and reports – Edit history provides accurate details when compiling campaign recaps, performance reports and notating lessons learned.
Having access to a log of optimizations and changes made over time can make it easier to identify cause and effect relationships, follow campaign progression, and make data-driven decisions about future tests to implement.
Option 1: Download campaign reports
One of the simplest ways to access edit history for Facebook campaigns is by downloading campaign reports from Ads Manager. This provides snapshots of campaign stats and settings at different dates that can then be compared to view changes.
Here are the steps to download campaign reports in Ads Manager:
- Navigate to the “Reports” tab in Ads Manager
- Select the campaign you want to download reports for from the drop-down menu
- Edit the date range to include as much of the campaign duration as desired
- Check the boxes next to all of the columns you want included in the report
- Click “Export”
- Select “CSV” file format and click “Export Data”
This will generate a CSV file with campaign data that can be opened in spreadsheet software. Comparing multiple reports exported at different dates will show how settings like budget, placement types, creatives, audiences, and more have changed over the selected time period.
Pros
- Simple to generate reports
- File format is easily accessible
- Provides entire campaign snapshot
Cons
- No automated edit tracking
- Must compare multiple reports manually
- Time consuming for large date ranges
Option 2: Use Facebook Ad Library
Facebook’s Ad Library provides transparency into active and inactive ads running on Facebook platforms. This can also be leveraged to essentially view edit history:
- Go to the Facebook Ad Library
- Search for your Facebook Page or the specific ad campaign
- Filter by location and date range
- Click into each ad to view a snapshot of targeting, creatives, and delivery details
- Compare details across ads to see how they differ
Because Ad Library displays a snapshot of each ad iteration, you can piece together a timeline of changes by looking at settings variations across ads ordered by start date.
Pros
- Free public tool from Facebook
- Easy to filter to relevant ads
- Provides snapshot of each ad version
Cons
- No automated tracking of changes
- Must compile info across ads manually
- Only shows active and inactive ads
Option 3: Use change history in Power Editor
For advertisers with access, Facebook’s Power Editor ad tool provides a change log feature to view editing history:
- Open the Power Editor tool
- Navigate to the desired ad account
- Click into the campaign, ad set or ad you want to view history for
- Open the “Change History” tab in the upper right
- Review the list of changes with editor details, timestamps, and highlights
This provides a detailed log of edits made directly in Power Editor or Ads Manager to track how campaigns have evolved over time.
Pros
- Dedicated change log
- Tracks edits made by any user
- Easy filters by editor, status and date range
- Clear highlights of changes
Cons
- Only available in Power Editor
- Does not track changes made via API or 3rd party tools
- Cannot export data from log
Best practices for leveraging edit history
Here are some tips for making the most of accessing optimization history for Facebook campaigns:
- Review changes prior to developing new tests – Look for past learnings before implementing changes.
- Create campaign snapshots before making major edits – Download reports to document before/after effects.
- Add edit notes for context – Use Power Editor notes feature or add comments in reports.
- Structure file names and folders for easy comparison – Include dates so report versions can be matched.
- Set calendar reminders to review history – Schedule time to regularly analyze changes made.
- Focus comparison on performance metrics – Look for correlations between edits and KPI improvements.
- Highlight top performing time periods – Identify best practices to expand upon.
Other options for tracking edit history
In addition to native Facebook tools, there are some third-party platforms that can help provide greater edit tracking and change logs for Facebook ads:
- Ad management platforms like Kenshoo, Marin or Nanigans
- Marketing analytics tools like Mixpanel, AdStage or Funnel
- BI tools like Tableau, Looker, or Datorama
- Custom data pipelines exporting Ads Manager data via API
These tools can create timelines of how campaigns have been edited, provide graphical visualizations of changes, enable easier comparison of changes to performance, and give the ability to export editable tracking data.
Conclusion
Accessing edit history and change logs for Facebook ad campaigns provides valuable insights that can help guide optimization decisions. While native options are limited, leveraging campaign reports, Ad Library snapshots, and the Power Editor change history tab can assist with tracking how campaigns have evolved.
Comparing changes to performance metrics is key to identifying the impact of different ad tests and edits. Dedicating time to regularly review optimization history can help unlock learnings that will lead to improved results over time.