As recently as two years ago, I inherited a Meta Ads client account that only utilized 1200×628 horizontal static image ads. Now, once upon a time, that was the size of choice for Facebook ads—but today over 90% of Facebook users browse their feeds on mobile, meaning that vertically-oriented ad formats aren’t even just a “best practice.” They’re imperative! That client had also restricted all their ad placements to only the Facebook Newsfeed—no Instagram, no Reels, no Stories, no Marketplace, nothing.
The point is, a ton of brands out there are running very outdated Meta Ads campaigns—and likely wondering why they’re not having much success. It’s bad enough when an in-house team is behind the expired practices, but believe it or not, a number of the dated client accounts we have inherited were previously managed by other digital marketing agencies.
In this blog, we’ll lay out some of the signs that your current Meta Ads agency is behind the curve.
Outdated Targeting Approaches
One clear sign that a Facebook Ads agency is behind the curve is if they’re still treating Interest targeting as a cornerstone strategy. In Facebook’s early years, Interests made sense. What pages you liked—bands, public figures, publications—was a conscious choice, and it told advertisers exactly what you wanted to see.
I remember managing the paid social ads for a music festival about 10 years ago and segmenting ads by band. Fans of Band A would see creative featuring Band B, and it worked beautifully.
But that world doesn’t exist anymore. You can’t even find Interest groups for artists as big as My Chemical Romance, Red Hot Chili Peppers, or Frank Sinatra. I checked across very different genres—they weren’t there.
Today, Interest targeting is a fraction of what it once was. Algorithmically driven options like Broad audiences or Lookalikes almost always outperform it. If your agency is still leaning on Interests as a primary tactic, it’s relying on outdated playbooks that no longer reflect how Meta actually works.
Copy and Creative That Date Your Ads
Another way to tell if your Meta Ads agency is behind the curve is by looking at the copy and creative they produce. Outdated agencies often default to habits that made sense in an organic-first environment but don’t belong in paid campaigns.
For copy, the red flags are easy to spot: heavy use of second-person “you” language, or calls-to-action, links, and even phone numbers dropped directly into the ad text. That used to be common because organic posts had to tell people exactly what to do next. In today’s paid-first environment, the ad itself handles that job. If your agency is still writing copy like it’s 2012, they’re stuck in the wrong playbook.
Creative is just as telling. That 1200×628 static image format I mentioned in the beginning was once the default for Facebook ads, but building campaigns around it today is a liability. Even the old “20% text overlay” rule—where ads were penalized for having too much text—has been gone for years. Agencies that still design with that restriction in mind are missing the opportunity to use bigger fonts and bolder branding while showing you that they haven’t kept up with changing times.
Modern Meta Ads performance relies on a strong creative mix: carousels, short animations, and UGC-style videos alongside stills. A Meta Ads agency that hasn’t expanded its creative toolkit isn’t adapting to how users actually consume content on the platform.
Structures That Scream “Old School”
Account structure is one of the fastest ways to spot whether your Meta Ads agency is keeping up. If you see oversegmentation—layering so many “AND” conditions that your audience shrinks below 100,000 people—that’s a giveaway your agency is behind the curve. That style of manual narrowing was once useful, but the algorithms today are much smarter than they were. Broader parameters often result in the most efficient performance, and multiple layers of audience-narrowing are really only recommended in verticals where you need to qualify a very particular group of users.
Campaign setup tells the same story. By this point, any competent agency should have at least tested into Advantage+ campaigns. They’re Meta’s most advanced machine-learning tools, and in many applications they outperform traditional conversion campaigns. Agencies should be embracing the latest tools—or, in the very least, keeping up with the current best-practice campaign types.
Overly-Restrictive Ad Placements
Another sign your Meta Ads agency is behind the curve is if they’re overly restrictive with placements. This is another once-upon-a-time issue: Previously, it made more sense to tightly control placements in pursuit of certain ad goals. Today, some exclusions are still reasonable—ADM, for example, often avoids Audience Network app placements. But in the era of smarter ad algorithms, an agency that only runs ads in Facebook or Instagram Newsfeeds is limiting your reach and cutting off growth.
I’ve seen advertisers insist on this approach because they noticed slightly higher conversion rates in Newsfeeds. But that kind of thinking ignores where users actually spend their time. Reels and Stories now capture huge amounts of attention, and agencies that refuse to adapt are leaving those audiences untapped.
Overly-selective placement strategies also choke the algorithm’s ability to learn. Automatic placements, with a few thoughtful exceptions, give Meta the flexibility to deliver more efficiently. If your agency insists on hand-picking placements based on outdated assumptions, it’s an indication that they haven’t kept up.
Audience Exclusions in the Modern Context
Exclusions are another area where outdated agency practices show. Use of exclusions depends on specific business purpose: If you’re excluding a certain demographic because you think they’re less likely to convert, that’s not necessary anymore. The algorithm usually does a good job of finding the right people to purchase, so you don’t need to artificially limit its reach further. The exception is if your campaign objective isn’t conversions—in that case, exclusions can be useful to avoid over-clickers who never buy.
That said, exclusions still serve an important purpose:
- Avoiding overlap between similar ad sets or audiences
- Ensuring you don’t reach existing subscribers or purchasers with redundant messaging for products they already own
If your Meta Ads agency is still using broad exclusions as a catch-all instead of handling them in these specific ways, that’s a sign they’re working from an outdated playbook.
Is Retargeting Dead?
Retargeting isn’t dead, but it doesn’t carry the same weight it once did. With stronger algorithms, many campaigns see strong CPAs and ROAS from prospecting alone. Still, users who have previously engaged—clicked an ad, watched a video, or visited your site—remain more likely to convert than cold audiences. Retargeting remains an important part of a full-funnel strategy.
The way you build those audiences matters. Pixel-based tracking is weaker than it used to be, but engagement-based retargeting pools tied to Meta’s own data—video completions, page follows, ad clicks—are still powerful. They’re less vulnerable to cookie loss and often more compliant than CRM-based lists.
The Clearest Red Flag
At the end of the day, the biggest sign your Meta Ads agency is behind the curve isn’t one outdated tactic—it’s the absence of testing. Meta rolls out new products and features constantly, and the advertisers who succeed are the ones who adopt them early and evaluate their impact.
If your agency isn’t experimenting with Advantage+ campaigns, hasn’t revisited its creative mix in years, or avoids trying new placements and targeting options, it’s standing still.
From creative formats to campaign types to bidding strategies, it’s vital to regularly evaluate what drives performance for each client and document those findings in our insights library. That habit of testing and adapting is what keeps our clients ahead of the curve—while outdated agencies are left repeating yesterday’s best practices. If you’re looking for a paid social media agency that’s committed to early adoption and consistent testing, consider reaching out to the ADM team below:
