two & a half gamers 🧠 MVP UA template: How to set up your Meta campaigns for Success by Matej Lancaric
In this solo episode, Matej walks through the exact step-by-step method he uses to launch successful Meta (Facebook) UA campaigns in 2025. From SDK setup to event engineering, targeting, budgets, creative strategy, and daily management - this is the “MVP strategy” every UA manager needs.
Direct links to step-by-step guides:
https://lancaric.substack.com/p/mvp-ua-template-i-want-to-launch
https://lancaric.substack.com/p/mvp-ua-iaa-template-i-want-to-launch?triedRedirect=true
https://lancaric.substack.com/p/creative-brief-template-7-creative
Softlaunch E-BOOK: https://payhip.com/b/fJi9E
What you’ll learn
• Minimum viable tracking setup (Facebook SDK, Firebase, MMPs)
• How to build meaningful event combinations (WY S WYG)
• Purchase-optimized vs. app-event optimized campaigns
• How to structure T1, T2, and ROW for better learning
• Targeting that still works in 2025 (broad, genre interest, lookalikes)
• Budget pacing rules and when to scale
• 3 starting concepts → 9 ad variations
• Using AI hooks, memes, UGC & dev-cam videos
• Daily operations: When you should do nothing
• Moving from AEO to value optimization
• Live example: Creating a full Meta campaign
Actionable checklist
Integrate Facebook SDK + Firebase + MMP.
Build 5–10 event combinations (engagement + monetization).
Start with 3 concepts → 9 variations.
Use T1 (US/UK/DE/CA/AU/NZ/KR/JP) + ROW.
Don’t scale before day 3–5 stability.
Check KPIs 2–3× per day, not hourly.
Switch to value optimization once you have depth of payers.
Key takeaway
Your UA performance is defined by the events you send, the creatives you test early, and how fast you can validate your first 3 concepts.
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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric
Podcast:
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
00:00 — Cold open & why this solo episode matters
00:40 — The original problem: “Where do I start with Meta UA?”
01:20 — Tracking essentials (SDKs, MMP, events you MUST send)
03:00 — WYSIWYG: “What You Send Is What You Get” explained
04:20 — Event combinations that actually help Facebook find payers
05:40 — Purchase vs. App Event optimization: when to use each
07:00 — Geo setup: US, Tier 1, ROW, and why you always need all three
08:10 — Targeting in 2025: broad, interests, lookalikes (what still works)
09:30 — Budgets: first 7-day rules & how not to break learning
11:00 — Creative framework: 3 concepts → 9 ad variations
12:30 — What concepts to start with (gameplay+finger, AI hooks, UGC/dev-cam)
14:00 — Creative iterations: hooks, pacing, soundtrack, memes
15:10 — Daily UA workflow: why “doing nothing” is sometimes the best move
16:40 — When to switch to value optimization (signals + payer depth)
18:00 — Live walkthrough: building a Meta campaign step-by-step
19:20 — Final advice
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Matej Lancaric
User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant
https://lancaric.me
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