Time & Money: AI
How AI Can Help Small Businesses on Meta
It's 4:30 on a sunny Thursday afternoon and you are looking forward to closing your laptop, pouring a glass of Rosé, and sipping it in the last rays of sunshine on the porch. You are nearly there but you hear that oh so familiar *bing* of a new email in your inbox, ugh. Since you are such a good employee, you open the message and see it’s a new folder of assets for a campaign that needs to be trafficked and launched before the weekend. Doesn’t sound like too big of a task, but the issue is the assets provided are 1:1s, no 9:16s. You need both sizes to run across Meta properly. Normally you would have three options:
· Run the ad as a square, only in feed.
· Run the ad in all placements but have it load wonky with color-blocked banners above and below.
· Go ask the creative team to resize it all, which could take more time and delay the launch.
None of these are ideal.
This is where AI and the tools available are improving (although not quite there all the way) in platforms like Meta. For example, they have a new AI solution in the works, and it’s called “Expand Image”. This solution shows more promise than other “enhancement” options that usually lead to bizarre text overlays, mismatched copy, or added music that doesn’t fit with the creative. When the “Expand Image” tool is fully flushed out it will dynamically expand your 1:1 asset and create a cohesive 9:16 version so you can run in feed and stories seamlessly. This could be an awesome time-saving tool for any brand running on Meta. Imagine only having to create one ad and Meta could do all the heavy lifting of generating perfect versions with the correct dimensions for all the placements. This is a tangible benefit to AI tools being built that can save time and money.
Beware of the Pitfalls
We talk about the need for a “human fingerprint” when using AI because while platforms like Meta are automatically adding them to your campaigns, you need to make sure a human reviews it. Right now, the tools Meta is pushing are moving in the right direction, but it can still be wonky from time to time. If you just auto-adopt them, you will notice some ads will look a little off just don’t feel right or you will regret just letting Meta do what it wants.
We encourage everyone to test the new opportunities to enhance your ads and automate the process but also review the options the system selects to make sure it matches the brand aesthetic.
We have a screenshot with examples of add-ons Meta has right now, many of which are auto-selected when you create the ad. We see value in the options, but it’s important to review and make sure they are what you want.
Summary
AI tools are quickly moving into the most popular ad platforms in the world. While not all hit the mark, we see that some are very close to saving time and money for brands. Platforms saving brands time on the creative development front is a large opportunity and we think Meta is close to getting that right. That said, we recommend being diligent in managing the options as sometimes it doesn’t get it right. AI tools are not slowing down, and they are getting better and better. While it’s natural to push back on them because you lose some control, it’s also a potential time and money saver.