Solved: Best Ad Placements? Use Automatic Placements!

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your question about Meta ad placements. It's a common question, and one where the "obvious" answer is almost always the wrong one. The short version is that by manually picking what you *think* are the best placements, you are probably paying more for your leads than you need to be.

Let's get into why that is.

We'll need to look at how the Meta algorithm actually works...

Okay, so your experience tells you that the various feeds and Reels work best. That's what the data in your dashboard is showing you, so it feels like a logical conclusion. But this is one of those areas where the data can be misleading if you don't understand the machine behind it.

The Meta ads delivery system is basically a hyper-efficient auction machine. Its one and only goal is to achieve your campaign objective (in your case, 'Leads') for the lowest possible cost. When you select 'Automatic Placements', you give it access to its entire inventory – Feeds, Stories, Reels, Audience Network, Messenger, the lot. It can then look across every single available ad slot for every single user in your audience and ask one simple question: "Where is the cheapest place I can put this ad right now to get a conversion?"

When you manually select only Feeds and Reels, you are artificially restricting the algorithm. You're essentially telling that master fisherman he's only allowed to fish in the most crowded, most expensive corner of the lake. He might still catch something, but you've taken away his ability to go to the quiet, hidden spot where the fish are practically jumping into the boat. You've forced it to compete in the most expensive auctions, driving up your costs from the very start.

What you're seeing in your results – leads coming from Feeds – isn't proof that Feeds are the "best" placement. It's often just proof that they are the most expensive, so that's where Meta has to spend your budget because you've left it no other choice. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I've put together a little flowchart to show what I mean. It's a bit of a simplification, but it gets the main point across.

I'd say you need to trust the data, not your gut feeling...

I can't tell you how many accounts I've audited where the owner is convinced they've "cracked" the code with manual placements, all while their CPL is double what it should be. The results we see when we switch to a broader strategy speak for themselves.

For instance, I remember one campaign we managed for a B2B software client on Meta Ads. By leveraging the full power of the algorithm and allowing it to find conversions across all available placements, we were able to generate 4,622 new user registrations at an impressively low cost of just $2.38 per registration. This is a perfect example of how trusting the system to find those cheaper conversion opportunities in less obvious places—like Instagram Stories or the Audience Network, which advertisers often dismiss—can dramatically lower costs and scale results. That's the power of letting the machine do its job.

The cost to simply show your ad (your CPM, or Cost Per Thousand Impressions) varies massively between placements. Feeds are prime real estate; they're expensive. Stories can be cheaper. The Audience Network is often the cheapest of all. If the algorithm can find a person in your audience who is likely to convert, and can show them an ad on the Audience Network for a £2 CPM instead of in the Feed for a £15 CPM, it will do that every single time. And that saving is passed directly on to you in the form of a lower Cost Per Lead.

To really drive this home, I've built a small calculator. Play around with the sliders. See what happens to your Cost Per Lead when you manage to lower your CPM by letting the algorithm search for cheaper placements, even if your click-through rate dips a bit.

You probably should focus on creative, not placements...

So if you're not meant to be picking placements, what is your job? Your job is to give the algorithm the best possible tools to succeed. The single most important tool you can give it is good creative that is adapted for the placements it's going to run on.

This is where most advertisers fall down. They'll upload one square image or one landscape video and just let Meta crop it and squeeze it into a vertical Story, where it looks terrible with ugly black bars above and below. This is lazy and it costs you money.

The expert approach is to use a feature called 'Advantage+ Placements' (what they call Automatic Placements now) and then use 'Asset Customisation'. This lets you upload different versions of your creative for different placement groups.

• -> Feeds (1:1): Upload your standard square image or video. This is your workhorse.
• -> Stories & Reels (9:16): Upload a dedicated vertical video or image. This is absolutely essential. It should be faster-paced, use captions (as many watch with sound off), and get to the point instantly.
• -> Right Column/Search (1.91:1): A simple landscape image often works best here.

By doing this, you're telling the algorithm: "Here's my ad. I trust you to find the best person and the cheapest placement. And to help you out, here is the perfectly formatted creative for wherever you decide to show it." Now, the system can show a beautiful, full-screen vertical video in Reels and a clear, concise square image in the Feed, all within the same ad set. It's serving the best possible experience to the user, which means better engagement and lower costs for you.

You'll need a better optimisation framework...

I hope by now it's clear that fiddling with placements is, at best, a distraction and, at worst, actively harmful to your campaign performance. It's a classic case of focusing on the 1% instead of the 99%. Your time and mental energy are far better spent on the three pillars that actually determine success or failure:

1. The Offer: What are you actually asking people to do? Is "Get Leads" the most compelling offer? Or would a free guide, a checklist, a free audit, or a webinar registration work better? A weak offer will fail no matter where you place it. An irresistible offer can work even with mediocre creative. It's the foundation of everything.
2. The Audience: Who are you talking to? Are you using broad interest targeting? Have you built lookalike audiences from your best customers? Are you retargeting website visitors who didn't convert? The best ad in the world shown to the wrong person is just noise.
3. The Creative: Does your ad copy speak directly to a pain point? Does your image or video stop someone from scrolling? Have you tested different angles, hooks, and formats? This is where the real optimisation happens. We've seen campaigns where changing a single headline cut the CPL by 70%.

Focusing on these three areas is how you build robust, scalable, and profitable campaigns. Worrying about which specific placement is "best" is like arguing about which brand of oil to put in a car that has no engine. You need to get the fundamentals right first.

To make it really clear, I've put my main recommendations into a table for you.

This is obviously just a high-level view based on your specific question. To really get things working, you'd need to properly analyse your audience targeting, your ad copy, your landing page, and your overall offer. There are always more levers to pull to bring down costs and improve lead quality.

It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. It's about building a system where you are constantly testing the things that matter, and letting the platform's technology handle the things it's good at, like placement selection.

If you'd like to go through your account and build a proper strategy for this, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can take a look at what you're currently doing and give you a few more concrete, actionable steps to take. Feel free to book a call if that sounds helpful.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh