If your Meta ad account is brand new with no conversion history, the recommended approach is to start with Maximize Conversions, as it's far more effective at driving meaningful outcomes than Manual CPC.
However, this strategy requires sufficient budget (at least 5x your target cost per acquisition daily) and patience, since early conversions may come at a higher cost while Meta's algorithm gathers data.
If your budget is too limited for effective learning, begin with Manual CPC to collect 15-20 conversions before switching to automated bidding.
Importantly, avoid Traffic or Engagement campaigns unless brand awareness is your sole objective, as they optimize for the wrong metrics and can attract low-intent users.
For particularly challenging conversion environments (like high-ticket B2B), consider starting with a micro-conversion event to help train the algorithm before optimizing for your primary goal.
