The "golden days" of small business social advertising are behind us
and I'm strangely okay with this
Advertising has become increasingly more difficult for performance marketing in the Facebook ecosystem. Competition for ad inventory has never been higher; Meta’s U.S. net revenue for Facebook Ads jumped 32% in 2021 to $50.3 billion dollars.1 Facebook’s interest targeting got debuffed as part of a settlement with the ACLU, and additional changes (“Special Ad Categories”) were made in compliance with the FHA. Apple placed further discomfort on advertisers by presenting a data tracking opt-out in iOS 14.5 and later.
To use a phrase coined by my former business leader, Simon Chen, there was a time when sniper marketing could score you incredible returns. Social ads were a quick fix. They solved problems, and you didn’t have to think too hard about them. You could reach the right audience at the right time, every time.
Advertising on Facebook these days feels less like wielding a sniper rifle than it does spinning a sign on the side of a busy street to motorists blasting by at breakneck speed. Truly, absolutely, the “golden days” of ad arbitrage are behind us. And they aren’t coming back.
Even Meta’s own employees (sorry, uh… Metamates?) say that Facebook Ads is no longer a simple growth lever for small businesses.
You may see marketing gurus suggest leaning into TikTok. They might encourage you to dig deep into your pockets to license the best social listening tools and attribution software. They might say conversational marketing is the future, or to put your trust in the hands of an influencer. They might tell you to prepare for the metaverse, or turn your product into an NFT. They might even suggest old habits die hard—bring back your EDDMs and email drip campaigns.
These suggestions aren’t necessarily wrong, but there are no more quick fixes to be had in the realm of social media. No single tactic is going to remotely come close to the core of the solution: brands need to be authentic, passionate, and creative with their entire go-to-market strategy.
Being authentic, passionate, and creative includes assembling a talented team to make a great product that people will adore. Brands will need to tell a story that makes purchasing the product a purposeful and impactful experience. Companies will need to focus more on providing customers with a sense of omotenashi—from start to finish—that will encourage them to talk highly about their experience long after the final touch. One of my colleagues put it succinctly: shock them with greatness; kill them with kindness.
So while the “golden days” of social media advertising will soon be a distant memory, the future is not necessarily bleak. On the contrary, scarcity breeds creativity and we have yet to see some of the best products, best advertising, best experiences, and the best stories. I for one am excited for this future.
Schomer, A. (2021, Nov. 4). Facebook Advertising 2021: Identifying Strategies for a Post-IDFA, Post-Pixel Reality. Insider Intelligence | eMarketer. https://www.emarketer.com/content/facebook-advertising-2021
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