I get it. You’ve been advertising for years. You were running Facebook ads before they were Meta ads. You’ve found an efficient system that works for you. But don’t forget to update your assumptions.
Let me explain…
Things Change
It’s important to remember that Meta advertising today looks nothing like it did five or 10 years ago. We shouldn’t be using five or 10-year-old strategies.
Just think about how much has changed during the past few years since iOS 14. AttributionAttribution is how Meta gives credit to an ad for a conversion. Your Attribution Setting determines how your ad will be delivered and the reporting attribution window. The default Attribution Setting is 7-day click and 1-day view, which means that anyone who converts within 7 days of clicking or 1 day of viewing your ad will be counted as a conversion. More, optimizationThe Performance Goal is chosen within the ad set and determines optimization and delivery. How you optimize impacts who sees your ad. Meta will show your ad to people most likely to perform your desired action. More, and targeting all took a hit as a result of iOS users opting out of tracking.
But we’ve also seen changes with targeting generally. Meta has removed countless interests and behaviors. The “Advantage” expansion products allow the algorithm to target people outside of the detailed targeting, lookalike audiences, and even custom audiences that you specify.
New restrictions were added to certain special ad categories due to legal pressures. You aren’t able to target people the way you once did.
Meta is pushing us more and more towards accepting a more significant role of automation and optimization that is outside of our control. This applies to ad copy and creative and distribution. It’s much more hands-off now.
It surely took some of us a while to adjust our strategies to these changes. But you must.
You need to adjust your assumptions about what works and doesn’t work. You should revisit those strategies that, at one time, you’d never consider.
Stay fluid.
Example: Placements
There was a time when I’d manually adjust placements to only include the “most effective” ones. This was my way of optimizing my results.
You see, I’d use breakdowns by placement to uncover what was working and what wasn’t. And if I saw that I was spending money on a certain placementA placement is a location where your ad is shown. Examples include Facebook's mobile Feed, Messenger, Instagram feed, Audience Network, right-hand column, and more. More that wasn’t working, I’d turn that placement off.
And often, I’d apply that learning for new ad setsAn ad set is a Facebook ads grouping where settings like targeting, scheduling, optimization, and placement are determined. More going forward. Sometimes, I’d only run ads on news feed.
There are a couple of exceptions (particularly when optimizing for link clicks, landing page views, or ThruPlay), but this approach is mostly outdated now. If you are optimizing for a conversion, use Advantage+ Placements (leave all placements on) and allow the algorithm to sort it out.
The difference now is that the algorithm’s sole focus is getting you the most results possible at the lowest cost. If a placement isn’t contributing to those results, the algorithm will adjust in real-time and spend less there. Or more budgetA budget is an amount you're willing to spend on your Facebook campaigns or ad sets on a daily or lifetime basis. More will be spent in places that will bring more results.
If you select only a few placements, you’re restricting the algorithm. You are missing opportunities, in many cases, to get cheaper conversionsA conversion is counted whenever a website visitor performs an action that fires a standard event, custom event, or custom conversion. Examples of conversions include purchases, leads, content views, add to cart, and registrations. More. It’s also possible that impressionsImpressions are the number of times your ads were displayed to your target audience. Impressions aren't counted if it is detected they came from bots. More on certain placements you’d turn off would have contributed to a conversion on a different placement.
This is a big shift in thinking for many of us.
Example: Broad TargetingIn most cases, mention of Broad Targeting refers to the removal of all potential targeting filters: No custom audiences, lookalike audiences, or detailed targeting. Instead, rely only on location and letting the algorithm do the work. More
This was a painful adjustment for me. I was always a huge believer in micro-targeting. I didn’t trust the algorithm to find my ideal audienceThis is the group of people who can potentially see your ads. You help influence this by adjusting age, gender, location, detailed targeting (interests and behaviors), custom audiences, and more. More. I’d create super small audiences (often based on custom audiences) of people whom I believed were most likely to act.
This worked really well for me. I’d create ad funnels that people passed through who would watch a series of ads. The engagement and conversion rates were ridiculous.
But, one reason this was so effective was that ad costs were low. It started getting more and more expensive to reachReach measures the number of Accounts Center Accounts (formerly users) that saw your ads at least once. You can have one account reached with multiple impressions. More these small audiences. While I haven’t abandoned micro-targeting entirely, it’s now a much smaller part of my strategy.
And now, we’re talking about broad targeting. I’m not just talking about using big detailed targeting or lookalike audiences. Remove all targeting and let the algorithm work.
This approach would have sounded insane not long ago. It took me a while to come around to even trying it. And while it isn’t necessarily the default solution going forward, it’s something you should try. The algorithm is often very good at finding the people most likely to act if you allow it.
Or, of course, you could stick to your micro-targeting approach and assumptions that broad targeting won’t work for you.
Evolve Constantly
I totally understand why this is hard for people. It’s tough for me.
We need structure. We create structure for ourselves with tried and true strategies and processes based on tried and true experiences. But we need to treat these strategies and processes as temporary.
This is the strategy that you’re using right now, in this current environment. But do not ignore changes to what is and isn’t working. Be open to accepting that things today aren’t the way they were just a few years, months, or even weeks ago.
Evolve. Update your assumptions. Update your strategies and processes.
If you don’t, you put yourself at risk of becoming obsolete.
Watch Video
I recorded a video about this, too. Check it out below…
Your Turn
What assumptions have you needed to update over the years?
Let me know in the comments below!