Meta Ads connection

What it reads

For each connected ad account, Growth Dept MTA reads spend, impressions and link clicks by ad and day, with the names and IDs of its campaigns, ad sets and ads and the ads' thumbnails.

It also reads hourly spend, view-through conversions, and Meta's own reported purchases and purchase value. Those are read twice: under the 1-day click, 7-day click and 1-day view windows, and at each ad's own attribution setting. They fill the Meta platform-reported columns in your reports.

A pull runs about once an hour and re-reads the last 7 days, and a nightly pull re-reads the last 30. Each pull replaces the rows for its window, so days that Meta restates end up matching Meta. Spend is converted to the brand's currency as it arrives, at the European Central Bank rate for each day.

Connecting

1. Sign in to Growth Dept MTA as an owner or admin of the brand's organization. Other members can see Settings > Connections but cannot change it.
2. Open Settings > Connections and click Connect on the Meta Ads card.
3. Meta shows its own sign-in and permission screen. Sign in as a Meta user who can see the ad accounts you want, and approve the request.
4. Back in Growth Dept MTA, the page lists every ad account that login reaches. Tick the ones that belong to this brand and click Connect.
5. Each account you chose appears on the card, and a backfill starts over the brand's lookback window (Settings > Lookback window), or as far back as Meta keeps data if that is shorter. Scheduled pulls take over from there.

To add accounts later, click Connect beside Link an additional ad account on the same card. If the list comes up empty, the login you used reaches no ad accounts: connect again as a user who has access to them.

If you have been sending Meta Ads spend through the spend API or a spreadsheet, remove those rows before you connect. They carry their own account ID, so they would be counted on top of the connected account's spend. Settings > Data Spreadsheets lists each upload. Once the connection is live, the spend API and spreadsheets refuse new Meta Ads rows.

If the card says “Meta Ads connection is not set up on this server yet.”, the Connect button stays off until Growth Dept registers its Meta app. Email support@growthdept.ai if you see it.

Tracking parameters

Each Meta ad needs these URL parameters so that a visit from it resolves to its campaign, ad set and ad. Add them in the ad's Tracking section in Ads Manager. Settings > UTM guide in Growth Dept MTA shows the same string with a copy button.

utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_term={{adset.name}}&utm_content={{ad.name}}&nbt=nb:fb:{{site_source_name}}:{{campaign.id}}:{{adset.id}}:{{ad.id}}&nb_placement={{placement}}

Limits

• Growth Dept MTA only reads from Meta. It does not change campaigns, budgets or ads.
• Meta's reported conversions are Meta's own credit, under Meta's attribution settings. They fill the Meta platform-reported columns and are not part of Growth Dept MTA's attribution.
• When Meta's rate limits are reached, the pull waits as long as Meta asks and carries on in a follow-up job, so a long backfill can take several runs to finish.
• If Meta rejects the stored token, or refuses to refresh it, the account's row on the card shows the error, and the account has to be connected again.

Disconnecting

Each linked account has its own Disconnect button in its row on the Meta Ads card. Only owners and admins can use it. After you confirm:

• Syncing for that account stops.
• The stored access token is deleted.
• Data already pulled stays in your reports.

Connecting the account again later starts a new backfill.