“In the not-too-distant future, we want any business to just tell us what objective they’re trying to achieve, how much they’re willing to pay, connect their bank account, and then we just do the rest,” Zuckerberg said during the company’s annual shareholder meeting in June.
Some of that vision is already rolling out through Meta’s AI tools where advertisers simply input campaign objectives and AI does the rest. This includes its media-buying platform, Advantage+, and its Creator Discovery and Recommendations. These tools surface organic content that could perform well as paid ads.
In November, Meta updated its algorithm to favor “signal-rich” advertisers, which are advertisers that provide robust first-party data through the Conversions API, according to a second agency buyer. Advertisers relying solely on a basic pixel reportedly saw weaker results. By January, Meta began pushing multiple custom conversion metrics, making agencies’ data-gathering role even more critical. Two ad buyers told ADWEEK that they are concerned that agencies remain critical to Meta’s data-gathering strategy.
According to Meta, agencies and brands can follow a range of best practices to improve ad performance, and a first-party data strategy is one part of that.
Meta has also been hiring for agency-related roles. For example, a recent role for a global agency development lead is tasked with strengthening agency relationships. And an open role for a client solutions manager is focused on educating agencies on Meta products and growing partnerships.
