The Evolution of Meta Ads and What's Working In 2024
If you’ve been on my list or have been following me for a while now, you know that in 2021 I pivoted my services from offering Ad Management to Ad VIP Days.
One of the main reasons I did this is because I had lots of people coming to me wanting to run ads, ready to go with a funnel and proven offer but they weren’t ready to commit to paying for an expensive agency, nor did they want to spend weeks or months taking a course to learn how to run ads. This resulted in many business owners avoiding the use of ads altogether.
That’s when I had the idea to start offering VIP Days. I figured, why not offer to set up ads for these businesses while teaching them how to do it in the process?
At first, I was hesitant that I could actually teach business owners how to create, set up and manage their own ads in just one day. But two years and dozens of clients later, I’ve seen that it's not only possible but it works.
Now, I’m not here to talk about my services. What I am here to talk about is how running ads in the Meta ads manager has become increasingly more simple to do over the years with the evolution of Meta's platform and recent updates.
Most ad managers and agencies don’t want you to know this but I’ve been running ads for almost a decade now (since the power editor days, IYKYK) and it’s mind boggling to see how much the platform has changed since then.
Here are are just a few of the ways that I’ve seen ads get easier to run in the last 12-18 months:
Simplified ad objectives when setting up a new campaign from 11 down to only 6.
Now when you create a new ad in the ads manager, it’s a lot more clear which objective to choose depending on your goal and outcome for the ad. This is so important because if you don’t select the right objective, it’s a surefire way to get poor results on your ads.
Simplified Campaign Set Up
It used to be common practice to test dozens, if not hundreds, of different targeting options, placements, and ads. Now, that's no longer necessary.
In fact, Meta encourages a more simple campaign set up where they are frequently recommending you to combine ad sets & audiences to avoid audience overlap.
They also encourage the use of Advantage+ (all) placements instead of you manually choosing where to run ads (Facebook Newsfeed vs Instagram Newsfeed vs Instagram Stories) where they have the ability to see where your ads convert the best, and will automatically prioritize more of your budget automatically towards those placements.
Simplified Ad Creation
Another feature that Meta has pushed quite a bit over the last year is Standard Enhancements. This is where they take your image or video and automatically create multiple variations of your ad and show a personalized variation to each person in your audience based on what they're most likely to respond to.
Simplified Targeting <--This is the one I’m the most excited about!
One change that Meta has made in the last two years is automatically turning on Advantage Detailed Targeting whenever you run ads to get leads or sales.
This gives them the ability to expand your target audience beyond the selections you choose (such as people who have an interest in Gary Vaynerchuk) if they believe it will improve the performance of your ad.
They also recently came out with Advantage+ Audience. With this option you don’t need to select any targeting interests whatsoever. Instead, Meta uses the data from your pixel to automatically find the right people to show your ad to. Pretty cool, right?!
**The only thing about this feature ^^ is if you don't currently have a lot data associated with your pixel or are brand to new to ads, it likely won't work that well for your business so it's better to use this once you've already been spending money on ads.
The reason why these are targeting options are being pushed more is because Meta has collected a ton of data over the years and gotten really smart when it comes to finding the best people to show your ad to, which allows us to be less precise with our targeting while still seeing great results.
This is SO much different than how we used to run ads just a few years ago, where laser focused targeting and figuring out special hacks to find the best audiences to target was the name of the game.
In Conclusion
I could go on and on about how much they’ve simplified different settings and features on the platform, but I think you see the point here.
Ads are only getting easier for the average business owner to set up and manage on their own and this has been intentional on Meta’s part. They want more business owners running ads and getting results because when you do, they know you'll spend more.
This is why I believe that unless you’re spending at least $5 to $10k per month or more on ads, you should absolutely be running them yourself or handing them off to someone on your team.
Not only will it save you thousands of dollars every month on agency or management fees, but you’ll also be able to maintain more of the profit from your ads so you can continue to re-invest those profits and keep growing your results.
Also, whenever you get to the point where you do want to hire someone to manage your ads full time, you’ll have a much better idea of what works and what goes into it so you know how to look for someone qualified to hire.
Now to be very clear, I'm not saying that running successful and profitable ads for your business is easy. I'm saying the process of setting them up has gotten easier.
You still need a solid foundation to run ads on in order for them to work. This includes an irresistible offer, a deep understanding of your target audience, clear messaging, and an optimized funnel.
But all of these updates make it easier to run ads, which in turn should allow us more time as business owners to focus on the things that really matter, like building a strong foundation to run our ads on.
The ONE thing you should do to prepare your business for ads now or in the near future
If there's one thing you should do immediately after reading this newsletter, it's to make sure that your pixel is installed on your website and any landing pages or checkout pages for your business.
This one action alone will help Meta start learning about your customers and the actions they are taking on your website so that when you do run ads, you're not start from complete scratch with their learning system. This will also give you an advantage(pun intended) when it comes to creating your targeting audiences.
Nowadays, almost every 3rd party platform that business owners use to host their landing pages, websites, and checkout pages, integrates directly with the pixel. In many cases, all you have to do is copy your pixel ID number out of Facebook and paste it into the settings on your website – no coding or complicated tech required.
To get started, simply do a Google Search of "How To Install The Meta Pixel On [Insert Your Platform Here]" and in most cases you'll be able to find step-by-step instructions directly from your website hosting platform on how to do this.
Want more support? When you’re ready, here are the ways that I can help you grow your business:
1. Ready to create your own high-converting ads? Grab the High-Performing Ad Toolkit that’s helped thousands of business owners create click-worthy ads while saving time and the guesswork.
2. Want Done-For-You support and help getting your ads up and running without paying monthly management fees? Apply to work with me through my VIP Ads In A Day experience.