How Hard Is It to Run Meta Ads Yourself? (Real Edition)

Let’s get one thing straight:

Running ads isn’t about flashy videos, huge budgets, or hiring an expensive agency anymore.

Meta Ads have changed - a lot - and the way small businesses succeed with them in 2025 looks very different to how things worked even a year ago.

So if you’re wondering, “Is it hard to run Meta Ads myself?” - let’s break it down properly.

Once upon a time, running ads meant:

• Choosing between 11+ confusing objectives

• Manually building 10 different audiences

• Needing polished, agency-style creatives

• Guessing what worked based on random numbers

Now?

• Meta wants you to succeed - because you’ll keep spending if you get results.

• Tools like Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns have simplified audience targeting.

• You can let Meta handle who sees your ad, so you can focus on what you’re showing them.

Meta Ads aren’t what they used to be. Gone are the days of hyper-specific interest targeting and fiddly ad sets that took hours to build.

Enter: the rise of  AI. 

Meta’s rolled out Advantage+ campaigns, where the algorithm does most of the heavy lifting - using machine learning to show your ads to the people most likely to convert

If your creative is strong and your product is right - Advantage+ campaigns can help you scale fast, with less complexity.

The algorithm is smarter than ever.

But it still needs good inputs - which is exactly what I’ll show you how to create. And that  brings us to one of the biggest shifts:

The best-performing ads right now?
They’re not shot on fancy cameras or edited by professionals.

They’re:

• Lo-fi Reels filmed on iPhones

• Behind-the-scenes clips with a voiceover

• UGC-style testimonials

• Founders packing orders or talking to camera

Why?
Because Meta Reels are built on social behaviour.
People share them 4.5 billion times a day — and 79% of users say they’ve purchased from a Reel ad.

So instead of obsessing over perfect polish, it’s about creating content that:

• Feels native to the platform

• Hooks attention fast

• Speaks clearly to your customer’s wants, needs, or pain points

If you’ve ever wished you could peek behind the curtain of what your competitors are actually running as ads - this is your sign to start using the Meta Ad Library.

This free tool lets you see  every  live ad being run by  any  brand on Facebook or Instagram - and it’s criminally underused by small businesses.

Not only can you get a sense of what’s  working  for others in your niche (ad formats, hooks, styles, offers) - but you can start building a bank of content inspo for your own future campaigns.

You don’t need to be a marketing whizz.

But you do need to understand:

• What makes a good creative

• How to set up a campaign properly

• What your numbers are telling you (because metrics don’t lie)

When ads don’t work, it’s usually not because:

• “The algorithm hates me”

• “I need more budget”

• “Ads just don’t work for my industry”

It’s because something in the funnel is broken - and with the right understanding, you can fix it.

It’s hard if:

• You’re winging it with no structure

• You’re trying to piece together free info

• You’re terrified of wasting your budget

It’s not hard if:

• You have a step-by-step framework

• You know what to look for (and what to ignore)

• You’re willing to test, tweak and learn as you go

After running Meta Ads profitably for my own product-based brand (hello 3x ROAS 🚀), I created a no-fluff, plain-English Interactive Meta Ads Guide to help other small business owners actually get it.

Inside the guide, I cover:

• How to set everything up (no tech background needed)

• Budgeting based on your margins (not guesswork)

• Building scroll-stopping ad creatives using just your phone

• Understanding metrics like CTR, ROAS, CPA, and how to fix what’s not working

• Scaling your ads without killing performance

• Troubleshooting like a pro when ROAS drops or you hit learning limited

It’s packed with real-life examples, plug-and-play templates, and tutorial videos you can pause and follow along with.

Because no one cares about your business as much as you do - and learning to run your own ads is one of the smartest, most profitable skills you can have as a founder.