Contents
Meta is gradually updating its ad platform, introducing more automation and machine learning. These changes will affect how you set up, manage, and optimise your campaigns.
Let us explain why that might actually be a good thing.
From targeting and placements to creatives and tracking, automation and machine learning are steadily playing a greater role in audience targeting. If you’ve been spending a lot of time tweaking interest targeting or manually disabling placements in your Facebook ads, it’s the right time to upgrade your strategy and focus on other elements instead.
This article will walk you through the biggest changes in Facebook ads you should know about, and how to keep your ads performing at their best in light of these updates.
Let’s begin with your control over ads:
You may not control targeting as you used to anymore (even if you think you do)
Until recently, if you were running Facebook ads, you could define your audience in great detail, targeting based on interests, demographics, behaviours, and many other metrics.
While these options are still available, Facebook now goes beyond the inputs you select. It relies more heavily on data to find people it believes are more likely to convert. In fact, your targeting choices are now treated as suggestions rather than strict rules.
In other words, Meta’s algorithm increasingly decides who sees your ad based on what it learns, not just what you specify.
You still retain control over some basics, such as location, gender, and age, which remain essential parameters for running ads.
What this means: While it may feel like you’re losing control over detailed targeting, this shift could actually make your ads more effective. You no longer need to stress over minor targeting tweaks as you can focus more on your offer, creative, and overall strategy instead.
One “perfect ad” isn’t a winning strategy anymore
Meta now automatically customises how your ad appears based on where it’s shown and who’s seeing it. Your ads can appear across a variety of placements, including Facebook Feed, Instagram Stories, Reels, and more, and they don’t look the same in each location. What works in a vertical video format on Reels, for example, might not work as well in a horizontal image post on Facebook.
That’s why the idea of designing one “perfect” ad no longer applies. Instead, Meta dynamically mixes and matches your images, headlines, and text to optimise the ad for each platform and viewer. Driven by machine learning, this approach aims to improve performance by customising your ads to the context and audience.
What should you do: Consider providing multiple images, videos, and headlines so the platform figures out what works best in each situation.
Low-performing placements can also contribute
You might be used to turning off placements like Messenger or the Audience Network if they don’t seem to perform well.
It’s a common practice among advertisers aiming to concentrate budget on top-performing spots. However, with Meta’s shift toward automated ad delivery and performance optimisation, you may not want to disable low-performing placements right away.
Even if they don’t drive direct conversions, placements like Messenger or the Audience Network can still play a valuable role in your overall campaign – by lowering your average cost per result, expanding your reach, or helping the algorithm learn faster. Meta’s system analyses performance across all placements, so ending some of them too early might prevent them from efficiently contributing to your campaign’s effectiveness.
Tip: Instead of removing placements, look at how they fit into the bigger picture.
Meta will help improve your creatives
If you haven’t noticed yet, Meta now applies small automated enhancements to your ad creatives designed to improve performance of your ads.
This feature, called Advantage+ Creative, automatically adjusts the layout, adds subtle animations, or tweaks visual elements based on where your ad appears, whether it’s on Facebook Feed, Instagram Reels, Stories, or elsewhere.
These automatic changes are intended to make your ads more engaging and better suited to different formats and screen types. For example, Meta might slightly zoom in on an image, apply filters, or reposition text to fit a vertical screen better.
While these enhancements often help improve results, you can still preview the changes Meta makes and choose to turn off any enhancements you don’t like.
How to stay in control and keep your ads effective
While it may technically seem like you’re losing control over your broad targeting options, the reality is that how you control has only shifted. Now, data is king, and the best way to regain control is by giving Meta better data.
This is where Conversions API(CAPI) comes in.
The Conversions API allows you to target a more precise audience for your ads by analysing your customer data or conversions data. Conversions API takes information directly from your sales systems to Facebook and helps the platform better identify the types of leads most qualified for your business.
When you launch your campaign, Facebook Ads takes the data of your campaign activities and then targets similar audiences who have previously converted, improving the effectiveness of your ads.
CAPI helps Meta understand who’s engaging so it can find more people like them.
In order for Conversions API to work, you need to integrate it with your sales system or tool (like a CRM). This allows it to gather data on your leads and customers, identify the types of people who are most relevant to your business, and send that information to Facebook. In turn, Facebook uses this data to target similar audiences more accurately every time you run ads.
Here’s a detailed article on how to integrate Meta Conversions API with your system.
What should you do: Better data means better targeting. If you want Meta to spend your budget wisely, integrate Conversions API with your CRM. By integrating Conversions API, you give Meta access to real, meaningful signals like “Qualified Lead” or “Booked Property Visit.” Meta then uses these signals to optimise your targeting automatically. No need to guess interests or job titles as it will learn to pursue outcomes that actually matter.
How Privyr can improve your lead conversion by up to 300%
Now that your ads are better equipped to reach the right people faster than ever, it’s time to worry less about micro-targeting tweaks and focus more on your sales process.
Generating leads is only half the battle. The real challenge lies in converting those leads into paying customers, and you’ll want to capitalize on every opportunity to grow your sales.
But this requires a disciplined approach: instant outreach, timely follow-ups, consistent nurturing, and more. To make that happen, you need the right tool to capture incoming leads and instantly add them to your sales workflow. Otherwise, you risk burning through your ad budget without seeing real returns.
This is where Privyr comes in. Privyr is a mobile-first CRM designed to help you run your entire sales process from wherever you are.
It easily integrates with Facebook and Conversions API, so all your leads are not just automatically downloaded straight to your phone but also the information about the kind of customers that are likely to convert are shared with Facebook. This way, you’re not just converting better but also reaching the right people through your campaigns, making each of your ad campaigns much more effective.
Privyr allows you to:
- Instantly reach out to new leads via all major communication channels
- Stay on top of follow-ups with smart automatic reminders
- Send personalised messages to build stronger relationships
- Automatically distribute leads to your team based on your customised rules
Here’s how to integrate Privyr with Conversions API:
Step 1. On your Privyr app, go to Account > Settings > Meta Conversions API
Step 2. Log in by clicking Login with Facebook. You may need to confirm the Facebook Profile that you want to continue with.
Step 3. You’ll then be prompted to Connect Privyr to Facebook. Click Next.
Step 4. Next, you’ll be prompted to Confirm settings. Select the Business Portfolio and Meta Pixel that you want to connect to Privyr, then click Continue.
Step 5. You’ll now be asked What is Privyr allowed to do. Enable all options and click Next.
Step 6. Click Done.
Once you complete these steps successfully, you’ll see your connected Facebook Page, Pixel Name and ID.
If you don’t have a Privyr account yet, visit privyr.com and create your Privyr account. Next download the app on your phone and integrate Privyr with Facebook before integrating CAPI. It’s easy and straightforward.
Privyr not only streamlines your sales process but its flawless integration with Facebook – without requiring an external connector tool – equips you with all the necessary elements needed for improving your sales by up to 300%.
