Yes! You can edit a Facebook ad without losing social proof 🙌
No one talks about it but you can edit a Facebook ad post after posting without losing social proof using the following steps:
- Remove the ad from any active, inactive or completed Facebook campaign
- Find the ad using the Ad ID in the Page Post section of the Facebook Ads manager
- Edit the ad copy and click save
- Reactivate the ad in your campaign by adding an existing post using the post ID
We will cover the steps in more detail but first a quick Disclaimer. Can you edit a Facebook Ad after posting? Yes. Can you also edit a Facebook ad image? No. This process refers to editing ad copy only. More often than not I have found that at some point copy will have to be modified.
Also, keep in mind that Facebook considers swapping ads a Significant Edit so your campaigns/ad sets will reset to learning.
Why edit a Facebook ad?
Was there a company-wide policy change that needs to be reflected in the ad copy? Did you notice ad copy confusing customers creating misunderstanding about the service or product you offer? Or maybe you want to test ad copy without resetting your ads.
There can be a number of reasons for a required copy change such as:
- Customer misinterpretation of existing copy derived from your feedback loop
- A change in policy that needs to be reflected in the ad copy
- Improved messaging for ads that have good imagery based on data-driven copy testing
For you impatient ones => Skip the intro and take me right to the steps.
Why is Facebook ad engagement so important?
Collecting social proof on Facebook Ads is super valuable for two reasons.
First, conversations in the comments of your ads can take a life of their own. As a result, paid and organic engagement can act as free promotional support to your brand or product. This comes in various forms such as recommendations, referrals, and reviews. These conversations typically occur among the user and the brand or between users and their friends.
In addition, all of this organically generated activity ‘signals’ the algorithm that people like this post. Facebook recognizes and likes this (no pun intended). In addition, positive signals tend to give a post more reach and ‘preference’ when served as an ad. Basically Facebook will show the post to more people for a lower cost.
Second, having a significant amount of social engagement on a post generates curiosity. Curiosity, in turn, leads to exploration followed by consideration and sales. The generated engagement gives off a signal of popularity known as ‘social proof‘. Social proof is one of the seven principles that influence persuasion according to Robert Cialdinito (‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’).
How not to edit an ad on Facebook
Let’s look at the alternative approach to editing ad copy.
Typically you have to create new ads losing all the social proof you worked so hard for 😡 or you can trust the Facebook ads manager when it tells you it will preserve the ads engagement.
I am sure you have edited the caption, headline, and or description line of your existing ad just to realize that you’ve lost all of your social proof 🤯
That will be a fun conversation to have with your client. The post with 20K comments and the carefully monitored thread is ‘poof’ gone.
Avoid that stressful conversation because lucky for you there is a way around this. Its a bit of a hack but very doable. I have not figured out a way to change an image using this method but you can definitely change your copy without losing existing social proof.
Let’s get started.
How to edit an ad on Facebook
Disclaimer: This method has worked for me. But to be clear I cannot guarantee the same results **edit at your own risk**. If you are not confident about this process I suggest you go through the steps with an existing ad that has some social proof but is not that much of a burn to lose.
So, how do I edit a Facebook ad without losing social proof?
Let’s go through the steps below.
Step 1 – Tag Campaigns Containing Ads to Edit
The first step to edit a Facebook ad is to tag all of your campaigns that contain the Facebook ad or ads to be edited with a unique campaign label. It is important that you tag ALL campaigns containing the ad(s) regardless of whether the campaigns are active or not.
Step 2 – Open Ads to access Post ID
Next, you will want to go to each ad that will be edited and link out to ‘Facebook post with comments’. We will keep these tabs open for later use. Doing this now with some foresight will make finding the ads easier in later steps.
Step 3 – Filter and Swap Ads
Filter down to your defined campaign tags from Step 1, select all Facebook ads and replace it with an existing page post. It can be any post as long as it is not a post or ad you want to edit.
Step 4 – Publish Changes
Publish changes in the ads manager. All of your ads should now have the random page post assigned in its place and you should be ready to edit a Facebook ad.
Step 5 – Find your Ads
Let’s get to the fun part when you edit ad on Facebook. Go to page post click the hamburger menu next to ads manager and select page posts
Now, remember the tab or tabs you opened for each ad? Go to that tab and grab the post ID
Go to the sidebar on the left click on Ads then search using the post ID
Step 6 – Edit a Facebook ad post
Since at this point none of your ads are (should be) connected to a campaign (active, completed, or inactive) in the Facebook Ads Manager you can click edit post.
Click the three dots and select edit, revise your caption and you should be all set 😊
Conclusion
Happy editing without losing social proof!
This has been a lifesaver for me more than once when I’ve wanted to edit a Facebook ad.
I wish Facebook would make this process easier, but for now at least we have this hack.
Do you find this valuable? What have you done instead? Let us know in the comments.
It’s really much more effective to automate your Facebook campaign moderation if you’re dealing with a high volume of comments.
This was very helpful! Thank you very much! Do you also know how to edit the link description (under headline)?
Yes we tried that but unfortunately there is no way to update the link description. If you find a way to do this please let us know.
[…] Don’t forget about the power of social proof! […]
How do you do step three and replace the ads?
Once you locate your post in the Page Posts section click on the three dots and select edit
. If you don’t see the edit option the post is still associated with one or more campaigns/ad sets in your account.
Can I add UTMs to the link (not changing the link, just adding parameters for tracking), while using this method, and still retain the likes and social shares? If not, do you know of a way to do so?
If your intention is to reuse an ad across campaigns the link field of the original ad should only contain the raw link since links cannot be modified for existing posts. Then, to retain social proof (likes, comments, shares) make sure you are using the existing post and post ID and add UTMs to the URL Parameters field which can be found at the bottom of an ad. If an existing post is selected and you leverage the URL Parameters field social proof will not be affected and Facebook will append UTM Parameter values from the URL Parameters field to any outbound link from the ad regardless if the user clicks on the ads CTA or uses the caption link.
If you update the link value of the original post / ad Facebook WILL RESET all social proof.
Not sure how old this article is, but any idea if this is still possible to do? I’m trying and having trouble around the editing Step 6. If it still is possible, does it not apply to boosted events?
You might not be able to do this with Boosted Events. The key is to make sure all instances of the post you are trying to edit have been disassociated with any campaigns prior to making an edit.
Can you explain step 3 again, read the comment and still don’t understand.
If an ad is assigned to any existing campaign, paused or active, you will not be able to make any edits to the ad. To circumvent this you need to replace the current ad or post, associated with a campaign(s), with a post you do not want to edit. The easiest way to make sure you have swapped all ads you want to edit is to filter your ads by post ID using the post ID of the ad you want to edit.