Changed my mind about cheap Facebook ad targeting after a $500 lesson

I used to think Facebook's automatic targeting was a scam and always built my own detailed audiences. But after burning $500 on a campaign for my Etsy shop in Austin that got zero sales, I tried the Advantage+ option out of desperation. It actually found people who bought my handmade candles within 3 days. Has anyone else had better luck letting the algorithm do the work than their own careful targeting?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace_bailey19d ago

Oh man, I feel this so much! I had almost the exact same experience with my little vintage jewelry booth - spent weeks building these super specific audiences and got crickets, then let Facebook do its thing and actually got some real sales. It's wild how humbling that $500 mistake can be, but honestly it taught me that sometimes the algorithm knows better than we do.

samjohnson18d ago

Respectfully, I gotta disagree a bit here lol. Handing over control to the algorithm feels like giving up too much control over who sees your stuff. The algorithm is great at finding cheap clicks but not always the right people who actually buy. From my own experience dabbling in online ads, being super specific about your audience saves you from wasting money on tire kickers who just like the pictures. That $500 mistake might have been more about the targeting being off rather than the concept of targeting itself.

faith68418d ago

Wait, you actually got sales in 3 days with Advantage+? That's insane to me. I tried it once and my ads went to a bunch of bots in Nigeria or something, got zero engagement. But your handmade candles in Austin sound like the perfect niche product - maybe my store selling dog bandanas is just too random? Honestly hearing this makes me wanna give it another shot even though I swore it off.