Facebook is an excellent social media platform to advertise your business. However, for the past couple of years, I have been experiencing a variety of scam ads, repetitive irrelevant ads, or straight-up annoying ads that just ruin your browsing experience on Facebook. And I cannot be the only one who is experiencing this. So, these instances got me thinking: are people in South Africa losing their trust in Facebook ads?
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Do People STILL Trust Facebook Ads in South Africa?
Facebook ads, quite frankly, have been non-relevant plenty of times. However, in my personal experience of browsing Facebook, I see a few ads that do quite well… at least on the surface. Plenty of interactions, loads of engaging comments… and all that jazz.
The median age of Facebook users is around 30-35 years old. Besides that, plenty of Boomers and Millennials browse Facebook and actively interact on a daily basis. These conditions provide advertisers an excellent opportunity to advertise all sorts of products through Facebook. Because chances are, these people will likely buy it.
So, if the chances of people interacting and buying products through your ads are high, why do I feel like people are losing their trust in Facebook ads?
Reasons People May be Losing their Trust in Facebook Ads in South Africa
…And Facebook as a platform as a whole.
Scam Ads or Posts
Facebook is a popular choice for running scams via ads or spreading misinformation (which often goes viral). These scams either focus on targeting a desperate young audience who are unemployed or on scamming older people for their money.
Now, with increasing awareness, people understand how to stay away from something that ‘sounds too good to be true’. But such awareness may also hurt honest, small businesses who are trying to run an enticing ad.
Some people may not interact with your ad because it may just look too good to be true, even though it could be a reality for your business. People have learnt to give everything a sceptical eye—a behaviour reinforced by encountering scam adverts multiple times.
The Emergence of Suggested For You Content
Facebook has shifted from being a personal platform to a full-blown corporate-owned social media platform.
If you have noticed, Facebook has become less and less personal over the years. It does not feel like you truly exist on the platform.
In the competition of retention, Facebook now shows you more and more ‘popular’ or ‘suggested for you’ posts rather than updates from your friends. This particular experience was horrible at first, but at least they are getting the hang of it now.
And now, most people have gotten used to it as well. But it comes with a drawback.
There are many unwanted suggested posts, so Facebook users just zoom past them. In the process, they also tend to zoom past an ad if it is not really having any user retention value. And if enough people scroll past your ad like that, you are likely to see a performance drop in your adverts.
Meta’s Advertising Platform is a MESS
God forbid you ever run into any issues while using the Facebook Ad Platform.
Meta’s Help Centre information seems to be outdated, and Facebook support is often unintuitive, riddled with automated responses with seemingly less to no actual human support. I, personally, got into trouble with Facebook Ad Centre over a payment method issue. And even after a year, I am struggling to get a real response from Facebook.
Why do we, or rather, did we use Facebook?
Facebook is a social media platform. The core idea behind this platform was to help others connect with their long-lost friends, distant buddies, and so on. It is a platform made for interactions, sharing, and spending time together. And of course, when you want to advertise on a platform like that, people are understandably unwelcoming towards it.
Despite this fact, there is no doubt that people have gotten used to advertisements on Facebook. Regardless of the increased number of sponsored posts you encounter on Facebook, the social media platform still experiences success with BILLIONS of active users. You may think that is great news. However, the majority of us frequent Facebook users have developed an ability to ignore ads as if they are just unwanted pests.
So, should I Market my Business on Facebook in South Africa?
You absolutely should.
This is majorly an opinion-based article that reflects my personal experience with Facebook and how unintuitive the platform seems to be. While I would not personally recommend Meta, or at least Facebook, for advertising, I urge you to take this opinion with a grain of salt.
Unless you have tried Facebook Ads by yourself, please keep an open mind. Facebook Ads is nevertheless a great (if not the greatest of them all) platform to advertise in South Africa. It may work wonders if you already are an established business with some reputation. If you are a business selling products or offering blue-collar or cuisine services, Facebook might just be for you.
The Bottom Line
Do try Facebook ads yourself before making an opinion. It is true that Facebook does have problems that affect honest advertisers negatively. Regardless, businesses are all about taking that leap of faith sometimes, and Facebook Ads could be your leap of faith. You may even go viral!
That being said, there are a few things that can make your Facebook advertising strategies enticing. We will talk about them in the next article.
Meanwhile, did you say you needed a social media advertiser in South Africa? I just got the thing for you here: Digital Lime Green. We are a humble, solution-driven web design and digital marketing agency in Cape Town. For more information, feel free to check out our website or contact us today!
