8 Steps to Prepare Your Meta Ads Account Before a Seasonal Campaign

Meta's ad platform went through significant changes in 2026. The new AI engine Andromeda launched, Advantage+ campaign structures were renamed, and the learning phase threshold was raised. Entering a seasonal campaign without being aware of these changes means being caught off guard. The 8 steps below show you the practical way to get your account ready for periods like holidays, New Year, or Black Friday.

1. Check Pixel and CAPI Health

Open Events Manager and check your event match quality score. If this score is below 7, your ads are not reaching the right people. As of 2026, accounts using only Pixel can miss more than half of actual conversions due to iOS and browser privacy changes. CAPI (Conversions API) is no longer an option — it is practically a necessity. There is a one-click setup option in Events Manager that requires no technical knowledge. Make sure ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, and Purchase events are firing correctly.

2. Update Your Product Catalog

Are the stock status, prices, and descriptions of products in your catalog up to date? Don't forget to add the 'sale_price' field to your feed to reflect seasonal discounts. For visuals, use at least 1024x1024 in the feed and vertical 9:16 format for Reels and Stories ads. If there are incorrect or missing records in the catalog, Advantage+ automated shopping campaigns won't work properly.

Steps 3–8: A Step-by-Step Preparation Plan

• 3. FILL YOUR WARM AUDIENCE POOL (6–8 WEEKS BEFORE): Before the season, allocate a large portion of your budget to the awareness and consideration stages. Your goal is to build a broad warm audience of website visitors, video viewers, and page engagers. When the season starts, converting these people is much cheaper and more effective.
• 4. CREATIVE PREPARATION (AT LEAST 3 FORMATS): Prepare three different formats: vertical video (Reels, 15–30 seconds), square static image (for direct sales), and 4:5 vertical image (feed). Try multiple different hook messages in each format. Videos shot with a phone camera, looking ordinary, often outperform studio-quality content.
• 5. ADVANTAGE+ SALES CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE: In 2026, the old Advantage+ Shopping Campaign structure is being removed, replaced by Advantage+ Sales Campaign. In the new structure, you set the country, budget, and creatives — leave the audience to the algorithm. With the 'existing customer budget cap' feature, you can also control how much resource goes toward new customer acquisition.
• 6. BUDGET CALENDAR: Ad costs can rise between 20% and 80% during peak season weeks. Factor this increase in from the start and grow your budget accordingly. Use a total (lifetime) budget with start and end dates instead of a daily budget — this lets the algorithm spend more on high-demand days.
• 7. LAYER YOUR RETARGETING: Show a direct purchase offer to visitors and cart abandoners from the last 7–14 days, social proof and benefit highlights to 30–90 day engagers, and brand introduction to cold audiences. Set up audience exclusions so the same person does not receive multiple campaigns simultaneously.
• 8. KEEP CREATIVES FRESH: During the season, users see so many ads that a creative can experience fatigue within 3–4 days. Add a new visual or video version every few days. Instead of pausing a campaign with declining performance, refresh the creatives — if you pause the campaign, the learning phase restarts from scratch.

In seasonal advertising, the winners are those who are ready when the season begins — not those who try to prepare after it starts.

— Adorb Dijital

Meta advertising changes every year. Given the Andromeda engine, new Advantage+ structures, and rising CPM costs, we recommend reviewing this list from scratch before each season. You can get in touch with our team to assess your account's current state and understand where you stand.