The 6 Meta Ad Types That Actually Scale

Joel Erway has spent 12 years and millions in ad spend on Meta. He's found there are 6 key types of ads that actually move the needle. Most founders run one. Maybe two. Then wonder why their account is stuck.

Each type reaches a different psychological segment of your audience. Running 1-2 types is like fishing with one lure in a lake full of different fish — you'll catch some, but you'll miss the majority.

Make your customers laugh and they'll always remember you.

Ad recall — how long your audience remembers an ad and your brand — is everything. Super Bowl advertisers spend millions incorporating humor because people talk about those ads, share them, and remember them long after seeing them.

The problem? Most direct response advertisers on social media focus only on conversions. That's exactly why funny ads work so well. They give you the best of both worlds: Branding and conversions.

They don't just get likes. They get reach through comments and shares.

Here's a real example: spending $1K/day on a low-ticket offer, stuck in maintenance mode for months. A copywriter tried a humor ad — a cat gif with a video — and brand awareness exploded. Likes, shares, DMs flooding in. People were talking about it weeks later. One creative, completely different style, unlocked a level that months of "optimized" ads never touched.

If you've never tested humor in your account, you're sitting on a goldmine you don't know about.

2. Testimonial Story Ads

A story ad is not a screenshot of a 5-star review. It's not a "here's what our client said" text overlay.

It's a real person telling a real story in a way that makes your prospect think "that's exactly where I am right now."

The power of testimonial ads isn't the social proof — it's the relatability. When someone sees a person like them — same struggle, same frustration, same starting point — describe a transformation, it bypasses every objection their logical brain would throw up. They don't think "is this real?" They think "that could be me."

The mistake most founders make: they use testimonials that brag about results without describing the before.

The before is what hooks people. The story is what closes them.

3. Belief-Shifting Branded Awareness Ads

This is a force multiplier — shoutout to Frank Kern for this one.

These absolutely crush, but you won't see their conversion data in Ads Manager. They're simple image ads for retargeting that include a branded URL in your ad image.

The goal isn't to get clicks from the ads. It's to give unique insights — belief-shifting content about what your audience needs to believe about your offer and how it's different or unique.

You include your branded URL in the image. Your audience sees it and types it into their browser manually.

Why does this matter? There's a significant segment of your audience that simply doesn't trust ads. They won't click. But they will see the URL, remember it, and type it in themselves.

This explodes your organic search traffic and gives you high-quality conversions that don't show up in your ad attribution.

4. Unique Insight Ads (Retargeting)

You teach something your audience has never heard before. Something that makes them stop mid-scroll and think. Something they screenshot. Something they share. Something that positions you as the person who gets it at a level nobody else does.

This is authority building at scale.

The key is specificity.

"3 tips for better ads" is not a unique insight. Everyone has those.

"Meta's algorithm doesn't reward more ads — it rewards more ad types, and here's the difference" — that's a unique insight. It includes your unique analysis. That's something only someone with deep experience would know.

If your prospect reads your ad and thinks "I've never heard anyone explain it that way," you win.

Think newsletter-style content. Relevancy meets authority.

5. Belief-Shifting Ads

These are the hardest to write and the most powerful when you nail them.

A belief-shifting ad takes something your prospect currently believes and replaces it with a new frame:

• "You think your CPAs are rising because of the algorithm. Actually, it's because you've exhausted your audience within a single ad style."
• "You think you need better targeting. Actually, you need more creative range."
• "You think you need an agency. Actually, you need infrastructure."

When you shift a belief, you change how they see their problem. And when you change how they see their problem, you become the only logical solution.

These work as both top-of-funnel cold ads and retargeting ads.

Want to sharpen your ad Copywriting? The belief shift is the most powerful framework in direct response — master it and every ad you write gets stronger.

6. Power Offer Ads

No clever hook needed. No fancy creative. No psychological tricks.

Just a no-brainer offer presented clearly and directly.

"We'll build X and deliver Y in Z days. Here's what it costs. Here's what you get."

The offer does the selling.

These ads work when your offer is genuinely strong. If you need a lot of persuasion to get someone to buy, your offer probably isn't strong enough for this format.

But when the offer is right? These outperform everything. Because they attract buyers, not browsers. People who see a power offer ad and take action are the most qualified leads you'll ever get.

Why You Need All 6

You don't just need one or two of these. You need all 6 running simultaneously.

Each type reaches a different psychological segment of your audience:

The founders who scale aren't finding one winning ad. They're building an infrastructure of creative types that covers every segment of their audience.

See Also

• Facebook Ads — Platform fundamentals: pixel, conversion API, audiences, and ad structure
• Kevin Anson's Video Ad Formula — A proven framework for video ad creative
• Copywriting — The skill underneath every ad type on this list
• Marketing — Strategy that ties your ad ecosystem together