Meta Introduces Revolutionary Generative AI Tools for Advertisers

• Generative AI
• AI Tool
• Meta

Meta, a leading social media conglomerate, recently introduced its first-ever generative AI features exclusively designed for advertisers. These sophisticated tools allow advertisers to utilize artificial intelligence to generate diverse ad text versions, create unique backgrounds, and expand images based on their original content. This significant development follows Meta’s recent Meta Connect event, where the company unveiled its Quest 3 mixed-reality headset and various other generative AI products, such as AI-powered smart glasses and editing tools.

“The only limit to AI is human imagination.” - Christof Koch

Meta's New AI Tools: A Game-Changer for Advertisers

Though Meta's new AI tools may not be as sensational as celebrity AI versions that allow you to interact virtually with known personalities like MrBeast or Paris Hilton, they represent Meta's conviction that generative AI has immense potential to assist brands and businesses. These entities are the primary source of Meta's revenue generation.

The first feature of the new AI tools allows advertisers to enhance their creative assets by generating multiple different backgrounds to modify their product images. This technology is similar to that used by Meta for its consumer-oriented tool, Backdrop. It enables users to alter their image's scene or background using prompts. However, the ad toolkit generates the locations based on the advertiser's original product images, typically yielding simple experiences with colors and patterns. Advertisers utilizing Meta's Advantage+ catalog to create their sales ads will have access to this feature.

Image Expansion and Text Variations: Adding More Flexibility

The image expansion feature allows advertisers to modify their assets to fit different aspect ratios required across various products, like Feeds or Reels. This AI feature, accessible to Advantage+ creatives in Meta's Mads Manager, would reduce the time advertisers spend repurposing their creative assets, including images and video, for different surfaces, according to Meta.

On the other hand, the text variations feature in Meta Ads Manager can generate up to six different variations of text based on the advertiser's original copy. These variations can emphasize specific keywords and input phrases the advertiser wants to highlight. Advertisers can edit the generated output or choose the best one that aligns with their goals. During the campaign, Meta can also display different combinations of text to other people to identify which ones elicit better responses. However, Meta won't provide performance details for each text variation as the reporting is based on a single ad. Yet, as informed by Meta, the more options the advertiser opts to run, the more opportunities they'll have to enhance their ad performance.

Early Results and Future Prospects

Meta disclosed that it had already experimented with these AI features with a small yet diverse group of advertisers earlier this year. The preliminary results suggest that generative AI could save them five or more hours per week, amounting to one month per year. However, Meta concedes that there's still work to customize the generative AI output better to suit each advertiser's style.

Furthermore, Meta hinted at more AI features in the pipeline. The company is exploring new methods to generate ad copy highlighting selling points or generative backgrounds with tailored themes. As announced at Meta Connect, businesses will soon be able to use AI for messaging on WhatsApp and Messenger to engage with customers for e-commerce, engagement, and support.