Is Facebook, excuse us, Meta in Trouble?

Meta, previously known as Facebook, released its quarterly earnings last week. The numbers revealed the first decline for the company in its 18-year history. The dip signaled that the core app, Facebook, may have reached its peak. If you want to know more about why this happened, this article sums it up well.

Is this surprising to you? It shouldn’t.

We’ve all known for a while now that the Facebook app - platform, not parent company - has not been “hip” for a while now. Instagram, the younger sibling has taken the spotlight.

Enter, TikTok!

Let’s deal with the elephant right away. Even the younger sibling hasn’t been able to keep up with the new popular kid on the block. TikTok’s growth has been unprecedented so far and it’s not showing signs of stopping.

Is this the end of the Facebook platform, should you move to TikTok for ads to promote your business?

Not so fast! This is where the story gets complex. Each platform, be it Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter or TikTok have different characteristics, audiences and are popular with different industries or geographic territories. So it’s not always about picking a channel and sticking to it no matter what, simply because it’s trendy.

Let’s get something out of the way: it’s never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.

So ideally, yes, diversify. Be on all channels. IF you can afford it: with funds, time & resources. Let’s be realistic though, aside from huge international brands, most brands cannot afford to be active on all channels in the proper way that works for each.

Let’s zoom it to the battle of the titans now. Do you refocus your efforts from Instagram to TikTok or do you utilize both equally or stay on the former?

If we look at some history, Meta went through this before. What on Earth were “stories” before 2016 when Instagram released it? Actual stories you tell or read? Yes, but not if you were a Snapchat user since 2013. Instagram cloned it and that was pretty much the death of Snapchat - except for some select regions (like the US & some Gulf states).

According to Facebook, it struggled to monetize Stories at first - people were consuming content fast and skipping through typical ads. Fast forward to today and it’s a big money generator for the platform. Brands & marketers got the hang of it with the help of the platform itself and some best practices & experimentation. We’re now living the same process with Reels. Instagram cloned Reels. Meta is unable to monetize it… yet.

Do you want to bet against a behemoth of the Internet companies?

We’re not so confident we’re ready to do that. When you have such deep pockets and resources, you’re bound to figure things out. It won’t be easy, but it’s not exactly impossible. We’ll just have to wait and see.

What you should do in the meantime is definitely explore the other channel and try to get into it - IF IT MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR INDUSTRY & BUSINESS.

TikTok is an enormous wave - that has already made many rich - but it’s not an easy one to ride. It can take you places but you have to learn its ways and the way goes through CONTENT - even more so than other channels. It’s still more or less driven by organic-looking content (think Instagram in the early days! When brands didn’t enter that green field).

Like it or not, the digital marketing landscape today is ever shifting and to be a successful brand, you need to be flexible but above all informed.

Having doubts on how to steer your digital efforts, get in touch and let’s chat.