Publish paused vs active

Publish paused first is the safety pattern. The campaign exists on the ad platform but doesn't spend until you toggle active. Catches typos, wrong landing pages, creative issues, missing pixel attribution before any budget burns. Wevion publishes with status PAUSED by default. Activate from Ads Manager after verification.

Who is this for

Every mediabuyer launching a new campaign. Especially first-time launches, new creative, or campaigns with significant budget at stake.

Why paused-first matters

Before money flows, you want to verify on the ad platform's preview / draft state:

A 5-minute pause-first check saves potentially hundreds of dollars in wasted spend.

How Wevion implements paused-first

Default flow:

1. You click Publish in Campaign Creator

2. Modal: choose Publish as Paused (recommended, default) OR Publish as Active (skip safety)

3. Backend calls ad platform's launch endpoint with status: PAUSED

4. Platform creates campaign + ad sets + ads — all in paused state

5. You verify on platform (Meta Ads Manager / Google Ads / TikTok Ads Manager)

6. When confident: toggle to Active in either platform's UI OR Wevion's Ads Manager

The default is paused — you must explicitly opt into active for new launches.

Verification checklist (5-10 min)

Once paused on the platform, verify:

1. Campaign + ad sets visible

• Open native ad manager

• Confirm campaign + ad sets + ads exist

• Status shows Paused (not Active, not In Review)

2. Creative preview correct

• Per ad: open the ad preview

• Toggle per-placement (Feed / Stories / Reels) — check visual integrity at each

• Verify copy renders correctly

• Verify CTA button is the right CTA

3. Landing page works

• Click the destination URL

• Lands on the right page (no 404, no redirect to wrong page)

• Page is mobile-responsive (most ad views are mobile)

4. UTM parameters present

• Open destination URL in browser

• Inspect URL params: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content should all be present

• Verify values match your convention

5. Pixel fires on landing page

• With browser DevTools + pixel helper extension (Meta Pixel Helper, Google Tag Assistant)

• Confirm pixel events fire (PageView, ViewContent, etc.)

• For conversion-objective: confirm Purchase / Lead event configured

6. Audience size in line with expectation

• On platform: audience details show estimated reach

• Compare vs what you set in Wevion

• Surprises here = audience over-narrowed or wrong country

7. Budget + currency correct

• Per ad set (ABO) or campaign (CBO): budget in expected currency

• Daily / lifetime as configured

When to skip paused-first

Rare cases — proceed with caution:

For high-spend or new campaigns: ALWAYS pause-first.

How to activate

From Wevion Ads Manager

1. /ads-manager

2. Find paused campaign

3. Toggle status → Active

4. Save

From native ad manager (Meta / Google / TikTok)

1. Open native UI

2. Find paused campaign

3. Toggle status

4. Save

Both methods sync back to Wevion within minutes. Either works.

Pause-then-activate timing

Bulk Launch paused-first

For Bulk Launch (cc-104):

• Each row defaults to paused on publish

• After bulk publish, verify a sample of rows on platform

• Then bulk-activate via Ads Manager or platform UI

• Per-row activate possible if you find issues with specific rows

Active-first risks documented

If you publish as Active:

• Wevion warns in the publish modal

• Audit log records the active-first choice (action: campaign_publish_active_first)

• If catastrophic issue (wrong landing page, typos), wasted spend is yours to absorb

Use the safety net unless you have very good reason not to.

What you'll see

After Publish as Paused:

• Toast: "Campaign published to [platform] — Paused"

• Campaign in /ads-manager with Paused badge (green outline)

• Direct link to native ad manager for verification

• Audit log entry recorded

After Activate:

• Status flips to Active (green solid)

• First impressions within 15-30 min

• Dashboard KPI strip updates within 1-3 hours

Common issues

• "Published but campaign not visible on platform": 30-60 sec sync delay. Refresh native ad manager.

• "Activated but no impressions after 2h": ad in platform review OR audience too narrow OR budget too low. Check native ad manager.

• "Cannot activate from Wevion Ads Manager": permission issue. Use native platform UI.

• "Accidentally published active and ad has typo": pause immediately from native ad manager. Wevion's pause action propagates to platform within minutes.

• "Paused but Meta charged me": shouldn't happen. Check campaign was truly paused (not just an ad set within an active campaign). Contact platform billing if spend logged on paused campaign.

Best practices

Make pause-first your default habit

• Train teammates to always pause-first new launches

• Make active-first require additional approval (Wevion doesn't enforce, but your team's process can)

Use the verification checklist

• Print or save the 7-point checklist

• Walk through every time, even for "small" campaigns

• Catches issues you'd miss in a hurry

Set 24-hour delay for big campaigns

• Pause-first → wait 24 hours → activate

• Lets you catch second-guessing thoughts ("did we double-check the audience?")

• Use the 24h for stakeholder sign-off if needed

Schedule activation

• For time-sensitive launches (Black Friday at 00:00): use lifetime budget with start time, OR set rule to auto-activate at scheduled time (less reliable than manual)

Related

• Launch with Express mode — pause-first is the default

• Common publishing errors — pre-flight catches many; paused-first catches the rest

• Launch your first campaign — generic intro with pause-then-activate pattern