Marketing is all about 4 simple steps. Finding the right people, at the right place, at the right time and with the right message. And until last year, Facebook and Instagram did a pretty solid job of finding the right people. That has all changed with the introduction of privacy first from Apple and it’s not going to be long before we’re seeing the same roll out across Android. Right now, most people are complaining that their metrics are all over the place in Facebook ads manager. And they’re right. It’s crazy there right now. But, that measurement, or tracking has a bigger impact – the ability to target people effectively. So the root of the problem for many is that by virtue of not being able to target people effectively, they can’t get the results. 

This comes back to being able to target people based on their personal information or online behaviour. If someone typically consumed or interacted with X topic or product/service then you’d be able to target them. 

What is a great new consideration point for businesses is not chasing people based on their past behaviour but on their current behaviour. In the moment actions that define them as the perfect user. Facebook all along targeted people with the right message but potentially never in the right place or time. So there’s an opportunity here. 

Platforms like YouTube are a great alternative to move your budget to and here’s why. You can target the right people, at the right place and time with the right message without having to worry about privacy. Why? You can catch them in the moment by using Google Ads built in placement option. 

Let’s take a quick example. Say you’re a marketer like me chasing people who want their tracking set up. On Facebook I may have been forced into a position to target people who were interested in things like “Google Tag Manager” which is half way there at best. BUT on YouTube I get the opportunity to place my advert on the top ranking “how to” videos for setting up tracking and catch people while their in the high intent moment of researching how it’s done. They may not have any interest in it in general, they may just need that task complete. Now I’m leveraging content aligned marketing to catch people in their moment of intent, by targeting what they need to consume to get the job done rather than trying to follow them around online. 

This is just one of many potential tactics that’s a great starting point for moving some budget away from Facebook if it’s just no longer working for you.