Meta Advertiser Field Notes
Weekly observations from inside Meta ads
A handful of smaller updates caught my attention this week, but several of them could have a meaningful impact on how you approach delivery, tracking, and creative. From new value rules for audiences to Flexible Format going away and an updated Meta pixel GTM template, there’s plenty here that’s worth a closer look.
- New value rules for audiences
- Flexible Format is going away
- Updated Meta pixel GTM template
- How I’m using AI to create videos
- Ad posts moving from Page Posts
- Ad performance troubleshooting
Let’s get to it…
1. New Value Rules for Audiences
Some advertisers are seeing a new option to create value rules by Audiences.
I’ve seen other versions of this related to customer value. It’s not clear what’s a test and what is an official rollout. I have neither. But let’s attempt to make sense of the screenshot above.
In this example, there are four initial options:
New Audiences: Audiences that are not included in your custom audiences.
Engaged Audiences: Prospective customers who engaged with your business but haven’t converted yet. All available options are labels you added to custom audiences.
Customers: Audiences that have made a purchase from your business. All available options are labels you added to custom audiences.
Other Audiences: Audiences who don’t fit into the other categories.
Since only the New Audiences option is available here and the others are grayed out, I’m not able to tell you what happens if you select the other three. But let’s try to make sense of what we’re seeing here.
On the one hand, it would make a whole lot of sense if these were based on audience segments for engaged audience and existing customers, as defined in Advertising Settings. These definitions reference engaged audiences and customers, and those who aren’t in either segment are considered “new audiences.”
But there are a couple of other things here that caught my attention.
1. Custom Audiences. Yes, audience segments are defined with custom audiences. But these definitions seem to imply that if you aren’t in any custom audience, you fall under “New Audiences.”
2. Labels. The definitions for both engaged audiences and customers refer to “labels” that were added to custom audiences. This sounds familiar, but I don’t believe I have this.
So, my interpretation is that advertisers will need to somehow label custom audiences that reflect either the “Engaged Audiences” or “Customers” group to then bid differently on those people. Anyone in a custom audience that hasn’t been labeled will be considered “Other.” And anyone not in any custom audiences at all will be “New.”
Until I have any of this functionality, it’s only an educated guess. But it feels like a lot of moving parts that advertisers need to take care of to do this right. And I worry that some will micromanage delivery when it’s not necessary.
Actually, I don’t worry about that. I know that will happen.
2. Flexible Format is Going Away
An alert at the top of Meta’s official documentation on Flexible Format indicates that it’s going away.
Or, more literally, it will “no longer be available in Ad Setup.” So I guess it’s possible that it would still be available in another way. It also appears it’s already started going away for some people, which is consistent with some of the confused questions I’ve received.
Of course, I still have Flexible Format…
But we also know that format selection is changing, and Format Display Options will be the way to choose formats.
It would be a whole lot easier if I had any of these changes to communicate them with you. But one of the screenshots I’ve seen suggests that you can add at least three images or videos for a given ad — and maybe it was for a single placement or placement group. This would be similar to how Flexible Format works, though it allows up to 10 creatives for an ad.
I don’t want to speculate too much at this point because it’s difficult without access to any of these changes. But maybe you have them?
3. Updated Meta Pixel GTM Template
Meta has updated the official Meta Pixel Google Tag Manager template to use for tracking.
This replaces the old Facebook Pixel template. One added benefit is GA4 integration. It will automatically reuse your existing GA4 dataLayer, meaning an event like purchase is mapped without manual configuration.
I admittedly need to switch to this. I’ve been using GTM to manage the pixel for so long that it was set up with manual tags, instead of a template. That surely means I’m missing out on some functionality.
4. How I’m Using AI to Create Videos
I have a complicated relationship with AI. I hate AI slop, but I like using AI to simplify my processes so that I can create more valuable stuff more quickly. I wanted to share one way I’ve started to use AI to help with videos that can be used in ads.
I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that video creation is a bottleneck. I like creating videos, but they take time. I currently publish a short-form video per week, but I’ve done as much as one per day. I’ve essentially reached peak efficiency there, and it still takes time.
Because of this, I pick my spots to create new videos. I rarely record videos to promote my new content. When I do create videos for my ads, they often fall into similar templates. They lack creativity and the styles are repetitive.
So, I was having this conversation with Claude (which has asked that I call it “Chip”), not thinking that it could help me in this area. It surprised me with a solution.
That solution was very basic to start. I’d give it details of a piece of content that I want to promote, complete with the title and full body. It would then suggest some video concepts. I’d pick one, and it would create an HTML video.
When I say it’s an HTML video, I mean it’s very basic. No animated characters or AI-generated people, characters, or scenes. Animated text, colorful backgrounds, and sound effects. More slideshow than video, if we’re to be technical.
That may sound boring to you, but that’s how I already create a lot of my videos now. What made this especially attractive was that I could generate these videos very quickly and I’d be far less limited in terms of style.
Most importantly, because of the nature of these simple videos, they don’t look like AI-generated videos. They don’t stand out as the typical slop that I hate so much.
But that initial version had issues. I could play the video, but there was no file or export. I had to screen record it, which created issues with aspect ratios and video quality.
And then we moved to Claude Code. I took everything we did with that initial version and had specs drawn up as a foundation for a new dashboard. After a day of iterations, I now have a dashboard that helps me quickly and easily generate new videos in 9×16, 4×5, and 1×1 aspect ratios.
At the top, I provide the title of the piece of content I’m promoting and the body of that content itself. This gives it something to review and generate a relevant video.
I worked out several styles and variations with Claude that fit formatting and dimensions that I wanted. So, I can either manually select a style and variation, or hit “Surprise Me” and it will choose one randomly.
It starts building the video for me…
It generates 9×16, 4×5, and 1×1 versions of a video.
I can chat with Claude to make refinements if necessary.
When I’ve approved the final output, I can export and then download the files.
Here’s an example of a video that was generated with this dashboard that promotes my Beginner’s Checklist for Meta Advertising blog post.
Is it rocket science? No. And I know there are all kinds of tools out there that you can pay for that do something similar.
I just find it super cool to be able to customize something to my exact needs. I’ll continue to refine it, and hopefully it will become a part of my process.
5. Ad Posts Moving From Page Posts
If you publish ads to your page, know that this process is moving from the Page Posts section to Meta Business Suite.
One of the reasons I did this before was that you couldn’t create videos organically that include a CTA button and send people to a page on your website. So I’d take an ad that does this and publish it to my page.
According to this message, this functionality should be available in Business Suite now. Unfortunately, I’m not seeing it, so I’ll continue to use Page Posts until that happens.
6. Ad Performance Troubleshooting
One of the challenges I have is that I’ve published endless content on every topic imaginable. If someone wants to know how I approach something, they can find it on my website. But some of it will be old and outdated, and there isn’t a single post that consolidates my current recommendations.
That’s why I developed Ad Briefs. Ad Briefs are summaries on all of the most important topics related to Meta advertising. They are based on my most recent content and are updated monthly to remain current and relevant.
There are currently 23 Ad Briefs on topics related to targeting, attribution, reporting, campaign construction, and a whole lot more. While Ad Briefs are only available to my Power Hitters Club – Elite members, I’ve created a sample ad brief on Ad Performance Troubleshooting that you can read for free.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Most performance drops have logical explanations: randomness, recent changes, competition, website issues, or event delays—investigate these first.
- Evaluate results in seven-day windows at least two weeks in; don’t overreact to daily fluctuations, especially at low volume.
- Dig beyond surface metrics—use attribution comparisons, audience segment breakdowns, and backend validation to understand what’s really happening.
- When ads consistently underperform, simplify campaign structure and focus on improving the ads, offer, and landing page rather than chasing tactical hacks.
- Early strong performance followed by decline is often natural audience exhaustion, not a sign something is broken.
Read the sample Ad Brief here.
If you want access to this and 22 other Ad Briefs, as well as other benefits like weekly strategy sessions, weekly webinars, a private community, and more access to me, go here to learn more.
Your Turn
What do you think about these updates?
Let me know in the comments below!
