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Campaigns: create, edit, pause and archive your ad campaigns
The Campaigns page lists the ad campaigns on your connected platforms. It includes campaigns you create in Nexus and campaigns you made on Meta or Google. Open it from Performance > Campaigns.
Problem and intended user
This page is for the media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads) and the ecommerce manager (the person who runs the store). Campaigns sit in two ad platforms, each with its own budget and status, so a paused or empty campaign can go unnoticed.
Current workflow
You open Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads in turn and copy campaign names, budgets and statuses into a spreadsheet to compare them. You create each campaign in its own platform.
Prerequisites
- Connect Meta Ads, Google Ads or both, and wait for the first ad sync to finish.
- Set up an ad budget for each platform you want to create campaigns on. Go to Settings > Integrations, open the Meta Ads or Google Ads connection, and select Set up ad budget. The panel asks for a Monthly Budget and a Bid Strategy. See Meta Ads and Google Ads.
- For a Meta conversion campaign, connect a Meta Pixel first. Without one, the form warns that your ads run with limited optimization. The warning links to Connect a Pixel. See Ad Deployment.
How Nexus works
Nexus reads the campaigns that Meta and Google report at each ad sync and adds the ones you create. Fixed rules, not AI, produce the list and the statuses.
You create, edit, pause, resume and archive campaigns yourself. A campaign stays DRAFT until an ad goes live in it. A campaign also stays DRAFT after a Deploy paused. The first ad you deploy into it locks its channel or type.
Nexus acts alone in one case. It sets an active Nexus campaign to COMPLETED when the campaign has had at least one ad and none of its ads is active, paused or waiting to deploy. It archives the campaign later, which removes it on the platform.
Filter the list
- Platform buttons: All Platforms, Google or Meta. TikTok shows as Coming soon.
- Source: All, Nexus or Non-Nexus. Non-Nexus campaigns come from your ad platform. Nexus did not create them.
- Google channel: Search, Display, Demand Gen or Performance Max.
- Meta type: Awareness, Traffic, Sales or Engagement.
- Status: All statuses, Active, Paused, Draft or Archived.
- Search: a name or a platform ID.
The Google channel filter shows on the All Platforms and Google views. The Meta type filter shows on the All Platforms and Meta views. A channel or type filter matches only campaigns that already have a locked channel or type. Sort by Name, Budget, Start, End or Ads with the column header.
Create a campaign
- Select New Campaign.
- Enter a Campaign Name.
- Choose the Platform (Meta or Google), the Objective (Conversion, Awareness, Consideration or Retention) and the Strategy (Optimize or Experiment). Platform, objective and strategy cannot change after you create the campaign.
- Enter the Daily Budget. On Meta, a hint under the field shows the minimum for your objective.
- Set Age and Gender. On Meta, enter a minimum and a maximum age from 18 to 65. On Google, tick at least one age range. Select at least one gender.
- Optional: add Geolocation, a Default Audience, or a schedule. Auto sets no fixed start or end date. Its hint reads "Campaign starts immediately and runs continuously." The campaign starts when its first ad goes live. Saving the campaign sends nothing to Meta or Google. Custom dates lets you set a start date and an optional end date.
- On Google, you can turn on Retail Performance Max. The box stays disabled until you link Merchant Center.
- Select Create Campaign.
A new campaign starts as DRAFT. It becomes ACTIVE when an ad goes live in it, or when you activate the ads that a paused deploy created. See Review and deploy ads.
The form shows a line such as Pool: ... /mo with the name of the bid strategy: Lowest Cost, Cost Cap, Target ROAS or Maximize Value. When you choose Cost Cap or Target ROAS in Set up ad budget, the panel also asks for Target CPA or Target ROAS (×). The form shows an error if the daily budget is more than the daily budget you have left on the platform.
The form shows these messages when a field is not valid:
- Daily budget must be greater than 0.
- Minimum daily budget for ... campaigns is ... (Meta only).
- Select at least one age range. (Google only).
- Age must be between 18-65 with min ≤ max. (Meta only).
- Select at least one gender.
- Start date must be today or later.
- End date must be on or after start date.
On Google, the form also shows the hint "Unknown gender is currently included — uncheck it to match only users with a declared gender."
Edit a campaign
Select the pencil icon in the Actions column. The Edit Campaign drawer has two tabs.
- Details: change the name, daily budget, default audience and schedule. On Google, you can also change Retail Performance Max.
- Winning Ads: set which ads count as winners for this campaign. Select Add campaign definition to start. The button is available once Meta or Google has synced the campaign. If you set none, the campaign uses your account definition. If you have no account definition, Nexus uses its built-in one. See Winning criteria.
Select Save when you finish. Non-Nexus and archived campaigns have no editable details. Their pencil icon opens a drawer titled Winning Ads with only that tab.
Pause, resume and archive
WARNING
Archiving cannot be undone. The Archive campaign dialog says it pauses active ads. In fact a deployed campaign and its live ads are removed from Meta or Google, and the ads stop in Nexus. The campaign's budget returns to the pool and the campaign becomes read-only. Select Archive to confirm.
- Select the pause icon on an active campaign. This pauses the campaign and its active ads.
- Select the play icon on a paused campaign to resume it. This resumes the campaign and its paused ads.
- Select the archive icon on any campaign that is not archived.
Non-Nexus campaigns have no pause, resume or archive. Manage them on Meta or Google.
Exact output
A pill at the top shows the monthly ad budget for each platform that has one, for example Meta: ... /mo. The ad budget you set in Integrations sets the amount.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The name and the platform ID. A Nexus campaign also shows its objective and strategy. A non-Nexus campaign shows Non-Nexus and its campaign type. |
| Status | DRAFT, ACTIVE, PAUSED, COMPLETED or ARCHIVED. NO ADS appears beside an active or paused Nexus campaign that has no active or paused ads. |
| Platform | The platform icon. A Nexus campaign also shows its channel or type, or Channel not locked / Type not locked until its first ad deploys. |
| Budget | The daily budget. |
| Start and End | The scheduled dates. A dash means no date. |
| Ads | The number of ads in the campaign. |
| Actions | Edit, pause, resume and archive. |
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| DRAFT status, or NO ADS beside a campaign | Deploy an ad into it, or select the archive icon. See Review and deploy ads. | media buyer |
| A platform with no budget pill, or a budget to change | In Settings > Integrations, open the platform's connection and select Set up ad budget or Edit. | ecommerce manager |
| An ACTIVE campaign you want to stop for now | Select the pause icon, then the play icon to resume. | media buyer |
| A Non-Nexus campaign | Manage it in Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads, outside Nexus. | media buyer |
| A campaign whose winners differ from your account definition | Select the pencil, open Winning Ads, then select Add campaign definition. | creative strategist (the person who plans and makes ad creatives) |
Expected value and measurement
This page can help you spot empty or paused campaigns sooner. Your own changes drive any result.
To check it, count the rows with NO ADS on Performance > Campaigns before and after a clean-up. To see how the ads perform, compare Spend and ROAS on Performance > Ad performance for two equal date ranges. Campaign-level results stay in Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads. You cannot isolate one change when budgets, audiences or offers move at the same time.
Limitations and exceptions
- Platforms. You can create campaigns on Meta and Google only.
- Sync delay. A campaign you create straight on the ad platform appears after the following ad sync.
- Zero budget. A Non-Nexus campaign with no daily budget on the campaign itself shows a Budget of 0 per day. Check the real budget in Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads, outside Nexus.
- Empty states.
- No campaigns yet with "Create your first campaign to start running ads through Nexus." Select New Campaign.
- No Nexus campaigns yet appears when only the Nexus source is on.
- No non-Nexus campaigns names the date of the last ad sync. Before the first sync, it says your ad platforms have not synced yet.
- No campaigns match your search, or No ... campaigns for a status, channel or type filter. Select Clear filters.
- No ad budget. The form shows "No budget pool for Meta. Set one up in Integrations first." (or Google). The budget is the one you set with Set up ad budget in the platform's connection panel.
- Completed. The Status filter has no Completed option. Use All statuses.
- Failures. If the list fails to load, a red message shows the reason. If a pause, resume or archive fails, a red message appears under the campaign name. A failed archive leaves the campaign unarchived.
- Demo Mode. Save in the Edit Campaign drawer, pause, resume and archive change nothing, and no message appears. The Winning Ads tab is view-only and says to turn Demo Mode off to edit. The public demo blocks these actions and shows "This action is not available in the public demo."