The first email (1971). First Tweet (2006). Original iPhone (2007). Some firsts are recognised as turning points in the modern, tech-enabled world.
Now there’s another contender for the annals of history. The first time Facebook saw a drop in daily active users.
What’s all the fuss about?
Yes, it’s happened folks. Facebook (or ‘Meta’ as it would now prefer to be called), which has grown consistently across its entire 18-year history, recently announced that growth had stalled. In the last quarter of 2021, daily active users (users logging in each day) fell by around 500,000. From 1.93bn to 1.929bn.
On top of that, Meta also announced that advertising revenues had dropped. It also predicted lower-than-forecast revenue growth for the next quarter. The news caused shares to drop by more than 20%. Taking $240bn (£177bn) off Meta’s market value. This led to a 2% drop in the Nasdaq index. Quite a day!
What’s caused this?
Facebook attributed the drop in users to increasing competition from TikTok and YouTube. Although not a directly competitive ‘social media’ platform, TikTok in particular has been winning over young adults, taking their time and attention away from Facebook. This not only impacts Facebook’s daily users but has a knock-on effect on Facebook’s advertising revenue.
Facebook ad revenues are being affected by privacy changes on Apple’s iOS operating system. Last year it gave iPhone users the ability to opt-out of tracking, which many of them did.
What does it mean for school marketers?
Apple’s privacy changes make it more difficult for marketers to target and measure the success of their advertising on Facebook and Instagram. It’s uncertain just how many users have opted-out, but Facebook’s struggles would indicate that this is having quite an impact on advertisers.
According to Flurry, roughly 17% of people worldwide are opting into tracking, and only 10% of U.S. users have opted in (Flurry). ‘Opting in’ or ‘opting out’ impacts the way in which Facebook is able to receive and process conversion events from tools like the Facebook pixel. This means that remarketing or using lookalike audiences becomes virtually impossible. It relies on accurate data from the Pixel, which in turn, it can’t get as people have opted out. Confused yet?!
iOS 14 exposes third-party data access
Practically, this means that you will naturally see a drop in how many people filled out your open day form (a conversion) using Facebook’s data. In fact, it’s estimated that the drop will be the equivalent of between 20 – 40%. Facebook have also closed the time window on reporting. Where you may have had additional conversions popping into your data within 28 days of the campaign running, now you only have 7 days to see those conversions. Ultimately, it just doesn’t give you the full picture and a true ROI as the data just isn’t there.
With Facebook facing a drop in advertising revenues (estimated to be in the region of $10bn), advertising costs could also potentially go up for marketers. However, with stiffer competition from rivals, there’s even more impetus on Meta to innovate. They started last year with their own short-form video product Reels.
Should you be worried?
Good question. For now, we’d say that as long as you have realistic expectations and don’t rely on this as a sole method of advertising, Facebook is still worth using. Post iOS 14.5, our clients are still seeing sign ups for open days that can be directly attributed to Facebook. We recently advertised a Bursary Scheme for an independent school client and got 17 conversions directly attributed to Facebook. This worked out at a cost of £30 per lead, justifying the campaign spend. You just may not get as many as you previously did, so it all goes back to expectations.
Facebook still has 1.929bn daily active users, so it’s probably not quite time to delete your account yet. All brands, including your competition, are in the same boat. Although Facebook’s demographic is ageing, it’s still got a strong parents demographic, which most schools want to target.
For higher education marketers, it’s probably time to look seriously at TikTok and YouTube as part of your education mix. For inspiration, take a look at how other schools and colleges are using TikTok.
Our top four tips
Education marketers are pretty clued-up already, but here are our top 4 tips.
#1 Set up your Facebook account correctly to minimise IOS 14.5’s impact
This means:
- Verifying your domain and getting DNS verification.
- Setting up Conversions API.
- Choosing and setting up your 8 most important conversion events. (Standard or custom conversions such as ‘Register for an open day’ or ‘Download a prospectus’?)
- Ensure you are utilising UTM codes using a UTM builder such as Google’s Campaign URL Builder on campaigns. That way Google Analytics can still track your campaigns post the 7 day reporting window. This allows you to keep an account of the conversions that occur from days 8 to 28.
If this all sounds like hard work, then read our blog article here. We’ve done it and it’s more straightforward than it sounds.
#2 Don’t put your eggs in one basket
Don’t rely on one channel, such as Facebook. For a start, they own your data and followers. If your account gets hacked or closed, all those potential leads are gone. It’s still a great platform to use, but as part of a well-rounded plan.
#3 Think about your funnel
On Facebook there’s lower intent, so you’re unlikely to get users to sign up to a big ticket item straight away. We often advise our PPC clients to use Facebook ads to push people along your marketing funnel, where they’re more likely to engage directly.
#4 Embrace the video trend
There are always education marketing trends to keep on top of, but video is here to stay. Check that your video strategy is working for all stages of your buyer’s journey. Especially short-form video, as over half of viewers will watch until the end if it’s under 60s long.
Although Facebook’s unfortunate ‘first’ is likely to haunt them for a while, it’s probably not the beginning of the end, but rather a significant milestone in the evolution of social networking. And for marketers, it’s a useful reminder not to rely too much on any one platform.