The Pubcast with Jon Loomer – Details, episodes & analysis

Advertisers want clear rules, step-by-step checklists, and universal solutions they can apply to fix their campaigns. But Meta advertising doesn't work that way, and demanding certainty means missing where real solutions are found. Jon explains why "it depends" isn't a cop-out, why the best answers live in the grays, and how to get comfortable with the uncertainty that comes with actually understanding how things work.

Advertisers list every campaign detail when their results tank, like objectives, ad sets, targeting, placements, and creative counts, hoping the right setting will fix everything. But obsessing over the "how" of Meta advertising means ignoring what actually drives performance. Jon explains why you should focus on the "what" and "why" instead, and what questions you need to ask when troubleshooting bad results.

Meta now offers two types of attribution: standard and incremental. With machine learning models predicting which conversions were actually caused by your ads, this sounds great in theory. Jon explains what incremental attribution really means and whether you should actually use it for optimization.

On one hand, we're in the midst of an AI renaissance. Facebook has the reputation of being on the cutting edge of automation, machine learning, and optimization. And yet, they still can't detect and deal with the most basic scams. Why?

Jon and Luke were joined at the Pub by Rachel Woods, founder of The AI Exchange (https://theaiexchange.com/). In addition to being an AI founder, Rachel is a must-follow on TikTok (The.Rachel.Woods), where she creates short videos that make the complex easier to understand.

In this episode, Rachel talks about...

2:06 Her background working for Meta
6:54 How she built her TikTok account quickly starting in November of 2022
11:22 How Rachel decided to work in AI while working in the wine industry
18:22 How AI can be used for automation
24:17 What she tells people who are afraid of their jobs getting replaced
30:17 What hasn't she automated yet that she wants to automate?
34:25 The importance of prompt engineering
42:54 Should we worry about privacy and sharing too much with AI?
48:10 What is the GPT Playground?

The future of AI is both exciting and scary. Some of the scary stuff is based on predictions, and we really don't know what's going to happen.

Seriously, I don't know. It's not my expertise.

But what absolutely is scary is the required change that is coming. We will need to change how we do business. How we consume content. Even how we live.

Everything is going to change super fast. And we don't know exactly what's going to change or how.

That's freaky.

We can prepare the best we can and put ourselves in the best possible situation. But the truth is that we are going to need to be flexible in the coming weeks, months, and years.

That's easier for some of us than others. I don't like change. Hell, I just hopped into video about eight years too late because of my resistance to change.

But the nice thing I can take from this is that it's change that we are all facing together. It won't be easy, but it will be easier as a group.

We can do this, y'all. I know we can.

It's okay to admit that you need a little bit of luck.

I don't mean that we don't deserve our success. But there's an element of being in the exact right place at the exact right time.

As I look back at the 11+ years in my business, I can't help but notice this. But I failed to appreciate it at the time.

I was laid off at the end of 2011. I wrote about Facebook ads -- not because I thought it was a smart topic (although it was), but because that's what I knew. I wrote a LOT because that's what I was good at and I didn't want to create videos. I had a soft-sell approach because I wasn't a marketer at heart.

All of this worked. It was the perfect time for all of this to work. It almost felt like it was set up for me to work. Not because it was some grand strategy of mine (it truly wasn't).

I'm not saying that I didn't work hard or that I SHOULDN'T have had success. I just realize now how the stars aligned for me.

The important lesson is that I took it for granted and maybe assumed that I did have some sort of magic touch, thinking that this approach worked then and would always work. It doesn't.

I had to evolve. I didn't (until recently). I'm now trying to catch back up.

Just remember that there are so many factors that contribute to your success, or lack thereof. Don't assume that what you've accomplished is some sort of blueprint that anyone could follow -- or even that you could follow again.

Along those lines, you might be doing everything right, but you just haven't had that break yet. It's easy to doubt yourself when that break hasn't come, that you're doing something wrong.

I'm getting more philosophical as my perspective grows longer in this journey. And this is something that has truly hit home lately.

What do you think?

In this episode, Jon and JR explore the contradictions related to the way many business partnerships start and why Jon struggles to form them.

I worked with ChatGPT to create a 60-second movie and then I recorded it.

Creating this script was a process. I asked ChatGPT some specific questions. I didn't like the initial results. I gave it more instruction.

It was a series of many prompts. It's important that you understand that this isn't as simple as telling it to write you a movie and it comes out the way you want it. You have an important role.

If you have anxiety about ChatGPT and AI making your job obsolete, allow me to talk you off of this ledge.

Is it scary? Yes. Absolutely. This technology is likely to be more impactful and disruptive than anything we've seen since the birth of the internet.

That's scary.

But think back to the advent of the internet. Think back to how business was done prior to that point. It was different. Was the internet scary? Yes!

Your clients suddenly had access to all of the information in the world. All they needed to do was use the internet or run a Google search. But they still hired you to do it for them because you were good at the internet.

AI is like this. It's going to make certain things much easier to do. Let's imagine, for example, that anyone could assemble an ads strategy or develop a website in a matter of minutes with the help of AI. Imagine how that changes things.

Well, your client may be able to do that. But so could all of their competitors. How are they going to separate themselves? How are they going to compete?

You will still be needed, assuming you don't stick your head in the sand and hope this technology goes away. It isn't going away.

How you are needed will change. But if you leverage the technology to make you better and more valuable at what you do, you will still be needed.

I fully admit that this is scary. The unknown makes me anxious, too. There's plenty of bad that could come from this technology. And the same can be said about the internet.

Try not to focus on doom and gloom hypotheticals. Get to know the technology. And understand how you can best leverage it.

That will put you so far ahead of most people, who will be reactive and struggle to catch up.