The Future of Meta Ads is Bright

What we learned at Meta's #Performance Summit

AuthorAuthor

Acceler8 Labs & Uzair Chutani
June 12, 2024


🚀 Welcome aboard the maiden voyage of Ad Insider, your weekly guide to the all the inside info from the world of digital advertising, DTC brands, and e-commerce.

From the Founders: Insights from the Meta Performance Summit

Last week, we had the incredible opportunity to attend the third annual Meta Performance Summit. Acceler8 Labs was honoured as the only Canadian agency invited to this prestigious event, held at the legendary Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco.

The summit buzzed with excitement this year and the consensus was all in on seeing Meta as the results-driven platform. Everyone was bullish about the ASC+ platforms performance, and Meta got some well earned praise for their excellent event organization and topics covered.

Here's what we learned:

👉 AI in Marketing: AI is fuelling new customer growth beyond ICPs (Ideal Customer Profiles). It helps advertisers identify and target individuals who might not fit the traditional mould but are highly likely to purchase. Leading advertisers are now allocating 30-70% of their Meta budgets to AI-driven strategies!

👉 Signal Strength: The importance of signal strength cannot be overstated. Quality now trumps quantity when it comes to signal evaluation and buying strategy. Advertisers are honing in on specific audience exclusions and leveraging custom pixel events, such as VIP customer engagements and subscriber signups, to optimize campaign performance. It's become increasingly clear that high-quality data assessments hold more weight than creative elements in the realm of AI-driven purchasing decisions.

👉 All in on Partners: Meta has wholeheartedly embraced partnerships. Agencies are adopting deep partner stacks, integrating multiple solutions to navigate consumer behaviours effectively. Key tools like Triple Whale, Northbeam, Popsixle, and Elevar play a pivotal role in enhancing signal quality, enabling swift decision-making. Leading brands are leveraging custom conversions to tailor their strategies, optimizing for key outcomes like acquiring net new customers or boosting subscriptions.

👉 Reels Dominate: Reels now account for 50% of Instagram traffic! Vertical video content continues outperforming static content in driving revenue. While it may not generate the same volume of clicks, the click-to-convert ratio is significantly higher, delivering superior ROI.

This year's summit was shorter, allowing for more networking and face time among attendees, and it was nice to see some partners and even a few "frenemies" in attendance when we had the privilege of attending a small dinner networking session. Partners event got to test the Meta AI powered Ray-Bans!

All in all, the future is looking very bright for Meta and their partners, as well as for performance marketing as a whole. Here’s to next year!

Best,
Uzair Chutani
Co-Founder, Acceler8 Labs

💡 Spotlight: The Reluctance to Let Go of Third-Party Cookies

The ad industry’s obsession with cookies continues. At the recent JJ Programmatic Marketing Summit, it was revealed that the ad industry is still not ready to part ways with third-party cookies, despite Google's repeated delays in deprecating them.

Word from inside the conference was that attendees across the spectrum rated their readiness between 3 to 5 out of 10, indicating a lack of urgency and preparation that could affect Google in a big way.

Advertisers seem desensitized by Google's postponements, continuing to rely on outdated metrics and technologies. The consensus is that either Google must firmly deprecate third-party cookies or significant regulatory action must occur to push the industry towards necessary changes.

Until then, many advertisers remain in a state of inertia, hesitant to adapt to a post-cookie world.

🔍 Insider Info: What's on the horizon for Meta Ads

At the Performance Summit, we also learned some valuable statistics and upcoming innovations from Meta we’re sharing with you for the first time:

  • Meta advises that the total account spend on the learning phase should not exceed 20%, ensuring efficient campaign optimization.

  • Cost per acquisitions (CPA) decreases by an impressive 19% post-learning phase across AI campaigns, demonstrating the effectiveness of Meta's strategies.

  • Meta is actively developing new products, including image generation using text prompts for ads. The rollout is currently at 10%, with plans for full deployment by the end of the year.

  • Leveraging AI, Meta seamlessly transforms 1x1 ad formats into 9:16, with the outcropping feature seamlessly integrated into the ad deck for enhanced creative possibilities.

Weekly Roundup: Major News in Digital Advertising and E-Commerce

Here are the key stories you need to know from this week’s digital marketing news:

📢 Instagram Clarifies Advice on Single Word CTAs and Longer Reels

Instagram addressed creators' concerns about engagement tactics, advising against single-word CTAs to avoid spam-like behavior. Open-ended questions remain effective. Instagram reiterated that while Reels over 90 seconds won’t be recommended broadly, they’re still valuable for engaging existing followers.

📺 Instagram Tests New Video Ads to Stop Users from Scrolling

Instagram is testing a new video ad format designed to keep users from scrolling further. This format aims to engage viewers more deeply by presenting video ads that users need to interact with to continue browsing their feed. This test is part of Instagram’s effort to enhance ad performance and user engagement.

🍏 Apple Unveils New AI Features at WWDC 2024

Apple has announced new AI-driven features during the WWDC 2024, including updates to Siri, enhanced on-device machine learning capabilities, and integration with OpenAI’s technology. These advancements are aimed at making Apple's ecosystem smarter and more responsive, with a focus on user privacy and security.

That’s a wrap for this week’s edition of Ad Insider!

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