At a push of a button, can Advantage+ AI features take your Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns to the next level?

 

From virtual assistants like ChatGPT, to visual generators like Midjourney, AI is becoming more and more powerful, AND more useful for business owners and marketers.

 

And, for Facebook and Instagram advertisers, Meta has released several AI features that in theory, should decrease your workload, while simultaneously making your ad campaigns more effective. However, like most things in the marketing industry, optimization typically takes more nuance.

 

So, in this blog post we will be covering these new features, and discussing when, or when not, to take advantage of them.

 

 

Advantage+ Campaign Budget

The first AI option that we will be covering today impacts how your advertising campaign utilizes its budget, Advantage+ Campaign Budget.

 

Essentially, the Advantage+ Campaign Budget utilizes an overarching budget for your entire campaign, and Meta will use AI to determine how to allocate said budget to each of your ad sets. So, if you have a $100 daily Advantage+ Campaign Budget set for your entire campaign, and 5 different ad sets, your ad sets won’t get an even piece of the pie. Instead, Meta will use machine learning to divide your budget amongst your 5 ad sets based on their performance. 

 

For example, let’s say that you’re promoting an end-of-season sale for your clothing brand, and each of your ad set’s feature a different category of clothing, t-shirts, pants, jackets, accessories, and shorts. In this scenario an Advantage+ Campaign Budget will divide your $100 campaign budget and distribute it to the best performing ad sets. So, if your t-shirt ads were performing exceptionally well, Meta could take a portion of the budget from the other ad sets to prioritize your T-shirt centric ad set. While this sounds fantastic, there are specific cases when Advantage+ Budget may not be ideal for you.

 

Firstly, you may want to control your budget when you have very specific goals. For example, let’s say that your clothing business was founded here in Vancouver, and that you wanted to build local brand awareness and encourage more in-store shopping, even if your clothes could be purchased online throughout North America. In this case, it may be more ideal to manually allocate a portion of your budget to an ad set for your Vancouver customers because an Advantage+ Campaign Budget may overspend your advertising dollars in other cities. So, if you know that you want to hone in on one specific objective, setting your budget manually will ensure that your ads spend an adequate amount to reach said objective.

The second instance where you may want to set your budget manually instead of using an Advantage+ Campaign Budget, would be when you want to perform specific tests. For example, let’s continue with our previous scenario and say that you have a clothing business. If you wanted to test 2 distinct ad layouts before launching a larger ad campaign, ad sets with manually set budgets may provide better, or more even, test results.

 

Similar to our previous point, a test campaign that utilizes an Advantage+ Campaign Budget, may immediately overspend on one testing ad-set, therefore skewing your results. In this scenario, one could argue that these results would indicate the winning ad layout, but, a test that utilizes an Advantage+ Campaign budget may not give each ad set a fair shot. For example, if ad layout A performed incredibly well within the first few hours of launch by chance, Meta can begin to prematurely prioritize that ad layout. So, if you want to run a fair test to compare 2 different ads, a manual budget set-up will ensure that each ad uses an equal budget to give you an unbiased comparison.

 

That being said, Meta AI and Advantage+ Campaign Budgets can still be an incredibly powerful tool, but, if you want to allocate a specific amount of your marketing budget to achieve a specific objective, or you want to run a fair test between ad sets, a manual budget set-up would be ideal.

 

 

 

Screenshot of the Facebook Advantage Plus Campaign Budget option

 

 

Advantage+ Audience

The next AI option that we will be covering impacts how your ads target Facebook and Instagram users, Advantage+ Audiences.

 

Similar to broad targeting, this feature utilizes Meta AI and performance data to target your ideal audience. However, unlike standard broad targeting, the parameters that you set when using Advantage+ Audiences are suggestions, while the parameters you set when broad targeting are strict rules. In addition, since Advantage+ Audiences expand upon your “suggestions”, this method of targeting theoretically utilizes more AI to predict an ideal audience, while broad targeting utilizes more historical data to find people similar to your ideal audience. That being said, due to this ability to expand upon a suggested audience, there are specific circumstances where an Advantage+ Audience may not be right for you.   

 

One instance, is if you have a product or service that caters to exclusively men or women. For example, let’s say that you have a martial arts gym, and you want to promote your women’s self defense programs. Because Advantage+ Audiences expand upon your targeting suggestions, your ads can mistakenly over-deliver on men’s facebook or Instagram feeds. While AI won’t give us definitive answers, this could for a number of reasons:

 

– Meta may struggle to earn engagement from women

– Meta may recognize that this industry is significantly more popular for men

– Meta may earn a spike in interactions from men, after targeting initially expands

– Or, a combination of these factors…

 

So, if you have a product or service that you want to promote to a specific gender, Advantage+ Audiences may mistakenly over expand on your targeting suggestions, and reach a less than ideal audience.

 

On a similar note, Advantage+ Audiences may not be right for you if you have a product or service that caters to a specific age group. For example, Let’s say that you have a clothing brand that caters to Gen Z fashion and trends. Again, because this targeting option has the ability to expand upon the suggestions you give it, Meta AI may begin to promote your youthful brand to a less than ideal age group. And, this may occur for the same reasons that Meta may mistakenly advertise women’s self defense programs to men on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

So, if you have a product or service that you want to promote to a specific age group,  Advantage+ Audiences may mistakenly over expand on your targeting suggestions, and your ads could potentially target the wrong audience. 

 

While you may be able to tap into a receptive audience you may not have originally considered with Advantage+ Audiences, in these specific circumstances, expanding on your targeting suggestions may not produce the results you’re looking for.

 

 

 

Screenshot of the Facebook Advantage Plus Audience option

 

 

Advantage+ Placements

The last AI option that we’ll be covering impacts where your ads are located within Facebook, Instagram, and the Meta Audience network, Advantage+ Placements.

 

As the name suggests, this AI feature dictates where your ads are specifically placed. This includes:

 

– Home Feeds

– Profile Feeds

– Video Feeds

– Facebook Marketplace

– Instagram Explore

– Meta Search Results

– Messenger

– Apps and Websites in Meta’s Audience Network

 

In theory, this feature utilizes Meta AI to best utilize your budget, and maximize your exposure…

 

That being said, while the other AI features we’ve covered can be incredibly effective given the right circumstances, this is the only feature that we recommend that you completely stay clear from. This is due to the risk of Meta placing your ad on apps and websites in the “Meta Audience Network”, as well as other low quality impression placements.

 

While it may sound great to earn more exposure from outside of Facebook and Instagram, in reality, ads on mobile apps and other websites are simply ineffective. For example, let’s say that your ad started to appear on popular mobile games. On the surface, this may sound like a free bonus, but in reality, mobile game ads don’t convert well, and when they do earn clicks, they are often due to accidental taps.

 

In addition, this feature can also automatically place your ads in ineffective spots on Facebook and Instagram. For example, with this feature turned on, your ad could appear on the “Facebook right column” which is only available on desktop. By placing your ad here, Facebook can increase your impressions, but in reality, your ad will be in a spot that is virtually ignored. 

 

So, instead of letting Meta AI determine where your ads are placed, we recommend that you turn off the Advantage+ Placement feature, and select your ad placements manually. That way, you can ensure that your ads appear strictly where you want them, in places that actually convert, or earn meaningful clicks. 

 

 

 

Screenshot of the Facebook Advantage Plus Placements Option

 

 

In conclusion, Meta offers several AI based tools that can be effective for Facebook and Instagram advertisers given the right circumstances. But, despite the leaps in AI technology we’ve seen this year, Meta’s Advantage+ tools still have room to grow before we can completely rely on machine learning for our entire marketing strategies. 

 

That said, now that we’ve gone over each Advantage+ Tool that Meta offers, you should have a deeper understanding of how each one works, and the nuance required to best optimize your ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

Looking for professional help when it comes to advertising on Facebook and Instagram? Contact us to learn more about our Social Media Advertising Services.