Social Media Examiner
Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle
Do you feel like your Facebook ads are suddenly wasting money, but you can’t pinpoint why? Are you looking for a way to adapt your strategy to Meta’s latest AI-driven algorithm changes without guessing what works?
In this article, you’ll discover how to navigate the new Andromeda algorithm and use a specific creative strategy to lower your costs.
In late 2024, Meta introduced a completely new algorithm dubbed Andromeda, effectively replacing the old targeting systems advertisers relied on for years. Previously, advertisers controlled the experience by manually selecting audiences based on interests or behaviors. Andromeda flips this dynamic; now, Meta controls the targeting, using your ad creative to determine who should see your content.
Think of this shift like the evolution of Netflix recommendations. Originally, Netflix might have categorized viewers broadly—if you liked cooking shows, you saw a generic list of cooking shows. Today, the recommendation engine is far more sophisticated. It notices you watched a specific movie and creates a customized feed based on your unique viewing patterns.
Andromeda works similarly for ads. It uses deep learning and sequence learning to match your creative to a user’s intent and position in the buyer’s journey. For example, if the algorithm detects a user has just booked a ski resort reservation, it will intelligently serve ads for ski equipment, lift tickets, and winter clothing, anticipating their next needs rather than just reacting to a static interest category.
This algorithm is learning at an exponential rate. During beta testing in Q2, the Andromeda update delivered a 5% increase in ad conversions on Instagram. By Q3, that efficiency improvement had doubled. This rapid evolution means sticking to old methods will leave you behind faster than ever before.
These tips will help you adapt more quickly, so your campaigns don’t lose momentum.
Because Andromeda’s machine learning is now so advanced, broad targeting often outperforms manual interest-based targeting.
To execute this correctly, you must be radically broad. Tara Zirker recommends targeting the entire country with no age selection, no gender selection, and no interests. This gives the AI the maximum amount of data to find your ideal customer.
However, there are exceptions. If your business is strictly tied to a geography, such as a local brick-and-mortar shop, you must still use manual targeting to restrict delivery to your specific area. Otherwise, a spa in Milwaukee might start receiving calls from potential clients in New York or Los Angeles. Similarly, highly specific niche products or regulated industries may still benefit from providing manual signals to guide the algorithm.
The predictive power of Andromeda allows for a much simpler ad account structure. Tara notes that many advertisers have stopped running separate retargeting campaigns altogether.
Instead of creating complex funnels with different campaigns for cold and warm audiences, you can often pull everything into one main campaign. The algorithm is smart enough to know which users need to be retargeted and which are seeing you for the first time, serving the appropriate ad automatically.
How to Budget for the Transition
You do not need to switch your entire ad account over to this new system overnight. Start by allocating 10% to 20% of your budget to these new Advantage+ or Andromeda-style campaigns.
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If you are a smaller advertiser, you might see results in as little as $300 to $600 of spend.
However, larger accounts may need to spend significantly more—sometimes thousands of dollars—before the algorithm collects enough data to outperform your manual campaigns.
Pro Tip: Do not turn off a campaign prematurely; give it more time than you normally would to allow the machine learning to kick in.
If you feel like you’re wasting money on ads right now, the problem is likely your creative, not your settings. In the Andromeda era, creative acts as the primary signal for targeting. To succeed, you need a diverse library of assets that speak to different angles and stages of the customer journey.
In the past, a common strategy was to take a single winning image and test it with dozens of different headlines or hooks. Under the new algorithm, this tactic can actually hurt your performance.
Meta’s visual recognition models may view an image with slightly different text overlays as essentially the same image. If the system perceives a lack of diversity, it may punish your account with higher CPMs (costs per thousand impressions). To the algorithm—and the human eye—seeing the same visual repeatedly feels “old,” leading to fatigue.
To satisfy the algorithm, you must vary your formats, angles, and lengths.
As you build your library, pay attention to these current trends:
You must also refresh your creative frequently to avoid fatigue. If you are a smaller account spending a few thousand dollars a month, you should refresh your creative monthly. If you manage a large budget, you should be refreshing creative weekly.
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To leverage the algorithm’s ability to optimize, use a specific setup strategy. This method combines your top-performing assets into a single ad unit, allowing Meta to find the best combination for each user.
How to Set It Up
By feeding the system a mix of your best assets, you give Andromeda the ingredients it needs to serve the perfect ad to the right person at the right time.
To understand the power of this protocol, consider the recent example of Karina Gardner, who runs a design bootcamp.
Following the algorithm update, her costs had spiked to $86 per conversion. She implemented the protocol above by adding just eight new creatives—specifically one carousel and three images, plus the AI iterations. Within 24 hours, her cost per result dropped to $13.87. She achieved this simply by diversifying her library and letting the algorithm do the work.
Resist the urge to control where your ads appear. Restricting your ads to “Instagram Reels only” or “Facebook Feed only” is an outdated tactic that limits the algorithm’s efficiency.
When you upload your creative using the flexible or dynamic setups, Meta automatically adjusts the sizing and placement. It knows which users are likely to convert on Stories versus the Feed. By selecting “All Placements” (or allowing the default Advantage+ placements), you enable the system to find the most cost-effective conversions.
Note that for most advertisers, 60% to 80% of impressions will naturally serve on Instagram anyway, so there is no benefit to forcing it manually.
Meta is rolling out new metrics to help you identify when your creative library needs an update. Keep an eye on your dashboard for:
Because these metrics are new, avoid over-optimizing for a specific score right now. Instead, rely on the monthly (for small accounts) or weekly (for large accounts) refresh schedule to keep your metrics healthy.
Looking ahead, Meta is moving toward a Generative Ad Model (GEM). This is an advanced AI update that will eventually allow advertisers to simply provide a product URL, budget, and basic prompt, and the AI will generate the entire ad campaign from scratch—images, copy, headlines, and animations.
As this technology evolves, the marketer’s competitive advantage will shift away from tweaking ad manager settings and toward optimizing the post-click experience. Your offer, your customer journey, and your landing page strategy will become the primary drivers of success.
To prepare, focus on honing your marketing fundamentals: understanding your customer avatar, crafting irresistible offers, and building a seamless sales process.
Tara Zirker is the founder of Successful Ads Club and the Successful Ads Accelerator, a done-with-you program that helps marketers launch and scale their ads rapidly. She’s also the co-founder of The Studio Grow Agency. Follow her on Instagram.
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