Meta Platforms is unveiling new advertising products that harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance marketers’ campaign management. The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is joining its industry peers in embracing AI technology as it continues to gain traction and recognition, thanks in part to the popularity of software like ChatGPT.
While Meta has been utilizing AI for some time, its latest endeavors signify a foray into the realm of generative AI, which enables the rapid production of more realistic and lifelike images and text. At the core of this strategy is the introduction of an AI Sandbox tool, initially offering three distinct functionalities. Positioned as an experimental space for generative AI, this feature empowers digital advertising to create multiple iterations of text copy, generate background images based on text inputs, and automatically crop images to suit different Meta surfaces, such as Stories or Reels.
Meta AI Sandbox
During the announcement, Meta highlighted the AI Sandbox as a significant feature, providing a dedicated space for testing AI-powered advertising tools.
One of the tools showcased was Text Variation, which automates the process of generating multiple versions of an advertiser’s copy. This functionality assists advertisers in testing various messages customized for different target audiences.
Another tool introduced was Background Generation, enabling advertisers to create background images for their creative assets based on text inputs. This feature empowers advertisers to quickly generate visually appealing backgrounds that align with their messaging.
Additionally, Meta unveiled Image Outcropping, a tool designed to automatically adjust creative assets to fit different aspect ratios across various platforms, such as Stories or Reels. This capability saves advertisers valuable time when repurposing ad creatives, ensuring optimal presentation on different channels.
These AI-driven tools showcased by Meta aim to streamline and enhance the efficiency of advertisers’ campaigns, offering greater flexibility, customization, and time-saving opportunities.
Meta Advantage Suite
Meta Advantage is a comprehensive suite of AI and machine learning-powered automation tools designed to elevate advertising campaigns. By leveraging these technologies, it facilitates ad personalization and optimizes outcomes, potentially resulting in significant time and cost savings for advertisers.
Last year, Meta consolidated its various automated products into the Meta Advantage platform, leading to substantial adoption and usage growth.
The most recent update introduces several new features that further enhance the capabilities of Meta Advantage:
With a simple click in the Ads Manager, businesses can now convert their existing manual campaigns into Advantage+ shopping campaigns. This convenient feature will be gradually rolled out across the platform within the next month.
Advertisers will now have the ability to enrich their catalog ads by incorporating video content, moving beyond the previous limitation of static images. This feature is currently undergoing testing and is anticipated to be launched later this year.
Performance Comparison reports have been introduced to enable advertisers to assess and compare the performance of their manual campaigns against Advantage+ shopping campaigns. This feature is already in the process of being deployed.
Advantage+ Audience provides enhanced audience targeting options for advertisers. It allows them to provide audience preferences as guidance rather than strict constraints, expanding the potential reach of their ads. This tool is expected to become more widely available in the coming months.
These new features empower advertisers to maximize the potential of their advertising campaigns, offering greater flexibility, efficiency, and targeting capabilities through the Meta Advantage platform.
The Type of Products Under Meta Advantage Suite
Meta has consolidated its automated advertising products under the Meta Advantage umbrella.
Meta Advantage comprises two groups of products: Advantage and Advantage+. These products leverage advanced technology to achieve and sustain better results, personalize ad delivery, and reduce the workload for advertisers. They offer the choice between a fully automated campaign creation journey or a manual journey with additional automated features.
To utilize Meta Advantage products effectively:
Advantage+ products have the capability to automate the entire campaign creation process or automate specific steps within the manual Meta Ads Manager campaign creation, including Audience, Budget/Bidding, Destination, Placements, and Creative.
Advantage products, on the other hand, automate specific aspects of manual campaign setup to enhance performance.
When creating a campaign, you can opt for a fully automated creation process by selecting an Advantage+ campaign. Alternatively, if you prefer greater manual control over your campaign, you can choose the manual option for each step in Ads Manager to create your campaign. Within each step, there may be additional Advantage features that allow for automation on a smaller scale.
The Advantage/Advantage+ product lineup includes:
- Advantage+ App Campaign (previously known as Automated App Ads)
- Advantage+ Placements (previously known as Automatic Placements)
- Advantage+ Creative for Catalog (previously known as Dynamic Formats and Creative)
- Advantage+ Creative (previously known as Dynamic Experiences)
- Advantage+ Catalog Ads (previously known as Dynamic Ads)
- Advantage+ International Catalog Ads (previously known as Multi-Country and Language Dynamic Ads)
- Advantage Detailed Targeting (previously known as Detailed Targeting Expansion)
- Advantage Lookalike (previously known as Lookalike Expansion)
- Advantage Campaign Budget (previously known as Campaign Budget Optimization)
With the Meta Advantage suite, advertisers gain access to a range of automated tools designed to streamline their campaigns and achieve better outcomes, whether they opt for a fully automated or a partially manual approach.
The Potential Of AI-Powered Marketing
The emergence of AI, particularly gen AI, has the potential to impact three key areas within the realm of marketing and sales: customer experience (CX), growth, and productivity.
When it comes to CX, the power of hyper-personalization can be harnessed by leveraging AI. Individual customer behavior, personas, and purchase history can be analyzed to deliver highly tailored content and offerings. This level of personalization enhances customer satisfaction and engagement.
In terms of growth, AI can serve as a catalyst by providing sales teams with the necessary analytics and customer insights to drive top-line performance. This enables sales professionals to identify and capture demand more effectively, thereby accelerating business growth.
Moreover, AI has the capability to enhance sales effectiveness and performance by automating mundane sales activities. By offloading routine tasks to AI systems, salespeople are able to dedicate more time to engaging with customers and prospects. This not only strengthens customer relationships but also reduces the cost associated with serving customers.
Throughout these endeavors, personalization remains a critical component. AI enables marketers and sales teams to tailor their approaches and offerings at an individual level, resulting in more meaningful interactions and higher levels of customer satisfaction.
Experience Ultimate AI Marketing Results with Meta Advantage
Meta currently dominates 36.64% of the global social media market, boasting an impressive user base of 2.20 billion active monthly users worldwide. In the United States alone, approximately 239 million individuals have a Facebook account. With such a vast reach, Meta proves to be an excellent platform for advertising. However, the increasing number of social media users and advertisers has led to a saturation of ads and promotional content on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
This saturation poses a challenge for businesses seeking visibility amidst the competition. Small businesses with limited resources face an even greater hurdle in making their ads stand out from the crowd.
Fortunately, the Meta Advantage suite offers a solution by granting smaller players access to cutting-edge technologies that were once reserved for enterprises with substantial budgets or exclusive AI and automation tools. Moreover, the suite’s AI marketing and automation capabilities significantly enhance campaign performance and outcomes. Whether you’re running Facebook ads or investing in paid advertising services on Instagram, it is worth considering the maximization of Advantage and Advantage+ tools to elevate your advertising efforts.
Conclusion
The AI market has experienced significant growth and holds immense potential across various industries. The launch of new meta-AI tools and advertising campaigns further contributes to this growth, offering advanced capabilities and innovative solutions.
Meta Platforms, with its extensive user base and dominance in the social media market, presents a compelling platform for advertising. However, the increasing number of users and advertisers poses challenges in terms of standing out amidst the saturation of ads and promotional content.
Fortunately, the Meta Advantage suite emerges as a valuable solution, providing smaller businesses with access to premium technologies and empowering them to compete with larger enterprises. The suite’s AI marketing and automation capabilities enhance campaign performance and outcomes, ensuring better results for advertisers.
