Social Media Pubcast By Jon Loomer

Today's question is about whether to exclude existing customers from your ads when you want to acquire new ones, and how to do it. Meta retargets existing customers by default, which isn't automatically a problem because those people convert easily and keep your costs down, but it can mask real performance or lower your average order value. Jon explains why you need to confirm there's an actual problem before excluding anyone, how to use website and customer list custom audiences together since each is imperfect on its own, and why new features like customer lifecycle strategy and value rules for existing customers could change the approach entirely. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Advertisers love to blame Meta when results tank, pointing to outages, Advantage+ enhancements, and automated settings as proof the platform is out to get them. There's a little truth in every complaint, which is exactly why they spread, but they're also excuses that keep you from finding actual solutions. Jon explains why blaming Meta makes you look like an amateur to clients, how to troubleshoot performance drops by using breakdowns to isolate the real cause, and why the answer is almost always something within your control, usually the ads themselves.

Today's question is about whether a brand new ad account, Facebook page, and pixel need any special treatment before running sales campaigns. Conventional wisdom says to build followers first, run awareness campaigns, or season the pixel with top-of-funnel activity. Jon explains why these recommendations are nonsense and often counterproductive, how building low-quality engagement early can poison your remarketing audiences, and why optimizing for purchases or leads from day one is the fastest path to real results. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Agencies that hide ad accounts from clients claim their campaign setup is proprietary, but modern best practices mean minimal campaigns and simplified structures that aren't worth hiding. The real value an advertiser brings isn't something a client can copy by looking at your settings. Jon explains why hiding your work destroys trust, why the fear of being replaced means you need to rethink where you add value, and why using the client's own ad account and assets is better for everyone.

Today's question is about whether a niche B2B audience can be too small for Meta ads to work effectively. Any business with a large enough real-world market to be profitable has an audience on Facebook and Instagram, so the issue isn't reach. The real question is whether Meta advertising will be worthwhile. Jon explains why no business is technically too niche for Meta, how success depends on creative, offer, lead qualification, and follow-up rather than targeting, and why the cost and quality of leads compared to their overall value is what determines if it's worth it. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Advertisers assume ads with thousands of comments and reactions perform better due to social proof, and fear making edits that would erase that engagement. But Jon duplicated an ad with 6,000 comments and the new version starting from scratch immediately matched and even beat the original's performance. He explains why we might be overvaluing social proof and why the content of your ad matters more than engagement signals.

Today's question is about CPM being double in the US versus the UK and whether that means you should allocate double the budget. CPM varies by country due to competition, but higher CPM doesn't automatically mean worse performance. Jon explains when to combine countries versus split them, how Meta balances costs and conversion rates, and why you should let results guide your budget allocation instead of CPM alone. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Meta provides no transparency about which specific images or videos perform best when using flexible format, related media, or AI generated creative. Breakdowns exist but share almost no useful detail. Jon explains why this lack of transparency is intentional at this point, why it matters for creative teams who need feedback, and why Meta needs to share this information despite the risk of advertisers misusing it.

Today's question is about advertising expensive products with long buying cycles that fall outside the seven or 28 day attribution window. Should you run traffic campaigns instead of purchase campaigns if most conversions won't be tracked anyway? Jon explains why you need to confirm this is actually happening, how multiple ads for different awareness levels can keep conversions within windows, and when to consider alternative approaches. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Advertisers claim Meta steals credit for conversions that were actually driven by email or Google, calling conversion reporting vanity metrics. But attribution is messy and trying to assign single-source credit misses the point entirely. Jon explains what different conversion types actually mean, why obsessing over credit is foolish, and how effective campaigns require multiple channels working together where shared credit matters more than exclusive credit.

Today's question is about the single most common point of confusion Jon wishes everyone understood about Meta ads. He can't pick just one, so he gives three. Jon explains why the algorithm being literal shapes everything, why targeting control is mostly unnecessary now, and where advertisers should actually focus when results aren't good. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Meta changed how click attribution works, and it's mostly for the better, but some advertisers might see a negative impact. Click-through conversions now require an actual link click, while social clicks and other engagement moved to a new engage-through attribution with a shorter window. Jon explains what changed, why some conversions will be lost, and which strategy gets hit hardest by the update.

Today's question is whether to launch a brand new campaign with creative testing or start testing later with new creatives. There's no absolute right answer, but Jon has a preferred approach with clear reasoning behind it. He explains why starting new ads with a test answers questions you'll have later, avoids the messy workaround of duplicating existing ads, and ensures you get meaningful data from the start. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Ads that were working fine suddenly tank, and advertisers assume Meta changed who they're showing ads to or messed up delivery. But there's usually a simpler explanation. Jon breaks down the five real causes of sudden performance drops, including randomness, competitive variables, website issues, and event delays, and why obsessing over daily results drives you crazy when seven-day averages are what matter.

Today's question is about using manual bidding like cost caps to control costs while scaling budget when campaigns perform well. By default, Meta tries to get the most results while spending your entire budget, which means a mix of auction costs. Jon explains why setting manual bid controls usually leads to inconsistent delivery and questionable quality, how it might restrict you to low-quality placements, and why outsmarting the algorithm rarely works. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Most advertisers obsess over targeting inputs that either do nothing or actively hurt results. Jon explains why he ignores audience suggestions, age restrictions, detailed targeting, and lookalikes entirely, how he uses value rules to handle demographic problems instead, and why the only inputs worth touching are locations and exclusions.

Today's question is about testing different customer personas using the creative testing tool. Advertisers used to create separate ad sets for each persona with adjusted targeting, but that's outdated now. Jon explains why all customer personas can exist in one ad set, how Meta finds the right audience for each ad combination through creative diversification, and when splitting by persona actually makes sense versus when it's unnecessary complexity. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Audience suggestions cause confusion because advertisers think they're tight constraints when they're not. Jon proposes how Meta could eliminate suggestions entirely while keeping audience controls like location and exclusions. The result would strip away the illusion of control, prevent mistakes based on false assumptions, and force advertisers to focus on what actually matters without pretending inputs do more than they do.

Today's question is about determining what works from top performing ads to inform the next batch of creative. Creative testing used to isolate single elements, but now ads generate thousands of combinations through text options, placements, and enhancements. Jon explains why finding one winning combination isn't the goal anymore, how to use the creative testing tool to identify themes instead of specific winners, and why success comes from many winning combinations in aggregate. Want your question to be answered on a future episode? Go to JonLoomer.com/Question and record your question today.

Advertisers believe something works and only pay attention to evidence supporting it while ignoring contradictions. They blame Andromeda or the algorithm when strategies stop working instead of questioning their assumptions. Jon explains why confirmation bias makes experienced advertisers the worst offenders, how to test beliefs instead of confirming them, and why staying curious and open to being wrong gets better results than clinging to outdated strategies.