How to Edit an Ad on Facebook

Caught a typo in your headline after your ad went live? Or maybe the promotion you're running just changed and you need to update the link. Whatever the reason, knowing how to properly edit an ad on Facebook is a massive time saver. This guide will walk you through exactly how to make changes at the ad, ad set, and campaign levels - and more importantly, understand which edits are safe and which ones could disrupt your results.

When You Should (and Shouldn't) Edit a Live Facebook Ad

Before jumping into the step-by-step process, it's helpful to know the strategy behind editing. Making the wrong change at the wrong time can reset your ad's learning phase, which is when Facebook's algorithm gathers data to figure out the best way to deliver your ad. Messing with this can wreck your performance.

Go Ahead and Edit If You're:

• Fixing a typo or grammar mistake: This is a simple fix that won't fundamentally change the ad. Go for it.
• Increasing the budget: Giving a well-performing ad set more money is a common and smart move.
• Extending the schedule: If an ad is doing great and you want to let it run longer, editing the end date is perfectly fine.
• Updating a URL: Swapping out an old link for a new one is an essential edit that has minimal impact on the algorithm.
• Making a minor targeting adjustment: Adding a closely related interest or slightly expanding the age range is usually okay. For example, adding "social media marketing" to an audience already targeting "digital marketing."

Stop! Duplicate Your Ad or Ad Set Instead If You're:

• Changing the entire creative: Swapping a video for an image or completely changing the ad's visual style is a significant edit. This will reset the learning phase and wipe the ad's social proof (likes, comments, shares). Instead, pause the current ad and create a new one, or duplicate the ad set to A/B test the new creative.
• Completely rewriting the ad copy or offer: Changing your message from "20% Off T-Shirts" to "Free Shipping on All Orders" is a major pivot. This calls for a new ad.
• Overhauling your audience targeting: If you want to test a completely different set of interests or try a lookalike audience, duplicate the original ad set. This keeps your successful ad set running while you test a new hypothesis.

The golden rule is this: for small tweaks, edit. For big changes, duplicate and test. This preserves the performance of what's already working while letting you experiment without risk.

How to Edit Your Ad in Facebook Ads Manager

All ad editing happens within Meta's Ads Manager. Once you're logged in, the process is straightforward. Facebook campaigns are structured in three levels: Campaign, Ad Set, and Ad. Knowing what to edit at each level is half the battle.

1. Campaign Level: This is where you set your overall objective (like traffic, leads, or sales), and control Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO), if you're using it. Edits here are less frequent.
2. Ad Set Level: This is where you control your budget (if not using CBO), schedule, audience targeting, and placements (where your ads show up, like on Instagram Feed or Facebook Stories).
3. Ad Level: This is where you control the ad itself - the creative (image or video), primary text, headline, and call-to-action button.

To start editing, navigate to your Ads Manager dashboard and find the campaign you want to adjust. You can click through the tabs for "Campaigns," "Ad Sets," or "Ads" to find the specific item you need to change. Hover over its name and you'll see an "Edit" link appear.

Editing Ad Creatives and Copy (Ad Level Changes)

If you've spotted a typo or want to swap out your visuals, you'll be working at the Ad level. These changes directly impact what people see in their feeds.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Navigate to the "Ads" tab within your campaign.
2. Find the specific ad you want to edit, check the box next to it, and click the "Edit" button in the toolbar that appears. This will open the editing pane on the right.
3. In the editing pane, scroll down to the "Ad Creative" section.
   • To change the creative: Click "Change Media" to upload a new image or video. This is considered a significant edit and will reset your ad's learning process and social proof.
   • To change the text: Simply click into the "Primary Text," "Headline," or "Description" fields and start typing. Fixing a small typo here is fine. A major headline change is getting into significant-edit territory.
   • To change the CTA and URL: Use the "Call to Action" dropdown menu to select a different button (e.g., from "Learn More" to "Sign Up"). You can update the destination "Website URL" in the field directly below it.
4. Once you're happy with your changes, review them in the ad preview window.
5. Finally, click the green "Publish" button at the bottom right of your screen.

Remember: Any edit will send your ad back to Meta for another review. This is usually quick, but your ad will be temporarily inactive until approved.

Editing Budget, Schedule, and Targeting (Ad Set Level Changes)

Need to increase your spending, adjust your audience, or change where your ads show up? These are all "Ad Set" level edits. This is where you control the "who, when, where, and how much" of your advertising.

How to Adjust Your Budget and Schedule

1. Go to the "Ad Sets" tab in your Ads Manager.
2. Select the Ad Set you want to modify and click "Edit."
3. In the editing pane, find the "Budget & Schedule" section.
   • Budget: You can change your budget type from "Daily" to "Lifetime," and increase or decrease the amount. A budget increase of more than 20-30% at once can sometimes trigger a learning phase reset, so it's often better to make gradual changes if the ad set is performing very well.
   • Schedule: You can adjust the "End date" to make your campaign run longer. If your ad set has already ended, you'll need to duplicate it to start it again with a new end date.
4. Click "Publish" to save your changes.

How to Refine Your Audience Targeting

If you realize your audience is a bit too broad or narrow, you can adjust it at the Ad Set level.

1. While editing your Ad Set, scroll to the "Audience" section.
2. Here, you can modify locations, age, gender, and detailed targeting (interests, behaviors, demographics).
3. You can add or remove interests, or use the "Exclude" option to narrow your reach further. For instance, if you're a local business, you might exclude people who are just "traveling in" your location.

A word of caution: Drastically changing your targeting for an ad set that is already performing well is risky. If you want to test a completely new audience segment, the best practice is to duplicate the ad set, change the audience in the new version, and let them run side-by-side to see which performs better.

How to Change Ad Placements

Placements control where your ads appear, like on the Facebook newsfeed, Instagram Stories, Reels, or the Audience Network. You can either let Meta automate this with "Advantage+ Placements" or choose them yourself.

1. Within your Ad Set editing pane, find the "Placements" section.
2. Select "Manual Placements."
3. You'll see a checklist of all available platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network) and all the specific spots within them. Simply check or uncheck the boxes to control where your ads appear. For example, if you find your video ad isn't performing well in right-rail placements, you can uncheck that box here.
4. Once done, hit "Publish."

Best Practices for Editing Ads to Avoid Hurting Performance

Editing an ad is easy, but editing it smartly is what counts. Keep these principles in mind to protect your results.

1. Don't Mess With a Winner

If an ad or ad set is delivering fantastic results at a good CPL or ROAS, be very careful about making changes. Small budget increases are fine, but resist the urge to "optimize" it by changing the creative or targeting. You're more likely to break what's working than improve it. Instead, duplicate it and try to build on its success in a new ad set.

2. Respect the Learning Phase

When you make a significant edit, the text under your ad's delivery status will switch back to "Learning." During this time (which typically requires about 50 conversions in a week), Facebook is learning how to best deliver your ad, and performance can be unstable. Minimize edits that reset this process.

3. Make Changes Infrequently

Avoid tweaking your ads every few hours. Algorithms need time and stable data to optimize. Make your edits, and then give the campaign at least 3-4 days to gather new data and stabilize before making another judgment call.

4. Keep a Simple Edits Log

When you're running multiple tests, it's easy to forget what you changed and when. You can either use the 'View History' feature in Ads manager or keep a simple spreadsheet noting the date, the change you made (e.g., "Increased daily budget from $20 to $30"), and the reason why. This creates a valuable record of what's working for your account over time.

Final Thoughts

Editing a Facebook ad through Ads Manager is a core skill for any marketer. By understanding which changes to make at the ad level versus the ad set level, you have full control over your campaigns. The real trick, however, is knowing when a small edit is the right call and when duplicating your ad is the smarter move to protect your campaign's performance.

Thinking about campaigns and an ad holistically ahead of time can save a lot of this editing stress. Seeing all your content in one big picture makes it easier to strategize and get everything right from the start. That's why we designed our platform, Postbase, around a visual calendar that shows all your scheduled content across every platform, paid and organic. It helps you get that bird's-eye view, spot gaps, and plan campaigns with confidence before you even hit 'Publish' in Ads Manager.