How to Build a Facebook Ads Dashboard in Google Data Studio (Now Looker Studio)

You need data-driven decisions to succeed at running Facebook ad campaigns.

Relying on gut feeling alone is almost always a surefire way to throw money down the drain.

Although Meta Ads Manager has built-in analytics and reporting features, it's nowhere near as efficient when compared to business reporting and data management tools.

Google Data Studio (now called Looker Studio), for one, lets you view your data from never-before-seen angles.

It lets you do more with your data through advanced visualizations, third-party integrations, team collaboration features, and more.

Here's everything you need to know to build your Facebook Ads dashboard using Google Data Studio. 

Table of Contents

• Why Build a Facebook Ads Dashboard?
• Steps to Build Your Facebook Ads Dashboard in Google Data Studio
• Level up your Facebook Ads Dashboard with BI Software
• People Also Ask
• Create a Facebook Ads Dashboard Easily with Polymer

Why Build a Facebook Ads Dashboard?

Data dashboards showcase crucial metrics or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to help optimize advertising and marketing campaigns over time.

In Facebook Ads, here are examples of metrics and KPIs you need to track: 

• Cost Per Click (CPC): The average amount you spend on each ad click. The CPC metric is useful in planning your campaign budget in line with past performance. 
• Impressions: The total number of times your ad was shown on screen. This metric gauges the effectiveness of your targeting and bidding strategy but isn't reliable in predicting campaign success. 
• Landing Page Views: A KPI that measures the total number of visitors to your landing page. Unlike impressions, landing page views can be used to measure the effectiveness of your ad copy. 
• Cost Per Purchase (CPP): The average cost of each sale through your ad campaign. To calculate your campaign's CPP, divide the total cost by the number of purchases. 
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): This KPI measures the likelihood of users to click your ad once it's displayed. Split testing and comparing the CTR of two ad variations helps optimize your copy for maximum clicks. 

Meta Ads Manager comes with built-in reporting tools that help track these numbers. However, the platform has limited data visualization and export options. 

As such, some businesses opt for third-party reporting solutions like Google Data Studio. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Here are the top benefits of creating a Facebook Ads dashboard: 

1. Access advanced data visualization options

Dashboard software like Google Data Studio enables more advanced data visualizations and reporting features while simplifying the user experience. 

With Meta Ads Manager, campaign reports can be visualized separately as pivot tables, trend charts, or bar graphs. But with Google Data Studio, you can combine multiple data visualizations in a single dashboard. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

2. Save time

Dashboard tools include different time-saving features like automation workflows and templates. 

For example, Google Data Studio includes customizable, pre-built dashboards for specific data sets. These are available from the "Template Gallery" when creating a new dashboard. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

In addition, Google Data Studio lets you automate emails that contain PDF attachments of your reports. This ensures team members, clients, and other data stakeholders are up to speed with the latest data. 

3. Improve data sharing and collaboration

BI tools streamline data imports and exports between multiple data management applications. 

Since most BI tools are cloud-based, they also simplify data sharing and collaboration between multiple users. 

For instance, to share a Google Data Studio dashboard with your colleagues, simply enter their email or create a shareable link. Use the drop-down menu to quickly define access privileges for specific users. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

4. Enhance decision-making 

Dashboards let you organize metrics and KPIs into visualized sections. 

For businesses, organized data makes it easier to convert information into data-driven decisions. A good example would be a pivot table that highlights your top-performing traffic channels. 

When it comes to Facebook Ads, dashboards can instantly reveal your best-performing active campaigns, ads with the highest CTR, and so on. 

TL;DR: Why Polymer is the best tool to create a Facebook Ads Dashboard

Building a Facebook Ads dashboard is time-consuming and tedious if done manually. What’s more, you end up working with stale data since the updates aren’t done automatically.

Polymer’s no-code solution is perfect for creating stunning visualizations and reports for your Facebook ads.

It’s easy to set up, affordable, and it lets you automatically update data since it’s linked through Polymer’s data connector directly within the platform. 

The automatic data syncing gets the latest data to Polymer and your saved reports, saving you from time-consuming, manual data updating and ensuring accurate, updated reports. 

The software lets you connect your data source, organize and filter your data, and build your charts, visualizations, and dashboards in a snap. 

You can use templates and customize your Facebook Ads dashboard and other charts and graphs accordingly and share access to certain users. 

Steps to Build Your Facebook Ads Dashboard in Google Data Studio

Follow these steps to quickly build a Facebook Ads dashboard using Google Data Studio: 

1. Export your Ads Manager data

You can use paid third-party tools and data connectors to export your data from Ads Manager to Google Data Studio.

However, data connectors can be quite expensive. Manual exports are a more cost-effective option, albeit less ideal, as they are time-consuming and prone to human errors.

The steps below walk you through manually exporting your campaign data to build a Google Data Studio dashboard for Facebook ads. 

Log in to your Meta Ads Manager account and head to 'Campaigns.'

Image Source: AdsManager.Facebook.com

Use the checkboxes to select the campaign you want to collect data for. From there, click the 'Reports' drop-down menu and select 'Export table data.'

Image Source: AdsManager.Facebook.com

In the pop-up window, choose whether to download your data as a CSV or XLS (Microsoft Excel) file. You also have the option to include deleted data and a summary row. 

2. Import your data

Although you can't import local data directly into Google Data Studio, you can import data from data connectors like Google Sheets. 

First, log in to your Google Sheets account and create a blank document. From there, click 'File' and select 'Import' to proceed. 

Image Source: Docs.Google.com

In the "Import file" window, switch to the 'Upload' tab and click 'Browse' to locate your Facebook Ads data file. Alternatively, have the file's folder open and drag it into the Google Sheets window. 

You then have to specify the import location and separator type for your new spreadsheet. 

If you have another important spreadsheet open, be sure to select 'Create new spreadsheet.' Otherwise, feel free to use the default options and click 'Import data.'

Image Source: Docs.Google.com

Save your new spreadsheet and head back to Google Data Studio to create a data source. At this point, you may organize and configure the appearance of your spreadsheet to your liking. 

From the man dashboard, click 'Create' and select 'Data source.' 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Under "Google Connectors," select 'Google Sheets' and click 'Authorize.' Sign in to your Google account to continue setting up your data source. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Upon logging in, find and select the worksheet that contains your Facebook ads data. Double-check the options to ensure it matches your needs and click 'Connect' in the top-right corner. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Give the tool some time to finish pulling in the data. 

Google Data Studio will then redirect you to the data source configuration page. This is where you can customize the report's dimensions. 

Unless your report contains custom metrics, it's recommended to leave the default configuration for all pre-set dimensions. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

3. Build and design your charts

After configuring your data source, it's time to design your Facebook Ads dashboard. 

First, click 'Explore' in the top-right corner of the data source configuration page. This will load the "Explorer" editor, which lets you convert your Facebook Ads data into more readable visualizations. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Google Data Studio's drag-and-drop interface streamlines the dashboard creation process with a handful of pre-built, customizable charts. This includes pie charts, stacked bar charts, gauges, pivot tables, treemaps, line charts, and more. 

To insert new charts, use the shortcut panel to the right of the editor. Alternatively, click 'Add a chart' in the main toolbar for the complete list of built-in data visualizations you can use. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

You can also source third-party visualizations to incorporate more advanced and interactive charts into your dashboard. 

To do this, click the shapes icon or "Community visualizations and components" button. In the pop-up window, click 'Explore more' to view more third-party data visualizations. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

4. Customize your charts and add controls to create your dashboard

After selecting a data visualization, go to the 'Setup' tab in the right sidebar. Here, you can blend data from multiple data sources, define the correct dimensions, set your metrics, and more. 

You may also control the applicable interactivity pictures at the bottom of the setup panel. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

To personalize the appearance of your visualization, switch over to the 'Style' tab. 

Take note that the customization options available depend on the visualization type. For example, when personalizing a pivot table, you can only modify the table header formatting, labels, and colors. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

5. Share your dashboard

Take your time to construct your new dashboard to ensure every data set is presented correctly and meaningfully. When done, it's time to share your dashboard with colleagues or clients. 

Click 'Save' to enable dashboard sharing in Google Data Studio. Unless you save your dashboard, the 'Share' button in the top-right corner is greyed out. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Next, click 'Add To Report' to confirm that you're sharing the correct data source. With the data ready, click 'Share' again to load the sharing tool. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

In the sharing window, add members by entering their email address. 

Alternatively, use a shareable link to grant certain individuals access to your dashboard. 

To do this, select either 'Unlisted' or 'Public' under the "Link settings" drop-down menu. After which, click 'Copy link' to generate a shareable link to your dashboard. 

Remember, pick "Unlisted" if you want to share your dashboard link yourself. If you choose "Public," anyone can search for your dashboard via the Google Data Studio platform—regardless if they received the shareable link or not. 

Be sure to specify the access type of users who use your link. This can either be "Editor" or "Viewer." 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Here’s a sample Google Data Studio dashboard template for Facebook Ads:

Image Source: Oneppcagency.co.uk

While the template shows crucial data about your ad campaigns, the template looks clunky and complex. 

You can always customize the design (as much as possible) or use different templates, but that entails more work.

Level up your Facebook Ads Dashboard with a Real BI Software Without the BS

Google Data Studio is a trusted dashboard platform with dozens of integrations. 

But this doesn’t mean it’s the best solution.

Use a full-fledged BI platform like Polymer, instead.

The software is loaded with customization, automation, and AI features that supercharge building Facebook Ads dashboards and other data visualizations. 

Polymer’s no-code solution eliminates manual data exports, complex setups, or using costly data connectors, allowing you to build dashboards quickly and easily. 

The software’s additional features allow you to:

• Access your data anywhere via embed codes. Use the embed code generator to access your data from your website, CMS, or external AI data tools. You can even generate embed codes for specific data sections and visualizations. 
• Consolidate your data with third-party connectors. Designate your Polymer workspace as your centralized data management hub. With the help of data source connectors, easily pull in data from third-party platforms like Zendesk, Google Analytics 4, Jira, Airtable, Facebook Ads, and more. 
• Take custom branding and personalization to the next level. Easily modify your app customization, data presentation, and gallery interactivity settings from one location. Polymer also lets you configure your data columns on a granular level, letting you create custom column descriptions, control data sorting, manage data searchability, and more. 

Here’s how you can streamline building your Facebook Ads dashboard with Polymer. 

1. Import data with the Polymer data connector

Polymer offers data connectors for multiple systems and platforms, including Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and Google Analytics, to get all your data in one place.

To connect your Facebook Ads campaign data, select Facebook Ads as your Data Source and follow the prompts to link your account. 

Once connected, Polymer’s live connector to Facebook will pull your data into the platform, ready for you to use and visualize. 

2. Build your Facebook Ads dashboard

After importing your data source, quickly build a visual dashboard from scratch using AI-based suggestions. 

You can reveal advanced insights like your total ad spend over the last seven days, top-performing ad campaigns, total monthly clicks, and more with a single click. 

Use Polymer's block-based, user-friendly editor and raw features to create and customize your visualizations easily. 

Within a few clicks, create hyper-personalized pivot tables, line plots, heatmaps, dependency wheels, funnels, scorecards, ROI calculators, and so on.

A completed Facebook Ads dashboard can look like this:

You can also set Polymer to automatically update your linked Facebook Ads dataset, feeding live data into your dashboards.

Polymer’s auto-syncing eliminates static dashboard data that require you to manually export your Facebook Ads data each time you need to update your dashboards. 

3. Use the customizable Facebook Ad template

To save even more time, Polymer provides a few pre-configured and AI-generated report templates. Just go to the 'Boards' tab, highlight the report you need, and click 'Open Board.' 

Customize the template accordingly by adding blocks, adjusting the data filters and metrics you want to highlight, rearranging your data, hiding empty values, and more. 

Using the ready-made templates is simple and quick, allowing you to build and customize your Facebook Ads dashboard with a few clicks and tweaks.  

4. Share your dashboard

If you need to share your dashboard, click the 'Share' button in the top-right corner anytime. This will generate a shareable link with the specified access permissions to your dashboard.

While Google Data Studio offers free and paid versions, including reliable customer support, it doesn’t offer the live data connection that Polymer has. 

To get live data from data sources other than those within the Google workspace, you’ll need to pay for data connectors which are often costly.

People Also Ask

Can Google Data Studio connect to Facebook Ads? 

Yes, you can link Google Data Studio to your Facebook Ads account via paid data connectors like Supermetrics or manual data imports. 

However, paid data connectors can be costly and manual imports are tedious and time-consuming, not to mention open to errors that can lead to inaccurate reports and dashboards. 

Consider the pros and cons before using Google Data Studio. 

Is Google Data Studio free for commercial use? 

Yes, creators and report viewers with a Google account can use Google Data Studio for free to visualize their data. 

Enterprise users can upgrade to the paid version (Google Data/Looker Studio Pro) to access more features, including expanded admin options and team content management tools.

However, the paid version is costly and you also need to pay extra for the data connectors.

What is the alternative for Google Data Studio? 

If you're not happy with Google Data Studio, consider other Business Intelligence platforms with more modern features. Polymer, for instance, offers AI-based suggestions to quickly extract insights from your data. 

Create a Facebook Ads Dashboard Easily with Polymer

While you can build your Facebook Ads dashboard with Google Data Studio, it has several limitations and can be costly since you need to invest in paid data connectors to get live data. 

It’s also not the most beautiful platform, and your dashboards can come out looking clunky and overwhelming if you don’t spend time tweaking and customizing the reports.

Polymer allows you to build a better, more insightful, and more visually appealing Facebook Ads dashboard with live data while analyzing your data with more flexibility—all at a more affordable price. 

Polymer supports direct data imports from Facebook Ads through its data connector. 

You don't need to manually export your data, upload it to Google Sheets, and build your data source from the ground up on top of creating your dashboard. 

See Polymer in action today by creating a free trial account.