Meta Advertiser Field Notes
Weekly observations from inside Meta ads
Meta made a couple of announcements this week that could have a real impact, especially if the one-click, no-cost Conversions API rollout works as advertised. There were also several smaller updates worth watching, from a pixel upgrade and deeper AI integration to more signs that Dynamic Creative is finally on its way out.
- ‘Analyze’ with Meta AI Business Assistant
- Thoughts on audience segments
- One-click CAPI spotted
- Upgraded Meta pixel spotted
- Dynamic Creative is going away
- AI Voiceover test enhancement
Let’s get to it…
1. ‘Analyze’ with Meta AI Business Assistant
Meta has started to further roll out the Meta AI Business Assistant, integrating it with Business Suite and Ads Manager.
Some have noticed it on the bottom left Menu in Ads Manager.
But others have seen a much deeper integration. For example, here’s an example within the Ads Manager interface where advertisers are prompted to “Analyze” their results.
When clicked, it suggests some specific ways that you can analyze your data (28-day performance, creative engagement, industry benchmarks, and top and bottom performers).
What’s beginning to get confusing is how Meta views the future of Business Assistant versus Manus. Are there plans to further integrate Manus into Ads Manager? What are the future plans of Business Assistant? How are they different?
It would seem that there’s a decent amount of overlap.
2. Thoughts on Audience Segments
I’m a big fan of audience segments because of the information they can reveal in reporting. But something I’ve mostly glossed over is considerations about whether audience segments are useful for more than reporting. Do they influence ad delivery?
Let’s back up for a moment. Audience segments allow you to define your existing customers and engaged audience using custom audiences in Advertising Settings.
Once defined, you can break down results of sales campaigns to see how ad spend and performance differed by engaged audience, existing customers, and new audience (people not in either group).
Discussion of whether your definition of audience segments impacts delivery could devolve into a bit of a chicken and an egg-type scenario. Meta shows that 20% of your budget was spent on reaching people in your audience segments. But does that mean Meta prioritized those people because they were defined as audience segments or is the breakdown simply revealing what would have happened regardless?
It’s difficult to prove. So when something is difficult to prove, I prioritize what Meta says and doesn’t say. There are two important elements from Meta’s documentation that inform my interpretation of how audience segments are treated.
First, Meta’s official documentation only refers to audience segments as a helpful aid for reporting:
You can use audience segments to enable breakdown reporting for your sales campaign reporting in Meta Ads Manager.
There’s nothing else I’ve found from Meta that suggests your definitions of audience segments will influence delivery. This certainly appears to be intentional.
The question is whether Meta needs your audience segments to know whom to prioritize. You need to look no further than Meta’s original definition of Advantage+ Audience to realize they don’t.
Meta’s been prioritizing those groups for years, and that definition suggests that it doesn’t even matter if you’ve created custom audiences. Algorithmic remarketing will be prioritized based on pixel and event data.
Anyway, this is simply something I’ve been thinking about lately. It’s something I’ve long assumed, but I decided to look more closely to see if Meta makes any suggestions anywhere that audience segments would have additional powers related to delivery.
That doesn’t appear to be the case, but it doesn’t make them any less valuable. I still find audience segments hugely valuable as a reporting tool.
3. One-Click Conversions API Spotted
I’ve seen various reports of the new no-cost, one-click Conversions API spotted in the wild. My understanding is that the rollout is 50% complete, so not all advertisers have it.
I’ve seen some examples of it in the Events Manager settings tab that work exactly as Meta claims. A simple button. One click, and Conversions API is connected. Unfortunately, not everyone has been so lucky.
Another version looks like this…
But it was grayed out and needed workarounds to get set up.
I saw this in my Events Manager overview, which made me think I was a click away…
It wasn’t one-click either. I was asked for a bunch of information that I didn’t have, and the additional instructions led me to a dead end. I thought it was because there was a conflict since I already had CAPI set up, so I cancelled my integration. And then the one-click option disappeared.
In other words, learn from my mistake. Don’t cancel your integration until you know you can get this set up successfully.
4. Upgraded Meta Pixel Spotted
Another update that Meta announced last week was an upgrade to the Meta pixel. Some advertisers are already seeing it.
Within the Events Manager settings tab, you may see this section for “Meta Pixel Settings.”
It says that Meta will use “AI to identify and send optimal website details that are most likely to maximize your ad performance.” It’s on by default, but it will not go into effect until May 15th.
Expand it to get website and product details. This is the information that Meta can uncover related to the page or products using AI.
I originally interpreted this as being a replacement for a product catalog when running Catalog Ads. Well, maybe, but not necessarily.
Event data that includes richer page and product details can support better optimization and reporting. This also supports product based ads, helping you build a product catalog if you do not have one yet, or improve the quality and freshness of an existing catalog.
Should you leave this on? We have a month to figure it out, but the risks remain unknown. Meta says that turning it on can help improve ad performance and result in a higher quality catalog. But without knowing the risks and how to avoid them, it’s tough to say what each business should do.
Read more about this update here.
5. Dynamic Creative Going Away
In what shouldn’t be a surprise, Dynamic Creative is finally going away. And Meta may mean it this time.
If you feel like you’ve heard this message before, I get it. Dynamic Creative was supposedly going away a few years ago, replaced by Flexible Format. But then Meta decided, for some unknown reason, to keep Dynamic Creative for some objectives and Flexible Format for others.
You also may have seen a similar message related to Flexible Format.
Neither feature will be relevant once the new creative workflow is available to everyone (assuming it will be soon). Like both features, the creative workflow allows you to include up to 10 images and videos for a single ad. But it’s far more customizable, and it offers breakdown reporting transparency.
I’m a big fan of the new workflow and find it’s a huge upgrade over the two older features.
6. AI Voiceover Test Enhancement
It’s been a while since Meta’s introduced any new test enhancements (you can spot these in Advertising Settings under “Creative Features”). But let’s welcome AI Voiceover.
Here’s how Meta defines it:
Add a voiceover to your image to help people understand your messages. We’ll automatically select a voice that fits your image. If your ad has music, the voiceover will be layered on top.
Here’s an example…
I’m not sure why Meta believes this voice “fits” my image, but it’s still interesting. It’s also not clear how or when the voiceover is played, or if it simply turns an image into a video.
Your Turn
What do you think about these updates?
Let me know in the comments below!
