George: Hello, welcome to another episode of the Clear Ads Podcast, Highway to Sell. We have my dear friend Josh here with us today. Josh, thank you so much for joining us.
Josh: No problem at all. Thanks for having me, George.
George: For context—Josh has run Facebook and Instagram ads for brands from small startups to Just Eat, the Financial Times, monday.com, and even Nike. Josh and I went to secondary school together and reconnected at the start of this year. We’re doing some stuff together now—very exciting. Josh, I’d love you to share how you got here after university.
Josh: I’ve always been into marketing, so I did a Master’s in Marketing & Management to really understand the theory—how to get attention, drive purchases, build brands. After that I joined a big ad agency and learned a ton: TV, digital, the whole ecosystem. Then I started my own thing—first with smaller brands, word of mouth kicked in, and it grew. When TikTok started blowing up, I didn’t dismiss it; I treated it as another way to reach people. Back then everyone thought it was just dancing, but I began posting educational content on Facebook ads and it took off.
George: Do you remember your first TikTok post and the engagement compared to other platforms?
Josh: Yep—2020. My first post hit 14,000 views in under two hours. Compared to other platforms, TikTok’s reach was on another level. I was one of the few teaching ads, so it stood out. Brands like monday.com and Currys reached out from TikTok for video marketing.
George: For listeners in the U.S., monday.com is a popular work OS, and Currys is a major electronics retailer in the UK.
Josh: Exactly. That visibility led to more clients and growth. Around the same time, I also launched an e-commerce backpack brand that caught Richard Branson’s attention—he invested, which helped us scale.
George: Amazing. You run Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads day to day. What common issues do you see when brands come to you?
Josh: Two big ones. First, account setup: business manager isn’t structured correctly, pixel/events misconfigured—people think boosting a post is enough, but prep matters. Second, campaign structure: running one image to tons of interests and calling it a day. Meta has evolved—creative variety and sensible audience structure are crucial to give the algorithm the signals it needs.
George: Meta’s changed a lot. What negative and positive impacts have you seen?
Josh: Negatives: iOS 14/15—performance was still there, but data visibility tanked. We had to rely on UTMs, third-party tools, modeled data to make decisions. Over time, attribution has improved. Also Meta removed interests tied to ethnicity/religion, which hurt brands targeting specific communities. I’ve worked around it with behavioral/geographic proxies—for a U.S. Christian streetwear brand, targeting Southern states outperformed after religious interests were removed.
George: Nice workaround. Any positives?
Josh: Big one: Reels analytics—we can see where viewers drop off to optimize hooks (first 3 seconds) and structure. Meta also keeps adding better creative diagnostics, which helps iterate faster.
George: What day-to-day tools or built-in features do you rely on that others might overlook?
Josh: Two simple ones:
-
“Why am I seeing this?” on a post/ad—great for deducing audience traits competitors use (age range, gender, interests).
-
Facebook Ad Library—see active competitor ads and their offers. If an offer’s clearly working, I try to one-up it (e.g., “delivery in 2 days” vs. their “5 days”).
George: What biggest factors determine whether a Facebook ad campaign succeeds?
Josh: The offer. Ads are just paid content with a job—if the offer isn’t compelling, performance suffers. Also, think platform economics: it’s a bid system. If a competitor’s targeting/offer is strong, match or beat it until fatigue sets in, then rotate.
George: What are the must-haves before someone should even run ads?
Josh: Three things:
-
Organic presence—you don’t need 300k followers, but post consistently. It proves relevance, gives you creative learnings, and builds trust when users check your profile.
-
Product selection—promote best sellers or genuinely new (but strong) collections. Ads amplify what already converts.
-
Landing experience—ads bring people to the party; the page converts. If clicks don’t turn into sales, fix speed, clarity, social proof, and UX before blaming ads.
George: What tactics are working really well for you right now?
Josh:
-
Multiple conversion paths: Run website conversion and “Call” as a secondary action—great for categories like furniture where some customers want to talk first.
-
High-quality lookalikes: Build LALs off behavioral cohorts (e.g., first-purchase AOV ≥ $100) rather than generic purchasers—brings in higher-value customers.
-
Combine those with ongoing creative testing guided by reels drop-off data.
George: Where do you see Meta ads going—what opportunities are emerging?
Josh: Meta’s leaning into hardware—Oculus and Ray-Ban smart glasses—to capture real-world signals. Expect new placements and targeting dimensions from those data points over time. They’ve also launched Instagram Search ads—showing ads in search results opens intent-rich inventory similar to Google/Amazon environments.
George: Anything important we haven’t covered?
Josh: Keep Meta’s incentive in mind: they want users to stay on platform. Create engaging, native-feeling content that users enjoy. When your ads improve user experience (watch time, interactions), Meta rewards you with cheaper distribution—win-win for your KPIs and their platform.
George: For those who want to reach you: website is goldstarsocialmedia.com. Anywhere else?
Josh: TikTok: @yoshybearj (80k+ followers, lots of tips). YouTube: Yoshy Bear J. I’m active on both.
George: Josh, thanks so much—tons of value today. I’m excited to keep learning what’s happening outside Amazon. Appreciate you!
Josh: Thank you for having me, George. Take care.
