Marketing Briefing: ‘Put more effort elsewhere’: How the Facebook outage could renew calls for diversification in ad spending

By Kristina Monllos

The global outage of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which began on Monday shortly before noon EST and lasted until nearly 6pm EST, may become another reason for marketers still reliant on the platform to diversify media spending.

While platform outages have occurred previously, the length and reported impact of this outage may make it more meaningful for marketers who are still heavily reliant on the platform. It also happened a day after a Facebook whistleblower, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, revealed her identity in an interview with 60 Minutes.

“Most already were [looking to diversify] but I think this is the final straw for a lot of brands to put more effort elsewhere,” said Chris Mikulin, co-founder of performance marketing agency We Are Kulin. “It’s tough though because for some products nothing beats [Facebook].”

Of course, calls for direct-to-consumer brands to diversify media spending and be less reliant on Facebook are nothing new. Last fall, conversations about diversification started to accelerate for myriad reasons. This year, that’s continued with iOS 14 changes affecting performance and targeting capabilities.

“If those who haven’t listened and still kept all their ad spend on Facebook/[Instagram], it should have them pause and think about if this was during Black Friday,” said Duane Brown, founder of performance marketing agency Take Some Risk. “They should already be moving ad spend to Google, Amazon, digital OOH or anywhere else to not put all their eggs in one basket.”

It’s unclear yet if marketers will move ad dollars this week as a result of the outage. Some buyers said that it’s unlikely to have a major impact on advertiser spending. One buyer called the outage a “mild nuisance” and the move to truly diversify would be too difficult for some. Others believe it could help sway some marketers who’ve been hesitant to diversify media spending, said a second buyer that this is the “time to drive that message home” and that Monday’s outage “is another easy example of why” diversification is needed.

“More diversification [has] been on the minds of a lot of DTC brands,” noted David Hoos, performance marketing manager at Outloud Group. “Between iOS 14, iOS 15, and supply chain issues heading into the holidays, I think more brands will try to expand beyond ‘what’s working best.’”

Even so, some buyers don’t expect the outage to have much sway for advertisers who haven’t yet diversified their spending. “Old habits die hard,” said Brown. “So I don’t think it will [impact spending] for some.”

The overall impact for advertisers on Facebook is unclear. Especially since big and small players in the ad industry have already flirted with — then ultimately returned — to Facebook’s channels. In summer 2020, a mass boycott of big name brands against the social media company showed Facebook’s reliance on small business ad dollars.

Press representatives for Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this week’s outage.

“Outages are an inconvenience but not the end of the world,” said Brendan Gahan, …read more

Source:: Digiday