Rise and Fall of Facebook Campaigns

Everyone that had to deal with Facebook Marketing in the last 15 months knows that, and judging after 15 months of everyday campaigns and sponsored ads; I assume it is a fact: something broke in Facebook, and it looks like it's pretty difficult to be fixed.

What follows is a list of problems, malfunctioning, and unexplained mistakes.

DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS

Let's talk about the IOS limitations. Well, that's only the tip of the iceberg!

Indeed, the new (not new anymore) checks of Apple devices on Facebook tracking users' movements stopped a lot of information from being tracked by FB. Still, the algorithm was not working anymore already by September 2020.

Do you remember what happened in that period? Yes, indeed, the new elections of the President in the States.?

Modifying its algorithm

My theory is that FB had to modify its algorithm to be on the safe side with this so crucial event; they were already accused of illegally using information four years before, and they needed to be definitely above suspicion.

So a lot of controls were introduced to guarantee legality. All right.. so far. But as any algorithm would do, the controls were excessive, and they trespassed the boundaries of political communication, negatively affecting the whole research system, with the result that it was almost impossible to locate the right interests through campaigns.?

Frantic attempts to be safe

The frantic attempt to be safe caused the algorithm to deviate from the communication and target the wrong people, bringing the results of sales campaigns to almost zero.

On top of that, FB was limiting, banning, or suspending people that had absolutely nothing to deal with politics, elections, candidates, etc. I myself was suspended from managing my FB accounts, asked to send documents, then permanently banned (permanently...) and readmitted 2 hours later.

The IOS limitations from Apple devices

Again, it's my theory based on everyday marketing experiences. Still, all of this happened in September and October 2022, while the IOS limitations from Apple devices were effective only in the spring of 2021. Not that they did anything wrong, but something was heavily changed in FB well before the IOS limitations came, and it would never come to normal flow again.?

CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED "PIXEL"?

Many know what the FB Pixel is, but to recap, it's a piece of programming code that is created by FB Business accounts, and then it can be placed inside the website; so your FB Account and your Website would start communicating information so that people that were landing on the website could be retargeted through Facebook.

This actually started not working anymore in the spring of 2021, when FB suddenly "lost" all of the Apple mobile users. So the Pixel was becoming useless, and unlike FB consultants who keep on recommending it, it still is. In addition, the FB algorithm makes "assumptions" and works through "similarities."?

Tracking or losing?

So the Pixel is still working, but it would only track Android mobile users and desktop ones. Right, but then, if I try to retarget them, I will only have the possibility of retargeting Android users, which is like cutting off the rest of half of the world from my advertisement.

As it was not enough, they advised on the FB Business account that IOS Apple mobile users could be not only not tracked but not even reached by casualty; I spare you the technical reasons here.

So let's recap: the algorithm doesn't find the right people, but even if it does, it's only the Android half of it. Mmmmmhh..

THE FREE ASSISTANCE from FB to ADVERTISERS

It has already happened to me several times. They wrote mail messages offering free consultancy for FB Ads.

In the past years, some outstanding professionals that helped me to optimize my FB Ads helped me. All went well. But recently, this is what happens: I receive a message which invites me to schedule a call with a FB consultant, which I do. Then I start to receive reminders like "Consultancy call in 2 days," "Consultancy call tomorrow," "Consultancy call in one hour, get ready in front of your computer..," and then no one calls. So you can picture me waiting in front of my pc with my phone in my hand, and after 3 o 4 reminders, nothing happened.

I have experienced this already 3/4 times; well, just between us, does anyone know what is happening in those offices?

SO WHAT KIND OF ADS NOW ON FB?

No kind. I had to stop the activity; as you may know, in the last quarter FB has lost billions due to advertiser withdrawal, see this article from NY Times

Will Meta rise to new advertising glory? Will the algorithm be precise again so we don't bother people with ads they are not interested in and find the right ones instead? Will our customer's money be used in a way that can guarantee any form of Return on Investment, as it was until September 2021? I still believe in FB, so I'll let you know if I see it coming back!

I will be happy if you share your experiences, conclusions or recommendations.

Gianriccardo Pera