Marketing: 3 Facebook moves that actually work

Facebook will still pay you back if you’re strict about who you target, what you test, and how you read the numbers, even while organic reach yo-yos all over the place. This guide walks through down-to-earth ways to stop wasting budget, using what we actually know from current platform data and how the audience behaves right now.

Audience reality that shapes Facebook Marketing

Before you start throwing tactics around, it’s worth stepping back to how people actually use Facebook, because that behaviour quietly decides how far your budget really goes. According to Pew Research, around half of U.S. adults are on Facebook every day, which means if you don’t keep a grip on how often people see your ads and how fresh they look, your results will slide fast (Pew Research Center report).

And it’s hardly a small pond you’re fishing in: Meta says 3.43 billion people are using its apps every day as of March 2025 (Meta investor relations). With that foundation, the next step is turning reach into accountable outcomes.

Practical ways to stop wasting ad spend

Once you know who you’re going after and how big that pool is, your results are mostly driven by how sharp your ads are, how tidy the account is, and whether you give the system enough time to learn. Use this sequence to keep campaigns stable while you test.

1. Pick one thing you actually want from the campaign—sale, lead, booked call—and stick to it, otherwise the system ends up chasing ten different outcomes and gets good at none of them..
2. Build a clean funnel: Run prospecting and retargeting separately to control frequency and reporting.
3. Use Advantage+ where it fits: Meta case studies show meaningful lifts; On reported a 41% increase in ROAS in an A/B test using Advantage+ catalog ads (Meta success story).
4. Be strict with tracking. Tag links with UTMs, read what Meta’s own numbers are saying, and whenever you can, stack that against a simple holdout or A/B test instead of guessing..

Try this: Write three ad angles (problem, proof, offer) and rotate them weekly while holding targeting constant, so results point to creative, not noise.

Questions everyone keeps asking

Q: How much budget do I actually need to learn anything useful?

A: Aim for enough volume to generate consistent conversion data each week, otherwise delivery stays unstable. If volume is low, optimize to a higher-funnel event (like add-to-cart) temporarily.

Q: Should retargeting include recent buyers?

A: Usually no, because it wastes spend and inflates results. Exclude purchasers for a set window, then run a separate upsell campaign if you have a clear next product.

Q: What’s the fastest way to improve creative?

A: Use one strong hook in the first two seconds (video) or first line (static), then show proof quickly. Refresh variations rather than reinventing the whole concept.

Wrapping it up

Good Facebook Marketing isn’t about the latest trick from some thread on X; it’s about a simple system you can run every month—clear targets, a tidy account, steady creative testing, and honest tracking. When all of that lines up, growing spend starts to feel like turning up a dial, not wrestling a slot machine.

The only edge that actually lasts is boring, consistent work: small, tidy tests, run over and over, that quietly stack into steady growth instead of wild swings.