Congress should protect personalized ads for business

Carla Sophia Layton

In today’s digital economy, attention is currency — and as a small business owner and media buyer, I know firsthand how hard it can be to capture the right audience at the right time with the right message.

That’s why Meta’s AI-driven personalized ad tools have become a cornerstone of how I help my clients grow and compete in a crowded market.

These tools aren’t just helpful — they’re transformative. They allow small businesses like mine to create tailored ad experiences that resonate deeply with the people who actually want to engage. We’re not just “running ads.” We’re building connections, sparking action, and scaling results that were once out of reach for businesses without enterprise-level budgets.

As a communications agency, I use Meta’s AI to analyze user behavior, fine-tune creative, and deliver ads that speak directly to the needs and desires of niche audiences. This means better performance for every dollar spent — not because we’re spending more, but because we’re spending smarter.

In one campaign, I used Meta’s AI-powered targeting tools to serve personalized ads to segmented customer groups based on their behavior and interests. The result? I generated 51 high-quality leads for just $16.42 — an average of $0.32 per lead. For another client, I unlocked a projected 49% improvement in conversion performance. A modest $1.44 daily budget increase led to a 48% rise in leads boost in online conversions — simply by letting Meta’s tools dynamically match messaging with user intent.

These tools allow me to do what used to take a full-time team — at a fraction of the cost — while offering data-backed strategies that get results for every client I serve.

That’s why I didn’t hesitate when I had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to speak directly with North Carolina legislators. I joined other small business leaders to advocate for something simple but critical: protecting the technology that helps us succeed.

We shared real stories — not hypotheticals — about how AI tools from Meta have made business growth attainable, sustainable, and scalable. These aren’t “nice to have” tools. For many of us, they’re the reason we’re still in business at all.

There’s growing debate in Congress about how to regulate artificial intelligence — and rightly so. Guardrails are necessary to ensure transparency and ethical use. But we must also protect access to AI technologies that empower small businesses and level the economic playing field.

Blanket restrictions on personalized advertising or AI-assisted marketing tools could unintentionally hurt the very businesses lawmakers aim to support. AI doesn’t just help big corporations scale — it gives small agencies and entrepreneurs the precision and power we need to compete.

If we want to keep innovation accessible to everyone, we need legislation that protects and preserves ethical, data-responsible AI for small business growth.

Meta’s AI-powered ad tools don’t replace human creativity — they enhance it. They help us connect with our communities, grow our brands, and create jobs. That’s something worth fighting for.

Congress: Listen to small business owners. Don’t take away the very tools that help us thrive.

Carla Sophia Layton is founder of Hello Socialite in Charlotte.

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