As Meta adapts, some small businesses have begun to look for other avenues for advertising. Shawn Baker, the owner of Baker SoftWash, an exterior cleaning company in Mooresville, NC, said it previously took about $6 worth of Facebook ads to identify a new customer. Now it costs $27 because the ads aren’t finding the right people, he said.
Mr. Baker has started spending $200 a month to advertise through Google’s local business marketing program, which his website pops up when people living nearby are looking for cleaners. To compensate for those higher marketing costs, he has increased his prices by 7 percent.
“You’re now spending more money than you used to have to do the same things,” he said.
Other tech giants with first-party intelligence are benefiting from the change. For example, Amazon has piles of data about its customers, including what they buy, where they live, and what movies or TV shows they stream.
In February, Amazon first disclosed the size of its advertising business — $31.2 billion in revenue in 2021. That makes advertising the third-largest source of sales after e-commerce and cloud computing. Amazon declined to comment.
Amber Murray, the owner of See Your Strength in St. George, Utah, which sells stickers online for people with anxiety disorders, began experimenting with ads on Amazon after the performance of Facebook ads deteriorated. The results were remarkable, she said.
In February, she paid about $200 for Amazon to place its products at the top of search results when customers looked up textured stickers. Sales were $250 a day and continued to grow, she said. When she spent $85 on a Facebook ad campaign in January, it only brought in $37.50 in sales, she said.
“I think the golden days of Facebook ads are over,” said Ms Murray. “On Amazon, people are looking for you, instead of you telling people what they should want.”
