10 Key Take-Aways From ANA’s Masters of B2B Marketing

What can B2B marketers learn from the top presentations that were on tap during the Association of National Advertisers annual ANA Masters of B2B Marketing 2023 conference?

The event, which took place in Orlando, Florida and online, was all-B2B, all the time, and offered the latest B2B marketing insight by leading speakers including Linda Boff of GE, Toni Clayton-Hine of Ernst & Young LLP, and many other top industry speakers.

Marketing conferences offer a true wealth of benefits to marketers seeking the latest learning, new networking opportunities, and the freshest industry research and insight to increase brand awareness.

Let’s take a look at some of the top B2B marketing take-aways from the insight-filled ANA Masters of B2B Marketing 2023 conference, in the form of social messages surrounding the conference that have particularly resonated with B2B marketers.
ANA Masters of B2B Marketing 2023 image

1 — 1st & 3rd Party Data + AI Drives Account-Based Marketing Success

2 — Human Needs Go Beyond Mere Buzz With Brand Experiences

3 — Become An Open-Source Marketer

4 — Be A Mentor & Make Customers The Hero

5 — Help Ease The Spaghetti Bowl of Today’s B2B Buying

6 — Embrace B2B Simplicity Over Complex Counting

7 — The B2B Marketing Magic of Decisive Messaging

8 — Measure To Manage In B2B Marketing

9 — The First-Reach B2B Reward

10 — The Importance of Making Good B2B Decisions in Bad Times

Elevate B2B Marketing With Event Insights

Through its series of events, the ANA and the speakers it has gathered together have helped raise the bar in B2B marketing.

We hope that the insight we’ve shared here will help you in your own efforts to elevate B2B marketing throughout 2023 and beyond.

To find upcoming B2B marketing events be sure to check out our “50+ Top 2023 B2B Marketing Events To Learn From.”

More than ever before, creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Contact us to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others.

Ready to elevate your B2B brand? Connect with our team to learn more today!

Schedule A Call

The post 10 Key Take-Aways From ANA’s Masters of B2B Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

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Stop Blaming Meta When Your Ads Aren’t Working

We’ve all heard it: “Facebook ads don’t work.” Well, no. Facebook ads don’t work for you. The way that you’re using them.

But they can work.

Far too often, we blame the platform or algorithm or other mysterious things that we don’t understand to explain why we’re not getting better results. But if we change our relationship with how we view the platform, it leads to far more productivity.

Let me explain…

Facebook Ads Aren’t Magical

Look, don’t get this twisted. My response to the claim that Facebook ads don’t work isn’t that they always work. Facebook ads aren’t some magical switch that will make you rich.

But maybe part of the problem is that some advertisers hop into this believing the hype that they are magical. And when those magic beans don’t have the impact they expect, they’re disappointed.

The Many Critical Factors

The suggestion that “Facebook ads don’t work” oversimplifies a very complex system. It assumes that there are minimal options and it either works or it doesn’t.

Instead, this assumption merely says that you don’t want to put in the work. Because it will take work. There are so many factors that contribute to whether or not your ads are working and whether you get optimal results.

All of these things will impact your performance:

  • Your industry
  • Your offer
  • Your product
  • Product price
  • Targeting
  • Optimization
  • Budget
  • Placements
  • Competition
  • Ad copy and creative
  • Your website

And, of course, this is just scratching the surface. There are so many factors that we may not even know about that are influencing our performance from campaign to campaign.

You can’t test everything all at once, of course. But this is also why you can’t make a universal proclamation that Facebook ads won’t work for you. You haven’t tried every option.

Advantages and Disadvatanges

Something else to keep in mind is that you may have limited, if any, control over some of these factors that weigh heavily on your ad performance.

For example, it’s likely to be far more difficult to generate interest and create profitable ads for a law firm than for a professional basketball team. The industry can be a built-in advantage or disadvantage. That doesn’t mean you can’t run effective ads as a law firm, but your results won’t be the same.

It’s also going to be easier for an established brand with a positive reputation to get good results compared to a completely new startup in a crowded industry. Again, that doesn’t make it hopeless for the startup, but the expectations should be different.

There are other issues that may not be directly within your control, but there is someone who is responsible for them who may need to be involved. A poorly performing website is a critical issue impacting the performance of your ads. You may not be able to change that, but how can you get around it?

Understand your built-in advantages and leverage them. But also know why it might be more difficult for you than someone else.

Be Realistic

Part of the issue is also a matter of being realistic. You can’t spend $50 per month promoting a $1,000 product and expect to get 10 sales. You shouldn’t expect to get any sales.

Understand industry benchmarks, but also know your built-in advantages and disadvantages. Set realistic goals so that you know whether the results you’re getting are actually “failures” or in line with expectations.

Understand How It Works

You can’t declare anything a failure if you don’t know how to use the tool. In order to find consistent success with Facebook ads, it’s important that you’re a student of the tool and thoroughly understand how it works.

What optimization should you use and why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?

What budget should you use and why? How does this impact your goals?

What should you experiment with? What are the levers you can pull?

You can’t do this blindly. It’s important that you have a full understanding of the tool.

Have a Long-Term Outlook

Your strategy should have multiple steps. You want to generate sales. Will you only run ads optimized for the purchase or will you focus on multiple stages of the funnel?

How is the Business Manager set up? Do the proper people have access? Do you have access to the audiences, custom conversions, pixels, pages, Instagram accounts, and assets that you’ll need?

Is the pixel set up properly with the Conversions API? Have all of the events been created that you’ll want to use?

You will need to test and find what works and doesn’t work. You may want to create ads for every step of the funnel (awareness, lead building, and purchase). The customer journey isn’t necessarily short. It may take weeks or months.

It may take months before you see the true impact of your efforts. Be patient.

Take Responsibility

If you blame the tool, you’re neglecting your responsibility in the process. You’re suggesting that this thing should work and you have no impact on it.

That’s wrong. The tool is just the tool. You need to know how best to use the tool. You have a responsibility to apply your knowledge and expertise to make the most of it.

Don’t accept the first failure. Or the second. Keep trying and experimenting.

Watch Video

I recorded a video about this, too. Check it out below…

Your Turn

Anything you’d add?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Stop Blaming Meta When Your Ads Aren’t Working appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Understand the Meta Ads Algorithm

If you are to find success with Meta ads, you won’t do so blindly. You must understand the role of the Meta ads algorithm and generally how it works.

This isn’t about manipulating the algorithm, taking advantage of unique algorithmic preferences for your gain. Chasing the algorithm is a fool’s errand. You’ll find yourself repeatedly trying to please something that is constantly changing while ignoring what’s most important: Valuable ad content.

Instead, this is about a general understanding of what the Meta ads algorithm is trying to do, and the strengths and weaknesses that result. Once you understand this, you will have a better understanding of what you should and shouldn’t be doing with your ads.

Let’s go…

The Unknown Formula

First, this post isn’t going to unveil the secret formula of the Meta ads algorithm. While bits and pieces of it have been discussed over the years, we don’t know the actual recipe.

And even if we did know the individual ingredients, there are far too many moving parts to obsess over it. How it works is reliant on how users — and your ideal audience — are consuming conten. Meta, too, can tweak it at any moment.

So, no, this isn’t going to be revelatory. And truthfully, revealing the secret of the Meta ads formula would likely result in only temporary benefits.

Once again, if you’re chasing an algorithm, you are deprioritizing effective copy and creative in favor of what you think Meta wants. Don’t do that.

The Basics

It’s important that you understand the basics of how the Meta ads algorithm works.

First, your ads are delivered via an ads auction. You are competing with other advertisers to reach your ideal audience. The better ad or higher bid — or combination thereof — will win that auction. Ideally, you’ll win it with better copy and creative while spending less.

Beyond that, the main thing to understand is that the algorithm has a singular goal: Get you as many of your desired actions possible at the lowest cost (or highest value or at the highest ROAS, depending on your optimization).

The Meta ads algorithm will adjust in realtime to accomplish this, distributing your budget to different people or placements. Don’t forget this. Each time you remove a placement or limit the targeting, you are restricting the options that the algorithm has.

The algorithm is constantly learning from your results and making changes as necessary to continue getting you those results. That’s why it needs volume of results to learn from, otherwise learning will be limited.

The Strengths

The Meta ads algorithm is its strongest when optimizing for a conversion — especially a purchase.

Meta Ads Conversions Optimization

As described above, the way your ads are distributed is fluid. The algorithm will constantly update in an attempt to get the event you told it that you want (in this case purchases).

If you want purchases, optimize for purchases. That way, you and the Meta ads algorithm are on the same page about what it is that will make your ad set successful. If you choose something else while wanting purchases, the algorithm can be led astray.

Of course, there may be some exceptions, particularly in the case that you are unable to get the necessary volume of purchases for the algorithm to learn and adjust. But when possible, optimize for purchases when you want purchases.

The Weaknesses

The biggest weaknesses of the Meta ads algorithm happen at the top of the funnel. The most glaring results I’ve seen are related to link clicks, landing page views, and ThruPlays. Let’s discuss why these weaknesses are possible.

If you optimize for purchases, Meta will try to find you purchases. That’s good. While some purchases can certainly be higher value than others, there aren’t weaknesses in the algorithm that will lead to low-quality purchases or accidental purchases. And if you want higher value, you can actually optimize for that, too.

The most common issue is related to the desire to drive traffic to a website, rather than get conversions. In that case, you’ll optimize for either landing page views or link clicks.

Traffic Optimization Meta Ads

This sounds like a reasonable thing to do. But the problem is that you don’t just want link clicks and landing page views. You expect that some of these people will actually stick around and do other things — maybe even purchase — on your website.

But because the algorithm is literal and has a singular goal of getting you that one thing, it doesn’t care what those people do after clicking. And the weakness is that one placement in particular is prone to accidental clicks, click fraud, and bots. That placement: Audience Network.

The result is the algorithm is trying to make you happy with lots of link clicks and landing page views, so it starts sending more and more budget to Audience Network. It thinks you’ll be happy. You may be temporarily until you see these were empty clicks.

The same might be said of Audience Network Rewarded Video when optimizing for ThruPlays. Since app users are rewarded for watching videos to completion, you’ll get lots of people watching your entire video (or at least 15 seconds). The assumption is that that means they are engaged. But in most cases, they are simply waiting to get something from the app.

What Should You Do?

You’ll be forgiven if you are a new advertiser and aren’t aware of these strengths and weaknesses. But once you are, it starts to shape how you should approach your advertising.

1. When optimizing for conversions.

Avoid restricting the algorithm. Low-quality conversions aren’t an issue caused by the algorithm itself. If you get low-quality leads, that usually has more to do with your ad or form. If you get low-value purchases, you can optimize for Value or set a Minimum ROAS.

Utilize Advantage+ Placements.

Advantage+ Placements

If a placement isn’t resulting in conversions, the algorithm will adjust how your budget is distributed. If you limit the placements to only those you believe are high performers, restricting the algorithm can drive up your costs.

You should also avoid small audiences for multiple reasons. First, you’re unlikely to get a high volume of purchases with a small audience. Second, your audience will be expanded by default anyway when optimizing for a conversion due to Advantage Detailed Targeting and Advantage Lookalikes.

You should try going broad. You may find that the algorithm is so smart that you’ll reach many of the same people in your custom audiences anyway.

2. When optimizing for top of funnel actions.

This is where you need to be careful. Because of the literal nature of the algorithm, you need to prevent it from sending you low-quality results. It’s important that you understand the weaknesses.

If you optimize for link clicks or landing page views, remove Audience Network. Maybe you’ll have one of the rare experiences when you achieve miraculous high-quality traffic, but don’t count on it.

If you optimize for ThruPlay, remove Audience Network Rewarded Video. There are other placements to watch out for here as well. If you’re seeing that a too-good-to-be-true percentage of your impressions (like close to 100%) result in a ThruPlay, it’s likely too good to be true.

And honestly, even when you make these adjustments, optimizing for anything top of the funnel can be problematic. Even if you restrict placements or the targeted audience, it doesn’t change the goal of the algorithm. It only wants to get you that surface level action, with no concern whatsoever with what they do next.

If you care about what they do next, consider optimizing for something further down the funnel. Or at least experiment with it. Something I’ve done in the past is optimize for deeper website traffic engagement actions based on things like the amount of scroll depth or time spent on a page. That way, the algorithm has a goal that goals beyond the click.

Watch Video

I recorded a video about this, too. Check it out below…

Your Turn

How well do you understand the Meta ads algorithm?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Understand the Meta Ads Algorithm appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Meta Advertising Expectations and the Most Common Phrase

If you’re a Meta advertiser who manages ads for others, it’s important you make this phrase a regular part of your language: “It depends.”

It’s not a copout. It’s not meant to avoid accountability. Instead, it will help you uncover the context that’s necessary to provide a more specific answer.

Let me explain…

The Simplistic Question

Those who are ignorant to the complexity of Meta advertising expect direct and specific answers to simple questions. It just isn’t possible.

What’s a good starting budget? It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish and how much it will cost to get the actions you want.

How many purchases will I get if we spend $100 per day? It depends on the effectiveness of the ad, the cost of the product, the performance of the website, competition in the auction, and a whole lot more.

What’s a good cost per lead? It depends on how much information we request and what the offer is. Is a lead someone who is requesting more information about the potential purchase of real estate? Or are they subscribing to a free ebook? What industry is it?

Too many questions about Meta advertising assume an easy answer. This stuff isn’t black and white.

The Many Factors

Your results and what you can expect are reliant on so many different factors. Here are just a few of them…

  • Your industry
  • Your product
  • Price of your product
  • Reputation of your brand
  • Size of your audience
  • Effectiveness of your website
  • Budget available to spend
  • Competition
  • Seasonality
  • Countries where your customers live
  • Copy
  • Creative assets and resources available
  • Organic efforts
  • Pixel, events, Conversions API, and ability to track
  • What a lead looks like
  • Your offer
  • Length of your commitment to advertising

I hope it’s obvious why each of these factors can drastically impact how you’ll answer very general questions related to Meta advertising expectations.

This list is really just scratching the surface. There are so many factors that impact performance that we may not even know or think about.

Understand that expectations aren’t universal or robotic. These factors are a big reason why.

How to Answer

When I tell advertisers to freely use the phrase “It depends,” many misunderstand what I mean. They assume that I recommend only saying “It depends” and nothing more.

No. This is how you continue the conversation. This phrase will lead to clarifying questions that will help provide a workable structure of what to expect.

What is a good cost per lead?

It depends. First, know that we don’t only want cheap leads, but quality leads. Second, are these leads who will get something in return like a white paper, or are will they be contacted by a salesperson? Third, what is our offer? Have you seen success with this thing before?

You still won’t be able to give exact numbers, but once you get these questions answered you’ll be able to provide a much clearer range of expectations.

“It Depends” Can Help Set Expectations

If you are looking to sign a new client, it may be enticing to give clear answers and expectations to sound more knowledgable and confident. Resist.

This does the opposite. Saying “it depends” shows that you understand the nuance of Meta advertising. You know that there isn’t a simple formula that spits out results.

This also helps you educate the potential client. It allows you the opportunity to show them the various factors that will impact their results. It may help them better understand why a bigger challenge may be ahead.

Not only will this better set expectations, but it can also help you gain trust. You aren’t misleading them with a simplistic answer. They now understand that because of these factors, your timeline or costs may be different.

If you want long-term clients, this is a much smoother approach to take.

Embrace That “It Depends”

You’re a good advertiser, but you aren’t magical. You know that you won’t get the same results with every client. The right client can actually set you up for success.

Many of the factors that impact results are outside of your control. Some will actually be an advantage, while others will put you behind the 8-ball. Recognize them. Communicate them to your clients and potential clients.

Help them understand why “it depends.”

Watch Video

I recorded a video about this, too. Check it out below…

Your Turn

Do you communicate with clients and potential clients that “it depends?”

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Meta Advertising Expectations and the Most Common Phrase appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Should You Create a Tailored Leads Campaign Over the Manual Setup?

If you’ve selected the Leads objective in Meta Ads Manager recently, you may have seen an immediate prompt for a Tailored Leads Campaign. It looks like this…

Tailored Leads Campaign

Meta has been testing and rolling out Tailored Leads since November of 2022, if not earlier. And if you’ve experimented with Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, you’ve certainly spotted similarities.

Meta Advantage+ Shopping

Is there a clear benefit to using Tailored Leads Campaigns? Do Tailored Leads provide unique features and optimizations compared to manual leads campaigns, similar to the way Advantage+ Shopping does compared to manual sales campaigns?

Let’s explore…

Defining Tailored Leads

Tailored Leads Campaigns

Let’s go back to that initial definition of a Tailored Leads Campaign:

Create your campaign in fewer steps using the tailored leads campaign. It’s preset with built-in best practices to help you get more leads at the best value.

So far, nothing jumps out as a unique benefit. Meta defines it as “preset with built-in best practices.” That doesn’t inspire excitement. It doesn’t sound unique.

Let’s go through the setup process…

Campaign Setup

First, you won’t be able to utilize A/B testing or Advantage Campaign Budget directly from campaign creation. Those options aren’t there.

The campaign and ad set are completed in one shorter step. This is a streamlined process.

One big difference is that the Tailored Leads Campaign only includes four conversion location options: Instant Forms, Messenger, Instagram, and Calls.

Tailored Leads Campaign

It’s missing Website, Instant Forms and Messenger (combined), and App. Here’s the conversion location section when setting this up manually…

Tailored Leads Campaign

This is a big deal, especially if you like to collect leads from your website. You won’t be using Tailored Leads.

There also isn’t an option to use manual bidding with Tailored Leads. This is stripped down.

Presets

Tailored Leads Campaign

Some of the missing features aren’t actually missing. You just won’t be able to change them, so Meta put them out of view. There are several presets that you aren’t able to customize.

Tailored Leads Campaign

Now we see that the bid strategy is set at Highest Volume. You won’t be able to change that.

Advantage+ Placements is automatically on, and you won’t be able to remove placements if you prefer.

Finally, you’ll be optimizing for Leads, which sorta explains why the Website conversion location is missing. When you utilize the website conversion location, you then go through the steps of selecting your pixel and the optimization event of your choice.

Added Features?

Advantage+ Shopping also streamlines the campaign creation process by locking in presets. But what makes it especially unique is that it offers features related to defining your current customers and some added machine learning to drive sales.

Advantage+ Shopping

Unless I’m missing something, I see none of that here. Tailored Leads Campaigns simply appear to be a Boost button for leads in Ads Manager. It simplifies things for newer advertisers to prevent them from modifying settings that will make their results worse.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think Tailored Leads Campaigns offer anything that is unique, special, or powerful. All indications are that you could easily recreate a Tailored Leads Campaign by creating a manual leads campaign that utilizes the same settings.

You could not say the same of Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. You can’t completely recreate it with a manual campaign (mainly due to the current customer features and machine learning).

Should You Use It?

Sure, knock yourself out. I’d love to be proven wrong and hear that results from Tailored Leads Campaigns are incredible and can’t be duplicated with manual campaigns. But I have serious doubts.

If you are overwhelmed and are unsure about the best way to set up your campaigns, Tailored Leads is a good starting point.

Your Turn

What do you think of Tailored Leads Campaigns? Have you tested them out?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Should You Create a Tailored Leads Campaign Over the Manual Setup? appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Meta Announces Big Changes to Website Conversion Campaigns

We had been hearing whispers of these impending changes to website conversion campaigns from members of our community and through our inbox. Now it’s official.

Changes to Meta Website Conversions Campaigns

In short, Aggregated Event Measurement is Meta’s protocol for reporting web and app events from people who opted out of tracking from iOS 14.5 and later devices. Meta says that “it will continue to evolve,” but many of the advertiser requirements related to iOS 14.5 changes and Aggregated Measurement are going away.

What this means for the future is unclear, but Meta says that no further action is needed from advertisers for now.

Here’s what’s happening…

1. No Need to Prioritize 8 Conversion Events

Previously, advertisers needed to configure and prioritize eight website conversion events that could be used for Aggregated Event Measurement.

Aggregated Event Measurement Web Event Configuration and Prioritization

Prioritized events were treated differently than non-prioritized events. When optimizing for a non-prioritized event, you would not reach users on iOS devices who had opted out of tracking. You could reach them when optimizing for prioritized events.

Some limited reporting for iOS users was also available for prioritized events whereas reporting for non-prioritized events would not include users who opted out of tracking.

Prioritization will not be needed going forward. It’s not entirely clear yet what that means for how these things will be handled.

2. No Need to Turn on Value Sets to Optimize for Value

Value Optimization allows advertisers to optimize for higher value purchases.

Facebook Value Optimization

In order to make use of Value Optimization post-iOS 14.5, advertisers were required to turn on Value Sets within Web Event Configuration.

Facebook Aggregated Event Measurement Value Optimization

Doing so took up a minimum of four of the eight event prioritization slots. These steps, of course, are going away.

3. Aggregated Event Measurement Tab Will Be Removed

Within the Events Manager, advertisers had access to a tab for Aggregated Event Measurement.

Aggregated Event Measurement

This was intended to display a reporting of events processed utilizing Aggregated Event Measurement, but most advertisers saw limited and incomplete data, if anything, here. It was also how you accessed Event Configuration.

This tab will go away.

4. No Longer Required to Verify Your Domain

Previously, you could not configure and prioritize your eight web events without first verifying the domain — a process of confirming ownership.

Domain Verification

This will no longer be a requirement related to event configuration. This is great news for those who are unable to verify the domain because purchases are completed on a website they do not control.

While domain verification is no longer required for this purpose, it’s still recommended for other benefits related to link ownership control.

5. No Need to Select a Conversion Domain

Advertisers were previously required to select a conversion domain where their pixel was found when creating an ad.

Conversion Domain Meta Ads

This will no longer be required.

Unanswered Questions

What we have from Meta right now is only an explanation of what is changing. But there remain some important unanswered questions.

1. Why is this changing?

Yes, it was a hassle for advertisers, but it was a required step to stay in line with iOS requirements. Why is it that Meta felt it was a good time to make this change?

2. How is this possible?

Apple’s own App Tracking Transparency (ATT) protocol isn’t going away. The requirements related to the handling of opt-outs remains. So, how can the event prioritization step be removed?

3. What is changing to Aggregated Event Measurement?

Presumably, Aggregated Event Measurement will continue to exist (and “evolve,” as Meta says), but many of the advertiser responsibilities related to it are going away. What is changing about AEM? Will new steps emerge?

4. How will this impact optimization and attribution?

This, of course, is what we care about most. The steps that were removed had a direct impact on attribution, reporting, and ads optimization. Will we notice a difference with these changes? Will there be positive or negative changes? Presumably, there will either be no noticeable change or it will be positive, otherwise why make the change at all?

Your Turn

What do you think about this update? What are you hearing?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Meta Announces Big Changes to Website Conversion Campaigns appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Update Your Meta Advertising Assumptions

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. Attribution, optimization, 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 placement that wasn’t working, I’d turn that placement off.

And often, I’d apply that learning for new ad sets 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 budget 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 conversions. It’s also possible that impressions 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 Targeting

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 audience. 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 reach 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!

The post Update Your Meta Advertising Assumptions appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Be Ethical to a Fault for Meta Advertising Longevity

It is a choice to be ethical. This post isn’t going to preach about how you’re a bad person or that you need to have my same core values. This is about the importance of ethics and Meta advertising.

Oh, I know. I see the eye rolls through the screen. Meta has a terrible reputation on ethics. So, why should we do better?

Because sometimes, it’s not all about the fastest way to make a buck. Sometimes it’s about consistency and longevity. And if you take shortcuts and do things unethically, you’re prioritizing short-term gain while elevating long-term risk.

We could easily go down the rabbit hole here of what truly is “right” and “wrong.” That not all rules and laws are ethical. But, you know what? That misses the point.

Just make it part of your business (and life) philosophy to do what you believe is the right thing. Be ethical to a fault. Do not give anyone a reason to suspect that you’re doing something unethical. Make doing the right thing a habit.

It’s good for business.

Let me explain…

Know the Rules

As you surely know by now, Meta has rules. There are advertising guidelines that you are expected to follow.

Know these rules inside and out. Ignorance is not an excuse. Do all that you can to remain in line with those rules.

Some of the rules within these guidelines may not be obvious. Some truly have nothing to do with ethics at all. Make sure you understand them.

But you may forget. And when you do, it’s important that you always have the right intentions. If you have lines that you won’t cross — things that make you feel uncomfortable because they just feel “wrong” — you are much more likely to stay within the guidelines than someone who doesn’t have this same inner voice.

Don’t Bend the Rules

Some advertisers know the rules so that they can bend them. They know that if you venture into gray areas that may be unethical but aren’t technically against an official guideline, you’ll see benefits.

Yeah, you might see those benefits. Briefly, at least. It doesn’t take much to get your account flagged or inadvertently cross that line that you were walking so close to.

This approach has long-term risks.

Prioritize Longevity

If you routinely or briefly bend or break Meta’s rules, you are more likely than anyone else to get shut down. It could be your Facebook page, ad account, or Business Manager. This is how you end a business.

Try explaining to your client why you can’t run their ads. Or why their page no longer exists.

Oh, I know, there are sometimes very innocent people who get caught up in those things as well. But increase your odds by simply being ethical to a fault.

If you care about having a business one month, one year, and 10 years from now, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Prioritize longevity.

Know the line you will not cross, whether it’s written or not. Know that others will cross that line and benefit, at least for now.

But your business and reputation are too important to risk it.

It’s Relative and Personal

The joke running through this is that non-advertisers will often view all advertisers as unethical. Is merely running Facebook ads unethical? Some think so. What about targeting? What about the pixel and tracking events? What about affiliate marketing?

We all have to make some of these hard choices and figure out where the line is drawn.

Personally? I’m an unnatural marketer, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Marketing and sales often get a bad reputation because they can be so deceitful.

I’m not comfortable with misleading messaging and manipulation. I’d much rather not get the sale than talk you into something you’ll regret.

I realize there’s a strong counterargument that there’s an art to convincing sales copy that I’m not taking advantage of. And there are people I absolutely respect who will go farther for that sale than I will.

That’s a personal choice. Just know where you stand.

Watch Video

I recorded a video about this, too. Check it out below…

Your Turn

How do ethics apply to your marketing?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Be Ethical to a Fault for Meta Advertising Longevity appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Keep Meta Advertising Simple for Optimal Success

When it comes to Meta advertising, less is more. Keep it simple. Far too often, overcomplicating your campaigns is costing you money.

Yes, there are exceptions. Especially if you have big budgets, you have the room to make your campaigns more complex. But even in the cases of big budgets, there are examples of advertisers who are hurting their results by trying to do too much.

It wasn’t always this way. The algorithm wasn’t smart enough to trust it years ago. Not only is it smarter, but the entire structure is set up for you to do less.

Don’t fight it.

Stop Overthinking Optimization

What is the action you want? Optimize for that.

Meta Ads Performance Goal

Too simple? Sometimes. I get there are times when you can’t get enough conversion events to help the algorithm learn. But more often than not, the inability to exit the learning phase shouldn’t prevent you from optimizing for the action that you want.

Yes, you can get better results when you’re able to generate more volume. But far too often, we make assumptions about how people behave. We assume that if we optimize for Add to Cart, Initiate Checkout, or View Content that we’ll get the volume we need. And we assume that the typical percentage of those people will end up completing the purchase.

Unfortunately, people are weird. You can’t count on ad traffic to result in a typical conversion rate if it’s not optimized for a purchase.

Tell the algorithm what you want.

Stop Wasting Time with Targeting

Which lookalike audience works best? Which interest and behavior? You test and test and test, looking for the best combination.

This just isn’t all that necessary these days.

It’s not that interests and lookalikes are worthless. There are certainly fewer interests than there once were. But the algorithm no longer uses the audiences you select as a hard constraint when optimizing for a conversion.

When you pick that lookalike audience, Meta turns on Advantage Lookalikes by default, giving the algorithm the ability to expand the percentage.

Meta Advantage Lookalike

When you pick that group of interests, Meta turns on Advantage Detailed Targeting and can expand beyond that group as well.

Advantage Detailed Targeting

These interests and lookalikes are mere suggestions these days. So stop feeling like what you use needs to be perfect.

In fact, you may be better off without those interests and lookalikes anyway. Try removing them and go completely broad. You may be surprised by the results that you get.

The expansion products are evidence that Meta wants you to go broader. In some cases, you should. It’s possible that you’ll get the same or better results by keeping it simple instead of overthinking your targeting.

Stop Messing with Placements

You think some placements don’t work. So what? The algorithm will adjust.

This sounded like nonsense not long ago. But when you’re optimizing for a conversion, it’s almost always better to roll with Advantage+ Placements. The algorithm will then optimize distribution to consider costs and who is most likely to act on a given placement.

Meta Advantage+ Placements

You can’t do this nearly as well as the algorithm can. Stop trying to out-think it.

There are a few exceptions, of course, and they’re related to many of the top-of-the-funnel actions. If you optimize for link clicks or landing page views, the algorithm can be fooled by low-quality traffic from Audience Network. And if you optimize for a ThruPlay, the same thing can happen with Rewarded Video.

But the thing is, you kinda get what you pay for when you optimize for those actions. Quality is rarely good. Optimize for conversions (some kind of conversion) when you can.

And when you do, allow the algorithm the option of all placements.

Limit the Ad Variations

You create a bunch of ad options with different copy and creative combinations. While some ad options can help limit fatigue, you can also water down your results to the point that they don’t mean much. Or the algorithm will simply run with one or two anyway, and it’s all a waste of effort.

Next thing you know, you’re pausing and starting ads, forcing Meta to show the ads you want. Stop doing this.

If you have a big budget, sure. You can create a bunch of options. You have the time and resources, knock yourself out.

But otherwise, it’s rarely necessary. You aren’t sure what the copy should say? Utilize the multiple text options feature.

Multiple Text Options

Turn on Standard Enhancements and Advantage+ Creative.

Advantage+ Creative

There’s a lot you can do with copy and creative without putting out a bunch of ads.

Limit the Ad Sets

You were probably creating multiple ad sets to test different audiences. As discussed earlier, it’s rarely all that necessary, at least when creating multiple ad sets for similar audiences (different lookalikes or interests, for example). This might result in audience fragmentation.

It’s okay to have multiple ad sets for cold and warm (remarketing), but we’re seeing that even your broad remarketing audiences are often reached when targeting broadly.

Once again, big budgets have more flexibility here. But, in most cases, keep it to the one ad set.

Campaign Focus

I’m not going to tell you to limit yourself to a single campaign. That’s craziness. We want simplicity, but that level of minimalism is taking this too far.

Create multiple campaigns to satisfy your different business goals. So, it could be something like…

  • Campaign #1: Top of the funnel (video views, engagement, traffic, awareness)
  • Campaign #2: Lead building
  • Campaign #3: Purchases

You may need different campaigns for different products and goals. So even suggesting you should have only three isn’t necessarily realistic. I often have upwards of 10 campaigns at once, it’s not easy to avoid it.

Just keep in mind that if you find yourself targeting the same groups in multiple ad sets, you could be creating an Auction Overlap situation for yourself.

There are Always Exceptions

I realize that the idea of simplifying your approach will always have exceptions. If you found yourself shaking your head at anything here, it’s possible that an exception applies in your case.

The main thing is that too much complexity can create problems for the algorithm. Rarely try to outsmart it. Rarely limit it. Don’t create too many options that could result in Auction Overlap or Audience Fragmentation. Where that line is drawn will vary and is for you to figure out.

Bottom line: Stop overthinking this stuff. Keep it simple.

Watch Video

I recorded a video about this, too. Check it out below…

Your Turn

What’s been your experience?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Keep Meta Advertising Simple for Optimal Success appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Advantage Targeting: How Meta Audience Expansion Products Work

Meta started rolling out Advantage targeting in 2021, allowing the ads algorithm to expand your chosen targeted audience in certain situations. How and when expansion works is still often misunderstood.

It makes sense why. This topic has been a moving target.

In just two years, of course, three different Advantage targeting products with expansion capabilities have rolled out (and a confusing fourth on the horizon). It doesn’t help that the names and rules for how they’re used have evolved during that time.

Let’s clear up the confusion now…

Advantage Detailed Targeting

Originally announced as Detailed Targeting Expansion, Advantage Detailed Targeting was the first audience expansion product available.

Advantage Detailed Targeting

When Advantage Detailed Targeting is turned on, Meta will “dynamically expand the audience to reflect where we’re seeing better performance and we may expand your audience further to include similar opportunities.”

This expansion applies only to the Detailed Targeting (interests and behaviors) that you enter, and expansion will not impact restrictions you apply related to location, age, gender, or exclusions.

In the example above, there is a checkbox that allows the advertiser the option of turning it on and off. But it is automatically on (and can’t be turned off) when optimizing for any type of conversion, value, app event, or app install.

In these cases, it will look like this (no checkbox)…

Advantage Detailed Targeting

Advantage Lookalike

Advantage Lookalike (originally Lookalike Expansion) came next.

Advantage Lookalike

While the audience expansion concept is the same as Advantage Detailed Targeting, the execution is slightly different. Using the Custom Audience that you based your lookalike audience on as a guide, Meta’s system will expand beyond the percentage you selected for your lookalike audience if it’s determined you can get better results by doing so.

Advantage Lookalike is automatically turned on for all conversion, value, and app promotion optimizations. In these cases, it looks like this…

Advantage Lookalike

As with Advantage Detailed Targeting, the restrictions (location, age, and gender) and exclusions you set will still apply. Advantage Lookalike isn’t available for Special Ad Categories like housing, credit, employment, politics, and social issues.

Advantage Custom Audience

Next came Advantage Custom Audience.

Advantage Custom Audience

Once again, Advantage Custom Audience allows Meta to dynamically expand your audience and move beyond your selected custom audience if it’s believed that doing so can improve performance.

This feature will be turned on automatically regardless of optimization when a custom audience is selected. However, unlike the other two options, the checkbox remains and this option can be turned off.

This is probably good as advertisers may want to limit their targeting to a specific custom audience in some cases. But, be aware that this may be turned on — I’ve been burned by this in the past when I thought I was reaching a hyper-targeted group.

Advantage Audience

If you weren’t confused yet, it’s going to start getting confusing now…

If you select both a custom audience and lookalike audience while optimizing for a conversion or other action that won’t allow you to turn off Advantage Lookalike, it will look like this…

Advantage Custom Audience

But if you optimize for an action like a link click or landing page view (among others) where you have the ability to turn both Advantage Custom Audience and Advantage Lookalike on or off, the name changes to Advantage Audience.

Advantage Audience

There’s no new functionality here. You just can’t individually turn Advantage Custom Audience and Advantage Lookalike on or off. It’s a group selection.

Advantage+ Audience??

And now it’s going to get ridiculous.

Yes, it looks like I just listed Advantage Audience twice. But, this time I’m actually listing Advantage+ Audience (emphasis on the “+”). This is a new tool that, as far as I can tell, is different from Advantage Audience.

In a May 11, 2023 announcement about new AI-powered ads tools, Meta provided details about Advantage+ Audience.

Advantage+ Audience

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. Let’s recap…

Advantage Audience: When using both a custom audience and lookalike audience, an option to turn on both Advantage Custom Audience and Advantage Lookalike. This allows Meta to target beyond your selected custom audience and lookalike audience if it will lead to better performance.

Advantage+ Audience: Inputs such as age, gender, and detailed targeting (maybe more?) to be used as suggestions but not as a hard constraint to targeting. This doesn’t really fit the definition of the other Advantage targeting expansion products.

These are quite clearly two different things. What appears to be going on is that Advantage Audience isn’t really a feature. It’s just short-hand for combining two features. Meta documentation doesn’t mention it anywhere. But Advantage+ Audience actually is a feature, and it doesn’t appear to actually be part of Advantage expansion.

Make sense? I know. It’s oh, so confusing.

Meta is really bad at this.

There are so many tools with “Advantage” in the name. Some include a “+” and some don’t. I still haven’t figured out why. Are they more awesome? Is it just lazy branding? No one is quite sure.

Should You Use Advantage Targeting?

Okay, back on topic. Let’s focus on the three actual features relevant to this post:

  • Advantage Detailed Targeting
  • Advantage Lookalike
  • Advantage Custom Audience

I was initially pretty terrified of these features. I put in certain targeting and I want to use that targeting! But with time, it’s grown on me. Expansion is that middle ground between hard constraint targeting and going broad.

The way these features are defined, targeting expansion can’t hurt you. It can only help you. The audience may not be expanded it all. But if it is, it’s because that expansion can get you better results.

The problem? We have no idea whether your audience was actually expanded, how much it was expanded, or how performance was impacted by that expansion.

There should be a pretty simple solution to this. Meta should add a breakdown for audience expansion that adds rows to your report for your intended audience and the expanded audience. Without that, we’re left guessing regarding whether this is actually beneficial.

More transparency could also give advertisers more confidence in these products.

Your Turn

What’s your experience been with Advantage targeting expansion products?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Advantage Targeting: How Meta Audience Expansion Products Work appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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