Why link clicks are the wrong goal
When you choose Traffic and optimise for link clicks, Meta finds people who are likely to tap a link. That is not the same as people who are likely to listen. Accidental taps, people who close the page before it loads and people who scroll past your music all count as link clicks.
A release page sits between the ad and the streaming service. It knows two things the ad platform does not: whether the person stayed long enough to see the page, and whether they then tapped Spotify, Apple Music or another service. That second step is the closest signal to a listen that any link can give, and it is the one to optimise for.
What listenthru sends to Meta
- PageView and ViewContent when someone opens a release page.
- Lead when someone taps through to a streaming service. This is the event to optimise for.
- From the browser with the Meta Pixel, on every plan.
- From the server, on Pro, through the Conversions API, with a shared event ID so a click is not counted twice. Server events still arrive when an ad blocker or browser setting stops the Pixel.
- Consent first. Visitors from the EEA, the UK and Switzerland are asked before any ad tag runs.
Fans’ email addresses collected on your pages are never sent to Meta.
Step by step
Make a release page
In listenthru, paste a link to the release. The page lists every service and records each tap on one of them as a click through.
Add your Meta Pixel
In the artist’s ad measurement settings, add your Meta Pixel ID. Each visit is sent as PageView and ViewContent, and each click through to a service as Lead.
Turn on server events (Pro)
Add a Conversions API access token so the same events are also sent from the server, with a shared event ID so Meta counts each one once.
Create a Sales or Leads campaign
In Ads Manager, choose a conversion objective, pick your Pixel and choose Lead as the conversion event.
Use the tagged link
Copy the release page link for Meta ads from the link builder and use it as the ad’s website URL, so the visits show up as Meta ads in Insights.
Compare ads by click-through rate
After a few days, read Insights → Sources and Ads Manager side by side and move budget to the ads whose visitors click through most.
Choosing the campaign settings
- Objective. Use a conversion objective such as Sales or Leads with your website as the conversion location, and Lead as the event. Traffic optimises for link clicks, which is what you are trying to get away from.
- Audience. Start broad: the country or countries where you want listeners, a sensible age range, and no or few interests. With a good conversion event, Meta finds the listeners itself. Narrow interest stacks often make results more expensive, not better.
- Placements. Advantage+ placements are a good default. Reels and Stories suit vertical video; if you only have a square video, check how it looks in each.
- Budget and time. Meta needs events to learn. A budget that produces a handful of Lead events a day for a week tells you much more than a large budget for one day.
Creative that works for music
- Lead with the music. The first two seconds of sound and image decide whether anyone stays.
- Use vertical video for Reels and Stories: a performance clip, a studio moment, or lyrics over the artwork.
- Make two or three versions with different first seconds, not different text. Let the click-through rate pick the winner.
- Say what to do: listen on Spotify, pre-save, or watch the video. One ask per ad.
Reading the results
In Ads Manager, look at cost per Lead, not cost per link click. In listenthru, open Insights → Sources: visits from Meta ads, clicks through to services and the service people chose most. The click-through rate on the page tells you whether the visitors the ad bought were really interested.
- Many visits, few clicks through: the ad promised something the page did not deliver, or it reached the wrong people. Check that the ad and the artwork match.
- Few visits, a high rate: the audience is right; try a bigger budget or a broader audience.
- Lead events in Ads Manager much lower than clicks through in listenthru: check that the Pixel ID is right and, on Pro, that the Conversions API token is saved.
For a pre-save campaign, the same setup works: the page records pre-saves and clicks through to each service, and Meta optimises toward the people who take that step. See the pre-save link guide for setting the page up before release day.
Questions
Which event should I optimise for?
Lead. listenthru sends Lead when someone taps through from the release page to a streaming service, which is the closest signal to a listen a link can give.
Do I need the Conversions API?
The Pixel works on every plan. On Pro, the Conversions API also sends the same events from the server, so fewer are lost to ad blockers and browser restrictions, and Meta has more events to learn from.
Can Meta see how many streams my ad led to?
No. Streaming services do not report plays back to ad platforms or link pages. Meta sees visits and clicks through to services.
Is a Traffic campaign ever the right choice?
For a brand-new Pixel with no events, it can help to start with Traffic for a few days. Switch to a conversion objective with Lead as soon as events are coming in.