Social Media Advertising In the #DeleteFacebook Movement

In the wake of international and political uncertainty, much has changed about the world we live in, and the way we operate in it. But this reality has never been more true for advertisers in a rapidly changing, heavily scrutinized industry.

In this day and age, it is almost impossible for a marketing strategy to succeed without a social media component. Whether it’s simply gathering data about your audience, or actually showing them relevant advertisements, social media should play an important role in any marketing strategy.

Facebook, the most popular social media platform for advertisers, has been under heavy scrutiny in the last few months over privacy and security on the platform. Because of this, many individuals, companies, and advertisers have removed their pages and advertisements from the platform. For example, many prominent figures such as Cher, Steve Wozniak, Jim Carrey, and Will Ferrell deleted their pages from the platform, in addition to large companies like Pep Boys, Tesla, and SpaceX. Companies including Commerzbank and Mozilla have deleted all of their Facebook ads, as well.

Compare the highlighted metrics from February to March. Notice the overall reach increased by almost 30%

All this commotion might leave organizations wondering whether or not it is prudent to continue spending money advertising on the platform. Why continue to spend money advertising on a platform that people are leaving? Although understandable, this mindset is actually inaccurate. Although it is true that the majority of people are unhappy with, and/or distrustful of Facebook and their leadership at the moment, it would not be wise to remove ads from the platform, as your traffic will not necessarily decrease.

In the wake of this controversy, we have been monitoring some data from our Social Media clients to see if their accounts would be impacted by the movement. We found that although many users have left or stopped using Facebook, between the months of February and March, our client’s traffic actually increased across both Facebook and Instagram.

As the face of digital advertising changes on a regular basis, it is important to have a well-qualified, experienced team managing your social media accounts to ensure that qualified traffic is not lost. By managing advertisements effectively in spite of change, you may find that your organization can actually gain traffic, while most others lose it.

The fact that their reach increased despite all the controversy shows just how ingrained Facebook has become in the daily lives of billions across the globe. Facebook, for the foreseeable future, will continue to evolve, and maybe even face greater regulation, but will continue to be an effective platform for organizations to expand their mission. So don’t give up! Make sure you have a dedicated team that can handle the nuances of each platform, and optimize your ads so that you don’t miss out on opportunities like this to gain valuable traffic.