Bidding overview
Updated: Jun 28, 2026
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Ads in WhatsApp Status are available via the Marketing API. Learn more about ads in WhatsApp Status.
A bid expresses how much you value your ad reaching a target audience and delivering results on your
optimization_goal. bid_amount is the amount you want to spend to acquire a given event based on optimization_goal, and bid_strategy is how you want to control your spend on a given event based on optimization_goal.In the Facebook ad auction, Facebook evaluates your
bid_strategy, bid_amount, and the probability of acquiring your optimization_goal to calculate an effective bid so that you only win auctions and have your ads delivered when you are likely to reach your optimization_goal within certain bidding constraints such as cost per result.Meta consolidated the Reach and Impressions optimizations into a single optimization.
In the API, selecting the Reach optimization will return the value of “Impressions” in
optimization_goal and with the advertiser’s frequency control setting.Bidding and Optimization core concepts include:
- Bid Strategies - How you want to place your bids.
- Optimization Goals - Advertising goals you want to achieve when Facebook delivers your ads.
- Budgets
- Pacing and Scheduling - How your ads budget is spent over time.
- Campaign Budget Optimization - A way of optimizing the distribution of a campaign budget across your campaign’s ad sets.
- Billing Events - Events you want to pay for such as impressions, clicks, or various actions.
Bid setup
When you choose your bid:
- Set
bid_amountto the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for your advertising objective. - Decide whether to optimize for return on ad spend or for the number of results.
You can also set
objective and billing_event but neither directly impacts bid_amount or your effective bid. If a bid_amount is set, your actual cost per result is usually around or less than bid_amount, depending on your Bid Strategies.For example, use these settings to spend about $10.00 for 1,000 daily unique views:
- Campaign
objective:APP_INSTALLS - Ad set
optimization_goal:REACH - Ad set
billing_event:IMPRESSIONS
However, to spend $10.00 for each app install, use these settings:
- Campaign
objective:APP_INSTALLS - Ad set
optimization_goal:APP_INSTALLS - Ad set
billing_event:IMPRESSIONS
Optimization goals
Define advertising goals you want to achieve when Facebook delivers your ads. Facebook uses your ad set’s
optimization_goal to decide which people get your ad. For example with APP_INSTALLS, Facebook delivers your ad to people who are more likely to install your app.optimization_goal defaults to a goal associated with your objective. For example, if objective is APP_INSTALLS, optimization_goal defaults to APP_INSTALLS.Validation
These older objectives are deprecated with the release of Marketing API v17.0. Please refer to the Outcome-Driven Ads Experiences mapping table to find the new objectives and their corresponding destination types, optimization goals and promoted objects.
Certain campaign
objectives support only certain ad set optimization_goals:| Campaign objective | Default `optimization_goal` | Other valid `optimization_goal` |
|---|---|---|
APP_INSTALLS, promoting an Instant Experiences app | APP_INSTALLS | IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT |
APP_INSTALLS, promoting a mobile app | APP_INSTALLS | OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS, LINK_CLICKS, REACH and VALUE |
BRAND_AWARENESS | AD_RECALL_LIFT | REACH |
CONVERSIONS | OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS | IMPRESSIONS, LINK_CLICKS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH, VALUE, LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS, and CONVERSATIONS |
EVENT_RESPONSES, promoting an event | EVENT_RESPONSES | IMPRESSIONS, REACH |
EVENT_RESPONSES, promoting a Page post | EVENT_RESPONSES | IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH |
LEAD_GENERATION | LEAD_GENERATION | QUALITY_LEAD, LINK_CLICKS, and QUALITY_CALL |
LINK_CLICKS | LINK_CLICKS | IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH, LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS |
LINK_CLICKS, promoting an Instant Experiences app | ENGAGED_USERS | APP_INSTALLS, IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH |
LINK_CLICKS, promoting a mobile app | LINK_CLICKS | IMPRESSIONS, REACH, OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS |
MESSAGES | CONVERSATIONS | IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, LEAD_GENERATION, and LINK_CLICKS |
PAGE_LIKES | PAGE_LIKES | IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH |
POST_ENGAGEMENT | POST_ENGAGEMENT | IMPRESSIONS, REACH, and LINK_CLICKS |
PRODUCT_CATALOG_SALES | OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS or LINK_CLICKS | IMPRESSIONS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, REACH, CONVERSATIONS, and VALUE |
REACH | REACH | IMPRESSIONS |
VIDEO_VIEWS | THRUPLAY |
FAQ
The following answers address common questions about bidding and optimization goals.
What events does ‘POST_ENGAGEMENT’ cover?
Most actions in an ad, including link clicks, app installs, video viewing over a certain period, tag photo, like, comment, share, and so on.