Here's how to make the Facebook/Meta algorithm your hardest working team member.
It's true that the algorithm is only part of the success equation. You need strong creative with a great hook. You need a fast-loading landing page with a compelling offer.
However, setting up your campaigns so the algorithm works hard for you is the biggest growth hack. It’s a one-time investment of time that will free you up to work on the rest of the business.
1. AUDIENCES - Set up your audiences to be large, so that they have weeks of runway before they need to be updated. Build audiences off of dynamic pixel data so that they automatically update. Calculate your audience size by multiplying your monthly unique reach by 10x.
Example: if you reach 1M unique people per month, work with a 10M+ person audience to keep ad costs low.
2. BUDGETS - Make sure you are spending enough to hit the target of 50+ purchases per week. If you fall under this scale, the algorithm will be starved for data and won’t exit the learning phase. Calculate your minimum weekly spend by multiplying your average Cost-Per-Purchase by 50.
Example: $50 CPA X 50 purchases per week = $2500 minimum weekly budget.
3. CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE - Take advantage of Advantage+ Placements, Campaign Budget Optimization and Dynamic Creative so that the algorithm can run auto-optimizations for you. Check on your campaigns 1-2x per WEEK, not daily. These tools will help make real-time optimizations on your behalf to ensure ad spend is as efficient as possible.
Example: Put three distinctive audiences into three different ad sets in the same ad campaign. Use CBO to let the algorithm automatically shift budgets to the best performing audience.
4. WEBSITE DATA CONNECTION - Make sure you have a powerful Conversions API connection that is feeding website data back to your ad account. If you are using landing pages or a headless front-end, ensure that there is no data drop-off during the handoff to checkout or on page re-routes so you don't miss any tracked events.
Example: Use Popsixle to ensure you have the best possible data connection between Shopify and Meta/Facebook.
How do you know if the Meta algorithm is working hard for you? Here’s a few signs:
You know your campaigns are auto-optimizing if they keep getting better, especially after the first 100 conversions.
You know your campaign-budget-optimization is working if you see ad set budgets shift from one ad set to another. And you may even see it switch back if the initial winner starts losing steam.
You know your dynamic creative is working if you see a big spread of impression volume and spend between your top and bottom performing creative variation.
Most importantly, you know the Meta algorithm is working hard for you if you’re spending less time making manual optimizations and you’re getting better overall campaign performance.