In this instructional video, Hernan Vazquez explains the fundamental differences between Facebook's auto bidding and manual (target cost) bidding, and provides a practical framework for choosing the right strategy at each stage of a campaign. He begins by emphasizing the critical role of the Facebook Pixel (and Google tags) for feeding conversion data into the algorithm, urging viewers to install these tracking tools from day one. He then defines auto bidding as handing the budget to Facebook to maximize conversions, which is best suited for small budgets, initial testing of audiences, creatives, and funnel concepts. Once a profitable angle is identified, he recommends switching to manual bidding—setting a target cost per lead or acquisition while increasing the ad‑set budget to allow Facebook to optimize within that cost ceiling. He introduces bid‑cap bidding as a hybrid middle ground that retains manual control over maximum cost without the full oversight required by pure manual bidding. Throughout, he stresses the need for clear funnel metrics (e.g., webinar conversion rates, e‑commerce cost‑per‑acquisition) to inform target costs and budget allocations. He also reminds viewers that Facebook operates an auction, so higher manual bids can secure better placements, provided they align with the campaign’s KPIs. The video concludes with calls to join a free Facebook group, ask questions in the comments, and subscribe for more content.
You know, one of the biggest questions that I get a lot is, Hernan, should I use manual bidding or auto bidding on my ads? So this is kind of a secret, all right? So don't tell anyone because on this video we're gonna talk about that.
Hey everybody, welcome to another Facebook Ads video, and we're gonna be talking about Facebook Ads, which is completely new. You know, there's no one video about— no one video on YouTube or Facebook that's talking about Facebook Ads, so this is kind of new. So we're gonna keep talking about Facebook Ads because there's a topic— that's a topic that you guys seem to love and really like, and you're actually begging for more Facebook Ads videos. You— there's one of you guys that keep calling me saying, Hernan, please make Facebook ads videos and whatnot, and it's kind of creepy actually. So anyways, I wanted to talk about Facebook ads and the difference between manual bidding and auto bidding when it comes to your Facebook ads and which one you should be using depending on the stage of your campaign. So with that said, I wanted to also invite you to join the free Facebook group, which is completely free. It's a great group, it's full with resources and whatnot, and we talk a lot about Facebook ads on that group as well, so you're welcome to join. You're welcome to drop your questions over there. It's completely free and I'm pretty sure you're gonna love it. So Facebook ads and manual bidding and auto bidding. So here's the thing. I've talked several times in a row. I think that I've made like 7 videos in a row or something like that telling you guys that the Facebook algorithm is really, really, really intelligent once you have your pixel and once you have your custom conversions firing up. If you do not know how to install the pixel, I would strongly suggest that you visit this video right here. I will show you how to install the pixel and how to get that data feeding into Facebook. With that said, you want to install the pixel as soon as possible. A lot of people are coming and saying, well, you know, I wasn't planning on advertising on Facebook yet, so I didn't install the Facebook pixel. I'm getting a lot of organic traffic, or I do some influencer marketing, or I do some email blasts and whatnot, but since I'm not advertising on Facebook, I didn't think it was that important, but yeah, it is, because you can start collecting data right away. The same happens with Google. You want to install the Google Tag Manager or the Google Tag for AdWords and the Facebook Pixel as soon as you start getting some traffic on your website. I mean, since minute zero, you want to get those tags and those codes in there. The reason why is because Facebook will start tracking even for people that are not on Facebook. They will start tracking all of that behavior and those data points. so that it can feed them back into the algorithm. So the reality is that there's 2 main things that you can do. You know, you have the auto bid, which is a way of saying, Facebook, hey Facebook, this is my budget and I want you to find as many conversions as possible for this specific budget. And there's the manual bid, or what would be called target cost on the campaigns, like the actual conversion campaigns, which is saying, Facebook, this is what I want to pay for conversions. So you get me as many conversions as you possibly can with this budget for this specific target cost. So they're both really, really effective approaches. Now the reality and the usual consensus is that manual bidding— or sorry, auto bidding— is better when you have small budgets, when you want to test campaigns, when you want to test audiences and whatnot. So when you're starting out, when you don't know what's going to happen when it comes to you know, your cost per lead or your cost per click, your cost per 1,000 impressions and whatnot, or even if you're testing new angles and new creatives, new pictures, new videos, you want to usually go with auto bid so that you can actually get people and get Facebook getting that and gathering that data and those data points. So TLDR is that auto bids work really, really well when you have small budgets, when you're trying to test it out, when you're getting your feet wet, and when you want to launch a new funnel and you do not know how it works. So when you're testing stuff, auto bid works really, really well. Now let's say that you, through auto bidding, you found a really good angle and a really good image and then you get a really good targeting because you know that this specific demographic is responding really, really well to your audience and to your offer. So what do you do on that regard? Well, on that regard, it's usually recommended that you switch to manual bidding as long as you're ready to scale. Usually manual bidding and target cost bidding takes, takes budget higher. So the way you want to do this is you want to get your budget per ad set a little bit higher, but you want to control how many people see your ad and how many conversions you're getting based on the target cost. So let's say that you want to pay up to $5 per lead on your webinar. So that's exactly gonna be your target cost, but you want to have the ad set budget a little bit higher so that Facebook can actually optimize and get you as many leads as possible at that target cost. Now have in mind that you need to have other metrics in place, right? Let's say, let's follow with the webinar example. You want to know exactly how well your webinar is converting, how well, how many people you're getting through the webinar, what's the conversion rate, what's the maximum cost per lead that you want to check and that you want to get, or what's the maximum cost per acquisition, meaning how much you want to pay for a customer. And this also applies for ecommerce. This applies for pretty much everything. So you want to have in mind your metrics funnel-wise so that you can tell Facebook, okay Facebook, here's $1,000 a day. Go ahead, spend it, and get me as many attendees or add to carts or whatever for $5 a day. Now something in between when you're trying to migrate from one, you know, the manual bidding to the target cost bidding is a manual bidding. With a bid cap. That's usually kind of a middle ground between the two, so it's still manual bidding, but you're targeting, you're capping the bidding when it comes to how many you wanna charge or get per lead, how much you wanna pay per lead. That's usually in between, and it doesn't require that follow-up that you really wanna be on top of your ads when you have your manual bid, but it's not like just get loose, Facebook, do whatever, when it comes to your auto bid. So also depending on how well and how savvy you are on Facebook, you wanna opt in, you wanna opt for automatic bidding when it comes to running your Facebook ads because again, when you're starting out and if you don't wanna spend a lot of time managing your Facebook campaigns or you have a small budget, that's the way to go. And if you really wanna stay on top of your game, if you really wanna take your Facebook ad spend to the next level and still be profitable, Manual bid is the best way to go. Target cost or manual bidding, they usually work really, really well. Now please remember that Facebook is an auction, so you're actively bidding against other advertisers that they are trying to reach your audience as well. So the higher the manual bid is, the better placements you will get, right? But you need to make sure that that manual bid makes sense with the KPIs and the metrics that you have set up for the rest of the funnel as well. So there you have it, guys. That's the main difference between the two. If you wanna go ahead and get more questions like this answered, don't forget to either A, drop them in the comments below, or B, join the free Facebook group because I share a lot of this stuff and a lot of other stuff as well on the free Facebook group. And if you have any questions, as usual, just drop a comment below. Thank you once again for watching this video. Don't forget to hit the comment, subscribe, share, wherever you're watching this video. And I'll see you guys really, really soon. Bye-bye.
