The location changes were curious, but I assume there was a reason that was related to privacy or quality of data. Still, the location targeting shouldn’t be completely off since it will reach people who are living in or recently in that area.

1. Exclusions:

Exclusions still remain the biggest aspect of targeting for me. So, not who sees the ad but who doesn’t see it. And it’s worth pointing out Adv+ shopping campaigns do still provide for that form of control. The mechanics are just slightly different – rather than an exclusion per se you have to use a % of customers you want to see your ads. I use 0% for full prospecting campaigns. Of course, that won’t mean it eliminates 100% of the customer list due to inability for meta to match everyone on that list).

2. Offer:

In my previous life in direct response marketing (selling newsletters) the perpetual debate was what’s more important, list (audience) or copy? Even back then the offer got less attention than it deserved. Now I’d argue it’s the most important part of the marketing mix. And it can be much more than price or a discount. Some might argue the offer is part of the creative and copy but I think most people think about how the ads looks, format (video vs image etc) and sizing etc rather than what’s actually being sold and what people get.

I’m with you in embracing a rapidly changing meta platform where we need to shift our focus to what we can control. And that means ensuring your CAPI is sending as much data as possible (I’m currently working on sending more paramters to improve match rate), choosing the right campaign objective and ensuring the creative and offer is getting you the best performance from your spend.

1. Exclusions:

Exclusions still remain the biggest aspect of targeting for me. So, not who sees the ad but who doesn’t see it. And it’s worth pointing out Adv+ shopping campaigns do still provide for that form of control. The mechanics are just slightly different – rather than an exclusion per se you have to use a % of customers you want to see your ads. I use 0% for full prospecting campaigns. Of course, that won’t mean it eliminates 100% of the customer list due to inability for meta to match everyone on that list).

2. Offer:

In my previous life in direct response marketing (selling newsletters) the perpetual debate was what’s more important, list (audience) or copy? Even back then the offer got less attention than it deserved. Now I’d argue it’s the most important part of the marketing mix. And it can be much more than price or a discount. Some might argue the offer is part of the creative and copy but I think most people think about how the ads looks, format (video vs image etc) and sizing etc rather than what’s actually being sold and what people get.

I’m with you in embracing a rapidly changing meta platform where we need to shift our focus to what we can control. And that means ensuring your CAPI is sending as much data as possible (I’m currently working on sending more paramters to improve match rate), choosing the right campaign objective and ensuring the creative and offer is getting you the best performance from your spend.