Embrace the Grays of Meta Advertising

So I hear from a lot of advertisers who are frustrated with their results, and when I meet one of these advertisers for the first time, they often have the wrong expectations. They want clarity. They want universal solutions. They want a detailed step by step that they can apply, and when they do, their problem will be solved.

Unfortunately, it does not work that way. There are very few universal truths when it comes to Meta advertising. The truth is found in the grays.

Let me give you some examples. Someone will ask whether they should use remarketing. Typically, remarketing is unnecessary. It happens automatically now. When using algorithmic targeting, Meta will prioritize your pixel activity and conversion data and prior engagement with your ads. You do not need to separate these people to reach them. You are going to reach them.

Of course, you might end up reaching them too much, and if that happens, you may want to control it. You do that with separate ad sets, one for prospecting and one for remarketing. But I would not do this by default, and I think that most advertisers who set it up this way probably do not need to.

You also do not need to segment your targeting to only focus on your warmest audience. Maybe you have a high ticket offer with a lower budget. Maybe you only want your offer available to specific people on your list, and maybe you have emailed them and you also want these same people to see your ad. There are exceptions.

So I think we should mostly abandon remarketing, but I am not universally against it. I think we should mostly abandon creating multiple ad sets, but there are always exceptions. I think we should optimize for the action that we want, but there are times to try something else. I think we should use Advantage Plus placements when optimizing for conversions, but maybe your results give you a reason to remove something.

If you ask for my general opinion on approach, I will give it to you. But there are deep caveats in that advice. There is a yeah, but. Or I will hesitate before starting with, it depends. You have heard me say it before. There is not a single universal approach that should be adopted by everyone, and that is when we venture into the grays.

People want clarity and direction and a checklist that they can follow, but that uncertainty creates confusion, and I get it. We want certainty. Part of our life as a Meta advertiser is embracing that we will never have full certainty on anything. And while that can create confusion and frustration, it is also where real knowledge is found.

The grays are where solutions are found. You are not just doing something a specific way because I or someone else told you to do it that way. It is not the hot new strategy that everyone is doing now. Andromeda anyone. You have a foundational understanding of how things work. You have a general approach based in best practices, but you know that your situation is unique. Your company, product, customer, and website are all unique to you.

One of my favorite phrases when talking about Meta advertising best practices is it depends. I generally recommend doing it this way, but it depends on your specific situation. That phrase represents the grays. It represents your unique situation that could require an action that is slightly out of bounds from best practices. Maybe I would not do it this way with my own advertising, but it might work for you.

When you know how things work and you thoroughly understand your own company, product, and customer, you thrive in the grays. You find solutions there. You not only let results be your guide, but you make sure they are meaningful results. You do not make decisions based on small sample sizes. And you know how to detect correlation versus causation. A lot of themes we have talked about before.

You will know that you are in a good place when you are comfortable in the grays. You are comfortable with it depends. You do not feel like you need to follow a script or a checklist to get set up or to solve a problem. You do not need to search out the latest guru strategy as your last ditch Hail Mary. You know that nothing that is done well is easy. You know that the easy explanation does not necessarily apply to your unique situation.

So here is the bottom of the glass. Make a conscious effort to reject the easy, the templates, the checklists. Embrace the fact that this stuff is messy. True knowledge of how these things work is often found in the grays, and when your results are really churning, it is because you found a unique approach that works for you.