In the old days, creating and managing your newly created brand was relatively easy. Meta Ads were not this complicated, you could simply create a basic picture, with a shiny and bright background and the same text you use everywhere. And that was basically it, your basic Ad was working and everyone was happy, until that day when IOS 14 launched, and everything changed.

It’s hard to believe that in a very short time, everything changed. The whole Meta Ads working system has turned around and things you never thought about became a big part of their advertising process.

Why is Creativity Important for Your Ads

After Apple launched the IOS 14 update, Meta’s ability to track how often users viewed and clicked on Ads over time and how this influenced their behavior was significantly reduced. After this, Meta could not turn your basic Ads into powerhouses anymore.

This caused confusion and became the reason for many brand’s downfall, but many took advantage and benefited from this situation. The fact is, everything changed, now being basic and “just make Ads and run them” is not enough, you have to be creative with it.

Now creative Meta Ads have far more influence on the market than just pretty backgrounds with little text, many benefited from this, and many are still adapting, but the fact is to ensure your brand stays successful in the long run, your marketing team should concentrate on crafting a creative strategy based on nine key direct response principles.

Also, only creativity is not enough, your Ads should be technically smart and logical, it should have the correct structure as an Ad. The right tracking variations became crucial as well, after the update, the data loss was very big, so for algorithms this was a big hit. In the old days, you were just creating simple conversion Ads, and all the other work was on algorithms, but now, after tracking got more complicated, the algorithm is not working as well as before.

Here are 9 core concepts for developing better Meta Ads.

1. Creating an optimal creative strategy

Being strategic with your creative campaigns is a must. A big part of a creative strategy is figuring out who your main audience is, who you’re trying to win over, and how to communicate with them effectively. You should plan your testing strategies, understand the competitive landscape, research your past experiences, and determine the “winners” and “losers”, then use this information and create the ultimate Meta Ads. I also enjoy keeping an eye on my “rivals” and analyzing their strategies as well, you should think like your enemy to beat them.

Being creative is not as easy as it sounds. To be creative you need information, calmness, and research. As a creative person myself, sometimes I have something that I call “Creative block”, this is the moment when my creative thinking is low.

The competitiveness of this field is the one to blame for the need for creativity, you should be the one that catches the eye of the customer, not others. For this, you need logical thinking and creativity.

When something like this happens, I advise you to rest, and give yourself some time, listening to music or watching movies helps a lot, you acquire some kind of information that can be used later. “Creative blocks” are not the end of the day!

2. Saying on Brand While Being Creative

In creativity we can easily get lost, wander in many places, and completely forget about our mission. Staying on brand on the other hand is very important. There are some ways that these two subjects meet and create complete harmony, I will give you some examples:

• Ads with meme styles – While talking about your brand or your product, you can use memes for readers’ satisfaction. Using memes helps the reader stay on your text for a long and gives them some kind of entertainment.
• Question polls – Let’s say you have a creative agency, you can ask questions to readers using polls. For example: When was the first marketing agency created?
• Give them challenges – humans love testing themselves, so give them riddles regarding your brand.

These are just a few examples of being creative while staying on brand, but as I said, creativity is an endless bowl. Remember to stay on brand though.

3. What to Consider While Creating Meta Ads

We are intelligent, but simple creatures. We thrive on beauty and simplicity, our brains are wired to impulses and almost every one of us is addicted to dopamine. Was this a small biology lesson for me? Maybe, but there is a reason why I said it, and this is how you can use it.

1. Images/videos – fun facts: even bears can admire beauty, so can we! This means our eyes always search for something beautiful, something that can grab our attention, so when marketing on social platforms, make your ads look natural and not overly polished. Simple, high-quality Meta ads grab attention and engage people better. Also, use text overlays on static images to highlight key points.
2. Headlines – Many brands use huge headlines and pull all their information in that small space, even seeing those is tiring and boring. Try creating small headlines and get to your point faster.
3. Description – The Ad description has more space than the headline but is still limited. It should enhance the image or video and headline, focusing on the direct response tactics.
4. Call-to-action (CTA) – Call-to-action is one of my personal favorites, and I want to give you examples:

• We have a sale!
• It’s a 40% sale on everything, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
  Which one is better? The second one obviously. You can also use “SIGN-UP” or “ SHOP NOW”, to tell them what to do.

Description – The Ad description has more space than the headline but is still limited. It should enhance the image or video and headline, focusing on the direct response tactics.

Video content might be the best shot for meta, based on its big inventory of visual context. Meaning visual content has better results and greater creative freedom.

4. Direct Response Marketing

Driving actions close to immediate click is more important than you think. Let’s go over some of the ways you can do it, shall we?

• Social proof – Gaining your potential customer’s trust is a smart tactic to use, so Use customer reviews or feedback to build trust and credibility, showing that others have genuinely benefited from the product or service.
• Relevancy – Try to create the illusion of need for your products. Most of the time they actually need it, but don’t know yet, tell them why they need your product and how to get it.
• Show them why they choose you – Try to show them your benefits, and what they will win if they get your product. Don’t just talk about your product and how great it is, show and tell them how it will change their lives.
• limited availability – Show them that this amazing product, this life-changing experience has a limit, say that inventory is really low, or it’s a limited offer to, let’s say, the first 100 people.
• Urgency – In performance marketing, it’s about getting people to act fast. Highlight new stuff, limited deals, or exclusive offers to make them feel like they need to act now.

5. Understand The Metrics For Better Performance

Knowing how to understand if you are winning or losing, you should be familiar with game rules and their terminology.

1. CPM – Cost per 1,000 impressions
2. CTR – Click-Through Rate
3. Frequency: The average number of times each person saw your ad.
4. CPC – Cost per Click
5. ROAS – Return on Ad Spend
6. Link Clicks: The number of clicks on links within your ad
7. MER – Marketing Efficiency Ratio
8. CVR – Conversion Rate
9. CAC/CPA – Customer Acquisition Cost
10. Thumb Stop (Hook) Rate – The percentage of people who watch 3 seconds of your video ad
11. Hold Rate – The percentage of people who watch 15 seconds of your video ad
12. Landing Page Views: The number of times people landed on your advertised webpage after clicking the ad.
    There are many more, but these are essential.

Even though there is a wide variety of metrics, there are two most important ones, CPA and ROAS.

6. Never Give Up Testing

For guaranteed and long-term success, you need to find the perfect formula, you’ll be the first to do it though. What I wanted to say is that you should find the formula as close to perfect as possible, and testing is the way to do it. You should go with the flow, always change, and keep up, try different Test assets, images, copy, messaging, frameworks, and mediums. Keep trying out different things to improve and grow

7. Formats

When promoting a video ad, make it memorable with a blend of sound, text, and visuals. For static Meta ads, boost your message with text overlays on the image. Try maximizing your formats as much as possible.

8. Use Analytics Tool

Using analytics tools is a lifesaver. Managing many Ads accounts separately, and using no CRM to keep and organize your data is not an easy task. To solve all these problems I advise you to use the MyDataNinja platform, and here is one small secret: We also have a built-in simple CRM system. You can check out our blog about CRM systems and find out “How to Use Your E-commerce CRM to Achieve Success”

After all these technical details, MyDataNinja is the tool that will show you the most important details, make your work easier, save you time, and help you make better and smarter decisions.

Achieving success

For you to be successful in Meta Ads, you need patience, you also have to be ready for changes. It is complex, but not impossible

And don’t forget to take a look at MyDataNinja if you’re keen on tracking and improving your ad performance as it happens.