Episodes

Three months ago (on November 6, to be exact), I started an experiment. I wanted to see if I could reach all of my Facebook followers with a single ad. In this episode, I walk through what happened -- including some seriously weird and unexpected...

If you're only looking at surface-level metrics to measure the success of your ads, you aren't doing your job. You need to dig deeper. Ask these basic questions to help define what success looks like and what your ultimate customer looks like so that...

If you're using both browser events from your pixel and server events from the API, you are probably sending the same events for each. This way, the API may pick up some events that the browser pixel does not. Of course, it's then important that...

While cold, broad targeting is becoming increasingly popular, I still find warm targeting to be incredibly effective and important. This is especially the case for content creators like me, who attract website visitors to engage with free content. I...

Do you use custom web events to track, optimize for, and target actions that fall outside of standard events? I do! Here, I walk through the various events that fire on my website to help represent quality traffic, video engagement, and podcast...

Maybe you use your own formulas to determine the performance of your Facebook ads. You can actually use these formulas to create custom metrics that can be added as columns to your reports. Here's how!

Back in November, Facebook announced that they'd be removing some Detailed Targeting options. Now that those options were removed in January, we now know they weren't messing around. They removed a TON of targeting options, including ones that came as...

I've been experimenting with a new Facebook ads strategy that I'm really excited about. It remains unfinished as there are still things I'm trying to polish and fix. But, there's a specific need I'm trying to fill, and I can visualize exactly how it...

Facebook ads optimization is seriously lacking for content creators -- specifically for bloggers. Optimizing for Link Clicks or Landing Page Views doesn't cut it because Facebook doesn't care about the quality of those actions. Content creators do!...

Facebook is requiring advertisers to indicate that they have read and accepted terms related to non-discrimination, not only in regards to their advertising but on behalf of system users. If you don't, you won't be able to create ads.

Have you ever had results for a traffic campaign that seemed too good to be true? This is certainly possible, due to how optimization works. Here are some steps to take so that you can verify the quality of those clicks.

You may already manage Auction Overlap manually, but you can actually allow Facebook to manage this using Automated Rules. There are three ways that you can do this.

If you've been around me long enough, you've heard me talk about evergreen campaigns. These are campaigns that never go stale. They aren't magical, but it's all due to how they're set up that allows them to work this way.

Automated Rules are a great tool to automate and simplify the ads management process that is otherwise manual. Let's walk through how these are set up and some things to consider.

This isn't your typical advertiser brag about too-good-to-be-true results. It may be the opposite. Consider it a cautionary tale about how you should look beyond surface-level results. About how you should establish expectations based on data and know...

Advertisers have been conditioned to believe that they shouldn't use text in ad images. The truth is that this rule was removed in September of 2020. No 20-percent rule. No scale. No throttling on images with more text. Use text if you want!

If you run Instant Experience ads, make sure that you don't use the default metrics or saved reports. There are metrics specific to Instant Experience that are available if you customize columns. But a question: Why can't you create targeting...

One of the classic ways to target people who have been exposed to you before is with Facebook Page Engagement Custom Audiences. Here, we talk about what they are, issues with them, and ways you might use them.

A useful targeting tool that anyone can use as long as you have the pixel set up on your website is the Time on Website Custom Audience. Here, I discuss what these are, how they work, and things you should think about before you use them.

You may know that I'm a big fan of Reach optimization. It's not magical, but it's a great tool for specific situations. Here, I explain how Reach optimization works, how you might use it, and examples of how I use it.

Attribution is how Facebook gives credit for a conversion to an ad. Advertisers are often confused regarding how this works, and it's also connected to why numbers don't line up with Google Analytics. Let's clear up this and other misconceptions.

It's episode 400! In this episode, I discuss the impact of my podcasting test 60 days after it started. Not only is it clear that this method can be applied to other platforms, but I fully plan on doing so once this test ends.

Facebook says that you will get your best results after exiting the Learning Phase. The problem is that if you make any "significant" edits after that point, your ad set will re-enter the Learning Phase. The great results you were getting may not come...

One of my favorite features in Ads Manager is Breakdown, and it isn't utilized nearly enough by most advertisers. It easily allows you to segment results without having to segment the ad set targeting or placement itself.