How to run Facebook Ads in 2025

Okay, so you want to know the right way to do Facebook ad campaigns in 2025? This is a cracking question, and frankly, it's constantly evolving, but there are some absolute game-changers and core principles you have to get right. Let's dive in.

First off, Meta is pushing us hard into the future, and that means you must embrace Advantage Plus. A lot of advertisers are still clinging to the old, more manual ways, but based on all our testing and Meta's own data, Advantage Plus products are, in most cases, going to deliver better performance.
• Advantage Plus sales campaigns (formerly Advantage Plus shopping campaigns) are often the default and the best way to go, especially if your ad account has plenty of conversion data. Meta's AI is ridiculously sophisticated at finding the best prospects for you.
• If you're just starting out or have a relatively new ad account without much conversion data, then that hybrid option – a manual sales or leads campaign using Advantage Plus audience targeting – is a no-brainer. It gives Meta's AI some direction, some suggestions, without locking it down completely.
Now, the structure of campaigns is also changing, merging these options into one Advantage Plus sales campaign framework where you can still pick and choose how much control you want at the ad set level. It's all about giving Meta what it needs to optimize, but with the flexibility for us advertisers to nudge it in the right direction.
Next up, and this is absolutely critical: choose the right campaign objective and performance goal. I see so many advertisers mess this up, and it's like training a marathon runner to swim – it just doesn't make sense.
• For most businesses, especially beginners, you should be focused on Sales or Leads. These are the objectives that matter for your bottom line. Meta is highly incentivized to get you sales and leads, so they'll optimize for them.
• Do NOT use Awareness, Traffic, or Engagement objectives if your goal is actual sales or leads. Meta will get you lots of clicks or views, but those often won't translate into paying customers.
• The performance goal is the single most important setting because it tells Meta exactly what to optimize for. For sales, it's typically "maximize number of conversions" or "maximize conversion value". For leads, it's "maximize number of leads" or "maximize number of conversion leads" if you have your CRM integrated for quality tracking. Get this right, and you're golden. Get it wrong, and you're just throwing money away.
Right, let's talk about ad creative and your offer, because honestly, this is where you win or lose. Targeting is important, but it's not the most important thing anymore; Meta's AI handles a lot of that.
• The offer is the single most important part of your Facebook ad. Seriously, a fantastic offer can make a poor ad convert. Think about how you can make your deal simply better than the competition.
• Then, it's all about the ad creative. This is what stops the scroll and gets people interested.
    ◦ Volume is key with creative. You need to be relentlessly creating and testing new ads. Why? Ad fatigue is a killer. Studies show conversions can drop by 45% after just four exposures!
    ◦ Video ads are currently the top performer, accounting for about 60% of best results, but don't neglect image ads and carousels – they still crush it about 40% of the time depending on your offer.
    ◦ For video ads, the hook is everything. That first 3 seconds sells the rest of the ad. Experiment with different visual hooks (backgrounds, movement, bright colors) and verbal hooks (questions, conditional statements, outstanding results).
    ◦ Use creators and influencers in your ad creative. This is massively underrated! They are natural scroll-stoppers because people recognize and trust them. Meta even has a free Creator Marketplace to help you find them.
    ◦ Proof-based creative works wonders. Show testimonials, screenshots of results, and client reactions. It builds trust and can more than double your ROAS.
    ◦ "Reels first" ads are crucial – make your ads look like organic content, especially vertical video. This can lead to a 13% better ROAS and 16% lower CPA.
    ◦ To squeeze more life out of winning ads and combat fatigue, subtly change elements like the background, the person in the ad, reorder video segments, or apply visual filters. This extends their lifespan for months, even years.
Now, for the slightly more nerdy but equally vital part: data quality and tracking. Without accurate data, Meta can't optimize, and you can't make informed decisions.
• Hyros is the best tracking and attribution software out there. Meta's native tracking capabilities have been hampered by privacy regulations, meaning you might only see a fraction of your actual revenue in Ads Manager. Hyros fills that gap, showing you the full picture.
• Ensure your Conversions API (CAPI) is set up properly. It's essential for feeding accurate conversion data back to Meta, especially for offline conversions.
Don't overcomplicate things! Especially with a small budget, focus on one core offer and keep your campaign structure simple. If your account is a tangled mess, sometimes the best thing to do is just turn everything off and start fresh with a single campaign, ad set, and your best ad.
And this is a big one: you HAVE to stay up-to-date and adapt. Meta is constantly rolling out new features and changes. Using outdated strategies is a recipe for disaster.
• Keep an eye out for AI-enabled ad interaction, which will soon allow users to ask questions directly within your ads and receive intelligent, personalized responses, even offering custom discounts. This is going to be a massive conversion booster.
• Value Rules are another game-changer. They allow you to tell Meta to prioritize certain demographics that are more valuable to your business, even if they cost a bit more to acquire.
• Meta is also implementing a new feature to combine social proof (likes, comments, reactions) across similar ads. This is a quick win to boost credibility, especially for cold audiences.
• New frequency controls are coming, allowing you to target an average frequency rather than just a cap, which gives Meta more flexibility to show ads to engaged users more often.
• And yes, Threads now has ads! They're integrating with existing Meta campaigns, so your ads will likely show there by default soon.
Finally, always be testing and analyzing. Use the Meta Ads Library to "model" from competitors' long-running, successful ads. Plan your tests with a hypothesis, and always be willing to adjust based on the data.
For scaling, automated rules are fantastic. You can set them up to increase your budget by small increments (e.g., 3% daily) when results are good, and even decrease it if performance drops. This lets you scale on autopilot without wrecking your ROAS.
So, there you have it. The right way to run Facebook ads in 2025 is to be relentless. Focus on your offer and creative, leverage Meta's AI with a smart strategy, ensure your data is accurate, and always stay ahead of the curve. It's hard work, but the rewards are completely business-changing, probably even life-changing!