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After the Facebook + Instagram shutdown in March, a lot of people started asking, “How long will ads work on these platforms?”

The day-long shutdown was a reminder that nothing lasts forever – everything phases out eventually.

But here’s the thing. I’m not at all worried about it! And in this episode, I’ll explain why.

Here’s a few highlights…

What to do in an already-saturated marketplace
The “new newsfeed” + what it means for your ads
And what YOUR role inside this industry should be about

If you’re worried about ads failing tomorrow, don’t. Facebook isn’t going anywhere, especially not overnight. Tune into this episode for my take on the future of ads on social media – and then head over to Instagram to share your thoughts! Tag @emilyhirsh for a shoutout.

Key Points:
[1:41] This is true, even after the day-long shutdown
[2:36] Here’s what you need to pay attention to if you’re advertising on social media
[4:47] Not everyone knows this
[6:21] But really, how long will Facebook ads work?

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Episode Transcripts:  

Emily Hirsh: I’m Emily Hirsh, and this is the Hirsh Marketing Underground Podcast. Attention innovators, influencers, creators and game changing entrepreneurs. Your internet domination begins right here. We are the powerhouse marketers that you’ve been looking for. You’re already making waves in your industry, and we’re here to help amplify those waves of change by creating a connection that cuts through the noise. We take everything you’ve built inside your zone of genius and find its audience. With killer strategy and laser eye for impact, we launch multi-million dollar campaigns and skyrocket your reach online. And now we are doing the unheard of. We’re unveiling everything we’ve learned, taking you behind the scenes with the Hirsh Marketing team, and giving away the secrets to our clients’ success. Stay tuned for top converting strategy, ROI reports, and insider knowledge that you won’t find anywhere else. You’re changing the world, and we’re the team to help.

In today’s episode, I’m going to answer a question that I received on Instagram actually, from a fellow podcast listener that I thought was a good one, which was, how long will Facebook ads still work in the industry?

I’m sure a lot of us ask this question, because everything faces out at some point. Well, I’m definitely not worried anytime soon that Facebook ads are going to stop working. But there are some answers I can give here and some important pieces about always staying top of mind and on top of the changes so that your ads continue to work for you. So Facebook and Instagram still are by far the number one social media platform in the world. Everybody is on Facebook, everybody is on Instagram. And so until that changes and another platform dominates, if that ever happens, Facebook ads are always going to work, because your market’s there and you can market to them.

Now, even with last week, the Facebook/Instagram shut down for an entire day, you didn’t see me freaking out about this. Yes, you want your email list. Yes, you want to have other ways to get in contact with your people. But Facebook ads and Instagram ads and those platforms are going to dominate for a very long time, I believe, because what they do is they change with the society. They change as people want new things, they roll out new things, and so they’re able to stay ahead constantly, and that’s why they’ve lasted this long.

But what’s important for you to watch here, with Facebook changes that have come up and with what is and isn’t working… And so some points I had is, number one, there is no question that the Facebook marketplace to run ads is saturated, and there’s no question about that. It’s been like that for a while, especially if you’re an influencer selling digital products, that’s going to become more saturated as more people learn to do this. What’s important there are things that we’ve talked about on previous podcast episodes that I’ll definitely reemphasize here is, you have to stand out. You have to stand out in your messaging, in your branding, in your content, in your value that you put out, and with your offerings.

If you’re not able to stand out, you’re going to blend in, and your ads are not going to work, 100%. A lot of this comes down to messaging and making sure that you have touched below the surface level of connecting with your ideal customer and your ideal audience, of being able to define the problems that your brand and your business solves. And really being able to create messaging and content that stands out in this saturated newsfeed, because your people are there, and they’re going to be there for a very long time. There is no social media platform that has even come close and will ever come close, in my opinion, to taking and dominating what Facebook and Instagram has.

So you have to stand out. That’s going to always become more and more important. How do you do that? You do that with your messaging. You do that with the content you put out. And you do that by being consistent. You do that by making sure you’re always putting valuable content out, that you’re not just showing up when it’s time to sell, but that you are constantly staying top of mind in your audience and building that trust with people. Building trust and that know-like-trust factor is going to become more and more important as the market gets more and more saturated than it already is, because it already is saturated.

The next thing to note here is that Facebook and Instagram ads are run in the same Ads Manager. But they are obviously separate platforms, and I don’t know if everybody understands that, and they still see them as like, totally separate. They are separate, but they’re run in the same Ads Manager, obviously owned by the same company. But people are moving more and more over to Instagram ads, and especially Instagram Stories. Stories have become the new newsfeed. People connect with the stories, because they want that live realtime updates and connection (connection, guys!) to people’s lives. And so that could mean that the majority of your ads that you run are on Instagram. I don’t know what’s going to convert for you exactly, but it’s something to really consider, because I am definitely seeing the trend that there’s more and more happening and converting on Instagram, because there’s more use on it. I know even me personally, I use Instagram Stories more than anything else, more than the Facebook newsfeed, more than Instagram newsfeed. I still scroll both of them, I definitely do, but Instagram Story definitely dominates.

And so, wherever people are spending their time, that’s where you want your ads to be. Which means, you really need to think about Instagram Stories and showing up on Instagram, both with ads, but also organically. That’s really important, because Instagram Stories, your followers will watch. And so if you just show up in the ads, they’re not going to know who you are, they’re not going be able to connect with you. And so to bring this all together, how long will Facebook ads work in the industry? They’ll work as long as people are on Facebook. They’ll work as long as your ideal customer is on Facebook. It’s your job to stand out and to provide consistent valuable content, and then unique connecting messaging to your people, so that people pay attention to your ads and to your brand.

There’s not going to be one day where you wake up and just, Facebook ads are not working. Your job is to adapt with any of the changes that come to the algorithm or to what is and isn’t working on social media or to the type of content people are consuming even more. That’s your job to pay attention to, but Facebook as a mode of like, putting out your content and connecting with people, I believe, will be around for a very, very long time. If there ever is something else, then we will know and see it coming, and then you just switch your strategies over there. But it’s not going to be one day where a light switch goes off and all a sudden Facebook doesn’t work anymore, definitely not. But you do have to stay ahead of the curve and with the changes, because changes do happen. Algorithm changes happen, Facebook rules and policies might change. What type of content people consume definitely changes, the way people consume content (stories versus newsfeed) changes. And that means staying ahead of that and then actually implementing it.

That’s why having the team really helps to be honest, because it’s overwhelming to stay on top of it. I mean, I have to keep my entire team on top of it for all of our clients, and it’s constantly changing. But right now, if you haven’t started to move over to Instagram, not solely on Instagram, but actually utilize it both organically and with … ads, you’re definitely missing out, because it is becoming the more dominant platform, and that’s also because a lot of the younger generation, even people in their 20s, are pretty much using … and I say this as 20-year-old. I mean, I use Facebook, too, but the younger generation is using Instagram. So as they grow up, and they get older, and they become in their 30s, Facebook will kind of phase out, maybe.

Once it does, then Instagram might be the dominant one, maybe there’s going to be somebody else, I don’t know. But it will work as long as your people are on there, and then it’s your job to stay ahead of the curve, and it’s your job to stand out. That is my answer to that question. Thank you guys for asking that. I think it is a good one. I think there is fear, definitely fear around, “What if Facebook ads stop working?” So don’t worry about that, because it’s not going to happen overnight, but it is your job to stay on top of what is and isn’t working within the platform for sure.

Thanks so much for tuning in. If you want to work with Team Hirsh and apply to work with us, you can go to HelpMyStrategy.com. We definitely are way ahead of the curve on what is and  isn’t working in the world of Facebook ads, and we always will be, because we have to be for all of our clients. And whatever is working, we will be on top of it. I think that’s where having a team comes into play, because it can be a full-time job staying on top of what changes, I mean it changes so fast. So, HelpMyStrategy.com to apply to work with Team Hirsh. Thank you so much for tuning in today.

Thanks for listening to the Hirsh Marketing Underground Podcast. Go behind the scenes of multimillion dollar ad campaigns and strategies. Dive deep into the Hirsh process, and listen to our most popular episodes over at HirshMarketingUnderground.com. If you loved this episode of the podcast, do me a favor and head over to iTunes to subscribe and leave a review, so we can reach more people and change more lives with this content. That’s all for now, and I’ll catch you next time.