We know first hand how difficult Facebook Ads can be. Just when you think you’ve got the basics down, a new hurdle is thrown your way and it’s like starting all over again. This couldn’t be truer when Facebook update their ads manager pretty much every week. So how are we to make sense of it all?

Here at Blend Commerce, our marketing team has been researching, collecting and putting together a new blog series, where each month we break down the important Facebook Ad updates you need to know. But also some that you should look out for in the future. We’ve done the hard work for you, so you can focus on creating your ads.

March 2019 Facebook Ad Updates

The main aim for our Facebook Ad Update blogs is to focus solely on what’s relevant for your ads. Facebook may be changing some visibility or page settings, but we’re here to talk about ads and ads alone.

 So here are the main updates we’ve seen for March:

• Ad Budget moving from the Ad Set Level to the Campaign Level.
• Facebook’s New Metrics for April and the 7 they are removing
• Connections and Advanced Combinations

Ad Budget is Moving

We may be a little late to the party but this one is important! As of September, you will no longer be able to set budgets at the ad set level. Instead, it’s moving to the Campaign Level.

What you currently see:

But soon, you'll only be able to see this:

You’ll still be able to set a daily or lifetime budget, as well as a schedule, but the main reason for this change is to help you spend your budget more efficiently across all of your ad sets and ads. At first, Facebook will spread the budget evenly, but as it learns what’s working well and what isn’t, it’ll start to place more of your budget into your successful ad sets and ads, and filter this down to your least successful ones. Although this takes away some of your control, we’ve been using this for a while now and it’s super helpful for showing us what is and isn’t working. So if you haven’t started using it yet, we recommend getting into the habit early!

Facebook’s New and Discontinued Metrics for April

To be honest it’s no surprise that Facebook is removing the Relevance Score Metric from ads manager. None of us really knew what it exactly measured, but we knew it was comparing our ads to a competitor who were using the same audience. Oh and we also know high numbers are good thing! Instead, Facebook is bringing in 3 new metrics:

1. Quality Ranking Metric

This metric will measure the perceived quality of the ad when compared to ads from a competitor using the same audience.

2. Engagement Rate Metric

This metric will show an ads expected engagement rate when compared to ads from a competitor using the same audience.

3. Conversion Rate Metric

This metric will show an ads expected conversion rate when compared to ads from a competitor using the same audience and optimization goals.

We think these 3 new metrics will give a good insight into what is and isn’t working for your ads. If your metrics are low, then you should definitely check out your competitors to see what they are doing differently.

Facebook is also removing the following metrics:

• Web Purchase ROAS
• Mobile App Purchase ROAS
• Cost Per Messaging Replies
• Messaging Replies
• Offers Saved
• Cost Per Offers Saved

They decided that these metrics are the least helpful to their marketers or often there is another metric that gives the same result. Do you find any of these metrics helpful? Let us know by commenting below!

Connections Advanced Combinations

Just above Placements in the Ad Set Level of your Campaign you will see Connections. If you didn’t know, Connections are a way to reach people who have a specific connection to your Page, App or Event. A great Connection is Friends of People Who Like Your Page. - It’s an easy way to expand your audience with those who may have similar interests.

But now we have Advanced Combinations. This Connection allows you to widen your audience by targeting people who are connected to a page, they don’t have to have like the page, app or event for you to target them.

We generally recommend not using too many of these when you’re creating your audience as it could lead to an audience that is too small or specific to be effective. But if you had an offer you only wanted to give people who liked your Facebook page, then Connections can be really handy.

Things to Keep an Eye Out for

Amongst the numerous Facebook Ad Updates we’ve seen, there have been a few speculations. Although these updates are not coming in any time soon, we think it’s something to keep an eye out for.

Here are the potential updates to look out for:

• Instagram Checkout
• Instagram Influencer Post Ads
• Augmented Reality Ads
• New Facebook Ads Manager interface

Instagram Checkout

Instagram has recently announced Checkout on Instagram. This means when you find a product you love, you can buy it without leaving the app. However, we are little puzzled on how this would work for Shopify stores and different payment providers. Currently, you can tag products from your Shopify store on Instagram but the idea is it helps drive traffic to your website. Does this new checkout option contradict this earlier idea?

It’s currently in closed beta for businesses and available to people in the US. It’s just about to start rolling out so why not check out this list of retailers and see if Checkout on Instagram works for you.

Source: Instagram

Instagram Influencer Post Ads

As Instagram explore more branded content and ad opportunities for businesses using their platform, they’ve started testing options for brands to turn their influencers posts into ads. This means they can use a post from an influencer and pay for it to reach more people beyond the influencers organic reach.

Although there’s nothing in the pipeline yet, it’s something to keep your eye out for in 2019. 

Source: Marketing Land

Augmented Reality Ads

We are super excited about this one! How many times have you seen an item of clothing advertised on Facebook and gone “I’m not sure if that would suit me.” Imagine if you could try on that item of clothing without leaving your Facebook Page… Well last July, Facebook announced they were testing AR Ads with Michael Kors so that consumer could virtually try on products before they bought them. It started with being able to try on different sunglass but has since spread to consumers being able to try on different shades of lipstick from Sephora.

At the moment Facebook is still testing and trialling this as it’s important the experience is right for the consumer without any friction. But if you spot an ad that says something like “Tap to try on”, why not give it a go?

Source: Social Media Today

New Facebook Ads Manager Interface

As much as it pains us to know we may have to get used to a new Facebook Ad interface, some advertisers have been getting a sneak peak at what it may look like. Some are claiming it’s a mix between Reddit and Google Ads, maybe this is to make it more intuitive for advertisers using other platforms? 

From screenshot, Duane Brown shared on Twitter we can see that Campaign, Ad Set, and Ad Level can now be viewed from the menu to the left of the screen.

Currently, Facebook hasn’t said anything publicly just “we’re always testing out ways to improve our interface but have nothing new to announce at this time.”

Source: Marketing Land

There we have it! All of the latest updates you need to know for the coming Month and some that could definitely be interested to see in the future.

If you have any comments or questions, just leave a comment on this blog!