I've been running Meta ads for 10 years, here’s what I've learned

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This week, I’m distilling 10 years of Meta ads into 7 lessons that I’ve learned, so you can avoid making the same mistakes that I have

Here’s a breakdown:

• 🧱 10 years of Meta in 7 minutes:

  • Good Creatives Get Wrecked by Bad Structures

  • Creatives, Creatives, Creatives

  • Best Practices are Bullshit

  • Twitter Is Full of Crap—But Also Genius

  • Always Be Testing

  • Steal, but Don’t Rip Off

  • Get Your Creative Process Organized

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• 👩‍🎨 Next Issue: Types of Creatives you should be testing

I’ve been in this game for over a decade, and Meta Ads has slapped me around harder than a toddler with baseball bat trying to hit a ball for the firs time. It’s been brutal, it’s been chaotic, but I’ve survived—and now I’m here to help you avoid making the same mistakes I did. Meta will keep evolving (and throwing the occasional uppercut), but if we share our lessons, we’ll come out swinging, not flailing.

So here it is: 7 hard-earned lessons from the Meta Ads battlefield.

1. Good Creatives Get Wrecked by Bad Structures

You can’t just slap together some great creatives and expect Meta to work its magic. Let me tell you, creatives alone won’t save your ad account. Good creatives, in fact, are ruined by bad structures. It’s like having a Ferrari but replacing the engine with one you bought on Facebook marketplace for $100. You need a strong campaign structure to support those creatives.

What most get wrong - your media buying happens outside the ad account. Yup, you heard me right. Your planning should be done before you even think about opening Meta. We use ClickUp to funnel creatives directly into campaign planning, but if you’re not feeling that fancy, a good old Google Sheet works just fine.

The bottom line? The more prep you do outside of Meta, the better your results will be inside Meta. It’s all about planning—rigorous, ruthless planning.

Basic Structure:

• One Creative Testing Campaign (explained in another post, linked here).

• Multiple Scaling Campaigns — each with only one ad set & 4-6 winning creatives per ad set.

• Run ADV+, ABO, and CBO scaling campaigns to find your winning structure.

2. Creatives, Creatives, Creatives

I’m going to say this once, so listen up: You need a consistent flow of creatives. No exceptions. As much as structure is important, almost every client I’ve scaled over the years got there by cranking up their creative output, with a clean structure. And no, this doesn’t mean you need to commission new shoots every week like you’re Spielberg.

Recycling b-roll and old footage is a massive ROI saver. Got some solid content gathering dust? Slap a fresh voiceover on it, mix up the angles, and boom—new ad. Don’t fall for the hype from creative agencies on Twitter telling you to drop $6k on every new ad. Creative costs shouldn’t be one-sided. USE what you’ve already paid for.

More creatives = more winners. It’s that simple.

3. Best Practices Are Bullsh*t

Best practices are for the faint-hearted. If I hear another client say, “But the guidelines say to increase the budget by 18%,” I’ll scream. No. Just no. When things are going well, chad scale that sh*t. Push budgets as hard as you can. When things aren’t going well, yank the brake like you’re about to crash through a wall.

Meta’s pace won’t always keep up with your budget pushes, but don’t let that hold you back. Bold moves win battles, not timid little steps. The next time someone tells you to “follow best practices,” remember this: best practices are for people who don’t want to win.

4. Twitter Is Full of Crap—But Also Genius

Ah, Twitter. It’s a cesspool, but it’s also where some golden nuggets of Meta Ads wisdom live. Just remember, though—everyone speaks in absolutes. “This is the only way!” they’ll scream. Newsflash: Meta Ads aren’t absolute. They’re unpredictable, temperamental, and different for every account.

Here’s the trick: take inspiration, but test everything yourself. What worked for someone else might tank for you. I keep a little spreadsheet of ideas I find on Twitter and LinkedIn, then test them when I’ve got time, budget, and an itch for experimentation. Sometimes, you strike gold. Sometimes, you strike out. That’s the game.

5. Always Be Testing (ABT)

Meta Ads are like airplanes: they only make money when they’re moving. Every second your ad account is sitting still, it’s losing money. And no, Meta is not a “set it and forget it” kind of deal. You need to keep that thing in motion—constantly testing new creatives, structures, and optimization types.

Think of your ad account like a plane. It has to be flying, always adjusting course to stay on track. And unlike a plane, you can’t just build it once and reuse it. You’ve got to push harder, tweak more often, and make sure you’re staying ahead of the curve by adding new creatives and tweaking strategy daily.

Yes, you’ll have some bad days. Maybe even some bad weeks. But the more you test, the better your results will be. And once your account gets used to the push-and-pull, it’ll stabilize. Just don’t make dumb changes.

6. Steal, but Don’t Rip Off

There’s an old book that says, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Now, I’m not saying you should go full-blown copycat mode, but it’s okay to take inspiration. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. It’s fine to see what others are doing and adapt it to your needs.

Just don’t be that lazy hack who rips off Atomic Shoes word-for-word like half the internet did a few years ago. It was embarrassing.

Be smart. Use tools like Try Atria or Foreplay to track competitor ads, but don’t outright steal them. Categorize what works, adapt it to your style, and make it your own. Stealing is an art—but straight-up ripping someone off is just bad business.

7. Get Your Creative Process Organized

Running a Meta ad account without a clear creative process is like trying to juggle chainsaws blindfolded. It’s going to get messy, and fast. Whether you’re recycling old creatives, working on new angles, or juggling client demands, you’ve got to keep everything organized.

Use the right tools to categorize and track what’s working and what’s not. Keep everything clean, and you’ll save yourself a world of stress. Meta Ads are hard enough without dealing with chaos in your creative pipeline.

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