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Node Types

Nodes are the building blocks of your campaign structures in the Campaign Builder. Each node type represents a different level in the advertising hierarchy and has its own set of configurable properties. Understanding what each node type does and what you can configure helps you build effective campaigns.
What you’ll learn:
  • Campaign node properties and configuration
  • Ad set node properties and targeting options
  • Ad node properties and creative configuration
  • Platform-specific variations for each node type

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Campaign Nodes

Campaign nodes are the top-level containers in your campaign hierarchy. They define the overall objective, budget, and strategy for your advertising efforts. All ad sets and ads beneath a campaign inherit its optimization goals.

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Core Campaign Properties

Every campaign node requires these fundamental properties: Campaign Name
  • Descriptive identifier for your campaign
  • Visible in platform portals and reporting
  • Use clear naming conventions for easy identification
  • Example: “Summer Sale 2024 - Awareness”
Platform
  • Which advertising platform this campaign belongs to
  • Options: Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Google
  • Cannot be changed after creation
  • Determines which portal and ad account the campaign publishes to
Ad Account
  • Which ad account within the platform to use
  • Must be connected through the Portal System
  • Different ad accounts can have different permissions and billing
Objective
  • What you want to achieve with this campaign
  • Determines how the platform optimizes delivery
  • Common objectives: Sales, Traffic, Awareness, Engagement, App Installs, Lead Generation
  • Platform-specific objectives vary (see platform tabs below)
You cannot connect campaigns with different objectives to the same ad set node. Ad sets inherit optimization goals from their parent campaign, so all parent campaigns must have compatible objectives.
Budget Type
  • Daily Budget: Maximum spend per day
  • Lifetime Budget: Total spend over the campaign duration
  • Platform availability varies
Budget Amount
  • How much you’re willing to spend
  • Must meet platform minimum requirements
  • Meta: 1/dayminimum,TikTok:1/day minimum, TikTok: 20/day minimum, Snapchat: 5/dayminimum,Google:5/day minimum, Google: 10/day minimum
Campaign Status
  • Active: Campaign is running or scheduled to run
  • Paused: Campaign is temporarily stopped
  • Draft: Campaign is not yet published
  • Archived: Campaign is permanently stopped (some platforms)

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Platform-Specific Campaign Properties

Different platforms offer different objectives, bidding strategies, and campaign types. Use the tabs below to see what’s available for each platform:
Meta Campaign Objectives:
  • Awareness - Reach people and build brand awareness
  • Traffic - Send people to a destination (website, app, Messenger)
  • Engagement - Get more post engagement, page likes, or event responses
  • Leads - Collect leads for your business
  • App Promotion - Get more app installs or app events
  • Sales - Find people likely to purchase your products or services
Meta Bidding Strategies:
  • Lowest Cost - Get the most results for your budget
  • Cost Cap - Control cost per result
  • Bid Cap - Control maximum bid in auctions
  • ROAS Goal - Target a return on ad spend
Meta Campaign Types:
  • Regular campaigns
  • A/B test campaigns
  • Advantage+ Shopping campaigns (automated)
Meta Special Ad Categories:If your ads relate to credit, employment, housing, or social issues, you must declare a special ad category. This restricts targeting options to comply with regulations.

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Campaign Node Actions

When you interact with a campaign node, you can:
  • Edit - Double-click to open configuration form
  • Add Ad Set - Click + Ad Set button to create child ad sets
  • Expand - Right-click and choose Expand to fetch existing ad sets from platform
  • Duplicate - Copy the campaign and all its children
  • Delete - Remove the campaign and all its children from canvas
  • Publish - Send the campaign to the platform
Use descriptive campaign names that include the objective, target audience, and time period. This makes reporting and management much easier. Example: “Q4-2024-Holiday-Sales-Retargeting”

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Ad Set Nodes

Ad set nodes (called Ad Groups on TikTok and Google, Ad Squads on Snapchat) are the middle tier of your campaign hierarchy. They define who sees your ads, where they see them, and when they see them.

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Core Ad Set Properties

Every ad set node requires these properties: Ad Set Name
  • Descriptive identifier for this ad set
  • Use names that describe the targeting or audience
  • Example: “Women-25-34-Fashion-Interests”
Targeting
  • Who will see your ads
  • Includes demographics, interests, behaviors, custom audiences
  • Platform-specific targeting options vary significantly
  • See platform tabs below for details
Placements
  • Where your ads will appear
  • Options: Feed, Stories, Reels, Search, Display Network, etc.
  • Automatic placements let the platform optimize
  • Manual placements give you control
Schedule
  • When your ads will run
  • Start date (required)
  • End date (optional for ongoing campaigns)
  • Dayparting: Run ads only on specific days or times
Optimization Goal
  • What the platform optimizes for
  • Inherited from campaign objective
  • Examples: Conversions, Link Clicks, Impressions, Reach
Bid Strategy
  • How much you’re willing to pay
  • Inherited from campaign or set at ad set level
  • Platform-specific options

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Platform-Specific Ad Set Properties

Meta Targeting Options:
  • Demographics - Age (13-65+), gender, education, job title, life events
  • Location - Countries, regions, cities, postal codes, radius around address
  • Interests - Based on pages liked, activities, and content engaged with
  • Behaviors - Purchase behavior, device usage, travel patterns
  • Custom Audiences - Your customer lists, website visitors, app users
  • Lookalike Audiences - People similar to your existing customers
  • Detailed Targeting Expansion - Let Meta find additional relevant people
Meta Placements:
  • Facebook: Feed, Stories, Reels, In-stream videos, Search results, Instant Articles
  • Instagram: Feed, Stories, Reels, Explore
  • Messenger: Inbox, Stories, Sponsored Messages
  • Audience Network: Native, banner, interstitial ads on partner apps
Meta Optimization Goals:
  • Conversions, Link Clicks, Impressions, Reach, Daily Unique Reach, Landing Page Views, Post Engagement, Video Views, Thruplay
Meta Special Considerations:
  • Special Ad Categories restrict targeting for credit, employment, housing, social issues
  • Advantage+ Audience expands targeting automatically
  • Detailed targeting can combine interests with AND/OR logic

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Ad Set Node Actions

When you interact with an ad set node, you can:
  • Edit - Double-click to open configuration form
  • Add Ad - Click + Ad button to create child ads
  • Expand - Right-click and choose Expand to fetch existing ads from platform
  • Duplicate - Copy the ad set and all its ads
  • Reconnect - Drag connection to a different campaign (creates duplicate on publish)
  • Delete - Remove the ad set and all its ads from canvas
Reconnecting an ad set to a different campaign creates a duplicate ad set under the new campaign when you publish. Platforms don’t support moving ad sets between campaigns.
Create multiple ad sets with different targeting to test which audiences perform best. Use clear naming to identify what makes each ad set unique.

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Ad Nodes

Ad nodes are the bottom tier of your campaign hierarchy. They contain your creative content, messaging, and call-to-action. This is what your audience actually sees.

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Core Ad Properties

Every ad node requires these properties: Ad Name
  • Descriptive identifier for this ad
  • Use names that describe the creative or message
  • Example: “Summer-Sale-Video-CTA-ShopNow”
Ad Format
  • Single Image - One static image
  • Single Video - One video
  • Carousel - Multiple images or videos users can swipe through
  • Collection - Product catalog showcase
  • Stories - Vertical full-screen format
  • Platform-specific formats vary
Creative Assets
  • Images, videos, or other media
  • Must meet platform specifications (dimensions, file size, format)
  • Upload new assets or select from media library
  • See platform tabs below for requirements
Ad Copy
  • Primary Text - Main message (character limits vary by platform)
  • Headline - Short attention-grabbing text
  • Description - Additional details (not all formats support this)
  • Character limits vary by platform and placement
Call-to-Action (CTA)
  • Button text that tells users what to do
  • Options: Shop Now, Learn More, Sign Up, Download, Apply Now, etc.
  • Platform-specific CTA options vary
Destination
  • Where users go when they click your ad
  • Website URL, app deep link, Messenger conversation, etc.
  • Must include tracking parameters for measurement

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Platform-Specific Ad Properties

Meta Ad Formats:
  • Single Image - 1:1 square or other aspect ratios
  • Single Video - Various aspect ratios (1:1, 4:5, 9:16, 16:9)
  • Carousel - 2-10 images or videos
  • Collection - Cover image/video + product catalog
  • Instant Experience - Full-screen mobile landing page
Meta Creative Specifications:
  • Image: 1080 x 1080 px minimum, JPG or PNG, max 30MB
  • Video: 1080 x 1080 px minimum, MP4 or MOV, max 4GB, max 240 minutes
  • Carousel: Same specs as single image/video
  • Text: Primary text 125 characters, Headline 40 characters, Description 30 characters
Meta Call-to-Action Options:
  • Shop Now, Learn More, Sign Up, Download, Book Now, Contact Us, Apply Now, Get Quote, Subscribe, Watch More, Play Game, Listen Now, Send Message, and more
Meta Special Features:
  • Dynamic Creative - Automatically test combinations of creative elements
  • Advantage+ Creative - AI-enhanced creative optimization
  • Text overlay limits - Keep text under 20% of image area

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Ad Node Actions

When you interact with an ad node, you can:
  • Edit - Double-click to open configuration form
  • Preview - See how your ad will look on different placements
  • Duplicate - Copy the ad
  • Reconnect - Drag connection to a different ad set (creates duplicate on publish)
  • Delete - Remove the ad from canvas
Test multiple ad variations with different creative, copy, or CTAs to see what resonates with your audience. Use clear naming to track which variation is which.

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Node Status Indicators

All nodes show visual indicators for their current status:
  • Green checkmark - Node is valid and ready to publish
  • Red warning icon - Node has validation errors that must be fixed
  • Blue info icon - Node has warnings or suggestions
  • Gray appearance - Node is paused or inactive
  • Dashed border - Node is currently selected
Hover over status icons to see detailed messages about what needs attention.

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Node Configuration Best Practices

Campaign Nodes:
  • Use clear, descriptive names that include objective and time period
  • Set realistic budgets based on your goals and platform minimums
  • Choose objectives that align with your business goals
  • Group related campaigns on the canvas for easy management
Ad Set Nodes:
  • Create separate ad sets for different audience segments
  • Use descriptive names that identify the targeting strategy
  • Test broad vs narrow targeting to find what works
  • Set appropriate bid strategies based on your goals
Ad Nodes:
  • Follow platform creative specifications exactly
  • Write compelling copy that speaks to your target audience
  • Use high-quality images and videos
  • Test multiple creative variations
  • Include clear calls-to-action
  • Ensure destination URLs work and load quickly
Learn more about canvas operations in Canvas Operations and publishing behavior in Publishing Workflow.

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Next Steps

Connections and Hierarchy

Learn how nodes connect and what hierarchy rules you must follow.

Canvas Operations

Master selecting, moving, copying, and organizing nodes on the canvas.

Publishing Workflow

Understand what happens when you publish campaigns to platforms.

Platform-Specific Guides

Deep dive into platform-specific requirements and features.

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Common Questions

No, you cannot change a node’s platform after creation. The platform determines which API Whathead uses to publish, and changing it would break the connection. If you need to move a campaign to a different platform, use the cross-platform transfer feature to copy the campaign structure to a new campaign node with the correct platform.
Nodes with missing required fields show a red warning icon. You cannot publish campaigns with validation errors. Click the node to see which fields need to be filled in, complete them, and the warning will clear.
Yes, but each platform has different creative specifications. An image that works for Meta might not meet TikTok’s requirements. Check each platform’s specifications and create versions of your creative that meet all requirements. Use bulk media upload to upload assets to all platforms at once.
Different platforms offer different objectives based on their capabilities and ad products. For example, TikTok groups objectives into Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion categories, while Meta uses different objective names. Choose the objective that best matches your goal on each platform.
Campaign budget controls spending at the campaign level and is distributed across all ad sets. Ad set budget controls spending for that specific ad set. Some platforms support both, some only support one. Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) automatically distributes budget to the best-performing ad sets.
Yes, but some fields become locked after publishing depending on the platform. For example, you usually cannot change the objective or platform after publishing. Double-click a published node to see which fields are editable. Changes you make will update the existing campaign when you republish.
Choose ad formats based on your creative assets and campaign goals. Video performs well for engagement and awareness. Carousel works well for showcasing multiple products. Single image is simple and effective for most objectives. Test different formats to see what works best for your audience.
Whathead validates creative assets against platform requirements. If an asset doesn’t meet specifications (wrong dimensions, file too large, unsupported format), you’ll see a validation error. Upload a new asset that meets the requirements, or use Whathead’s creative tools to resize or convert your assets.

Campaign Builder Overview

Learn how the visual canvas works and basic operations for building campaigns.

Connections and Hierarchy

Understand node relationships and hierarchy rules for campaign structures.

Canvas Operations

Master canvas operations like selection, copying, and moving nodes.

Publishing Workflow

Learn what happens when you publish campaigns to platforms.

Platform-Specific Guides

Explore platform-specific requirements and features for Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google.

Validation Errors

Understand validation rules and how to fix common errors.