In today’s digital advertising landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are becoming increasingly important. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is at the forefront of this trend, encouraging advertisers to embrace AI in every aspect of campaign management. In this article, we will discuss the best practices for advertising on the Meta platform in 2024 and how you can leverage AI strategically while maintaining control.
The first tip is to simplify your account structure. By consolidating campaigns with the same objective and conversion event into one campaign, you can maximize efficiency and budget distribution. Instead of having multiple campaigns with the same goal, use one campaign with multiple ad sets. This reduces overlap within the auction and allocates your budget towards ad sets that have the best chance of driving lower cost per action (CPA) and higher volume. Leveraging the Advantage campaign budget, which automatically allocates spend based on performance, eliminates manual budget guesswork and keeps CPAs efficient.
However, there is one exception to this simplified campaign structure. If you have prospecting ad sets and retargeting audiences in the same campaign, Meta may spend too little on retargeting. In this case, it is advisable to create a separate campaign for retargeting audiences to ensure sufficient budget allocation.
The second tip is to embrace Meta’s Advantage+ audience feature. This AI-powered dynamic audience changes who your ads are delivered to based on performance. Instead of using fixed targeting criteria like interests and demographics, Advantage+ Audience broadens and changes your audience based on your goals. It is divided into two sections: Audience controls and Audience suggestions. Audience controls allow you to input any targeting criteria that must define your audience, while Audience suggestions provide guidance to Meta without being requirements. It is recommended to test Advantage+ audience alongside a separate audience built using original detailed targeting options for better scaling potential.
Next, take advantage of Meta’s creative enhancements. The Advantage+ creative options allow Meta to optimize the appearance of your ads automatically. This includes adjusting image brightness and contrast, applying artistic filters, varying aspect ratios, adding templates to feed images, displaying relevant comments, and more. While Meta may auto-apply most of these enhancements by default, it is important to review and evaluate them with your creative and brand teams. Some enhancements, such as image templates and music, can drastically alter the appearance of your creative. However, when executed correctly, these enhancements can improve click-through rates (CTRs) and creative engagement.
Meta is also rolling out new lead generation features that could be game-changers for advertisers. Conditional logic allows advertisers to program lead forms to drive respondents to different questions and end pages based on their answers. This helps pre-screen leads and redirect them if they may not be qualified. Rich creative lead forms offer more visual and customizable forms with additional sections like benefits, how it works, products, and incentives. These sections increase engagement and improve conversion rates by providing more details prior to lead submission.
Lastly, experiment with Meta’s Advantage+ placements. This tool allows Meta to run ads in various placements across their network, including Reels, Stories, Marketplace, and more. Automatic placements have improved in helping advertisers manage costs per 1,000 views (CPMs) and diversify where ads will run. If you primarily run lead generation or conversion-optimized campaigns, trying Advantage+ placements can result in better CPM efficiency and improved conversion rates. However, if you focus on upper funnel campaigns for reach or brand awareness, be cautious as it may favor placements that are not as premium.
In conclusion, automation and AI are here to stay in the world of digital advertising. Meta is leading the way with its embrace of AI in campaign management. By following these best practices, you can leverage AI strategically while maintaining control over your campaigns. Simplify your account structure, embrace Advantage+ audience features, utilize creative enhancements, leverage new lead generation features, and experiment with Advantage+ placements. The future of advertising involves more automation and machine learning, so it’s wise to start testing and incorporating these tools now.
