Meta's algorithm has evolved beyond detailed targeting. Interest and behavior targeting are no longer essential for most advertisers, but there's one important exception.

Recent controversial changes at Meta have raised questions about user exodus and advertiser response, but with limited alternatives and Meta's near-monopoly status, the impact may be different than what we saw with X.

They may not be dead yet, but all signs are that we're heading in this direction. Here's why...

Meta announced a restriction period for Facebook ads related to politics, elections, and social issues. In this episode, Jon discusses what that means, when it happens, what you can do, and what you can't do.

Read the related blog post here:

https://jonloomer.com/facebook-ads-restrictions-for-politics-and-social-issues-in-the-us/

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

Facebook is rolling out Advantage Custom Audiences, not to be confused with Advantage Detailed Targeting and Advantage Lookalikes. Is this good? Should you use it? Well... It depends!

Read more here: https://www.jonloomer.com/facebook-advantage-custom-audiences/

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

Facebook is finally rolling out Gated Content for lead ads. This is a big update that allows users to immediately access a digital download after completing a lead form. What does it mean? Who will benefit most? Jon discusses in this episode of the Pubcast.

Read his tutorial here:

https://www.jonloomer.com/facebook-lead-ads-gated-content/

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

Custom metrics can be hugely valuable when the basic metrics provided in Ads Manager are ineffective at telling a complete story. With custom metrics, you can combine multiple metrics into a formula to better summarize and express what you care about most. I walk through some specific examples of how I do that here.

You can also read a blog post I wrote on this:

https://www.jonloomer.com/custom-metrics-facebook-ads-manager/

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

We did something different and Jon invited Luke in to discuss several important topics. During this episode they talk about:

• Facebook scams (why does this keep happening??)
• Advertisers getting shut down
• Does Facebook care about exploited weaknesses?
• Why don't these options exist?
• What's up with these weird ads coming from Facebook's Facebook page?

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

If you advertise for a Special Ad Category (housing, credit, employment, politics), Special Ad Audiences are going away. Here's a breakdown regarding what this means, the dates you need to be aware of, and what to do next.

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review.

Meta has released a series of new B2B targeting options to allow you to reach business decision makers and admins of new businesses. Here's how it works.

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

You've likely seen a new feature that allows you to make up to three different creative optimizations of your Facebook ad. This isn't scary. It's Advantage+ Creative, and here's how it works...

If you sell a product on Amazon or another third-party site, the struggle is real with advertising. You can't remarket to people who clicked on your ad. Your optimization options aren't ideal.

But, Meta has something they could do that, while it wouldn't solve every problem for this group, it would make things better. I explain on this episode.

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

If you're optimizing your Facebook ads for ThruPlay and you're getting results that are just too good to be true, they probably are. And I will be that it's related to the Audience Network Rewarded Video placement.

Here, I walk through what ThruPlay is, how I spotted a problem with my campaign, and the weaknesses of this placement and Facebook ads optimization in general.

Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

AI chatbots are new and exciting, but they're coming out so quickly that we may miss some obvious issues with how they work.

This episode is going to be a little (or a lot) different than most. Not about Facebook ads. This is about balancing the million and one things you're doing both in and outside of work. It's about the guilt and shame of not doing it all. And it's about forgiveness and being kind to yourself...

Meta announced several new features that are either being tested or coming soon to your lead forms. While not a ton of details were provided, there is plenty that we can talk about...

Meta announced a bunch of new features recently related to messaging and lead generation. One that got my attention was the ability to send marketing messages to people who opt-in via Messenger in Meta Business Suite. This could be really interesting...

One of the most common refrains from marketers when a feature gets taken away or a platform gets shut down is "This is why you don't build your house on rented land!" While there's certainly some thread of truth here, it's a phrase that is so misused and overused that it loses all meaning. Here's a rant...

While you can make use of the Search placement, wouldn't it be nice to be able to bid against certain search terms when people use Facebook search?

The truth is that this existed at one time, but it was a buried template that most advertisers never knew about it. But, it would be so helpful if this was brought back in some way. Let me explain...

I've complained a lot during the past year about how little advertisers know about how much their targeting audience was expanded or how many results came from the expansion of their audience when Detailed Targeting Expansion or Lookalike Expansion is on. But, what if Meta added an Expansion option to the current Breakdowns feature that allowed you to break down your results and view separate rows for your targeted audience and the expanded audience?

Previously, we discussed the need for some sort of frequency control lever when optimizing for something other than Reach. But, there could be another option that would involve creating custom audiences based on people who have seen a specific ad. This could then be used for frequency control (exclusions) and campaign planning.

One of the issues advertisers struggle with most is controlling frequency. Currently, the only way to set a frequency cap within the Auction buying type is with Reach optimization. While there's surely a reason for this, it sure would be nice to have some sort of control over frequency using other optimization options.

Facebook Podcasts still haven't been fully rolled out, and there are rumors that Meta may change course on its investment. But, the addition of a few advertising options could make Facebook Podcasting an amazing opportunity.

If you have a video that does way worse than your typical videos, don't be afraid of republishing it. You may be surprised by the results that you get.

Right now, you can target people who have viewed your videos for a certain amount of time. And optimization can focus on those who watched at least 15 seconds of your videos. But, both targeting and optimization would improve if Meta included some very important options.

Imagine you could target all people who followed your page during the past 30 days. Maybe send them a special message or invite them to subscribe to something. That may be valuable, right? You can't do it right now.

You can use Page Engagement Audiences to target anyone who has engaged with your page or anyone who has engaged with your page's posts or ads. But, what if we could add some granularity to that targeting?

Can you imagine if Meta offered standard events for actions that reflect quality website traffic? You could then optimize for and measure quality traffic actions like viewing two pages in a session, spending at least a minute on your page, or returning for a second session. You could then even target people based on these actions.

This one enhancement would drastically change my advertising, and maybe yours. Right now, the focus is to get you the most link clicks, landing page views, or engagement at the lowest cost. But, what if you could instead optimize for quality actions that have more value?

I'm not the only one who wants this, right? Meta undoubtedly has this information. Why can't we see how many conversions resulted from someone seeing or clicking our post or ad, regardless of whether we paid to reach them? There would be some helpful ways to do this...

A week ago, I published my 150th episode in 150 days. As difficult as it was to stop, it was time. I learned a ton from those 150 episodes, and now I'm going to pivot off of what I learned. Here's what to expect in the next phase...

This is it! It's the big one! The 150th episode in 150 days. Is the streak over? What did I learn from it? I discuss what I learned, what you might apply, and what it all means...

With the announcement of Meta Advantage products, it's obvious that the trend is towards more automation. Why am I concerned about this? I have a few reasons...

Are there times when you should use Facebook lead ads with Instant Forms instead of sending people to a landing page on your website to collect a lead? I provide some thoughts...

It makes sense why some ad reviews can take a while. But there are others where there's no excuse. The inefficiency likely costs Meta.

Lately, I've started realizing more and more posts from pages that I don't follow -- that aren't ads -- in my news feed. I decided to dig deeper and perform a little experiment. Here's how my news feed breaks down and what we can learn from it...

I've actually talked before about two of the primary benefits of getting your domain verified related to Facebook ads and posts, but there are actually several more reasons to get this process completed.

I get it. There are seemingly limitless options and features when running a Facebook ads campaign. Where do you start? How do you set up your campaign? What metrics do you care about? Keep it simple...

First there was Detailed Targeting Expansion. Then Lookalike Expansion. It looks like Facebook is also considering Custom Audience Expansion. At least, I can tell you my ad account has been selected for a study to test just that.

I decided to do a Pubcast version of my 5 Facebook Ads Tips webinar, and oh... there's a story here.

Questions were raised recently about the accuracy of Facebook interests used for targeting, thanks to a NCSU study. You may start asking those questions yourself if you dig into your ad preferences to see some of the ways that advertisers can target you.

Researchers in a recent North Carolina State University study found that more than 30% of the interests Facebook connected to a user, which could be used for targeting, were inaccurate or irrelevant. In many cases, it was because the process that led Facebook to infer an interest lacked important context.

There's a ton going on in the world of Facebook and Meta advertising, so how do you stay on top of it all? There are three main things that I recommend.

There are plenty of good business reasons for merging Facebook business pages. There are also several obstacles to doing it. Some of these you can correct and some you can't.

Facebook is going to start punishing video posts that utilize "watchbait" by withholding important information, using sensationalized language, and misleading the viewer. So, why am I skeptical?

Is it possible that Meta gave two different products nearly exactly the same name? It sure appears so. And what's the deal with naming everything Advantage and Advantage+? And what does that + even mean?

Do you use the word 'Meta' when referring to the family of apps related to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger? I've had a bit of a personal protest against the change. Here's my old man rant on why it's been so hard for me to say 'Meta.'

Earlier, I published a Shot about the basics of Meta Advantage. But, this topic deserves more attention. Here, I dig into precisely what this means -- not only now, but potentially for the future. And I have my concerns.

How much should you spend on Facebook ads? I get asked this a lot. There isn't a simple answer, but there are several factors to consider when determining how much you need to spend to get the results you want.