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> Our view is that Facebook and targeted ads are a lifeline for small businesses LOLOLOL - I service only small businesses (hundreds of them) and 90% of them c

> Our view is that Facebook and targeted ads are a lifeline for small businesses LOLOLOL - I service only small businesses (hundreds of them) and 90% of them could give 0 fucks if Facebook disappeared from this planet tomorrow. The whole "targeted advertising" pipe dream sold to small businesses is tiring. Highly targeted Facebook ads work for a small percentage of business models - if you don't fit one of these models it's a giant waste of money or at least on par with print/radio/tv/un-targeted digital ads.

wil421 6y ago
Most small business owners I know have had more success maintaining a FB/Social media page than doing targeted advertising. Or even just doing simple SEO to get on googles results page.
- josefresco 6y ago
  Organic Facebook (not paid) is still a viable marketing channel for many of my clients. However Facebook is decreasing organic reach to force these businesses to purchase ads. The ideal targeted-ad-scenario that Facebook and ad agency talking heads promote just does't apply to most small businesses. Unfortunately most are still FOMO'd into purchasing these ads. The same could be said about SEO/Google Ads. Google is essentially a paid search engine now so while SEO will work for some sectors, for most they will never be #1 because the top 3-4 results are ads disguised as organic results (hence why I say Google is a paid search engine)
  - freehunter 6y ago
    I ran a business where the target audience was on Facebook and the numbers were just shocking. We had about 3500 followers. If I didn’t run any ads, our posts would only be shown to maybe 200-300 people total, out of the 3500 people who actively make the choice to follow our page. As soon as I turned on $1/day ads (the lowest FB allows), those numbers skyrocketed to about 1000 people seeing each post. Still far short of the number of people who went out of their way to tell Facebook that they wanted to see my posts. Every dollar I spent per day increased that number. That convinced me that Facebook won’t give business pages the traffic they’ve earned unless that business pays Facebook to let that page’s followers see that page’s posts. It’s a racket and you have to pay to play.
dannyr 6y ago
Sadly, in a number of countries (like Philippines), small businesses have presence only on Facebook properties because FB controls the distribution. Facebook made a "charitable" act to make it zero-rated that people's access to the internet is only thru Facebook.
- hinkley 6y ago
  That’s called dumping. We have laws against that in the US, but in practice they are very very slow to enforce them.
hinkley 6y ago
Maybe it’s just me but that line sounds kind of sinister anyway. Like the opening line of a racketeer trying to extract protection money.

wil421 6y ago

Most small business owners I know have had more success maintaining a FB/Social media page than doing targeted advertising. Or even just doing simple SEO to get on googles results page.

josefresco 6y ago
Organic Facebook (not paid) is still a viable marketing channel for many of my clients. However Facebook is decreasing organic reach to force these businesses to purchase ads. The ideal targeted-ad-scenario that Facebook and ad agency talking heads promote just does't apply to most small businesses. Unfortunately most are still FOMO'd into purchasing these ads. The same could be said about SEO/Google Ads. Google is essentially a paid search engine now so while SEO will work for some sectors, for most they will never be #1 because the top 3-4 results are ads disguised as organic results (hence why I say Google is a paid search engine)
- freehunter 6y ago
  I ran a business where the target audience was on Facebook and the numbers were just shocking. We had about 3500 followers. If I didn’t run any ads, our posts would only be shown to maybe 200-300 people total, out of the 3500 people who actively make the choice to follow our page. As soon as I turned on $1/day ads (the lowest FB allows), those numbers skyrocketed to about 1000 people seeing each post. Still far short of the number of people who went out of their way to tell Facebook that they wanted to see my posts. Every dollar I spent per day increased that number. That convinced me that Facebook won’t give business pages the traffic they’ve earned unless that business pays Facebook to let that page’s followers see that page’s posts. It’s a racket and you have to pay to play.

dannyr 6y ago

Sadly, in a number of countries (like Philippines), small businesses have presence only on Facebook properties because FB controls the distribution. Facebook made a "charitable" act to make it zero-rated that people's access to the internet is only thru Facebook.

hinkley 6y ago
That’s called dumping. We have laws against that in the US, but in practice they are very very slow to enforce them.

hinkley 6y ago

Maybe it’s just me but that line sounds kind of sinister anyway. Like the opening line of a racketeer trying to extract protection money.