Everything You Need To Know About The Gem Update

Hey Founder,

If you have been hearing everyone talk about Meta’s game-changing new ad algo update ‘Gem’ - but have been wondering what it actually means, (and what does it have to do with Andromeda) - read on while I clear it up for you!

Important note - this isn’t just another update - if your eComm brand is struggling on Meta right now, THIS is likely the reason. The good news is, we’ve been adapting to these changes for a while now and continue to see very strong performance across managed accounts.

Adapt now and it really is possible to turn your performance around.

First Up - What is Andromeda?

Think of it as the system that decides which ads get shown, to whom, and how often.

Before Andromeda:

• Meta relied heavily on tracking data (pixels, interests, lookalikes)

• Advertisers “told” Meta who to target

• Creative mattered, but targeting mattered more

After iOS14 broke tracking, Meta needed a new way to understand people.

So Andromeda was built to do one thing very well:

👉 Read your ads and predict who will respond to them

Instead of asking: “Who did this advertiser target?”

Meta now asks: “What is this ad about, who is it for, and who is most likely to engage with it?”

And it answers that by analysing:

• The visuals in your ad

• The copy and tone

• The format (UGC, founder, product demo, lifestyle, etc.)

• What happens after the click

Your creative is now the targeting.

That’s why:

• Broad targeting often works better

• Interest stacks matter less

• Ads that are “clear” outperform ads that are “clever”

Andromeda rewards ads that give it strong, consistent signals about who they’re for and what problem they solve

A quick but important side note: Creative Entity IDs

Meta doesn’t just judge ads individually anymore.

Behind the scenes, it groups ads that look similar into something called an Entity ID.

If Meta thinks two ads look basically the same:

• Same style

• Same creator

• Same background

• Same product framing

…it treats them as one creative, even if the copy is different.

That means:

• You might think you’re testing 10 ads

• Meta thinks you’re testing 1

This is why true creative diversity (different formats, contexts, creators, angles) matters far more than small tweaks to headlines or colours

So then… what is GEM?

If Andromeda is how Meta reads your ads,
GEM is how Meta reads your users.

GEM is Meta’s newer, higher-level AI system that looks at the full behaviour of a person across the Meta ecosystem.

It connects things like:

• What someone watches on Reels

• What they engage with organically

• What ads they’ve interacted with before

• Even behaviour over weeks or months

GEM doesn’t look at moments in isolation.
It looks at behavioural storylines.

And here’s the big shift most advertisers missed:

👉 Organic content is now an input into ad performance

Meta has confirmed that:

• Your organic posts

• Your Reels

• Your brand’s overall content signals

…help GEM decide how your ads are ranked and delivered.

Paid and organic are no longer separate systems.
They feed the same brain

How Meta’s GEM Update Is Transf…

How Andromeda and GEM work together (simple version)

Here’s the mental model that actually helps:

• Andromeda asks:
  “What is this ad, and who is it for?”

• GEM asks:
  “What do we know about this person, and how do they usually behave?”

When those two line up:

• Your ads get cheaper reach

• Delivery stabilises

• Scaling becomes easier

When they don’t:

• CPMs rise

• Ads stall

• Performance feels random

What eCommerce advertisers actually need to do now

You do not need:

• More complex account structures

• More targeting hacks

• More dashboards

You do need to adjust how you think about creative.

1. Think in concepts, not ads

Meta learns from net-new ideas, not endless variations of the same one.

Different:

• Angles

• Personas

• Formats

• Contexts

Beat “Same ad, new headline”

2. Treat creative as training data

Every ad teaches Meta:

• Who your product is for

• What problem it solves

• Which audiences exist

Creative isn’t just persuasion anymore.
It’s instruction.

3. Stop separating paid and organic

Your organic content now:

• Shapes how Meta understands your brand

• Influences ad delivery

• Helps open new audience pockets

Brands that post consistently (even imperfectly) have an edge.

4. Measure success at the campaign level

Under Andromeda:

• Individual ad ROAS matters less

• Spend distribution matters more

• Some ads assist rather than convert directly

You’re optimising a system, not a single asset

The big mindset shift

Meta is no longer just an ad platform.

It’s a creative + signal ecosystem powered by:

• Andromeda (ads)

• GEM (users)

The winners are no longer the best media buyers.
They’re the brands that can:

• Generate ideas quickly

• Show real variation

• Speak clearly to different customer mindsets

• Feed the system consistently

If you’re feeling like “creative suddenly matters more than ever” —
you’re not imagining it.

That is the game now.

x Jessie

Here are some more links if you want to read more shout-out Colby and Andrew for generously sharing their knowledge: