Meta's Advantage+ suite has become the default for Facebook and Instagram advertising. The platform is pushing full automation harder than ever—and the results are genuinely mixed.
Here's what experienced advertisers are actually seeing.
What Advantage+ Actually Does
Advantage+ is Meta's AI-driven automation suite that handles targeting, placements, budget allocation, and creative optimization. Instead of manually configuring audiences and testing creative variations, you provide assets and goals—Meta's machine learning handles the rest.
Advantage+ Sales Campaigns (ASC)
Formerly "shopping campaigns." Supports ecommerce, sales, lead generation, and app installs. Fully automated targeting, budget allocation, and creative optimization across the entire customer journey.
Advantage+ Lead Generation
Expanded in 2025. Uses AI to optimize delivery and target users likely to convert, designed for business leads rather than direct sales.
Advantage+ App Campaigns
Up to nine ad groups as of 2025, focused on mobile app installs and engagement.
The Numbers Worth Knowing
Meta's official stats: Advantage+ Sales Campaigns drive 22% higher return on ad spend and reduced costs per result compared to manual campaigns.
Many advertisers report ROAS in the 3-5x range when campaigns are properly optimized.
But the reality from practitioners is more nuanced. Letting Advantage+ handle broad audience targeting works well about 80% of the time—the AI consistently finds high-performing combinations efficiently.
However, automated creative from Meta "rarely a good fit" and "misses the mark for about 99% of our clients' products." Disabling or customizing Meta's creative automation is standard practice.
The pattern: targeting automation works. Creative automation doesn't—yet.
The Setup That Actually Works
Data is everything
The more conversion data you feed Meta, the better Advantage+ performs. Bonus points for accounts with years of advertising history—the system can learn from past performance much faster.
Measurement is non-negotiable
Whether using Pixel, Conversion API, or both, measurement is critical. Running Advantage+ without solid tracking is flying blind.
Creative volume and variety
Upload diverse assets—images, videos, copy variations. AI-driven testing requires options. Refresh creatives every 2-4 weeks minimum to prevent fatigue.
Let budget flow
Use Advantage Campaign Budget to let AI allocate spend across ad sets based on real-time performance. This prevents overspending on underperformers.
Start with sufficient budget
Allow at least $50 per variant for A/B tests to reach statistically reliable conclusions. Increase budgets gradually—10-20% every few days.
What Most Advertisers Get Wrong
Running too broad without creative variety
Advantage+ with minimal input leads to higher creative and budget waste. The algorithm needs options to test and optimize.
Ignoring the "black box" nature
Advantage+ operates with limited transparency about exactly why certain decisions are made. Accept this limitation—focus on whether business goals are being met.
Expecting B2B magic
Advantage+ is optimized for consumer purchases and app installs. B2B can work, but requires feeding transaction value back to the system and building feedback loops.
Trusting Meta's performance labels
A video with 10,000 views might be flagged as high-performing even if it generates zero sales. Define your own success metrics.
Over-relying on creative AI
Meta's automated creative tools can generate and test variations quickly, but most experienced advertisers disable or heavily customize these features.
The Honest Practitioner Approach
The advertisers seeing best results blend automation with direction:
- Use Advantage+ for what it's good at: broad targeting, placement optimization, budget allocation across ad sets.
- Maintain control over creative: Produce your own assets, test systematically, refresh regularly.
- Feed the algorithm well: Strong conversion tracking, first-party customer data, clear value signals.
- Set guardrails: Exclude current customers from prospecting. Use demographic controls where needed.
- Monitor and adjust: Check performance regularly. Test recommendations rather than overriding on instinct.
The bottom line: Meta plans to fully automate ad creation and targeting via generative AI by late 2026. The question isn't whether to adopt Advantage+ automation—it's how to guide it effectively while maintaining the creative and strategic inputs that AI still can't replicate.
