The Future of Facebooks Ads and how brands should adapt in 2018
As of today, Facebook is the world most powerful advertising platform because of the attention users pay to facebook. With over 1billion-plus users, 9 out of 10 persons in your neighbourhood is on Facebook.
These users consist of consumers of products and users of services. Any smart business not utilizing this asset will soon be thrown out of business because, in few years to come, purchasing decisions will be dependent on the number of fans a particular business has.
Initially, when social platforms emerged, businesses and marketers were still pounding on whether there is an ROI on using social media as a marketing channel. A little research conducted by me, made me realize that as of 2017, Facebook is the number one traffic source for top marketers and businesses compared to Google AdWords, SEO, youtube and the rest.
Since the establishment of Facebook, serval changes have been made to the platform to favor both the consumer (users) and producers (marketers/business) to help them meet their advertising goals.
But here is the problem, As more businesses and marketers keep utilizing this God sent platform, there is a probability that the effectiveness will decline and the cost of advertising (CPC) will rise just like Google AdWords.
There is going to be misinformation, bad content, non-appealing visuals, crowed newsfeed (too many contents to consume, some of which is not relevant to the user) and a lot more negative things. I believe that is why Facebook Edge rank exists, to kill such problem.
I am optimistic Facebook will keep making changes in upgrading its edge rank as more users come in.
JUST TO NOTE:
Edge rank is an artificial intelligence placed by Facebook to monitor your interaction on the newsfeed and always provide content of that nature or similar once on the newfeed. The more a user interact with a type of content the more the edge rank for that type of content get stronger. For instance, if you consume more of videos, the edge rank for videos will become stronger, thus allowing the algorithm to show you more videos on the newsfeed.
I will write a blog about this shortly.
since Facebook’s basic objective is to constantly provide value to its users while monetising the platform via ads, it’s in Facebook best interest to show valuable content in the newsfeed, so people will always have a reason to visit Facebook over and over again.
Understanding Facebook core principle should change the way you use Facebook for business.
Here are my predicted changes and advise on how you should continue using Facebook to boost your brand visibility.
Campaigns
The way users determine an effective ad, is obviously through serval clicks to the website, massive downloads, product purchases, basically meeting your campaign goals at the end of the campaign without necessarily looking at the social prove (likes and shares).
However, given Facebook core objective (which is to make the platform valuable to users), Facebook determines an effective ads when that ad tends to get huge social prove, likes, shares, and comment, this is an indication to Facebook that the content of the ads is valuable to the demography it is been showed to (as indicated in the CTR roll). Facebook will make the ads cheaper for you by dropping the CPC, charging you less to reach more people because Facebook believes your ad is valuable to the users.
On the other hand, if in serval hours or even one day into your campaign lunch, and your ads has low interaction, it is believed that either your ads is targeted to the wrong audience or is not of much value to the demography you chose, in this case, Facebook will increase the CPC, charging you more to reach few people… that is the only way I think Facebook can fight bad content on its platform.
My Advice
Smart business should understand that users are more likely to engage with information that educate or entertain them not one that need their debit card information.
When launching an ad, make sure to use strategies like inbound marketing to indirectly put our your sales information. For instance, if you are a shoe-making company, instead of directly telling users how much the shoe cost and preferred payment method, educate them on the texture of the sole, or why the shoe is suitable for a particular occasion.
This way, the user will seek to get more knowledge from your ad, than spending his/her money on something that can be bought somewhere else. With this strategy, users will then share the post, their cousin or brother can read too, which is more brand awareness for your business and an indication to Facebook that the ad is of high relevance. which will surely lead to a purchase of course!
Flexible Edge Rank Mechanism
As more users dive into Facebook, the Edge rank has to become stronger which will change facebook algorithm. As of today the way the edge rank works is by monitoring interactions by a user. in years to come, the edge rank will be more intelligent to figure out a user that likes only video, then allows the algorithm to show more of videos, or a user who watch videos for 1 minutes, allows the algorithm to show videos that are not more than 1 minute long to that users. This way your newsfeed is customizable based on your interaction.
My Advice
understanding that it takes less than 3 seconds for a user to identify and continue consuming a particular content, marketers and businesses show make sure that their content impresses a users within 3 sec. i think it is the more reason Facebook applied a 3 seconds rule to its video view time.
Visuals and creative
The medium to which you pass on information matters. a nice piece of content presented in an ugly way will be ignored. You don’t need to hire a graphic designer to make visual designs for your brand if you don’t have the budget, there are so many apps like canva which can help you make better visuals. But if you can afford the luxury of a graphic designer, it is worth the money.
My Advice
when running an ad, make sure to play by the 20% text rule and use a high-resolution image to gain users interest. Make sure your ad does not put out the sales message directly.
Even more Limitation of business page reach
As of late 2015 the organic reach of business accounts on Facebook where reduced, with the invention of advertising on Facebook. I think this was a move by Facebook to push businesses to boost their content to reach their own fans. Facebook was hugely critiqued, but I was positive because it’s for the good,
I think in 2018 and beyond the limitation of organic reach will be more intense with so many information battling for a space on a users newsfeed, it’s in Facebook best interest to show limited content to users based on interest.
ADVICE
upon the limitation, business pages like @goal-cast, @garyvee etc still, reach more fans without investing in ads. it is because of the high-value users derive from their content. Facebook will continue showing your content to users so far as it is proven to be valuable.
WRAPPING UP
In 2017, 2018, 2020, 2025, The difference between an ad and a normal post will be nothing. they both have to provide content, which will educate, entertain and inform your audience.
Social is not a Media (i.e.) don’t come to social media with the motive to make sales, users will ignore you because they know where to buy things when they need it. be strategic with your social media for business usage.
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cheers!
