Meta owner, Mark Zuckerberg has announced that his company has laid off 11,000 employees. As you’re probably aware, Meta is the parent company that encompasses several social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. If your company relies on Facebook ads to run marketing campaigns, you’re probably concerned about the impact of this news. Many digital marketers are also looking for reliable alternative sources of traffic. And native advertising might just be a great option. Read ahead to learn more about how native ads work and if you should shift your advertising to this source.
Relying on a Single Source of Traffic is Never Advisable
As expert digital marketers advise, relying on a single traffic source is never advisable. If you’ve been sourcing your traffic only from Facebook, you’re likely aware of the company structure. And laying off 11,000 employees will undoubtedly impact its functioning and efficiency. Especially if you’re running an eCommerce company and typically maximize your sales from Facebook users. Having multiple sources in the mix is always a prudent move.
Customer Buying Trends Are Also Shifting
Another challenge eCommerce companies now face is that the phenomenal growth during the pandemic has slowed. That’s because, more customers are now shifting toward retail and malls to enjoy the in-store shopping experience. Shopping is now more about going out, meeting with friends, and entertainment rather than just making purchases. People are making up for the time spent at home in the last couple of years. As a result, revenues and sales are no longer growing and could even be dropping.
Let’s talk about the impact of this trend on your eCommerce company. You’ll also want to measure the effect on your Direct-to-Customer or D2C sales and Facebook marketing campaigns. Considering the high inflation rates in European and American locations and weakening purchasing power, you should be prepared for lower sales.
Having Multiple Traffic Sources is a Practical Thing to Do
As an established brand, it makes sense for you to have a multi-channel marketing strategy with multiple traffic sources. And native advertising could prove to be a valuable addition to your portfolio. When we talk about native advertising, names like Outbrain, Taboola, and RevContent are the biggest players. However, several smaller platforms are offering you similar options.
Before moving forward, it’s essential to know that native advertising is a strategy. It is not the name of a specific company or agency. Essentially, you have multiple agencies offering you this option. This is great news since, unlike Meta, you’re not relying on a single company to bring you traffic. So, even if a specific channel were to close down, you can simply switch to alternatives without affecting traffic. That makes your marketing investment super secure.
How Advertising on Facebook Works
Let’s talk about Facebook. This platform has an algorithm and offers you target-based advertising, which is all about directing ads toward a specific audience. You can select the appropriate settings to reach customers from different demographics according to the product niches. You’ll target audiences of a particular age, gender, location, income level, or more. In this way, your marketing is done in the middle or at the bottom of the funnel. Your audience is already familiar with the products and brands and likely to convert with just a few clicks. So, you’re not really targeting entirely cold leads and prospects.
But, Why is Native Advertising a Good Option?
That’s probably your next question. Native advertising is the direct opposite of Facebook marketing. You’ll target an entirely cold audience with native ads. These people have never heard of your brand, product, what it does, and why it is a good purchase. They may not even be aware that they have a problem that needs solutions. And there is a product out there that can solve that problem. You’ll raise this awareness with the help of an advertorial.
That’s what native advertising expertise is all about. It’s about publishing legit copywriting that is compelling enough to convince the audience within a short 600 to 800-word editorial. You might even consider it aggressive and highly effective marketing that gets results you can measure in real-time. You’ll convert an entirely cold audience into a hot purchasing prospect. An additional advantage is that you don’t need extra investment for multiple retargeting strategies and touchpoints.
Native Advertising is Ideal for Scaling Your Business
The exciting thing about native advertising is that it works throughout the year to get you traffic. Not so with Facebook. Company owners using both Facebook and native ads as traffic sources often talk about how Facebook seems to struggle. Higher Cost Per Mile or Cost Per Thousand (CPMs) and Cost per Click (CPCs) make it challenging for advertisers to maintain their campaigns. More so, when they are trying to scale their business and acquire more traffic. On Facebook, traffic seems to level off, which is why switching to native advertising seems like a great option.
Even so, you should be prepared for higher CPMs and CPCs on native advertising also–especially during Q4. However, you can rest assured that the CPAs are unlikely to go through the roof, making them unaffordable. Customers continue to place orders and make purchases without impacting the Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).
Native Advertising Has Its Challenges
The bottom line to remember is that, like most other marketing strategies, native advertising does have its share of challenges. The most important is the higher initial setup costs. You should also prepare to be patient before the results start to come in and the campaign is profitable. The good news is that once the traffic starts to roll in, it will only continue to increase. You’ll also notice higher conversions, sales, and profitability.
Yet another benefit of investing in native ads is that it's super easy to scale, even in Q3 and Q4. You might just see purchases worth $30K, $50K, and $60K per day on one product and one country, which is phenomenal. More so, because native ad campaigns are not engagement-based; they are purely performance-based.
In Conclusion
If you’re running an eCommerce business on platforms like Stripe, Shopify, and Meta, their layoffs will, undoubtedly, impact your business. Further, in the coming months, the eCommerce industry might not see as big a growth as it has in the last couple of years. This is why, at this time, relying on a single platform or traffic source may not be a good strategy. You might want to start marketing campaigns on multiple channels. And, while you’re exploring your options, consider adding native advertising to the mix. Do take the time to check if native ads are a good fit for your business.
Not sure where to start? Check out our site at https://purple-black.com/. We are a native advertising-only agency with accreditation from the Forbes Agency Council. What do we do? Purple Black helps you acquire profitable traffic by running performance-based campaigns on traffic sources like Taboola, Outbrain, RevContent, and more. We run effective marketing campaigns that are now popularly called native ads. Get in touch with us to schedule your free consultation, and let’s get started.
