How AI is changing Meta advertising
Have you ever visited a website, looked at a particular product or service and then started seeing Ads relating to it when you were back on Facebook or Instagram? You may not have searched for it on Facebook, followed the company or even shown any particular interest in that subject on social media, yet there it is in your feed. If you’ve noticed this happening more often, it’s not just your imagination. Meta is using AI much more to understand people’s behaviour and decide which Ads are most relevant to them, and this is changing how businesses need to think about advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta is doing more of the targeting for you
If you’ve been running Facebook or Instagram Ads for a while, you’ll probably remember spending quite a lot of time choosing interests, demographics and different audience options. You might create one audience for people interested in a particular product, another for a different type of customer and another for people who had already visited your website. You can still use audience targeting, but Meta is increasingly using AI to target audiences. It can look at a range of signals, including people’s behaviour and interests, information in your Ad and what you want your campaign to achieve, to work out who is most likely to respond. This doesn’t mean you should just put an Ad online and leave Meta to do everything. You still need to know who your customers are, what you want to achieve and what you want to say to them. The difference is that you don’t necessarily need to spend as much time trying to work out exactly which interests and audience settings will find those people.
Good content has always mattered – now it matters even more
We all know the saying ‘content is king’ and, with Meta’s AI helping to find your ideal audience, it’s arguably even more important now. Rather than relying on detailed audience targeting of the past to tell Meta who you want to reach, your Ads themselves are giving Meta more information about your business, your products and the people who might be interested in them. This means the message, images and videos you use are really important. For example, if you run a hotel, you could have Ads focusing on weekend breaks, family holidays, spa facilities or your restaurant. Each Ad is giving Meta different information about what you offer and could appeal to different people, so you don’t necessarily need to create a completely separate audience for every Ad.
When creating Meta Ads, you must think about:
- What your customers want – what are they looking for?
- The benefits – why should they choose you?
- Your creative – could different images, videos, testimonials or messages appeal to different people?
- Your objective – what do you actually want someone to do after seeing your Ad?
This is where high quality marketing still matters. Meta may be able to help find the people most likely to respond, but it doesn’t know which of your products you most want to promote, what makes your business different, or which offers are particularly important to you. That still comes from having a good understanding of your customers and your business, and using that knowledge to create the right campaigns, messages and Ads. You then need to look at the results and use what you learn to decide what to test, change or improve.
What happens when someone visits your website?
If you have the Meta Pixel set up on your website, information about relevant visitor activity can be shared with Meta, subject to the appropriate privacy and consent requirements. This can then be used as one of the signals that helps Meta understand what someone might be interested in. This is one reason you can visit a website, look at a particular product or service and then come across Ads for similar products or services when you’re back on Facebook or Instagram. Website activity can form part of the information Meta uses when deciding which Ads may be relevant to someone.
This also means that remarketing doesn’t necessarily have to work in quite the same way as it used to. You may have previously created a specific campaign aimed at everyone who had visited your website, but Meta is now better able to use different signals to decide who is likely to respond to an Ad. That doesn’t mean remarketing is no longer useful. If you have a particular offer, product or message that you specifically want to put in front of previous website visitors, a dedicated campaign can still be a good approach. It’s just another area where you don’t necessarily need to rely on detailed audience selection in the way you might have done previously.
Your other marketing can help your Meta Ads too
This is also where things get interesting, if you are using several different marketing channels. Someone might find your business through Google, click on one of your Google Ads, read one of your blog posts, visit a product page or come across your business at an event before they ever see one of your Ads on Facebook or Instagram. If they visit your website and the relevant tracking is in place, that website activity can potentially become one of the signals Meta uses when deciding which Ads may be relevant to them.
For example, someone might search Google for a product, click on your Ad and visit your website but not be ready to buy. A few days later, they are scrolling through Instagram and see one of your Ads. You can’t assume that everyone who visits your website will then be shown your Meta Ads, but it highlights how the different parts of your marketing can work together. Your Google Ads, SEO, content and Meta Ads don’t always need to be treated as completely separate activities, particularly when someone moves between different channels before deciding to buy.
So, what does this mean for small businesses?
The good news is that you don’t need to understand exactly how all of Meta’s AI technology works to make the most of it. There are, however, a few things that are worth getting right:
- Make sure your tracking is set up correctly so Meta has useful information to work with
- Think carefully about what you want your Ads to achieve rather than simply putting an Ad in front of as many people as possible
- Create Ads with clear messages, relevant products and strong creative
- Give Meta different things to work with by testing different products, benefits, images, videos and messages
- Look at your results and use them to decide what you should do next
The days of spending hours trying to build the perfect Facebook audience aren’t necessarily gone, but Meta is taking on more of that work. That means your time can be better spent understanding your customers, getting your messaging right, creating strong content and looking at what is actually working. Meta’s AI can help you find the people most likely to be interested, but you still need to give it the right things to show them and make sure your Meta Ads are part of a wider marketing strategy.
Need help with your Meta Ads?
Meta advertising is changing, but getting the best from it still means having the right strategy, creative, tracking and ongoing management in place. If you’re considering Meta Ads for your business, or already have campaigns running but aren’t sure you’re getting the most from them, QSM Digital can help. We manage Meta advertising across Facebook and Instagram, from campaign setup and strategy through to ongoing optimisation and reporting. Get in touch to find out how we could help you make more of your Meta advertising.
