Creating a successful media buying team requires more than just knowledge of platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Google, and push networks. It demands financial planning, a strong internal structure, and a deep understanding of human motivation. Below is a guide to building an effective arbitrage team, drawn from practical insights and real-world experience.
Starting with Facebook: Infrastructure & Budget
Building a team to work with Facebook requires significant preparation. If you lack prior experience with the platform or the financial means to support your team for at least a month, it’s best to delay the launch. Facebook’s unpredictable behavior can result in months where even top-tier teams struggle to break even.
Budgeting is essential. The monthly cost per media buyer can range between $30,000 and $32,000. This includes ad spend, variable expenses, and a buffer for unexpected issues with accounts. For example, if a buyer is expected to spend $1,000 per day, that’s $30,000 in traffic costs alone.
Having control over advertising accounts (especially farmed accounts) is crucial. In-house account creation can lower costs—self-farmed accounts can cost as little as $9 if they are at least two weeks old and free from ad restrictions.
Building the Team: Where to Start
The best initial hires often come from your personal network. Trust is a critical foundation when building a brand. Once your core team is in place, expand by scouting talent through industry chats, networking events, and eventually, recruiting platforms or agencies.
Motivation Beyond Money
Financial incentives aren’t always the most effective form of motivation. People perform better when they feel personally invested in the company’s success. Supporting individual growth and ambitions—such as promoting top-performing buyers to partner status—often proves more powerful than high salaries alone.
It’s also recommended to share company profits with team leads, rather than compensating them solely based on their department’s performance. This approach fosters collective ownership and long-term commitment.
Delegating Responsibilities
A well-organized team structure is vital. For instance, the finance role can be handled remotely by a trusted accountant who tracks all team expenses—ad accounts, domains, creatives—and updates a shared record. However, this accountant should not have direct access to company funds; only the owner handles disbursements.
Teams often include remote freelancers like developers, translators, and copywriters, which keeps costs manageable. However, for critical roles like coding, having someone on-site can accelerate problem-solving when technical challenges arise.
Handling Internal Transitions and Tensions
Over time, non-buyers (like farmers or creative team members) may express interest in switching to media buying, drawn by higher earning potential. While natural, this can create tension. Some team members may become demotivated if they perceive pay disparity without fully understanding the difficulty of media buying.
To manage this, transparency and experimentation help. For instance, allowing creatives to try basic ad campaigns under supervision (with a share of the profit) can quickly reveal whether they are truly suited for media buying. Often, they return to their original roles with a better understanding of the demands involved.
Recognition and performance-based bonuses are also essential to maintain morale among non-buyer roles. Celebrating the impact of every team member fosters a healthier, more inclusive work culture.
Encouraging Healthy Competition
Creating separate teams to run the same verticals can fuel creativity and improve performance through healthy competition. However, overly aggressive competition—like public rankings or performance dashboards—can lead to a toxic environment.
Instead, set shared targets with collective rewards. When the team hits a goal, offer them a budget for a team-building activity or allow them to invest it in office improvements. Top performers can still receive individual bonuses, like ergonomic chairs or other tech perks, but the emphasis remains on team spirit.
Choosing the Right Team Leaders
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to selecting team leads. Promoting from within often builds trust and respect, especially when current employees already understand the company’s culture and workflow. While hiring externally can bring fresh perspectives, it may initially cause friction.
A good team lead doesn’t need to be the best buyer but must understand the workflow well enough to earn credibility. Leadership skills should take precedence over technical expertise.
Using Polygraph Testing During Growth
The use of lie detectors remains controversial. Some organizations use polygraphs for staff with access to sensitive financial data. However, it can cause resentment, especially among long-standing employees who may feel mistrusted.
If implemented, it’s crucial to position polygraphs as standard practice rather than a sign of suspicion. Some companies adopt regular testing to normalize the process, reduce potential dishonesty, and protect business integrity. Critics, however, argue that this practice invades personal privacy and can be manipulated with preparation.
Age & Hiring Practices
The average age of media buyers has dropped significantly in recent years. Many companies now hire 19- to 20-year-olds due to their adaptability and speed. While some teams avoid hiring those over 30, believing they might not keep up with younger colleagues, others emphasize experience, drive, and attitude over age.
Diversity in age and background can bring unique strengths. Ultimately, hiring decisions should prioritize compatibility, motivation, and professional capabilities.
Telegram as a Traffic Source
Telegram has recently opened its doors to advertising, and while it’s not yet fully optimized for arbitrage, the potential is clear. The main challenge is long moderation times for accounts and limited support, but as the platform evolves, it is expected to become a valuable traffic channel.
Push Ads & Campaign Optimization
Push traffic requires hands-on management. Daily restarts aren’t necessary, but close monitoring is crucial. Campaigns should start with around 50 creatives across different GEOs and headlines. Based on performance, underperforming creatives are paused, and new variations are introduced. Scaling should be gradual and deliberate.
The Reality of “White” Apps on Facebook
Even with fully compliant white-hat apps and high-quality accounts, Facebook may still flag campaigns. Account bans can happen even for minor actions, like launching two campaigns per day or modifying an existing one.
While both Android and iOS apps perform similarly, conversion costs have risen significantly on iOS due to recent privacy updates. However, adding prompts for IDFA permissions can mitigate some of these issues.
UAC: An Underrated Traffic Source
Universal App Campaigns (UAC) offer excellent scalability and quality, especially outside of the CIS market. Despite being underused by much of the arbitrage community, UAC holds significant potential for high-volume, high-quality campaigns. The platform is user-friendly, though it does demand more creative output.
Conclusion
Building a high-performing arbitrage team takes more than technical knowledge. It requires thoughtful team building, financial planning, effective leadership, and a deep understanding of workplace dynamics. By investing in people, fostering trust, and continuously adapting to market conditions, it’s possible to build a resilient, profitable media buying team.
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