How Facebook's Demise Will Change Digital Advertising — And How Your Brand Can Adapt

When Facebook announced that it would discontinue its advertising program, it sent shockwaves through the digital advertising world. The reasoning behind Facebook's decision is clear: The social media platform is becoming too expensive to maintain. With Stories and other features taking up a lot of resources, Facebook can no longer afford to subsidise advertising. This means that brands that rely on Facebook ads will have to find alternate platforms or methods of marketing to reach their target market. 

Although this may be frustrating for those running campaigns, brands have plenty of opportunities to adjust and adapt. This article will discuss possible ways for brands to keep up with changing digital trends.

Brands Turn To New Platforms

Facebook's share of digital advertising spending is forecast to decline from 33% in 2016 to 24% by 2021, according to eMarketer. The Causes of Facebook's Decline Digital ad spending is projected to grow from $136.9 billion in 2016 to $207.8 billion in 2021. However, Facebook will still account for a smaller share of total ad spending (24%) than Google (34%). Here are four reasons why Facebook's share is declining: 

Competition From Newer Platforms: 

More and more brands are turning to newer platforms like Snapchat and Instagram because they offer better user experiences and allow you to reach a broader audience. 

Changing Consumer Behaviour: 

Consumers are increasingly using their phones not just for socialising but also for shopping and accessing information. Brands need to expand their marketing strategies beyond Facebook to reach consumers. 

Lack Of Innovation: 

While Facebook has made some changes, such as adding live streaming capabilities, it has yet to make significant updates since 2012, leading users and advertisers to move away from the platform. 

Issues With Data Privacy: 

As Facebook gains more access to users' data, concerns have arisen about how advertisers can use the platform. While there are ways to protect your data on Facebook, others have turned elsewhere because of these concerns. Brands that have yet to shift their focus towards other platforms may be disadvantaged.

Businesses Focus On User Privacy

With Facebook announcing that they are discontinuing their 'closed' platform for businesses, many businesses have started to focus on user privacy. This has caused digital advertising to shift and change as well. Here are five ways your brand can adapt to stay afloat:

Start Putting Privacy At The Top Of Your List When Developing Digital Advertising Strategy

Facebook's decision to close down its business platform has caused many businesses to reevaluate how they collect and use data. As a result, many are starting to put privacy at the top of their list when developing a digital advertising strategy. This includes ensuring that all data is collected ethically and securely and being transparent about its use.

Embrace Data Collection Consent Forms

Many businesses have been quick to adopt consent forms to gain user data. These forms require customers to give explicit permission before personal information is collected or shared. Doing so ensures that customers know what data will be collected and why it is needed.

Use Behavioral Targeting Techniques More Constantly

One of the most effective ways to target ads is through behavioural targeting techniques. This involves using data about a customer's past behaviour to create an ad that is more likely to be clicked on. However, this requires lots of customer data which Facebook has now decided not to provide. So, behavioural targeting will need to be done indirectly through other means, such as remarketing.

Interactive Content Dominates

As tech giant Facebook loses users and Pageviews, digital advertising is shifting to interactive content. This shift will significantly impact brands, who must adapt or suffer the consequences. In an era where people are increasingly turning to their phones and other devices for entertainment, information, and social networking, traditional advertising methods - like banners and pop-ups - need to be revised.

That's because people now spend more time on their phones interacting with content than they do watching ads. And since most of the interactions people have with brands occur on social media networks like Facebook, these networks would become the primary platform for advertising.

But brands can still hold onto traditional advertising. Instead, they should focus on creating engaging content that can be distributed through social media platforms in a natural way for users. And they should also consider using interactive ads instead of banner ads - which are incredibly ineffective now because of how often people scroll down their screens.

Conclusion

Facebook's announcement that it will no longer allow ads to be placed on Pages, Groups and Events created outside of the Facebook platform is a massive change for digital advertising. This move has far-reaching implications for brands and their advertising strategies, so they need to understand what this means for them. Facebook has always been an invaluable tool for brand awareness and engagement. Still, with its new policy limiting the reach of these ads, businesses will need to rethink their advertising plans.

Author Bio

Tobin John holds a PhD degree from a prestigious university. He is associated with one of the best online Business Plan Writing Services and has provided professional business writing services for over 15 years. After completing his Master, he started providing online business writing services on different platforms. Once his PhD was finished, he professionally joined service providers and now works for them.