Facebook Ads Advantage+: Worth the hype?
Nothing gets a marketer’s juices flowing more than a tasty new ad product designed to convert - especially when it’s from the one they call Facebook Ads. Or Meta? Whatever.
The recently-introduced Advantage+ is just that. With simplified settings and a near-promise to perform, it’s quickly weaseled its way into my preferred way to launch a campaign.
I’ve tried over a dozen Advantage+ campaigns over the last few months, with some working, some sputtering out, and a couple being truly scalable.
Here are my TOP FOUR thoughts on A+ campaigns:
1. It gets results quickly, but that doesn’t make it profitable.
I’ve been impressed with how quickly Advantage+ generates sales, which certainly tempts you into ramping up spend. Those first few days post-campaign launch have a lot of jitters - especially when you’re hanging on every conversion - so it’s been helpful in calming those nerves.
That said, it doesn’t mean they’re scalable. Generally I’ve seen these average around a 0.8-1.2X ROAS during those first couple weeks (via Northbeam and/or in-platform); typically around $250-500/day. Which is enough to keep the lights on, but hardly enough to “push” to that next level. By weeks 3-4 if I’ve yet to see things trending upward, I usually call it a dud phase it out.
2. A well-optimized campaign typically has one or two evergreen winners…indefinitely
Automation has felt like the death of conventional a/b testing. “Throw it all out there and let them duke it out until a winner emerges” seems the be the way to test ads days, at least for A+. Iterate as you wish, but I’ve found the initial champ almost always keeps its crown. It feels sloppy - but hey, that seems to be the whole point of A+: Dumb it down so us chimp brains can still drive sales, thus spending more on the platform. Kinda brilliant IMO.
3. Try a few different campaign “themes”
FB reps will tell you to only run 1-2 Advantage+ campaigns at a time, but that just isn’t the case. Keep trying new campaigns until something shows real signs of life, and don’t be afraid to pull the plug early. I’ve even copied and relaunched the exact same “dud” campaign at a later time and seen it perform better. It’s a new product, so it’s still figuring itself out. (Or so I think.)
Here are a few routes you can go:
Use the “auto populated” feature. Basically it pulls together your best performing historical ads and auto-puts them in one ad group. It’s worked for me with moderate success. I called the campaign “Top Ads”, in case you’re wondering how to label that.
Dynamic ads. Use whatever product feed you wish. It’s worked for me with moderate success.
Organize by product category. This is probably the strongest route to go, as it has the most options and has yielded our best performing campaign(s) to date. But there’s been a few stinkers along the way.
4. It includes retargeting…so adjust expectations accordingly
No negating site visitors here. Advantage+ combines Prospecting and Retargeting into one campaign, so take that into account when measuring its efficacy. Traditional retargeting campaigns feel like they’re losing steam lately anyway (maybe it’s just me?) so in reality you could have an account of only A+ campaigns and still be full-funnel. Strange, I know.
All in all I’m fairly impressed with Advantage+ campaigns, but even more excited for the future of Facebook/Meta/Facebook Ads. Advantage+ has a relatively low floor compared to traditional campaign settings, however the majority don’t outperform our best prospecting campaigns (which typically target the ol’ classic 1% look-alike, and of course the new standard: Broad Audiences).
That said , the best Advantage+ campaigns certainly compete and often do better. And that’s a big win!
