Meta Advertising is just over a year old, created when Facebook decided to change its name to “reflect its focus on building the metaverse”. In reality, Meta Advertising is Facebook Ads with a new name.
Facebook officially launched Facebook Ads in 2007 and acquired Instagram in 2012. As the two platforms dominate social media, they are ideal for introducing your business to a large audience.
Pros of Using Meta Advertising
- Audience size is the clearest advantage with 2.9 Billion (with a B) users as of 2022.
- 71.43% of the US population still uses Facebook regularly.
- A wide variety of ad types, mostly display variants (static, carousel, video, marketplace, catalog, instant experience, etc.)
- Cross platform advertising (Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and ads network)
- Meta Ads ad builder makes it easy to optimize your content so that it stands out.
Cons of Using Meta Advertising
- Oversaturation. The average Meta user sees 36 ads per day. Your content must stand out.
- Disinterest by users. An ad that feels like an ad may be overlooked when someone is just browsing their social media.
- Data Collection. This is a double-edged sword for us in the marketing business. Facebook not only builds your profile from your activity on their apps but also can track what you do outside of those apps if they have any integration with their platform. This info means your ads experience should be tailored to you, but the idea of data collection still bothers some users.
- Search features aren’t great. A search for shoes will show people, groups, marketplace listings, local stores, etc. This is why we recommend your entire brand personality be aligned with your marketing efforts.
How Meta Advertising Stands Up to Our Four Questions
When deciding whether a digital advertising platform is right for your business, there are four questions you should ask yourself.
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL? – Facebook and Instagram excel in display advertising, but Meta doesn’t have a specific search ad type. The ads you create can be discovered through search if you choose specific placements, but ideally, your customer’s searches should build their profile so that the platforms know to show your ads to them later. Meta ads, in general, are great for awareness and shopping. Most of us have fallen victim to a catchy ad and made an impulse buy on these platforms. They just make it easy!
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE? – This is where Meta splits. While the primary audience on both Facebook and Instagram is in the 25-34 age demographic (FB – 23.6%/IG – 48.63%) we see a distinct difference in the age demographic outside of that core. On Facebook, the 35+ audience makes up 54% of their users, while it only represents 13.65% of Instagram users. In a nutshell, if your brand trends younger, you should lean on Instagram more, but if you want to reach the older demographic Facebook is still king.
WHAT ASSETS DO YOU HAVE? – Meta has a great ad builder platform for video, photos, and turning photos into videos. While the ad-builder-created videos won’t win any awards, they are compelling and generate results. Also, Meta can be somewhat self-contained. An ad may lead a customer to your Facebook page or offsite. They can also prompt a call, give directions, or even link to a self-contained shopping experience.
WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET? – The amount different brands spend on Meta advertising widely varies, and there is no daily minimum. Meta Advertising can spread your budget across ad groups to let the algorithm optimize your spending for the best results. Small budgets, though, can create issues. Ads sometimes don’t get enough exposure to leave Meta’s learning phase, where the company finds optimization trends to help the campaign perform to its best ability.
A Final Note About Meta Advertising
Facebook is projected to continue to grow over the next five years. While not expected to overtake Google Ads for market share of advertising budgets, it continues to close the gap. If your business has a product that is photogenic, or needs to reach a niche market, the Meta Ads platform could be the right solution for you. Reach out to our marketing experts today to see what Meta Advertising can do for your business.