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Meta ads agency: how to choose one, what it should do every week, and the red flags
How to choose a Meta ads agency or Facebook advertising agency: the weekly work, what the Meta Business Partner badge means, questions to ask, red flags.
TL;DR. A good Meta ads agency spends its week on three things: getting new creative into your campaigns, testing it one variable at a time, and measuring results in your own data through the Conversions API or your MMP, because Meta's Advantage+ campaigns now automate audience, placement and budget. To choose one, ask whose account the ads run in, how many new concepts reach the auction each month, how a test is set up, and which number the agency will be judged on. The Meta Business Partner badge is a useful signal that Meta has reviewed the company's work, but it does not tell you whether the agency can make the creative your account needs. This guide is written by an agency that runs Meta, so read it as one.
Who is writing this, and what this page is
Flixr is a performance marketing agency for apps, games and commercial brands that makes its own creative. We run and read paid media on AppLovin, Meta and TikTok, so we are one of the Meta ads agencies you might be comparing. We do not name or rank other agencies on this page. It is a buyer's guide: what a Facebook advertising agency should do now, what the partner badge means, the questions to ask and the red flags.
What a Meta ads agency actually controls now
Meta describes Advantage+ as "a suite of products that can help you enhance and optimise campaign performance through industry-leading AI and automation." Its end-to-end solutions work by "automatically applying AI across your campaign's audience, placement and budget," with Advantage+ app campaigns to "Drive more app installs" and Advantage+ sales campaigns (formerly Advantage+ shopping campaigns) for sales.
That moves the agency's job. When Meta picks the audience, placement and budget split, our view is that the agency controls four things: the creative that goes in, the conversion signal that comes back, the structure that lets a test be read, and the speed of the loop between them. A Facebook ads agency that still sells its value as audience-building is selling the part Meta now automates. The argument in full is in the networks know your users, so the creative is the targeting.
What a good Meta ads agency does every week
- Reads last week's results in your data. Installs, trials or purchases from your MMP, store or order system, set against what Ads Manager reports.
- Writes briefs from those results. Each new concept should exist because something in the data suggested it, not because it was next in a content calendar.
- Makes and launches new concepts. Enough that the auction has fresh options before the current ones tire. Our budget math for how many is in how many UGC ad variations to test per week on Meta.
- Tests one variable at a time. Meta's developer guidance for split tests says to "test only one variable at a time" because it "helps you identify the specific difference that drives better performance."
- Checks the signal. Events firing, deduplicated, and matching your own counts.
- Logs what it learned. A written record of what was tested, what happened and what it changes in the next brief.
| Weekly job | Evidence to ask for |
|---|---|
| Results read in your data | The report, with the source of each number |
| Briefs written from results | Two recent briefs and the data behind them |
| New concepts launched | A count per month, by concept, not by resized variant |
| One variable per test | A test plan with the variable named |
| Signal checked | The measurement plan and the last audit |
| Learning logged | The log itself |
Our creative testing framework for Meta and TikTok sets out the structure we use for step 4, and creative fatigue is the reason step 3 never stops.
What kinds of creative run on Meta: a read from Flixr Studio
A Meta ads agency needs range, not one house format. Flixr Studio, our own tool, reads public ads from the Meta Ad Library. For this page we counted the game ads it had read: 12,311 ads from 23 game brands, launched between October 2024 and November 2026 (nearly all since July 2026) and watched since October 2026. A model labels how each ad was made.
| How the ad is made | Share of read ads |
|---|---|
| Gameplay-led | 34.9% |
| Story, CGI or animation | 20.0% |
| Motion graphics or static | 17.9% |
| Skit, then gameplay | 16.2% |
| Creator over gameplay | 6.7% |
| Live action | 2.2% |
| UGC talking head | 0.7% |
| Character to camera | 0.7% |
| Other | 0.7% |
No single type is more than about a third of the set. This is a count of what game brands chose to run, not of what performed, and it covers games only, so read it as a picture of range rather than a recipe. Our read for any buyer: ask an agency to show you work in at least three of these types, made by the people who would work on your account. For an example of one type, our showcase has I Came Back Angry, a UGC piece for Small Giant Games. If you are casting creators yourself, our free UGC creator search is a starting point.
What the Meta Business Partner badge tells you
Meta says "Meta Business Partners are companies with a unique ability to help businesses grow" and that "Those who qualify get recognised for excellence with a Meta Business Partner badge." Companies apply "across a number of technical and creative solutions", with ad tech and messaging among Meta's examples, and Meta says "Eligibility criteria varies by solution type, and is typically a combination of the quantity and quality of your company's work across Meta technologies such as Facebook, Instagram and Messenger."
So the badge tells you Meta has looked at the volume and quality of a company's work in a particular solution area. It does not tell you which area, how much creative the agency can make, or whether its clients look like you. Ask which solution type the badge covers and treat it as one input, not the decision.
Measurement a Meta ads agency should set up
For web and commerce, Meta says the Conversions API creates "a connection between an advertiser's marketing data (such as website events, app events, business messaging events and offline conversions)" and "Meta systems that optimize ad targeting, decrease cost per result and measure outcomes." For apps, the agency should read installs and in-app events in your MMP, alongside Apple's privacy frameworks on iOS.
Then the harder question: did Meta add demand, or take credit for customers you would have had anyway? Platform ROAS cannot answer that. A holdout can; see incrementality testing for ad creative.
Questions to ask a Meta ads agency
- Will the ads run in our ad account, with you added as a partner?
- How many new concepts (not resized versions) will reach the account each month, and who makes them?
- Show us a recent test plan. What was the one variable?
- Which number will you be judged on, and in which tool is it read?
- If you have the Meta Business Partner badge, for which solution type?
- Who works on the account each week, by name and role?
- How will we know Meta is adding demand rather than re-counting it?
Red flags
- The agency owns the ad account or the pixel.
- Reports only in platform ROAS, with nothing from your own data.
- Creative is "your side".
- Many variables changed in every test.
- The pitch is mostly about audience targeting that Advantage+ now automates.
- No measurement plan before launch.
How a Facebook ads agency is usually paid
The common models are a fee for the team's time, a fixed fee for a defined set of deliverables, a percentage of media spend, and a performance incentive on top of a fee. Each has an incentive worth checking: a percentage of spend pays more as spend rises, and a performance bonus is only as good as the measurement behind it. Flixr does not publish pricing; it is a conversation after we have read your account.
Questions people ask
What does a Meta ads agency do? It runs your Facebook and Instagram advertising: campaign setup, a steady supply of new creative, testing, measurement and reporting. With Advantage+ automating audience, placement and budget, most of the value is now in the creative and the measurement.
Is a Meta Business Partner agency better? It has met Meta's criteria for one solution type, which Meta says typically combine the quantity and quality of its work. That is a good signal, but check that the badge matches what you need and that the agency can make the creative.
How do I choose a Facebook advertising agency? Ask whose account the ads run in, how many new concepts it ships each month, how it structures a test, and which number it is judged on. Then ask to see a recent test plan and the log of what it learned.
Should a Meta ads agency make the creative too? On Meta's automated campaigns, our view is yes, or it should work closely with whoever does. The creative is the main input the agency still controls.
Is a Facebook ads agency worth it over in-house? It is worth it when you need creative supply and testing discipline faster than you can hire them. If you already have a steady in-house creative team, a buyer who briefs them well may be enough.
Sources: Meta, Meta Advantage+; Meta, Meta Business Partners; Meta for Developers, Split Testing; Meta for Developers, Conversions API; Flixr Studio, public Meta Ad Library game ads, read 9 Nov 2026; Flixr, About.