🗝️ Performance 5

Hey, Marketers.

In today’s edition

• The 5-Step Framework for Running Meta Ads in 2023

• Last Week’s Must-Know Headlines

^{P.S. For 200+ people this is your first edition of the newsletter. Thank you + welcome!}

The New ‘Performance 5’ for Facebook ads

Meta laid out the official best practices in its ‘Performance 5’ list for maximizing results from your Facebook & Instagram advertising. Here are recommendations:

1. Simplify your account structure

2. Use automation tools

3. Run varied creative

4. Use Conversions API

5. Consider new methods of reporting

Full article: Meta

#1 Simplify your account structure

During the learning phase, Meta’s ad delivery system explores which audience and placements will get the best results for your ad. Meta now recommends using broader targeting with only a few ad sets. This helps their ad delivery system test and learn who will respond best to your ads across its entire ecosystem.

#2 Use Meta’s AI ad creation tools

‘Meta Advantage’ is a group of several tools that use AI to help guide the ad setup or targeting process. This includes ‘Advantage+ Shopping’ campaigns which automate campaign creation for retailers. Here is the full list of the Advantage products from Meta that you can test.

#3 Run varied ad creative

Meta recommends creating a wide variety of ads.

Including ads with different:

• Concepts

• Messages

• Visuals

• Formats (image vs video vs influencer collab video)

Meta is constantly learning what people are interested in & engaging with.

So when advertisers have a wider variety of ads, Meta has more options to select from. And ultimately show the potential customer the ad/message they are most likely to resonate with.

#4 Use the Conversions API

Meta’s ad delivery system and AI tools rely on data from an advertiser’s website to help them learn and produce the best results. The best way to pass that data to Meta is through the Conversions API.

#5 Conversion Lift

The current systems of ad tracking will continue to be eroded away. So new measurement systems will be needed to give directional feedback on the performance of social advertising. Meta has developed Conversion Lift which can estimate the impact of their social ads. Although that is like the student (Meta) grading their own homework.

Last Week’s Must-Knows

Instagram’s Twitter competitor is likely to be called… ‘Threads’. The new text-based Instagram will let creators publish posts to a Twitter-style feed, which includes text, photos, and video. Still no official announcement from Meta but all the signs point to one coming soon. (PC Mag ↗️)

Meta is the latest company to test the social potential of AI chatbots. Meta is reportedly creating 30+ different AI personalities that users can choose from. The AI personas can answer questions, give advice, and help write messages. Snapchat already has a chatbot feature in its app running GPT-4. (The Verge ↗️)

TikTok has launched ‘Series’, a way for creators to share premium content. Creators can put up to 80 videos behind a paywall and they can decide how much to charge. This gives creators another way to monetize and a reason to stay loyal to the platform. Plus, TikTok has also been testing text-only posts. (TikTok ↗️)

Amazon is planning an ad-supported tier for Prime Video. This would mean following Disney & Netflix who made the move last year. Netflix has seen a big increase in subscribers after their password sharing crack-down, which is likely to mean more people using their ad-supported tier. (Reuters ↗️)

Reddit announced two new ad products, Contextual Keyword Targeting, and Product Ads. Contextual Keyword targeting enables brands to target ads to users based on specific keywords in Reddit discussions. While Product Ads allow brands to showcase product descriptions, pricing, and call-to-action buttons to direct users from Reddit to the brand's product page. (Search Engine Land ↗️)