Meta AI gets new tools to analyse and optimise ad campaigns

Meta is expanding Meta AI with new advertising and analytics capabilities aimed at helping small businesses understand campaign performance, identify what is working and make decisions on where their ad budgets could work harder.

The new features allow businesses to connect Meta AI directly with their Meta ad campaigns, giving the assistant access to performance data that can be analysed within a conversation. Businesses can ask Meta AI to review which audiences are delivering results, identify patterns across top-performing creative, flag ads that may no longer be resonating and suggest changes to campaigns and budget allocation.

The assistant can also analyse performance over a set period and turn its findings into materials such as presentations, documents and spreadsheets. For example, businesses can ask Meta AI to review the past 90 days of advertising performance, identify commonalities among their strongest ad sets and recommend changes for the following month before creating a deck summarising the analysis.

Don't miss: Meta pulls Instagram's Muse Image feature after privacy backlash

Beyond paid advertising, Meta AI is being integrated with Facebook and Instagram account analytics, allowing businesses to ask questions about their organic content using metrics including reach, saves, shares, comments and profile visits.

The AI can use this information to identify the types of content resonating with audiences and suggest areas for improvement. Businesses can also set up recurring tasks, such as receiving a weekly report on their Instagram performance.

Meta is also introducing benchmarking capabilities that draw on publicly available Facebook and Instagram content and engagement patterns from comparable brands. This allows small businesses to compare their organic performance with others in their category and identify potential gaps or opportunities to differentiate themselves.

The integrations are being introduced across Meta AI's web platform, mobile app and new desktop app. Businesses can also choose to connect Google Workspace services including Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides, bringing information from different parts of their operations into the same Meta AI conversation.

On the Mac app, users can share a window with Meta AI during a session, allowing the assistant to respond to the work displayed on screen with more tailored recommendations. The app also includes dictation that works across Mac applications.

According to Meta, bringing advertising, account engagement and other business information together is intended to make Meta AI's recommendations more specific to individual businesses rather than provide generalised advice. Early testers said the recommendations were actionable because they were based on their own content, performance and audience data, according to the company.

The features are initially available for businesses to use for free. Meta said businesses seeking heavier usage will eventually be able to subscribe to Meta One, although it did not provide further details on pricing or availability.

The update forms part of Meta's broader push to embed AI across its suite of business products. Alongside Meta AI, the company is developing tools including Meta Business Agent and Meta AI business assistant to support businesses across different areas of their operations. Meta said it plans to introduce additional capabilities and deeper integrations for small businesses in the coming months.

The latest changes come as Meta continues to introduce new safeguards around how its AI tools are used across its platforms, particularly among younger users.

Earlier this year, the company expanded parental controls for Meta AI across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, giving parents greater visibility into how teenagers interact with the AI assistant. Through a new Insights tab, parents can view the categories of topics their teens have asked Meta AI about over the past seven days, without accessing the full conversations.

The update forms part of Meta's broader efforts to balance AI innovation with user safety, building on existing teen account protections such as restrictions on age-inappropriate responses and interventions for sensitive topics.

Related articles: 
Meta, Shopee expand affiliate partnerships to Instagram     
Meta launches paid subscriptions across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp  
IAS expands Meta content block lists to Threads