How to set up a Meta ads manager from scratch
Meta's ad account structure is confusing the first time — there are several nested levels that are easy to mix up. Here's the right setup order, which saves time and avoids common access mistakes.
Structure: Business Manager, page, accounts
Start with Meta Business Suite — the central account that a Facebook page, an Instagram account, and an ad account attach to. This top level should be registered to the company, not to a single employee's personal profile.
Inside Business Manager you create an ad account — a separate entity with its own ID, currency and payment method. Currency is set once at creation and can't be changed later, so if you plan to report in UZS, decide before running any campaigns, not after.
The Instagram account links either to the Facebook page or directly to Business Manager. Without this link you can't run ads under the Instagram profile with the full set of formats.
Payment and account verification
Add a payment method — a USD card on an international network, since local Uzcard and Humo aren't accepted. Some companies use a corporate card for this or work through an agency ad account, which also reduces the risk of sudden payment holds.
Set a spend limit at the account level if you won't be monitoring the account daily. This guards against accidental overspend from a technical setup mistake — like an extra zero in a budget field.
New ad accounts sometimes go through additional identity or business verification — be ready to supply documents if requested, so you don't lose time mid-launch.
Pixel and events: set up before the first campaign
Create a Meta pixel under Data Sources and install it on the site before launching ads, not after. Data collected from day one later powers retargeting and look-alike audiences and can't be recovered retroactively.
Configure standard events — content view, add to cart, purchase, or form submission — through Events Manager. Without tagged events, Meta's automated bidding can't optimise toward a real result and runs nearly blind.
Verify pixel installation with the Meta Pixel Helper browser tool: it shows whether events fire correctly before you spend a single UZS on ads.
Access roles and the first campaign
Set up individual access roles for each employee or contractor rather than sharing one account password. This lets you revoke a specific person's access without risking the whole account when a contractor changes.
Before the first campaign, check geo-targeting, ad language, and age restrictions — these settings live at the ad-set level and often default to too broad for a local business.
Launch the first campaign with a small budget and watch spend over the first day. This is less about saving money and more about confirming every setting — from the pixel to the payment method — actually works as intended.