The ever-shifting landscape of Paid Social advertising is difficult to navigate at the best of times. In a world which hasn’t had a normal week since some time in 2015, this is especially true.

This monthly feature from the Paid Social team at Alphageek will help you keep on top of trends, news, and techniques for managing Facebook Ads!

So, what Facebook Advertising trends should you be watching out for in March 2022?

1. Increased Automation Of Audience Targeting

Facebook’s march towards further automation of audience targeting – taking control away from advertisers and placing it in the hands its algorithms – shows no signs of slowing down. With key changes such as removing the ability to turn off targeting expansion in late 2021 and the recent removal of 1000s of detailed targeting options in January, it’s clear that increased automation is a goal. We predict further moves towards automated targeting on the horizon, both from Facebook, and from other marketing platforms – such as Google – who have been making similar moves.

But how will this impact results? On the one hand: Facebook’s algorithms are driven by huge quantities of data, theoretically giving automated ads an edge in finding the right users for your campaign.

Top-funnel results such as CPM will likely benefit from higher levels of automation, as audience narrowing elements of targeting are removed. However, this reduction in specificity when it comes to who you can choose to show your ads to is likely to have an impact on valuable, bottom-funnel actions such as purchases or leads.

Our advice? The impact of automation will differ depending on your product, goals, and audience size – so a bit of testing is needed. Beyond this - keep control of targeting elements where you still can! Facebook will not expand audiences beyond your selected age or location parameters, so make sure that these are precisely in-line with your desired audience.

2. All Vertical Everything

Facebook Reels were rolled out globally in February 2022. This latest attempt from the Meta Empire to compete with the Gen Z market-share-snatching TikTok has cemented what many already suspected: vertical video is here to stay.

What used to be the marker of a tech novice – the calling card of Grandparents everywhere uploading grainy video to Facebook – has become an unavoidable method for conveying organic, personal content.

While there’s still a place for high-production, cinematic brand content, if you aren’t already tailoring some of your content to appear in the vertical format, now is the time.

Watch this space for some Alphageek expert tips on shooting content for vertical formats.

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3. Catalogue-based Custom Audiences – An iOS-proof Alternative To Pixel Audiences?

The ongoing impact of iOS 14.5 was arguably the paid social story of 2021. The fact that up to 40% of all FB users have opted out of third-party tracking has, understandably, damaged the effectiveness of custom audiences created from on-site actions such as content views and purchases.

We previously recommended advertisers create custom audiences based on on-Facebook actions such as video views and page engagements to retain all user data. Facebook has recently introduced catalogue-based custom audiences, which will likely be even more effective than other on-page audiences.

Using your on-Facebook shops and product catalogues, you are now able to create audiences based on adds to cart, product views, and other meaningful interactions. The best part? Since these actions have taken place on Facebook, no data is lost through third-party tracking opt-outs.

This tool is currently on a limited rollout but is expected to be made more widely available soon. We’ve already seen some great results from some of our clients using Catalogue lookalikes:

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Our advice? Look out for these audiences becoming available and get creating!

That concludes our roundup of Facebook advertising trends for the month. Want to find out more about creating and managing Facebook ads? Book in a call with one of our experts today!

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