I was reading Ben Settle's email this morning, and he said...
"Some of the bigger and more successful business owners he [Settle's business friend] knows who are seriously worried about their lack of engagement, sales, new customer acquisition, low quality leads, and the list goes on this year."
During this email, Settle talks about why he thinks this is related to inflation, and the amount of debt most people owe these days.
But I have a different theory.
I think people are just getting sick of marketers.
As an elder millennial, I remember when we used to go hang out with friends for hours. We'd talk, gossip, laugh, and forge real relationships.
That doesn't happen anymore.
Now instead of making friends, people spend most of their time with an electronic device. I have to admit, it was fun at first.
I got my first iPhone in 2009, and I couldn't wait to use it scrolling MySpace and Facebook. I loved seeing what my friends were up to, and reconnecting with old friends.
But social media has slowly changed over the years, and I think people are starting to catch on to what it has become.
Facebook used to be for friends only.
I was one of the first people to use Facebook; and for a whole three years, Facebook didn't have any ads. The only only content you saw came from people you were "friends" with.
In 2011, Facebook launched an ad program called "Sponsored Stories." Sponsored stories were nothing like they are today. These stories came directly from your friends, and you would have seen this content anyway even if it wasn't sponsored.
In 2012, Facebook launched it's mobile ads program. Before this program, you wouldn't have seen ads on your phone.
And for the next 10 years, ads on Facebook have become more and more sophisticated with each passing year.
All of the other social media platforms have followed suite.
It's not just Facebook overdelivering on ads, and underdelivering on actual connection. It's everybody.
I think it was a few years ago, when social media platforms as a whole decided that they weren't going to show as much content from people you were "connected" with on their platforms.
So now, when you're scrolling through your feed you'll see something like this....
Stranger... Ad... Stranger... Stranger... Ad... Stranger... Friend... Ad...
This is the Truth - Where you used to see your friends all of the time on social media, now you're being marketed to 90% of the time.
And it's like this on every single platform.
This has literally killed conversion rates for most businesses.
You don't have to be a genius to figure out that getting leads, impressions, and sales are getting more expensive everyday.
It's to the point where if you aren't an extremely skilled marketer, it might not even be worth it to be on social media. I know someone who was a $350 product with paid ads on Facebook, and they couldn't even break even.
Why?
Because with all this ad sophistication, users have become more sophisticated as well.
Is there anything you can do about this as a marketer/business owner?
Yeah, you can stop trying to sell sh*t on social media.
People hate being sold, and they're now sophisticated enough to understand exactly what you're doing when you advertise on social media. So don't do it.
Instead, you need to focus on building a community. After all, isn't that what social media is for? And engagements are still really high for online communities.
Need help building a community for your business? No worries. I can help you with that.
I usually do at least a few consults every week... So if you'd like I can look over your business model, and pick out some opportunities that you might be missing out on.
Just email me at diana@rainmakersunited.com, and we'll schedule a time to talk strategy.