Can you believe that Meta (Facebook) introduced ads in 2007. That is a long time and it means that this is not really a new form of marketing – it should be part of your mix.

Advertising is a type of marketing that always involves the spending of money. Many small businesses avoid paid ads in favour of organic marketing. This is a common misconception – that organic marketing is free. However, it still takes time and effort to create content, whether it is organic or paid.

The Shift to Digital

It is hard to think that 20 years ago most advertising spend was focused on the traditional mediums such as tv, print, radio and outdoor. Over time, we have watched digital marketing continue to erode the share away from these traditional advertising platforms.

The reality is that for traditional media, the market changed significantly and I am not just talking about social media. Lets consider how we spend our time. 20 years ago we may have all sat around as a family watching tv and tuned in during ad breaks. Now the whole viewing market has evolved and changed. We now have endless choice as to what to watch – think so many more channels, streaming services and apps for all the major stations. This has fragmented our viewing habits.

Add to this the rise in devices in our homes. Once upon a time we had a single tv and we had to agree (or fight) about what to watch. Now we all have our own devices with multiple tvs in our homes. There is no need to compromise on what we watch any longer.

All of this has had a negative impact on what we watch – this has made it harder for advertisers who rely on traditional media to connect with their audience.

On top of all these changes in our homes and habits, the time we spend on social media has been on the rise for years now. Our eyes are glued to our screens and we are addicted to the scroll.

These eyeballs on screens has meant good news for digital advertisers. The more time we spend on social media, the more ads that can be delivered to us.

It is anticipated that Meta will make around $120billion in ad revenue in 2023. This gives it around 13% market share of the digital advertising spend. Google’s share of this is around 28% with Amazon considered to be the other major player whose share of digital ad spend is around 7%.

So why should you consider running paid ads using Meta?

Running ads using Meta means you can get your ads in front of a huge audience. Every month Meta platforms reach almost 3 billion people (out of 8 billion on the planet). This means you can really get seen.

As well as have numerous placement options within each platform, you can push your reach with Meta ads allowing you to place your ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and audience network. It is so much more than Facebook ads.