If you’ve been advertising on Facebook or Instagram for a while, there’s a good chance this thought has crossed your mind lately: “Why doesn’t this work like it used to?”
You’re not alone.
The truth is, Meta advertising has gone through some significant changes over the years. What once felt like a reliable, high-performing channel now demands more effort, strategy, and patience. If you’re still running campaigns the same way you did a couple of years ago, it’s no surprise you’re hitting some roadblocks.
In this post, I’ll walk through how Meta’s ad landscape has shifted, why it’s become tougher to see the same results, and what advertisers are doing to adapt and stay ahead.
A Look Back: The Golden Age of Facebook & Instagram Advertising
From 2015 to 2020, advertising on Facebook and Instagram was widely considered one of the most efficient and scalable digital marketing channels. Advertisers and businesses of all sizes had access to detailed targeting options based on behavior, interests, demographics, and offline activity. Custom and Lookalike audiences were highly effective, allowing brands to reach both warm and cold audiences with precision. Meta’s Pixel provided reliable tracking across the customer journey, making it easy to attribute results and optimize campaigns based on real-time performance.
Costs were also significantly lower during this time. CPMs were more affordable, and competition within the auction was much lighter – the most simplistic creatives could drive strong returns. Advertisers could achieve strong ROAS without super complex strategies or large creative budgets.
The combination of precise targeting, strong attribution, and low costs made Facebook & Instagram a dominant channel for brands across nearly every industry. As the platform matured and external focus disrupted the ecosystem, those advantages began to fade.
The Big Shifts That Changed the Game
Over the past several years, a series of major changes have fundamentally altered the way Meta advertising works. These aren’t just minor updates; they have reshaped digital advertising rules, leaving advertisers and brands scrambling to adapt. So, what has changed? Let’s review the last five years up close.
- iOS 14.5, Attribution, and Modeled Conversions – The Collapse of Tracking
In April 2021, a year that still makes me shudder internally, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework allowed users to opt out of cross-app tracking, and most did. In recent studies, the percentage of iPhone users who opted out of sharing their information is between 62% and 80%.
Just like that, Meta lost access to a massive share of the behavioral data that once made its advertising so precise. Every pixel event, every lookalike seed audience, and every conversion path was now filled with blind spots. Retargeting became a guessing game, attribution was practically nonexistent, and campaigns that once performed like clockwork suddenly stalled.
For digital advertisers, this change wasn’t just a technical setback—it was a foundational shift.
Meta built its advertising empire on the ability to track user behavior across the web. When the ability vanished, so did the precision and predictability advertisers had come to rely on.
The following months after the iOS 14 update were filled with uncertainty, and to make it even better, the platform lost the ability to track longer attribution windows. Gone are the days of 28-day click and 7-day view. Meta defaulted all campaigns to a 7-day click and 1-day view attribution model. This change significantly cut the visibility advertisers once had into longer consideration cycles, especially impacting high-ticket, subscription-based, and B2B products—practically anything that doesn’t convert instantly.
In response to these changes, Meta rolled out modeled conversions, Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM), and algorithmic band-aids–but none of it felt the same. The ripple effects were immediate and long-lasting. This update marked the beginning of a new era. One where visibility was limited, targeting was diluted, and advertisers had to rethink everything they knew to win on Meta.
- Targeting Limitations and Audience Declines
One of Meta’s biggest strengths used to be its precise audience targeting—advertisers could reach users based on hyper-specific interests, behaviors, job titles, and even life events. But starting in 2022, Meta began phasing out thousands of these options, especially those tied to sensitive topics like health, politics, religion, causes, and identity. Many other beneficial but unrelated interests disappeared quietly, making it harder for brands to focus on their ideal customers.
At the same time, Custom and Lookalike Audiences started losing their edge. With less reliable data coming in, audiences got smaller and less accurate. Lookalikes that once scaled efficiently became inconsistent, especially for brands relying on small seed lists. What was once dialed-in accuracy started feeling more like a guessing game.
In response, Meta shifted toward broad targeting and machine learning to find the “right” people for you. While that works for some, especially with strong creative and large budgets, it takes control out of the advertisers’ hands. Brands with niche offerings or specific customer personas now face a more formidable challenge: reaching the right people without the precision tools they once relied on.
- Rising Ad Costs
If you have felt like your Meta budget isn’t going as far as it used to, you are not imagining it. Costs on Facebook and Instagram have climbed steadily in recent years, and for many advertisers, the impact is becoming impossible to ignore. What was once a cost-effective channel has evolved into a premium playground, and competition shows no sign of slowing down.
Over the past year, Meta’s advertising costs have seen a noticeable increase, with multiple industry sources reporting a rise in average ad prices. In particular, recent data points to a year-over-year cost increase, with some quarters seeing double-digit percentage increases. These shifts are primarily attributed to Meta’s evolving ad technology, including more sophisticated AI-driven placements and higher competition across the platform.
These aren’t just seasonal price spikes anymore—they signal that the auction is getting increasingly crowded, and businesses are paying a premium to get in front of the same eyeballs.
As Meta continues refining its algorithm and favoring specific placements (like Reels or Advantage+), advertisers are fighting harder for visibility in an already oversaturated feed. To stay competitive, brands need to be sharper than ever with creativity, smarter with spending, and more flexible with how and when they show up.
- AI: Full Steam Ahead
Over the last two years, Meta has aggressively shifted their focus towards automation and using its AI-powered tools as the future of performance marketing. On the surface, this may sound like a win—less manual work and more optimized delivery. In some cases, this is true. But for many advertisers, the rise of AI has also meant giving up control, visibility, and the ability to test with the same rigor they once could.
Tools like Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, Advantage+ Creative, and automatic placements now handle everything from budgeting to audience selection to ad variation. The goal is to let Meta’s machine learning find the best person, time, and format for your ads. This can work well, particularly for large-scale e-commerce brands with big budgets and broad appeal.
But here’s the challenge: automation flattens nuance. You don’t get to see what audience actually converted. You can’t always isolate what creative really made the difference. And you can’t exclude certain groups with the same precision you once could. The algorithm may optimize for results, but it doesn’t always align with your goals, especially if you have a niche market, are launching a new brand, or are trying to build long-term customer relationships rather than quick sales.
There is also the reality that automation thrives on data. If your account doesn’t have significant volume or past conversion signals, training the system can take time and budget. That makes it harder for smaller advertisers or emerging brands to compete, especially in a landscape where costs are already high and reporting is murky.
So yes, Meta’s AI has changed the game, but not always in the ways marketers had hoped. Success on the platform now requires a balance—embracing automation where it helps, but still being hands-on with creative strategy, audience insights, and campaign testing. The brands that thrive are the ones that don’t just let the algorithm drive alone; they guide it with clear direction and strong inputs.
- Content Overload: Shifts in User Behavior and Platform Competition
One of the most significant yet most overlooked shifts in Meta advertising is not just algorithm changes or privacy regulations. It is the users themselves. The way people engage with Facebook and Instagram has evolved dramatically in recent years, and the platform has been trying to keep up ever since.
The rise of TikTok introduced a new kind of content consumption. Short, full-screen videos that grab attention instantly or get skipped without hesitation. Users scroll faster, interact less consistently, and expect more from the content they see. This behavior has reshaped how ads need to perform in Meta’s environment. Static images and polished graphics do not have the same effect on the platform unless they deliver value immediately and feel native to the platform.
Younger audiences, especially Gen Z, spend more time on TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube Shorts. What used to be a daily routine on Facebook or Instagram has become more fragmented, with attention split across multiple apps. Meta has responded by investing heavily in Reels, pushing it into both organic and paid spaces. But advertisers can no longer rely on traditional ad formats. Content now needs to feel real, relevant, and in rhythm with how people use these platforms.
And that’s the challenge: the platform hasn’t just changed – its users have too.
The Reality of Today’s Results
Let’s be clear: Meta still works. However, how success shows up today differs vastly from what advertisers were used to just a few years ago. The days of “set it and forget it” are over. Running ads without active management, fresh creative, and consistent testing will almost always lead to wasted spend.
Attribution windows are shorter, and return on ad spend (ROAS) is more challenging to measure confidently. Especially for brands with longer sales cycles, Meta’s reporting tools often miss the whole picture. View-through conversions, modeled data, and privacy restrictions all contribute to a less reliable read on performance. You may still be driving impact, but it is not always easy to see on paper.
Creative now plays a starring role in campaign success. With limited targeting options and algorithm-driven delivery, your content needs to do the heavy lifting. This means storytelling, visuals, and user experience matter more than ever.
So What Now?
Winning on Meta today means shifting your mindset.
Start with a creative-first strategy. Develop content that connects, not just sells. Invest in UGC, short-form video, and native-style messaging that mirrors how people actually use the platform.
Focus on first-party data. Build your email and SMS lists. Create Custom Audiences from actual customers and leads. With third-party data fading, your owned audiences are your most valuable asset.
Diversify your channels and move beyond last-click attribution. Your customers do not live in one place and rarely convert after just one touch. Explore other platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, or Google, and track performance with a broader lens that reflects the complete buyer journey.
Finally, we must accept that active management is essential. Meta’s algorithm needs time to learn, and so do you. Use automation tools like Advantage+ when they make sense, but do not hand over the wheel completely. Be strategic, be curious, and be willing to experiment.
Final Thoughts: It’s Not Worse, It’s Just Different
Meta has never been a simple or hands-off platform. It has always required thoughtful strategy, constant testing, and a deep understanding of how audiences behave. But what has changed in recent years is what kind of effort drives results. What used to work does not carry the same weight anymore.
Today, success on Meta looks different. It takes more patience. It takes more trust in machine learning. It takes more investment in creative and more flexibility in how you define performance. You will not always get immediate wins, the data will not always tell the full story, and your audience may not respond as they once did. But that does not mean the platform has stopped delivering value.
Meta is still a powerful platform, but it requires a modern approach. The advertisers who continue to succeed are not repeating what used to work. They are evolving by testing, learning, and building campaigns that reflect how people use the platform today. If you are willing to shift with it, Meta still offers a massive opportunity.
