5 predictions for facebook ads in 2024

There has been some good news regarding Facebook ad benchmarks in the past 12 months. The platform has become increasingly easier to navigate, machine learning continues to improve and for many, costs have decreased (especially those that have embraced best practices). I go into even more detail about my predictions on my podcast, Online Store Success.

More on platform automation

More automation inside meta for campaign creation, including more push towards automatic audiences (board), dynamic creatives, AI text help, etc

This makes it easier for business owners to create their own ads,, which is great.  The most complicated part of DIY-ing your ads will be reading and troubleshooting results and learning what to try next once your campaign has reached the max performance or started to decline (in addition to knowing which buttons to press when setting up ads).

We can still override any automated settings, such as selecting the ‘manual campaign’ setup and reverting to the previous audience controls. I really hope this stays.

The continued demise of complex funnels

The demise of complex funnels, granular audiences and custom audiences such as retargeting. I’ve said it once, I will say it another 100 times.  The smaller your audience, the more expensive your ads are in every account I’ve seen in the past three years, including my own.

Many gurus still teach the old method of building out complex sales funnels with layers of retargeting, but I don’t see it working 99.9% of the time. There’s literally one ad account I’m in that I see retargeting work, 1. Sometimes those retargeting ads simply stop performing and need to be turned off for weeks at a time.

Yes, it’s essential to understand your ideal customers inside and out, but you no longer need to try and find them through detailed audience targeting.  Instead, you do it through your ad creative, offer, copy, and visual element you show them. 

Less about you, more about them.

The brands that get the most success with their ads will be those positioning their customer at the centre of their promotions and delivering a great product and service. This has always been true, but is even more so in 2024 where customers can access countless other options at the click of a button.  

When crafting your marketing campaigns, use the ‘so what’ formula

If the customer sees your ad, will they ask, ‘So what’? 

Are marketing campaigns need to articulate clearly:

The why - why is this important for your customer

The why you - why should they buy it from you - why are you different, better than the competition

The ‘how’ - how will your product improve the day or the life of your customers?

And the why now’ - why should they click on your ad right now and buy it immediately?

Customers don’t necessarily care if your swimwear is made from recycled materials, hand-made by artisans or only in small batches,  instead, they want to know how your products are going to improve their lives.  As a marketer, you need to put the customer at the forefront of all of your marketing and make it less about you and more about them.

Aside from the ‘so-what’ formula, you must also ensure your current customers are happy.  There’s no point running any form of paid ads if you have a customer service crisis happening (Not sure if you have seen all of the white fox hate online for example).

If you have a hoard of angry customers who haven’t received their orders and aren’t getting replies to their emails, running ads is like adding petrol to the fire.  What results are hundreds of angry comments on your ads, warning others to steer clear? I know if i see an ad in my feed with an angry emoji reaction, I stop scrolling and open the comments section to see what’s going on. 

If your customers aren’t happy, don’t waste your time and money on paid ads to acquire new customers, instead, fix the problem first in your business and then return to paid advertising.

Diversification of ad spend on different platforms  

As social media platforms continue to automate much of the advertising campaign set-up, business owners will feel more comfortable dabbling on other platforms.  Generally, once you have an understanding of how to create a campaign in Meta, you will feel less overwhelmed to set up campaigns in, say, TikTok, as the process is very similar. 

A point of difference though is the type of content you are using in your campaigns based on the platform you are advertising on.  A Facebook feed ad is very different to a snappy, engaging video you would share on TikTok. 

I think it’s wise to test different platforms for your business because you just never know where you might succeed, and once you have an understanding of the campaign set-up, and key metrics to measure, the same will apply to the other platforms too. 

More business owners are taking their ads management inhouse

My final prediction for 2024 is that more and more businesses will move away from paid management and instead DIY their ads themselves or delegate it to someone in their team. 

All of the automation and simplification Meta has introduced has made it easier than ever for everyday business owners to manage their ads themselves.  Plus if you follow my method, which bucks the old complicated methods to the kerb, you can do it in just a couple of hours a week. 

That is my top 5 predictions for Facebook Ads for 2024.