Campaign Builder

The Campaign Builder is where you build your campaigns. You work on a canvas: add a campaign, then ad sets under it, then ads under each ad set. Each item is a node you can double-click to open a form and edit. Your changes are saved on the canvas; when you’re ready, you Publish to send them to the platform (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, or Google).

Comprehensive Documentation: For detailed information about the Campaign Builder, see Campaign Builder Overview, Node Types, Canvas Operations, Connections, and Platform Capabilities.

How the canvas works

What you see	What it is
Campaign	Top level. You choose platform (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Google), objective, and budget.
Ad set	Under a campaign. You set audience (targeting), schedule, and optimization goal.
Ad	Under an ad set. You set the creative: copy, headline, image or video, and call-to-action.

You can also bring in a campaign from another platform using Cross-Transfer; that adds a full campaign tree to the canvas so you can review and edit before publishing.

Basic workflow

Open the Campaign Builder

Click Campaign Builder in the sidebar.

Add a campaign

Click + Campaign, choose Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, or Google, and fill in the campaign form (double-click the new node if the modal didn’t open).

Add ad sets

Click + Ad Set on the campaign node. Double-click each ad set to set targeting, schedule, and optimization.

Add ads

Click + Ad on an ad set. Double-click each ad to add creative (copy, media, CTA).

Save your work

Click Save in any form. Your changes are stored on the canvas. Nothing is sent to the platform yet.

Publish when ready

Click Publish in the top bar. Whathead sends new or updated campaigns, ad sets, and ads to your connected account.

Create new vs select existing

Campaign
Ad set
Ad

Create new — All fields are available. You choose objective, name, budget, and so on.
Select existing — You pick a campaign from your connected account. The form is filled with its current settings. You can edit only what the platform allows (e.g. name, budget, status). Objective and similar fields stay locked.

Select existing only works if you’ve connected that platform in Integrations and chosen an ad account. If nothing appears, check your connection and selected account.

Which fields you can edit (existing items)

Level	Typically editable	Typically locked
Campaign	Name, label, budget, status, dates, bid strategy	Objective, platform, campaign type
Ad set	Name, label, budget, targeting, placements, bid, status	Optimization goal, billing event
Ad (Meta / TikTok / Google)	Name, label, copy, headline, URL, CTA, creative	Format, link to ad set
Ad (Snapchat)	Name, label, copy, headline, media, CTA, status	Format, link to ad set

Snapchat: Snapchat supports updating creative on existing ads. When you change copy, headline, or creative, Whathead updates the existing ad via Snapchat’s API.

Common workflows

What you want to do	How	Then
Build from scratch	Add campaign → ad sets → ads (Create New). Fill forms, Save.	Publish → everything is created on Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, or Google.
Edit something that already exists on the platform	Add campaign/ad set/ad → choose Select Existing → pick from your account. Edit, Save.	Publish → only that item is updated; unchanged siblings are skipped.
Bring in a full campaign from the platform	Add campaign → Select Existing → pick campaign. Use Expand on the campaign node to load its ad sets (and expand ad sets to load ads). Edit as needed, Save.	Publish → changed items update, unchanged skip.
Duplicate a campaign or ad set or ad	Copy the node (Ctrl+C / Cmd+C), Paste (Ctrl+V / Cmd+V). Edit if you want, Save.	Publish → the pasted tree is created as new (no link to the original).
Move an ad to another ad set	Drag the ad node and connect it to the other ad set (reconnect). Save.	Publish → a new ad is created under the new ad set (platforms don’t support moving ads).
Move an ad set to another campaign	Reconnect the ad set node to the other campaign. Save.	Publish → a new ad set and new ads are created under the new campaign.
Copy a campaign from Snapchat to Meta (or vice versa)	Use Cross-Transfer (Campaign Builder or Publish). Select source campaign, fetch ad sets/ads, choose destination, Save to canvas.	Publish from the publish modal using the Cross-Transfer mode → all items are created on the destination platform.

These behaviors are the same for Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google except where we note platform differences. See Publishing for the full “What happens when I…” matrix and platform details.

Keyboard shortcuts

Master these shortcuts to work faster on the canvas:

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+C (Cmd+C)	Copy selected nodes
Ctrl+V (Cmd+V)	Paste copied nodes
Ctrl+X (Cmd+X)	Cut selected nodes
Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z)	Undo last action
Ctrl+Y (Cmd+Y)	Redo last undone action
Ctrl+L (Cmd+L)	Auto-link selected nodes
Ctrl+A (Cmd+A)	Select all nodes
Delete	Delete selected nodes
Escape	Clear selection or close dialogs

For more shortcuts and canvas operations, see Canvas Operations.

Next steps