📊 Facebook Ad Experiment 1.5 — Real-Time Documentation (Messy. Honest. Still running.)

Why I’m Doing This

I’m documenting this in real time because most Facebook ad “case studies” skip the confusing parts.(full disclosure: chatGPT wrote this documentation and any advice or observations about this process is given by it ‘acting as’ the top Facebook ads marketer that I asked it to be.)

This is NOT an area where I have a lot of experience or knowledge.

My first mistake, doing my initial boosted post from my personal profile (that is in professional mode). I discovered that I can’t do a retarget ad using my personal profile, even though it is in professional mode.

So next step was to do another boosted post from my business page using the same parameters as before but with different wording and image so it doesn’t look exactly the same.

This is a small-budget boosted post test to invite the right people into the Automated CEO Community - and I want to show the actual process, including when Meta (and me lol) does weird stuff.

Starting Point (Before Ads)

Profile size: ~256 followers
Goal: Warm visibility + conversations (not cold conversions)
Budget: Small daily boost
Format: Boosted post, not Ads Manager

The Original Post (Organic)

This was the post I boosted (image attached):

Most business owners don’t actually need more tools.

They need fewer decisions living rent-free in their head.

If your business only runs smoothly because you’re constantly thinking about it - that’s not sustainable.

The Automated CEO Community is where I help business owners:

– Get their processes out of their head and into simple systems

– Use AI practically, not performatively

– Reduce mental load without adding more chaos

This isn’t hustle culture.

It’s structure, clarity, and support - built for people who are done doing everything the hard way.

If this sounds like the kind of support you’ve been looking for,

comment CEO and I’ll send you the details.

My Original Prompt (What I Asked For Help With)

Since we can’t run an ad in ads manager using my professional profile, act again as my FB ad manager and create a new post and image prompt that I can use on my business page and boost that post. We’ll use the same settings from my first boosted post.

From there, the strategy was shaped.

Strategy Decisions (Before Clicking Boost)

Chose Engagement objective (not Traffic)
Used a comment-based CTA instead of sending cold clicks
Goal was warming + conversation, not instant signups

Recommended CTA approach:

“Comment CEO and I’ll send you the details.”

Reason:

More engagement
Lower costs
Personal replies
Better fit for community invites

Targeting Used

Objective: Engagement

Location: United States

Age: 30–55

Advantage+ audience expansion: ON

Interest targeting (kept broad):

Interests:

Digital marketing OR Entrepreneurship

Behaviors:

Small business owners

Job Titles:

Small business
Consultant

Avoided:

AI tools
ChatGPT
Automation software

(Those tend to attract tool collectors, not implementers.)

Budget

💰 $7/day
⏱ Run for 7 days

Total spend ≈ $49

Perfect test range.

Where Meta Did Meta Things 🙃

After publishing, I went back to double-check the ad and noticed (since this happened twice, it was most likely my error):

Advantage+ was OFF, even though I had selected it

So I:

Turned Advantage+ back ON

This caused:

The ad to go back into review
A brief pause in delivery

Important: This happened before any real spend, so no meaningful data or momentum was lost.

Approval Timeline (Including the Re-Review)

Dec 27 — 8:28 AM: Ad approved

**Snapshot (Dec 28, 7 AM)

💸 Spent: $5.61 (~1 day)
💬 Engagements: 64
📉 Cost per engagement: $0.09 (best so far 🔥)
👀 Views: 269
🎯 Reach: 259

For Day 1 on a Page boost, this is very strong.

What’s Notably Different This Time (Important)

1. Cost Per Engagement Dropped Again

From $0.11 → $0.09.

That tells us:

Meta likes this creative even more
The Page context did not hurt performance
The message is landing faster with this audience

This is a clear green flag.

2. Female Representation Jumped

Women: ~29% (up from ~18–20%)
Men still lead, but the gap narrowed significantly

This is exactly what we wanted to test by:

Changing the framing slightly
Using a different visual
Posting from a Page instead of your profile

Interpretation:

The Page post feels more “safe” and less personal-pressure
More women are willing to engage in this context
This is not a fluke — it’s signal

We still don’t segment yet, but this opens doors.

3. Age Distribution Shifted Slightly Younger (But Still Experienced)

You still have:

Strong 65+ presence
Solid 45–64
But 25–34 and 35–44 ticked up a bit

That’s healthy. It means the Page post broadened appeal without losing the core audience.

Placements (Very Clean Signal)

IG Reels: 142 (still the engine)
FB Reels + IG Feed contributing
Everything else negligible

Meta immediately pushed this into Reels again — that’s algorithm confidence, not coincidence.

Locations (Consistent With Prior Runs)

CA, NY, TX still lead
FL just under your cutoff
Midwest and East Coast showing up again

No junk geos. No drift. No concern.

What This Confirms (Big Picture)

This Page post:

Performs as well or better than the profile post
Lowers cost
Broadens gender mix
Keeps Reels dominance
Creates the right foundation for Ads Manager

In other words:

This is the correct bridge post.

You didn’t lose momentum — you upgraded the infrastructure.

What I’d Do Next (Clear Recommendation)

✅ Let this run at least 3 full days

Do not touch it yet.

Why:

We want Meta to fully learn
We want more engagement density
We want a clean Page engagement audience

You’re building the fuel for the next step.

What We’ll Do After Day 3 (Preview Only)

Once this has a bit more runway, we can:

Create a Page engagement custom audience
Run the comment-based retargeting ad (with automation)
Decide whether to:

But we wait until we have enough data.

One-Sentence Summary

Day 1 Page boost update: $5.61 spent, $0.09 per engagement, 259 reached - lower cost, stronger early performance, and a noticeable increase in female engagement compared to the profile post.

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