If your Facebook or Instagram ads suddenly feel… off… you’re not imagining it.
Costs creeping up?
Your best-performing ads slowing down?
Campaigns skipping over creative that always worked?

There’s a reason — and it has a name:

Andromeda.

Meta has quietly rebuilt its entire ad-delivery system, and this is the most dramatic shift we’ve seen in years.

But here’s the part nobody tells small businesses:

The “best practices” Meta is pushing right now were built for brands spending $50K+ per month.

Think:
• Agencies with massive conversion data
• Ecommerce giants with thousands of purchases
• Advertisers who can afford to “let the AI learn” for weeks

But small businesses?
Local service pros?
Coaches, contractors, landscapers, plumbers, HVAC techs?

This advice can absolutely tank your results.

So what actually changed?

In the old system, you decided who saw your ads.
With Andromeda, the algorithm decides which specific person should see which specific ad variation—using millions of behavioral signals.

Meta no longer asks:
🟦 “Who should see this?”
It now asks:
🟪 “Which ad will this person respond to?”

It’s a massive shift that favors advertisers with huge data pools where small advertisers get burned.

Meta is now recommending:

• Broad targeting
• Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO)
• 10–20 creative variations
• Full algorithmic control
• 
  

Sounds smart, right?
Not for small accounts.

With low conversion volume, the system doesn’t optimize for leads or revenue — it optimizes for engagement.

That means:

👉 “The cute ad” soaks up your entire budget…

👉 …while the ad that actually converts never gets enough spend to prove itself.

Suddenly you’ve burned a week, spent hundreds, and have no real data to show for it.

And here’s the kicker:

When your cost per lead is $40–$60 and Meta only gives an ad $1–$3 per day…
It may never generate a single conversion.

You walk away thinking creative failed.
In reality?

It never had a chance.

So what DOES work after Andromeda?

You must give the algorithm freedom where it needs it and take back control where it protects your budget.

This is the new balance:

• Broad targeting (Meta actually requires it now)
• One ad per ad set during testing (non-negotiable)
• Equal budget for each angle
• Test angles, not formats
• Run for 5–7 days without touching anything

This prevents algorithmic bias and gives you clean, reliable data.

The Small-Business Framework (Post-Andromeda)

Test like this:

• Choose 3 totally different angles
• Build one ad set per angle
• Put one ad inside each
• Give each the same daily budget
• Run for 5–7 days
• Judge based on cost per conversion, not clicks
• Once you have a winning angle, THEN start testing formats and creative variations.

This gives Meta the diversity it needs without letting it torch your budget.

Small businesses cannot test like big brands. Big spenders can feed the machine thousands of events.
You can’t — and that’s okay.

• Structured testing wins.
  Clean data wins.
  Discipline wins.

The bottom line.

Adapt to Andromeda, but don’t hand your entire strategy over to it.

Want the full framework, templates, and video walkthrough?
👉 Read the full breakdown and comment “Meta” below.

Don’t forget to follow Missouri Market Boss where we build smart, profitable Meta ad systems for small businesses across Missouri.