Are you on Instagram and FaceBook?

I read that 1 in 4 post on those platform are now Ads.

I also read that in order to maintain demand (and revenues) that Insta is now ramping up even more of those intrusive ads, and if you're one of those people who've clicked on an ad before, then hold onto to your digital Insta pants because your feed will no doubt get flooded with even more adverts. 

Facebook’s own documentation also makes clear that ads are served based on a user’s engagement across its platforms — not just your engagement on Instagram alone:

Ads are shown to you based on your activity across Facebook companies and products, such as:

  • Pages you and your friends like.
  • Information from your Facebook and Instagram profile.
  • Places you check in using Facebook.

You have to ask yourself the obvious question which is 'WTF' is all this doing to the brand and user experience at the expense of short term revenues?

“Social media will play an even more important role in marketing post-COVID-19, as many retailers are slashing marketing budgets to preserve cash to cope with the crisis, especially those that previously relied on traditional forms of marketing such as television and billboard adverts,” 

As more and more web browsers are having to adapt or die in the increasingly draconian world of data privacy, the impact is being felt none more so than in the industry that continues to assume the mantle of 'Emperors New Clothes, which is that of the programmatic ad tech industry. 

If you use Safari then the intrusive ad industry has almost given up on you, which for me is a great thing, what about you?

A technical solution that allowed brands to bid in real time and stretch their message to as broad a number of people as possible is finally having to wake up to the fact it has truly shot itself in the ad tech foot.

The industry is literally being held together with a thin layer of ad tech adhesive tape, namely the Chrome browser. 

Much of the current programmatic demand is being funnelled into Google Chrome – where cookie matching, frequency capping, retargeting and measurement is still possible. 

Safari has become the wasteland of programmatic buying with demand falling away. That can be seen in the disparity of eCPMs between Chrome and Safari.

Every company and media buying agency around the world that uses ID tracking to be able to report back on the effectiveness of advertising has just been given the equivalent of advertising 'castration' by Apple.

June 24th 2020 Apple announced iOS 14, its new mobile operating system for iPhones and iPads. Apple essentially castrated the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) and Neutered it. They rendered it basically useless without actually killing it.

Not only are there now 1 in 4 people adopting ad blocking software, not only is there forecast to be circa $100 Billion in ad fraud by 2023, but without a doubt, last years introduction of the GDPR has at last started to make companies think about the madness of ad tech and how the wild west mentality and blatant abuse of personal data is simply switching off you and me in our millions. 

There is an alternative way, but it relies on brand going 'cold ad tech turkey' for a period of time.

Take a moment to consider the following industry stats;

  • Less than 2% of Employees regularly share or create employer related brand content.
  • Over 33% of Employees are unclear on what to post and how it could benefit their employer.
  • There is a 561% increase in audience for your brand message when shared by employees vs sharing via the corporate channel.
  • 90% of your employee network is new to your brand meaning you are opening up previously untapped audiences.

How about investing in up-skilling your employees to use social media as way of providing a genuine and authentic voice, rather than the corporate message, or an extension of your customer service department.

It relies on going back to basics with storytelling and creativity, it relies on those brand being prepared to 'listen' to it's audiences, it relies on those brands becoming more socially engaging.

And it totally relies on brands moving away from the standard 'quick fix' of reach which is driven by the 'advertise and promote' thinking that's led to the Tsunami of intrusive advertising that's pissing people off.

There is an alternative way - ask me how?