Who is Benefiting From the Decline of Facebook Marketing Effectiveness

Quite a number of brands are *still* scrambling to keep up with the decline of Facebook marketing effectiveness. Sometimes I get asked, what is benefitting?

Here's what I see....

* Google and Amazon. Both are intent-driven engines, meaning people mostly don't go there to "discover" - they go to buy, and it's driven by search. Facebook is more about discovery of brands you don't already know.

Amazon is still a monster. Not changing soon.

* Walmart's growth continues to be strong, particularly their marketplace. Also their ad offerings.

* Tiktok: I think despite suffering the same issue as FB in terms of effectiveness, most brands are underinvested here generally. Trends are the younger generation is here, and not on Facebook, and I would not look for this to reverse soon. Hence potential here for many brands.

* SMS. This is one channel that has more potential in brand's budgets, relative to other channels they are likely investing in like SEO and e-mail, which has become a "grind it out" incremental play. The content and engagement is different than e-mail, so if you are still just driving the same email offers to SMS (what most are doing), you are not yet optimizing the channel. Hence my point here -- there is more potential here.

* Wholesale. While starting a new store on your own is a big investment (see: AllBirds, Warby), there are still two options that are trending higher. One is a Shop in Shop within a major retailer - for up-market brands Target is the most popular destination. For mass-market brands, it's Walmart.

I continue to be amazed at how well-positioned Target is. I think AllBirds for example will need to spend more time here, even outside of their own stores.

* Catalogs: This can be a great awareness play for your brand, particularly in concert with a strong Spring or Fall campaign. There's a reason you still get so many catalogs to your house, it's because even for D2C brands it drives "organic" online traffic.

Here's a sneaky one over the next 2 years:

Look for Apple to launch a new "privacy-driven" ad platform. Definitely allocate some budget to test it out in case they launch in 2022. In case you didn't realize, Apple has 187 open jobs related to its Ads Platform currently.

#ecommerce

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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