Update: What's working (and what's not) this week in Facebook Ads
In findings from our own accounts, conversations with ad buyers from around the globe, and some information shared from our Facebook account rep, the best things to do right now as ad buyers are:
Keep using consolidated campaign/ad set/ad structures (less is more)
This means that grouping audiences together (like all of your middle funnel) is better than segmenting each audience out by itself. The increased performance from consolidating outweighs the benefit of audience data from segmentation.
Along the same lines, less ad creative per ad set is also more, as Facebook ad sets (even in ABO) are operating like CBOs where the algorithm chooses one ad to spend on, and doesn’t evenly distribute budget across ad creatives.
Ways to combat this might be turning off the high spend ad if it isn’t doing well to let others spend, or duplicate that ad into its own ad set to let it spend on its own.
OK, but what does consolidation actually mean in practice? Our friend Aaron Gagnon says: “At an ad level, consolidate to ONLY the best performing ads in the past 7+ days. At an ad set level, consolidate to ONLY the best performing audiences in past 7+ days. At the campaign level, consolidate to ONLY the best performing campaigns, remove any filler campaigns that aren’t worthwhile keeping (based on return). Then, loosen the custom audience exclusions as you see fit.”
Use longer time frames to understand and optimize performance
We’re doing everything we can to try to optimize off of a 7-day window, and depending on spend, as low as a 3 or 4-day window. However, whatever you do, DO NOT look at “today” results.
Make fewer, more strategic edits and optimizations (rather than frequent changes)
It seems as if the algorithm and Ads Manager in general is running a bit slower than it used to. Let your accounts learn, and make sure you have the right information when you optimize. Too many changes in too short of a timeframe won’t allow you to understand what’s working, and what’s not.
Ensure CAPI and domain verification are installed
This is a big one. Not sure where to start with this? Here’s the low-down on what CAPI is and why it’s important, then, once you nail that down, follow our guide to get it implemented.
On-platform lookalikes working better than off-platform seed audiences and better than interests in most accounts
This means video viewers and social engagers might be better seed audiences than your website visitors last 180 days audience or even purchaser lookalikes. Again, when pixel data isn’t as strong as it used to be, on-platform audiences are more likely to accurately encapsulate those who took specific on-platform actions.
It should also be noted that larger percentage lookalikes are working better right now than smaller percentages. We’re seeing pretty high frequencies in prospecting across the board (even with totally broad audiences).
Speaking of prospecting audiences, Klaviyo lookalikes (i.e. automatically synced audiences) are working better than custom/static customer uploads as a CSV.
Also, if you can make something automatically sync and update … why wouldn’t you?!
Lowest cost generally performing better than bid/cost caps at the moment
Again with the learning - Facebook’s algorithm and auction right now is not its best. Instead of manual bids, switch to lowest cost and monitor on your own a bit more.
Other things working for you right now that you’d like to share? Shoot us an email at courtney@foxwelldigital.com.
