By Phil Gee · AI Academy, Southport
Here is the uncomfortable truth about social media ads for small businesses. Most of them are a waste of money.
Not because the platforms do not work. They do. But because the ad copy is generic, the targeting is too broad, and nobody is testing different versions to see what actually performs.
AI can help with all three.
1. Writing Ad Copy That Stops the Scroll
The single biggest reason ads fail is the copy. "Quality services at affordable prices" is not an ad. It is a waste of budget.
AI can write multiple versions of your ad copy in seconds — and having options to test is the key to finding what works.
Try this: "Write 5 different Facebook ad headlines and 5 different ad descriptions for my [your business] in [your area]. Each version should take a different angle — one focused on saving time, one on saving money, one on quality, one on local trust, one on solving a specific problem. Keep each headline under 40 characters and each description under 100 characters."
Now you have 25 combinations to test instead of one ad you are guessing at.
2. Defining Your Target Audience
Most small business owners target too broadly. "Everyone in Liverpool who might need a plumber" is not targeting. It is spraying and praying.
AI can help you get specific. Ask it: "I run a [your business] in [your area]. Help me define my ideal customer for Facebook ads — their age range, interests, behaviours, problems they are trying to solve, and other pages or brands they likely follow. Give me 3 different audience profiles to test."
You will get specific, testable audience suggestions — not vague guesses.
3. Writing Different Ad Formats
Social media platforms want different things. What works as a Facebook feed ad does not work as an Instagram Story. What works as a LinkedIn text post does not work as a Reel.
Ask AI to adapt your ad for each format: "Take this ad copy and rewrite it for three formats: a Facebook image ad, an Instagram Story, and a LinkedIn text post. Adjust the tone and length for each platform."
4. Analysing What Is Working
Once your ads are running, you get data. But most small business owners do not know what to do with it.
Paste your ad results into AI and ask: "Here are the results from my last 4 weeks of Facebook ads. Which ads performed best? What patterns do you see? What should I change?"
AI will spot things you would miss — which headlines get clicks, which audiences convert, which angles are worth scaling.
The Golden Rule
AI gives you better raw material. But you still need to test, measure, and adjust. Running one ad and hoping is not a strategy. Running ten variations, measuring the results, and scaling the winners — that is.
Start small. Set a budget you are comfortable losing. Test. Learn. Improve. AI makes the testing faster and cheaper. But the discipline of testing is still on you.