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