#053: There's More Than One Way To Run Meta Ads

Read Time: 5 minutes

I'll be honest.

The performance of the Meta (Facebook) Ads I'm running for my wife's books has dropped a touch over the past few weeks.

Not drastically, but enough to become a problem that has been very prevalent in my mind.

I'm not one to pass the blame onto others because I believe each of us is where we are, wherever that may be, good or bad, based on decisions we've made in the past.

There are exceptions to this of course, but they are few.

I digress...

Meta themselves have been experiencing a few issues internally recently as you can read in this Bloomberg article.

Despite having a solid strategy and system in place for our Meta Ads that I've been using since January 2023, I recently felt the pull of shiny object syndrome rear its ugly head.

To cut a long story short, and to be brutally upfront with you, I found a course teaching an alternative method for testing Meta Ads.

Without diving into the details of this method, it involved creating about 50 Ads and rapidly testing them over a 24-48 hour period.

There was a lot of upfront work creating the Ads in the first place; it took me about 5 hours to create the Ads.

The Ad Spend was around $500 for this initial test following the method outlined in the course (which I followed to a tee).

Quite an investment.

Anyway, the test completely tanked and I learned very little from it.

So after this little blip, I'm back running Meta Ads the way I have been for the past 15 months (that I share inside my course).

Sometimes it just takes a blip, a little de-rail and another perspective to get you back on track.

I do believe it's a good thing to test other ideas and see how other folks are doing things in a different way from you.

Providing, of course, that you do it with intention, and not on a whim and succumb to shiny object syndrome as I did.

My Way Is Not The Only Way

I never want to be someone standing in an ivory tower exclaiming "my way is the only way to run Meta Ads".

There is no one way to run Meta Ads (or anything else in life); there is only what works for you.

All I can do is share what has worked for us in as much detail as I possibly can.

Take that and use it out of the box, or adapt it to your own preferences and workflow. The choice is yours.

Staying open-minded is a much more enjoyable way to live life.

If you're so close-minded, so regimented about doing things a certain way you will struggle to adapt, to evolve, to grow as a human being, and to learn new things because your mind isn't open to it.

This is a conscious decision you need to make and it will take time to open your mind to new possibilities.

Once you do though and you start challenging the status quo, the way society tells us we should think, that's when doors start to open.

You Can Only Grow When Your Mind Is Open

What I'm not suggesting for a second here is that you should be strategy-hopping with your Meta Ads because that's arguably more detrimental.

What I am saying is that just being open to new ideas, considering them, letting them flow into you and making a decision on whether it's right for you, not anybody else, you, is what will open you up to more opportunities and growth than you ever thought possible.

To put some of this into context for you...

When our Meta Ads came crashing down at the end of 2022, for a few weeks I was so close-minded about running Meta Ads the way I had been for over 3 years at that point, that I never even considered doing anything different.

I was adamant that the solution was to simply do more of what I had been doing and I would see different results, which is the definition of insanity according to Einstein.

I was forcing a square peg into a round hole.

I couldn't see the opportunity that was staring me in the face:

Unrestricted Targeting, Dynamic Creative, Advantage Campaign Budget, and focusing on creating better and better Ads.

It was only when I'd exhausted all other avenues and I finally opened up my mind that I saw this new opportunity.

When my mind was closed off, this opportunity wasn't visible to me; it wasn't even on my radar.

Think about when you last bought a new car.

Suddenly, you start seeing your make and model of car everywhere!

This is called synchronicity, and it works the same way as what I'm talking about here.

When you are open-minded and you watch a video, read a book, or listen to a podcast, for example, you'll start identifying ideas, opportunities and insights and seeing how they align with your goals.

With a closed mind, you won't recognise opportunities right in front of you.

Define Your Own Path

I've already mentioned this but it's worth saying again...

My way of running Meta Ads is not the only way to run Meta Ads.

Yes it works for me and many of the authors in my course, but other strategies can work well too.

From personal experience though, I've tested almost every Meta Ads strategy out there and for me, using Unrestricted Targeting, Dynamic Creative and Advantage Campaign Budget has been the most profitable and the most sustainable.

Instead of spending time fiddling with all the bells and whistles Meta Ads has to offer, I focus on marketing fundamentals and work on my craft of creating good Ads.

I let Meta do all the heavy lifting and identify who to show my Ads to and when.

Meta's AI and machine learning have millions of data points on every one of their users. I don't believe we can outsmart it, so I don't try.

Whichever Meta Ads strategy you choose, stick to it as strategy-jumping won't do you any favors.

At the same time though, be open to new opportunities and be ready to adapt and evolve.

There is a Buddhist philosophy of impermanence. which translates to everything changes and nothing lasts forever.

Nothing is permanent.

Feeling happy, feeling sad, feeling angry, feeling depressed, etc.

It's all temporary.

The same is true with marketing and advertising.

Strategies and tactics will come and go. Some last longer than others, but as platforms, audiences and algorithms change, so do the strategies and tactics associated with them.

Adapt and Grow. Don't Stagnate

Meta Ads is always evolving and if we don't evolve with it we'll be left for dust. 

Ad creative is what will turn your books into an asset that can allow you to live life on your terms, support your family, impact people's lives and leave a legacy for your loved ones.

The caveat to successful Ads is that you need to write a great book, have a professional cover, a strong blurb, plenty of 4 and 5-star reviews/ratings and a system in place to build your audience through email marketing. 

At the same time, Ad Creative can turn your books into a black hole that sucks up your hard-earned money and leaves you with nothing to show for it.

I don't say that to scare you; I say it to make you fully aware of the potential outcomes of advertising.

Study Ads from other authors and publishers, yes, but also look outside the world of publishing altogether.

A mistake I've made in the past was having complete tunnel vision on only ever looking at Ads for books, which is incredibly beneficial, don't get me wrong.

But when I started looking at Ads outside the world of publishing I was opened up to so many other possibilities I could incorporate into our own Ads.

Pick a lane, but don't become complacent and so close-minded that you fail to see opportunities right in front of you.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

To Your Success
– Matt