If I Could Go Back In Time & Unlearn 2 Things About Meta Ads, Here's What It Would Be

After a decade of launching ads, using all the finest "new tools" on Canva to create top-notch ads, and testing thousands of different ad budgets... I have a couple things stored in my memory bank that I wish I could delete. These are my "rules" for campaign building and I'm stuck with them (subconsciously) even when my good faith tells me otherwise.

Hands typing on a laptop beside notebooks on a white desk, with overlaid quote: Don’t Make The Same Mistakes I Did. There Is No Perfect Way.

So let me start off by saying that "decade" I mentioned earlier was actual, literal hands on campaign builds, optimizing, testing, etc. etc. for clients and myself.

For those curious, I have run ads on my own behalf, successful ones that got people like you (whoever is reading this) to say "hmm, I wonder."

All of that time and experience taught me a lot but it also restricted my view. After years of "my way works best," and having implemented so many proven audiences time and time again, I truly believed my system was unstoppable.

Lesson 1: "Less Is More"

This system showed me that if I kept my ad copy short, and to the point, I'd always win. Until that wasn't the case... Viewers became more informed, and more educated about jumping the gun on purchases. Sure, some people will just go ahead and buy, but those are few and far in between. Your long-term customer is going to research, understand and make an informed decision.

1. Primary Text: It can be short OR long and still perform. What actually matters is the value of the message itself and the feelings it insights within the user viewing.

2. Headlines: The CTA is already doing the hard work of "pitching the sale" so your headline doesn't need to be another ask. Summarize the meaning of your ad here, so whoever doesn't want to read long form content, can still get the point about next steps.

3. Ads: Simple and to the point. Don't exaggerate the message, people understand within 5 seconds. Show them value, show them why you, and show them how fast they can get it. And if you're going to use A.I. at least don't use the same exact template everyone else is using.

Lesson 2: "Always Duplicate A Campaign / Ad Set Instead of Making Edits To The Existing One"

Man oh man, this one is soooo engrained in me, that even as I type this blog, I can feel the 'weight' of pressure inside me. My mentor who helped me get started in marketing drilled this into my head every single day. "Never edit a pre-existing campaign, always duplicate and keep the data separate. This way if you ever need to go back to the previous campaign and turn it on, you can."

This is great concept in theory. And for years, I refused to update live campaigns. I wanted to always be able to go back, compare, and sometimes even flip the on switch.

What I didn't realize is:

1. The actual percentage of times I would turn that switch back on was extremely low. Typically if I am making edits to a running campaign, there is something wrong within the campaign. If I really needed to compare the data, well thats what the "compare" feature is for.

2. If a running campaign has a lot of data and is "performing" despite whatever error, making an edit won't necessarily kill the campaign (unless you're making significant edits like updating location targeting or implementing custom audiences).

3. Duplicating means restarting. It's rare that I can even compare the previous campaign data properly because all of the conditions have changed. Example: I might have launched the original campaign on a Friday at 3pm but this duplicate is going live on a Monday at 9am. Thats two different dates and time of entry into Meta's auctions. If my new campaign "performs" better, it could be because the auction changed, or my competition turned their ads off.

4. Now having unlearned this, I can say that campaigns that I edited that were active, did not perform better or worse than my duplicates. Believe me when I say I've tested this across hundreds of different ad accounts.

One additional little lesson to take away from this is, these platforms are constantly changing. What worked in 2021 doesn't work in 2026. Ads manager doesn't even look the same...

What Meta rules are you currently stuck in? How/when did you break them? Drop a comment below!