[social_warfare]

SHOW NOTES

What would happen to your business if Facebook marketing stopped working?

With all the talk in the online space surrounding the new iOS updates, a lot of people are afraid that the end of Facebook is drawing near.

I’m not so sure, but even if that’s true, I’m not worried.

Your marketing success does not hinge upon a single social media platform, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

Your marketing success comes from your marketing foundation.

So long as you have a rock-solid marketing foundation and the ability to adapt and pivot, you’ll be able to find success with your marketing ads, no matter what platform you hop on next.

Not sure what kind of foundation should consist of? No worries, I’m diving into all of that in today’s episode!
P.S. Need help creating a marketing foundation that will ensure the success of your business for decades to come? Apply to work with Team Hirsh today and book a free strategy with our team so we can tell you what your next steps to building that foundation should be.

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Emily Hirsh:

Hello my friends, welcome to the podcast. I hope you guys are having an amazing week. I have been. Yesterday we did a three hour meeting with my basically leadership team, anybody who manages people on my team, for the most part. And it was very much dedicated to our ads team, which is the biggest portion of my company, where we deliver clients over half of our team is in that department. We tried something new where we just did a three-hour meeting, and before the meeting, we all kind of listed out any struggle problem breakdown in our process issue that we were experiencing, or we thought the company was experiencing and then our proposed solution. It was amazing. I’ve never done something like that before. We have a weekly hour long meeting, but this was three hours, which sounds terrible, but it honestly went so fast and we got so much done.

And I just, my team is incredible. The amount of brilliance each one of these people bring to this meeting and ideas, but what was my favorite part was the debate. Somebody would have an idea and then somebody would add to that idea or say, oh no, that isn’t actually a good idea because here’s the cons. And we’d like bounce back the whole time, back and forth around this. I was doing a lot of listening and we got, we resolved so many things, but also we created, the reason we did it was today we went into our monthly planning for the next month and we wanted to be considering all of these things and basically look at our business and say, our main goal are these few metrics. Obviously client retention rate and sales and, and profit. Like those are our main everything we do needs to support that, so let’s reevaluate and make sure every project we are putting on what we call our waterfall is moving the needle with those important metrics. And how are we going to measure that? 

For me, this was so transformative because I had this huge realization that I read a ton of leadership books. I’m constantly improving my leadership. I’m constantly open to feedback. I’m constantly asking for feedback to be a better leader. And I think without realizing it, what I used to do a lot in the past, and I’ve gotten better at it, but I would find a problem in the company and then say, oh, this is the, that’s a problem for you guys, let me solve it. And then I’m just going to tell you the solution. And I’m going to tell you, like, you know, here’s the new process or the new way we’re doing it, or the new thing we’re going to add in and I’m just giving you that solution. 

Well, instead of doing that this time, I said, you guys tell me the problems, I will tell you the problems I think we have, and then let’s all come up with the solutions together. And it was so much more powerful because if you think about it as an employee, what would you rather, would you rather someone come to you and say, I know we’re having this issue or this constraint and so here’s the solution, I found it, I solved it for you, and so you need to go and implement this new process. Or would you rather someone say, here’s the problem we’re having when you collaborate with me and come up with a solution so that you own a part of it, you own the project, or a piece to the project, or an idea to the project. It’s so much more powerful doing it, the latter. 

And so that was my big takeaway yesterday is we will be doing one of those once a quarter and bringing that, it built the bonds. It allowed me to be interacting with people who don’t normally report to me, but to see how I interact. And I’m so open to feedback. I think I always say that, but unless they see me in action doing that, they don’t necessarily realize that. It was incredible. That is not what today’s podcast episode is about, but I know some of you guys like to hear my team building things and I’m learning as I go. So I always like to share those really big things with you and takeaways I had.

Today’s episode though, you guys are going to love it. Today’s episode is what happens if Facebook marketing stops working. This has been on my mind, and I’m sure it’s been on your mind if you run Facebook ads, because the last like three to four months has been a rollercoaster, let’s just say, with Facebook ads. Between the election, and disapproved ads, and ad account shutdowns happening, and disapprovals with various ad copy. And then you got the new iOS update, which I did do a whole separate podcast episode on. It just feels volatile. They’ve got the censorship issues they’ve got going on, and people have got different opinions about it. Some people are leaving Facebook. Some people like it. It just feels a little bit volatile right now. 

And of course my mind is always on that, and I’ve been thinking through the scenarios, cause I always aim to stay two steps ahead of everybody else. And so like, what if something does happen to Facebook? What if for some reason advertising stops working on Facebook, or people have to decide to jump to a new social platform. And that will happen someday, Facebook is not going to be here infinity, forever. There will be a new social platform someday. I don’t know if it’s in the next year, five years, 10 years. I don’t know, but it will happen. 

So the question of what happens if Facebook stops working and then people will ask me all the time, well, you’re a Facebook ad agency so what happens if Facebook stops working for you? Like, what are you going to do? And so I’ve been thinking about this a lot, because to me I’ve always been like, well, then we’re just going to be on the new thing instantly because it’s not Facebook ads are not the end all be all. Yes, you have to learn ads, but so much of what I talk about, the process that I teach and the foundational components of what I teach are what makes the successful marketing strategy. It’s not Facebook ads. 

Facebook ads are a method for traffic that can be replaced in the future. Cannon will be replaced. Just like Google used to be crazy cheap to run ads, and then around 2007, they changed their algorithms and it got way harder. People adapted. They came over to Facebook. And that will happen on Facebook, and the small marketers will get, it will get harder for them. But what I have really reflected on is how, you know, why I feel like it’s not a big deal, these things that are happening, because first of all, we can’t expect things to stay the same forever exactly as they are today, or even a year ago and it just never changes. That’s not the world we live in. 

We live in a world where things are constantly changing, growing new things are launching tech companies, new rules. The data components of how much data Facebook’s been gathering and that having an issue, there will always be something like that. As much as we humans want things to stay exactly the same and for sure and stable, that’s not the reality. There’s no promise that Facebook is going to be here tomorrow, or in a week. And that doesn’t mean that your entire business will be interrupted because of that. 

Here’s what we do know 100%, at this stage in society, people will always have a massive social media component. That’s already been, people are already addicted to it. They’re already on it. It’s part of their definite habits and routines. It’s how they connect with people far away. You could never say tomorrow, we have no social media. You’re not going to use your smartphones. You won’t be able to connect with people. Your family across state or across the world, it’s going away. That would not fly because people would just create new companies, create new ways to do it. So we know for sure right now that there will always be a way for there to be social media. Now, whether that platform is Facebook forever, like I said, it probably won’t be, and Facebook is massive. So it’s going to be really hard for another company to come and take over Facebook, but it will happen someday. Again, it could be 10 years, who knows, but it will happen. 

Now that doesn’t mean, like I just said, that your business is reliant only on Facebook and that when Facebook, something happens to it, your business is going down. And so I’ve been thinking about this and why I feel this way. I think it’s because so much of what I teach is that foundation of what happens before the Facebook ads. And what I talk about is how you have to have this holistic marketing strategy, your messaging, your funnel, your strategy, your sales conversion, all of those components have to work. And then the Facebook ads is just how you get traffic. So if we know there’s always going to be a social media platform, whatever it is, whether it even exists today, or it’s a new one in the future, we can always go to that new platform as advertisers and market our business on there. But if we don’t have a solid foundation, if we don’t own the traffic we’re bringing in, and we’re not building that following, and we don’t understand our ideal customer and we don’t have a sales funnel, and a customer journey that converts, then it’s going to be very difficult for us to move over to a different platform.

So my answer for me personally, as a Facebook ad agency right now, because that is in my opinion and direct experience with data, the most effective and inexpensive way to get traffic is still Facebook and Instagram ads, a hundred percent. I’ve tried YouTube, LinkedIn, Google. Facebook and Instagram is still a hundred percent, even with the struggles they’ve had recently in terms of the iOS update, or shut downs, all of those things. You just have to figure out how to work around them because the other alternative is you’re going to shut your traffic off, which is not an option for businesses. 

So this is where the last podcast episode I talked about was like the ability to pivot and adapt. I think we’re in a very historic time right now, and over the next year, I think the companies who are able to pivot who are able to adapt to are able to be innovative, will thrive. And the ones who aren’t will not and will really struggle. So this is testing those entrepreneurs right now, but my answer to what if Facebook marketing stops working? It’s like, I’m going to take my entire marketing foundation and all of our clients marketing foundations, and we’re going to go to the platform that everybody is then on. And that everybody is marketing on because that will always, there will always be an option. I absolutely have my eye on Clubhouse and the new platforms, which you cannot market on yet. The second you can, you bet we will be, we will be testing that, we will be learning that, because the second that a large platform where there’s a lot of people already on it does open up advertising it will be like the beginning days of Facebook marketing when it was so cheap. And I cannot wait for that to happen. I hope it happens. I hope Clubhouse explodes and gets to large levels and then opens up paid ads. That will be amazing because the potential on there is going to be a lot because it’s not as saturated, but until that happens, Facebook and Instagram is still the most effective way to market. 

But what you need to remove yourself of is Facebook and Instagram is not the end all be all. It is not what is creating your success. It’s where your people are hanging out right now. It’s where you’re getting eyes on your brand, and your funnel, and your process, but it is not what is making or breaking your business. What’s making or breaking your business is your foundation. And what does your foundation consist of? It consists of knowing who your ideal customer is, knowing them deeply, knowing them, what they’re thinking about when they’re scrolling the feed, what they’re struggling with, what they’re frustrated with, what their objections are, what their dreams are. Not like, “oh, it’s 25 year old women who were working in the workforce,” or whatever. Not knowing, yes knowing that the demographic components of it, but then knowing emotionally, knowing your ideal customer, because that means you can create content for them and speak to them. And if you know your ideal customer better than anyone else better than they know themselves, you will always be able to create successful marketing campaigns, no matter what the platform is. 

So that’s one component of your foundation. The other component of your foundation is your actual strategy. How are you getting people to become a cold lead who has no idea who you are to a paying customer? That strategy is something you own and you can take to any platform. And it doesn’t matter, as long as your ideal customers there, as long as they’re hanging out there and you know how to talk to them, and then you have your strategy, whether that’s a webinar or a product or a challenge, you can take that there, and that strategy works. Then it doesn’t matter if Facebook stops working tomorrow. Because again, we know there will always be a platform where everybody is hanging out, a social media platform that is not going away anytime soon.

So your marketing foundation is critical to making sure that your business is solid, that your business doesn’t just depend on Facebook with no backbone for its success. This is where people who are just influencers, who just go after followers, who just go after that fame and recognition. Now I have nothing wrong with influencers, but I like to call them more influential entrepreneurs. They’re running a real company. They’re growing an email list. They are making sales. They have a strategy. They have ideally, they’re building a team if they’re big. They’re actual entrepreneurs who have an influential following and are influential in their industry, but they’re not just these influencers. 

So the people out there, to be honest, who are just trying to build their following so they can push products on their social media or, you know, make different claims and affiliate or whatever, like if that’s their goal, but they don’t have an actual business backing where they are growing, email leads are growing, their buyers are growing, their strategy are connecting with their ideal customer, that’s not happening. Then if something happens to Facebook and Instagram tomorrow, next week in a month, they will be gone. They will be wiped out if their entire business was based off of their Instagram following and showing up on Instagram, and then all of a sudden something happens. Those are the people who are going to be impacted. 

But if you know your ideal customer, you have a solid business backing, you have a strategy that you’ve been testing that you’ve hopefully eventually proven with ads, you’re getting a sales conversion, you’re constantly improving it, you just take that to the next platform. And of course, there’s going to be a learning curve if that is the case, but for me, I’m not worried if something happens with Facebook marketing because that’s not the end all be all right now, that’s the most effective and inexpensive way to get traffic to your sales funnel. That will not always be the case. In which case, we will pivot. We will adapt again. We will be ahead of the curve. I’m already watching for those things. But the reason our clients and students will succeed is because of how much emphasis I put into your marketing foundation. That is your business. Your business is not, “oh, I just wrote a successful ad,” or “I’m able to get people clicking on my Facebook ad and then that’s all I have going for me.” Your business is that foundation. 

So don’t let right now, the situation, if it feels overwhelming or volatile right now on Facebook and Instagram, specifically Facebook, just because the iOS updates, like people are very worried about it because of the censorship and the opinions. I think it’s getting better, but let’s just plan for the worst, right and hope for the best. But knowing that if you have a marketing foundation, you will be absolutely fine. 

And the other thing is this, I see sometimes people kind of sabotage their own business because they’re like, well, I’m too afraid about what’s happening, or how expensive that might be, or that it might not work so I’m just going to do nothing. And your options are pretty slim. Like if you want to grow your business, you have no choice in my opinion, but to either sell your time for money by hustling, and connecting, and networking, and building those connections and relationships, or paying for your growth. Ideally, you’re doing a little bit of both, but by paying for your ads, you’re getting all these eyes on your brand in a much faster way. You’re going to be growing your business, scaling your business more than it was yesterday, last month, a year ago. You don’t have a lot of options. I mean, you can go try to use Google ads. The same thing is going to apply to them in terms of they’re actually typically more expensive. I mean, less people are doing Google searches than they are scrolling Facebook and Instagram, which is why it’s so effective. So it’s not that. 

Sometimes I think people are like, well, Facebook ads are just like the most inexpensive cause Facebook charges people less. No, there’s way more people on Facebook and Instagram all day long and all night long than there are on any other social platform, Pinterest, YouTube. Really people spend, you know, five X time, I don’t know the actual metric, but way more time on Facebook and Instagram, which is why the ads are most effective. And there will always be a platform where people are doing that. If it’s not Facebook in five years, we will just adapt because we have a marketing foundation that we’re bringing over to that platform. 

I can’t wait for that to happen, like I said, because the ads will be cheap. It’ll be like the beginning days, like three years ago, you know, probably. I started ads five years ago and I know people who were doing it 10 years ago. I mean, it was dirt cheap when you start it. So I can’t wait for something like that to happen. I’m ready when it happens. And I know all of our clients and students will be so successful because of that marketing foundation. So stop thinking that a single platform, or a single element of your business is the end all be all, and create a foundation that you own, that is proprietary to you, and that you are constantly improving and putting out there because then you’ll always be fine. Thanks so much for tuning in today guys, I’ll talk to you next week.