In performance marketing, including social media advertising, both creativity and data play a pivotal role. However, within the standard Ad Manager of platforms like Meta (and other social networks), it’s not possible to build highly advanced campaigns. Its simple structure is often a benefit, but this simplicity can also present challenges, especially for retailers. That’s why today we’re sharing a short blog about Smartly and how it can help boost social media performance.
Smartly, an advanced technology platform, offers advertisers the capabilities they need for more complex campaign setups within Meta. This way, you can get more out of your social media campaigns and take performance to the next level.
What is Smartly?
Before we dive into why Smartly is so valuable, it’s important to understand what it is. Smartly is an advanced advertising platform that allows advertisers to manage and optimize digital ad campaigns more effectively and efficiently. It uses AI and machine learning to personalize ads and optimize them for maximum impact. Smartly easily connects with Meta Business Manager, making it highly accessible, although it still requires a certain level of expertise. Smartly is more complex than Meta itself, so it’s crucial to have the right people in place to get the best results.
What Are the Benefits for Your Performance?
- Advanced Targeting and Personalization: Within the Meta advertising ecosystem, reaching the right audience is critical, even when broader targeting is used. Smartly offers advanced targeting capabilities based on demographics, behavior, interests, and even purchase intent.
- Dynamic Advertisements: While Meta only allows static ad formats, Smartly enables advertisers to create dynamic ads where the content automatically adapts to the user’s characteristics and interests. This is especially valuable for (retail) advertisers, as it allows them to showcase products that are highly relevant to each individual consumer, for example, through retargeting based on product views or using countdowns within ads. Do keep in mind that you can have a maximum of 1,000 dynamic ads live in your account.
- Optimization at Scale: In digital marketing, automation is a key growth driver, and Smartly is no exception. The platform uses automated optimization techniques to constantly monitor and adjust campaigns based on performance data. This allows advertisers to spend their budgets more efficiently and drive better results. A great example of this is the use of budget pools, which enable smarter allocation of spend across campaigns.
- A/B Testing and Insights The Smartly platform offers extensive A/B testing capabilities, allowing advertisers to test different elements of an ad to determine which version delivers the best results. This empowers them to continuously refine and optimize their creative strategies based on concrete, data‑driven insights.
Why Wouldn’t You Use Smartly for Performance?
Looking at the benefits of Smartly, it’s easy to see why it can be an attractive choice. However, it’s worth noting that Smartly is a relatively costly tool. Once you link your Meta ad account to Smartly, you’ll pay a fee on all ad spend, regardless of whether you actively use its features. (Tip: consider using one account for Smartly campaigns and another for regular campaigns.) That’s why it’s important to clearly assess the added value Smartly delivers. In most cases, this comes down to performance improvements and time savings. If these benefits justify the cost, Smartly can be a valuable addition to your regular social platforms. Need help making the right choice? We’re happy to support you, contact us for an audit.
