Service
Meta Ads
Facebook and Instagram that pay their way
I plan and run Meta Ads across Facebook and Instagram, from the first cold impression through to the sale. The aim is simple: reach the right people, show them work worth stopping for, and prove what it earned.
What Meta Ads are good for
Meta is where people scroll when they aren't actively searching. That makes it the best place to create demand rather than just capture it. You can put a product or offer in front of people who have never heard of you, warm them up, and bring back the ones who nearly bought.
It suits ecommerce, lead generation and local businesses alike. The platform is the same underneath; what changes is the objective, the creative and the way we measure success. I set the account up around what you actually sell, not a generic template.
- Building awareness and demand for a new product, service or location
- Retargeting people who visited, added to cart or engaged but didn't convert
- Generating leads with forms that fill straight into your CRM
- Driving online sales with catalogue and collection ads
Full funnel, not just retargeting
A lot of Meta accounts only ever show ads to people who already know the brand. That flatters the numbers for a while, then quietly stalls because the pool of warm people stops growing.
I run the whole funnel. Prospecting finds new people and feeds the top. Retargeting brings back the ones who showed intent. A smaller retention layer keeps existing customers buying again. Each stage gets its own objective, creative and budget, so nothing is judged by the wrong measure.
Creative is the real lever
On Meta, targeting matters less than it used to and creative matters more. The algorithm is good at finding the right people once you give it something worth serving. Weak creative is where most budgets leak.
So I test properly. New angles, hooks, formats and offers go head to head, we keep what works and retire what tires. Video, static, carousel and user-style content all earn their place by results, not by opinion. Fresh creative goes in on a regular cadence so performance doesn't fade as an ad fatigues.
- Structured testing of hooks, angles and formats
- A steady pipeline of new creative to fight fatigue
- Clear reporting on which ideas actually moved the needle
Audiences and Meta's automation
Meta's AI has changed how audiences work. Broad targeting with strong creative and clean data now often beats tightly stacked interests. I use interest and custom audiences where they earn their keep, and lean on Advantage+ and broad delivery where the machine does a better job than manual rules.
Custom and lookalike audiences built from your own customer and website data give the system the best signal to work from. The job is to feed Meta's automation well, then hold it accountable, rather than either fighting it or trusting it blindly.
Tracking you can trust
None of this means anything if the numbers are wrong. Browser-only tracking has been leaking data for years thanks to privacy changes and ad blockers, which makes Meta look worse than it is and starves the algorithm of signal.
I set up the Meta Pixel alongside the Conversions API, so conversions are sent server-side as well as from the browser. That gives cleaner attribution, better optimisation, and reporting you can actually make decisions on. Budgets then follow the results, moving toward what's working and away from what isn't.
By the numbers
Illustrative examples to show the shape of the work. Not client data.
From reach to customer
How a budget tends to split
The detail
| Area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Account setup | Campaign structure, objectives and settings built around what you sell |
| Creative | Testing plan, format mix and a regular cadence of fresh ads |
| Audiences | Broad, interest, custom and lookalike, plus exclusions to avoid overlap |
| Tracking | Meta Pixel and Conversions API, event setup and verification |
| Optimisation | Ongoing budget shifts, testing and pruning based on results |
| Reporting | Plain-English results by funnel stage, tied to real business outcomes |
| Stage | Goal | Typical objective | How it's judged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prospecting | Reach new people | Awareness, engagement or sales (broad) | Reach, cost per result, new audiences entering |
| Retargeting | Convert warm intent | Sales or leads | CPA, ROAS, conversion rate |
| Retention | Keep customers buying | Sales to existing customers | Repeat rate, revenue from known buyers |
Common questions
What's the difference between Facebook and Instagram ads?
They run through the same system, so I plan them together. Instagram tends to suit visual, mobile-first content and younger audiences, while Facebook reaches a broader age range. Rather than pick one, I usually let Meta show your ads wherever they perform best across both, then adjust based on where results actually come from.
How much should I spend to get started?
Enough for the system to learn and for testing to mean something. Very small budgets spread across too many campaigns rarely gather enough data to optimise. I'll give you an honest view of what your goals need before you commit, rather than quoting a number that sounds good and underdelivers.
Should I be using Advantage+ or setting audiences manually?
Often both. Advantage+ and broad targeting work well when the creative is strong and tracking is clean, and they're doing more of the heavy lifting each year. Manual interest and custom audiences still earn their place in the right spots. I test rather than assume, and use whichever delivers.
Why does tracking come up so much?
Because privacy changes and ad blockers mean browser-only tracking misses a lot of conversions. That undercounts results and starves Meta's algorithm of the signal it needs. Setting up the Conversions API alongside the Pixel sends data server-side too, which fixes both problems.
How often do you change the creative?
On a regular cadence, because ads fatigue. As people see the same ad repeatedly, response drops and costs climb. I keep a pipeline of new angles and formats going in so performance holds up, and retire ads once they've had their run.
How will I know it's working?
You'll get plain-English reporting tied to what matters for your business, ROAS for ecommerce, cost per lead and volume for lead generation, judged by funnel stage so upper-funnel work isn't marked down for not being a last click. Every number traces back to a real source.
Talk it through
Want Facebook and Instagram ads that actually earn their budget? Let's talk about your Meta account.
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