3 Digital Advertising Alternatives to Facebook Ads
Meta’s Facebook and Instagram ads have been struggling. With increased competition from TikTok, after allocating budget to pivot to the metaverse, and after Apple’s iOS updates, digital marketers are looking for alternate places to spend their advertising dollars.
Why Are Facebook and Instagram Ads Failing?
Okay, that’s a bit hyperbolic. Facebook and Instagram ads are still successful for some people, particularly toward the top of the conversion funnel. If you want to generate leads and attract new people to your products and services, Facebook may still be worthwhile. For others, it isn’t.
Digital advertisers started to notice a crash in their Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) throughout 2021. This comes after months of warning from Facebook that iOS14, which is now essentially fully adopted (less than 7% of iOS users are on an older version), would cause issues for advertisers using the Facebook Business Manager. Initially, digital advertisers didn’t see a big problem, and many tried to mitigate the issue with Facebooks’ Conversion API (CAPI), but unfortunately, many companies are not seeing a return on investment high enough to justify continuing with Facebook and Instagram ads. While Meta sorts all of this out, where could you allocate your money?
Google Ads
Many marketers who are new to digital advertising are more familiar with Facebook Business Manager, thanks to its easy-to-use user interface and fast startup time. Google Ads has made things significantly easier over the years with an updated startup wizard, a smart view (with the option to upgrade to expert), and easy-to-make ads utilizing the Responsive Display Ads.
If you are going to spin up a Google Ads account, make sure to set up Google Analytics 4 first. Google Analytics 4 will take over on July 1, 2023, and you won’t be able to port your old data over, so it’s smart to get set up now, even if you plan to use the older Google Analytics. That way, you can begin to accumulate data in GA4.
After setting up Google Analytics 4, head to ads.google.com and create a new Google Ads account. It should detect Google Analytics on your website and walk you through an easy setup process.
If you are a beginner, stay in the “smart” mode and let Google’s UI do as much of the work as possible. As you become more experienced, you can switch over to expert mode.
If you need help, feel free to contact me.
Run Ads on Other Social Media Networks Like TikTok and LinkedIn
Many of your favorite social media networks also have ad platforms. Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat and LinkedIn have ad platforms, but that doesn’t mean you should be on all of them. If you are a believer in inbound marketing philosophy, as I am, you probably have personas created for your company or organization. If not, here’s how I like to handle that >
When selecting social media networks (for organic or paid activity) think strategically about your resources and the time you have available to nourish this investment. Which of your personals match demographically with the various social networks? Are you looking to market to working professionals? If yes, consider LinkedIn. Are you looking for early adopters and younger audiences? Maybe TikTok makes more sense (although this social network is getting older).
Setting up advertising accounts for each of these social networks is made easy with a step-by-step guide, and if you are familiar with Facebook Business Manager, you’ll proably have no trouble understanding the setup and structure in these other options. Snapchat, for example, is remarkably similar to Facebook Business Manager.
Just as with other forms of digital advertising, spin up tests, monitor your activity, double-down on what is working, and cut what isn’t.
Run Ads on Connected Televisions, Digital Outdoor, and Audio Ads
It’s expensive to advertise on television and radio, especially if you are in an expensive market. However, there are companies that help you organize advertising on connected televisions where your ads can appear as commercials on streaming entertainment apps like Hulu. In fact, some of these companies can get your ads on podcasts and digital displays, too.
If you are a larger company, you may be able to spin up a relationship with someone like the Trade Desk. If you are a smaller company or organization, you may want to visit self-service portals like Choozle which allows you to set smaller budgets and target just the right customers or supporters.
Video spots during television shows and audio advertisements on Spotify, Pandora, and other platforms are great ways to deliver highly targeted ads, and it’s obvious how this works in a digital world. Billboards and outdoor display advertising is getting closer and closer to the SiFi movie Minority Report, thanks to digital displays that allow advertisers to display ads in specific locations and at specific times. It won’t be long before your phone sends a signal to these digital displays and custom ads are delivered to you as you walk by. BlipBillboards is a great product to keep in mind, but this activity can be organized out of Choozle, too.
A few things to keep in mind: First, ROI can be trickier to track here, and two, if you plan to organize and maintain this activity yourself, you’ll need creative assets to apply to your ads. That means images, audio, and video to serve as the advertisement itself. If you need help generating creative assets, including videos, contact me.
