How I Actually Approach Targeting in 2026
John Loomer outlines a radically hands‑off approach to Meta advertising in 2026, arguing that the era of granular audience controls is over. He dismisses Meta’s audience‑suggestion tool, age and gender filters, detailed targeting, and look‑alike audiences, insisting that the platform’s real‑time data now automates most of the work. The core of his strategy is simple: target only by country clusters, apply value‑rule adjustments when a demographic segment underperforms, and let Meta’s algorithm allocate budget to remarketing automatically. He notes that roughly 20‑25% of spend already goes to remarketing without explicit audience lists, and he only isolates custom audiences in rare, high‑value cases. Exclusions are used sparingly to avoid showing ads to recent purchasers. Loomer emphasizes that obsessing over targeting can actually hurt performance, quoting, “Your targeting strategy is not the key to your advertising success.” He backs his claims with breakdown data showing natural audience segmentation and promotes a free mini‑course and a paid community where advertisers can discuss these tactics. For marketers, the implication is clear: shift focus from micromanaging audience parameters to trusting Meta’s machine learning, while monitoring spend through simple location and exclusion settings. This reduces operational overhead, minimizes wasted impressions, and lets creative and budget decisions drive results.
Misinformation About Meta Andromeda and Creative Diversification
The video tackles widespread misconceptions about Meta’s Andromeda platform, explaining that it is fundamentally an ad‑retrieval engine—the first step in deciding which users see a given advertisement. Andromeda’s recent hardware and software upgrade was necessary to support today’s massive scale...
Do You Need Separate Ad Sets for Customer Personas?
The podcast tackles a common dilemma for Facebook advertisers: whether to create separate ad sets for each customer persona when using Meta’s creative testing tool. Host Matt asks John how to structure ads for distinct audience segments such as “soccer‑mom”...
Targeting Has Changed
The video warns advertisers that Meta’s targeting framework has fundamentally shifted, rendering legacy tactics from 2018‑2021 obsolete. Detailed targeting inputs are now treated as optional suggestions for eleven performance goals, while lookalike audiences influence only nine goals and cannot be disabled....
What to Do With Creative Testing Results
John Loomer advises marketers to shift creative testing from hunting single “winning” ads to generating diverse asset combinations that perform well in aggregate. Modern ad platforms create thousands of copy-and-creative permutations from multiple headlines, texts, placements, and AI enhancements, so...
You're Overthinking Meta Advertising
John Loomer argues that most advertisers overcomplicate Meta campaigns, wasting budget on unnecessary ad sets and manual targeting. He stresses that a streamlined structure—single campaign, focused audience, and clear conversion goal—often yields better performance than fragmented approaches. The video highlights three...
How to Exclude Customers From Your Ads
The video addresses a common problem for authors and e‑commerce sellers: preventing Facebook ads from targeting customers who have already bought a product, specifically an audiobook bundle. John recommends building multiple custom audiences to capture prior purchasers. First, create a website...
Audience Suggestions Are an Illusion of Control
In this podcast, Meta advertising expert John Loomer argues that Meta should scrap its audience‑suggestion feature, labeling it an illusion of control for advertisers. Loomer notes that Meta’s algorithmic targeting consistently overrides manual inputs such as age, gender, look‑alike and detailed...
What Andromeda Wants
The video denounces the industry buzzword “Andromeda wants,” arguing that treating the platform as a sentient entity distracts marketers from the real goal: selling to people. The speaker contends that advertisers obsess over meeting vague algorithmic expectations instead of asking...
Challenge Every Choice That Adds Complexity
John Loomer opens the podcast by warning advertisers that they often over‑engineer Meta campaigns, adding unnecessary layers that hurt performance. He advocates a stripped‑down structure—minimal campaigns, few ad sets, and limited custom settings—while acknowledging that occasional complexity may be justified...
Stop Obsessing Over Short-Term Results
Advertisers often make the mistake of judging ad performance based on short-term results, such as the first few days after launch or brief dips in performance. For purchase-focused campaigns, the speaker stresses that conversions can occur up to seven days...
How to Structure Seasonal Ad Campaigns
John Loomer advises seasonal-product advertisers to use a campaign-level budget optimization (CBO) structure with distinct ad sets: one evergreen ad set running year-round and separate seasonal ad sets for holidays. Seasonal ad sets should launch with 2–5 creatives via Meta’s...
You Can Control Lead Quality From Meta Ads
The video explains that lead quality from Meta ads is not determined solely by the platform’s targeting, but largely by the advertiser’s post‑click processes. Loomer points out that Meta’s algorithm will chase the lowest‑cost leads, often ignoring purchase intent. He identifies...
Remarketing Doesn't Make Sense Anymore
The video argues that remarketing as a standalone tactic no longer makes sense for most advertisers because platforms like Meta already prioritize and allocate budget between remarketing and prospecting to maximize outcomes. Many advertisers cling to remarketing due to seemingly...
Stack Creative Diversity in Phases
The podcast introduces “stacking creative diversity” – a phased approach to Meta’s Andromeda‑driven creative diversification. Loomer argues that small‑budget advertisers should resist the temptation to flood the platform with dozens of variants and instead begin with one cohesive theme, testing...
Why Can't You Submit Multiple Creative Versions By Placement?
The video highlights a persistent limitation on Meta’s advertising platform: marketers cannot upload a single campaign that automatically serves different creative formats—images or videos—based on placement. Currently, advertisers must create separate ads for each placement or settle for a one‑size‑fits‑all asset....
When to Use Multiple Campaigns or Ad Sets
The podcast tackles a common dilemma for Meta advertisers: when, if ever, should you run multiple campaigns or ad sets versus a streamlined single‑campaign structure. Host John Loomer explains that most marketers benefit from a simplified approach, keeping one campaign...
How to Use Value Rules to Solve Problems
Meta introduced value rules in 2025, allowing advertisers to adjust bids based on demographic, placement, and device criteria rather than relying solely on the algorithm. Loomer argues that this tool counters Meta’s trend of reducing advertiser control and offers a...
Meta Needs a Detailed Log of Attributed Conversions
The video calls for Meta to overhaul its conversion reporting by offering a dedicated log that captures every attributed conversion tied to an advertiser’s campaigns. The speaker argues that the current Ads Manager dashboard provides only high‑level aggregates, leaving marketers...