These numbers are impressive. These results are real. However, the above results require ONE variable that you need to provide. Brand Context.

It has been predicted that global AI spending will grow to 2.52 Trillion dollars by 2026. Much of this will be spent on automated digital advertising solutions. The investment is evident. The only question now remains; do automated output choices still reflect your brand?

The Part Nobody Talks About

When using Facebook’s AI Ads Automation to generate ad creative for advertising campaigns; the AI uses patterns that have been developed from tens of thousands of campaign executions. It knows what drives clicks. It knows what leads to conversions.

What Facebook’s AI does not know about your customer base is your voice. Your company’s tone, values and way of communicating with customers are unknown by the AI. The AI will be unable to tell if your business model is driven by discounts or if it is based upon relationships.This is when the real risk comes into play.

Ad campaigns created by an AI will often outperform other ad campaigns in terms of:

• click through rates (CTR)
• cost per click (CPC)
• volume of conversions

Performance metrics do not equate to Brand Identity.A local business may be able to build customer loyalty over years and lose that loyalty due to one poor generic AI generated ad message. A larger issue exists quietly. Using the same AI Campaign Management Software as many other companies, your ads begin to appear identical. The Algorithm will optimize based upon what is successful across all platforms and NOT what makes you unique.

It then becomes a “race to the middle”.

Where Automation Helps And Where It Hurts

The most effective method of using artificial intelligence in advertising is to use selective automation rather than complete automation.

In order for small businesses to see success with their use of AI they must determine how best to divide their responsibilities as well as automate many aspects of their advertising.

AI wins at Data-Driven Tasks

1. Bid management
2. Optimization of placement
3. Expansion of audience
4. Pacing of budget

All are math based tasks that AI can process much faster and more accurate than humans.

Humans still win at Context-Driven Tasks

1. Creative Direction
2. Tone of Messaging
3. Strategy of Offer
4. Experience on Landing Page

Use your Brand Voice Document or Messaging Guide if available, create your own headlines and images, then allow Meta Advantage+ Campaigns to distribute them.

The Measurement Problem For Small Budgets

The greatest risk associated with using artificial intelligence in advertising tools for a small business owner will not be how well it performs, it will be measuring what you are doing.

Meta has reported its recent advancements were driven by larger advertisers who had sufficient historical data to create an initial model or training set. Smaller businesses may not always have access to such information. A $1000 per month budget creates very little historical data. Little historical data makes learning slow. Slow learning results in spending money on waste.

Before you switch all of your campaigns to automated advertising (or at least before you make this decision for your small business), run a test with the same campaign settings that are active now and add Advantage+ to duplicate the campaign. Run these two versions of the campaign for 30 days and then compare their performance by looking at cost-per-acquisition, click-through-rate, customer-quality and which version has the lower CPA. Just because one version of the campaign is cheaper doesn’t mean it will produce better results in the long term. The AI can also bring in “one-time” buyers as opposed to “repeat” buyers, thus reducing the lifetime-value of each customer.

What Small Businesses Should Do Now

Start text Begin to separate your campaigns into two distinct categories.

1. Performance Campaigns. These are focused around specific metrics that measure performance of the campaign:

• Purchases
• Sign-ups
• Downloads

The above categories are perfect for automation with a good AI campaign management tool. The areas where automation will provide the most benefit is with performance-based campaigns.

2. Brand Campaigns. These types of campaigns are centered around:

• Awareness
• Trust
• Differentiation

These types of campaigns are generally better suited to human involvement, as AI generated content may seem too “generic” in many cases.

The future of advertising has changed. Meta’s new AI-based ad campaign optimization is here to stay. And while it is much faster at optimizing your spending than most humans could ever hope to be, there is one thing it can’t do: provide the depth of human insight you need to create a compelling message and creativity that resonates with customers. That means the companies that will succeed in this environment will not rely solely on AI for their decision-making. Instead they’ll use AI simply as a tool to help them distribute their ads. So let the machine do what it does best – optimize where you’re spending money. But keep the creative and the messaging in the hands of your team members who have a voice, personality, and point of view.