Is Meta Going Back to Old School Manual Targeting with the New Advantage+ Sales Campaigns?

Meta just dropped a bombshell update for their Advantage+ campaign setup, and it’s got marketers everywhere buzzing. Advantage+ Shopping is out, Advantage+ Sales is in, and it brings with it some major changes. The biggest question on everyone’s mind? Is Meta subtly shifting back to the manual targeting strategies we thought we’d left behind?

Let’s break down the key updates and see what’s really going on:

What’s New with Advantage+ Sales?

• Advantage+ Audience is IN: Remember one of the biggest gripes with Advantage+ Shopping? The complete lack of targeting control. Well, rejoice! Advantage+ Sales now incorporates Advantage+ Audience, giving you the ability to provide audience suggestions and, crucially, custom audience exclusions. This is HUGE for refining your reach and avoiding wasted ad spend.
  
• Ad Sets Are Back, Baby!: Another limitation of Advantage+ Shopping was the single, blended ad set. No more! Advantage+ Sales brings back the beloved ad set structure, allowing for multiple ad sets within a campaign. This means more granular control over budgeting and creative variations.
  
• Existing Customer Budget Cap – Gone!: The cap on how much budget could be allocated to existing customers? Poof! It’s gone. Now you’ll need to add a custom audience exclusion (aka website purchasers) if you don’t want to target existing customers.
  
• Ad Limits and Ad Sets: While Advantage+ Shopping allowed for a whopping 150 ads, Advantage+ Sales reverts to 50 ads per ad set. You can still provide 150 (or more) ads, but they’ll need to be distributed across multiple ad sets.
  
• Simplified Campaign Setup (Kind Of): The new setup is streamlined, now simply called “Advantage+ Sales Campaign,” with the AI-powered maximisation on by default. However, and this is a big however…
  
• Manual Options Still Exist: Yes, you read that right. Beneath the surface, all the manual targeting options you were used to are still there. Meta hasn’t completely abandoned manual control.
  

So, Are We Going Back to Manual?

Not exactly. What Meta seems to be doing is offering a hybrid approach. They’re giving us the best of both worlds: the automation and optimisation power of Advantage+ combined with the strategic control of more traditional campaign structures.

Think of it this way: Meta is acknowledging that while AI is powerful, it’s not a magic bullet. Marketers still need strategic input. We need to be able to define our audiences, exclude irrelevant segments, and test different creative approaches. These new updates empower us to do just that, while still leveraging the automation capabilities of Advantage+.

What Does This Mean for You?

This is good news! It means you have more control, not less. You can now use Advantage+ Sales to:

• Reach a wider audience while still excluding irrelevant segments.
• Test different ad creatives and messaging with more granularity.
• Tailor your budget allocation across different audience segments.
• Leverage Meta’s AI while still maintaining strategic oversight.

The Bottom Line:

Meta isn’t going back to completely manual targeting. They’re evolving. They’re giving us a more sophisticated, flexible platform that allows us to combine the power of AI with our own strategic expertise. It’s not about choosing one or the other. It’s about finding the right balance to maximise your results. And that, my friends, is a win for marketers everywhere.