Uh oh… Facebook’s in trouble

Jeff Roman

All is not well in the world of Facebook.

Word has it the social media giant was caught lying to their advertisers once again.

According to recent court filings, Facebook has been inflating the potential reach for advertisers on their platform.

The Verge first reported this discovery from a 2018 California lawsuit. The claim? Facebook “knowingly overestimated its ‘potential reach’ metric for advertisers.”

This overestimation exists because Facebook doesn’t exclude fake or duplicate accounts from their numbers.

For instance, the filing reports that Facebook told advertisers it could target 100M people 18-34 years old in the U.S. But there are currently only 76M people aged 18-34 in the country.

Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg knew about the issue, but failed to inform Facebook’s advertisers. It’s assumed the company refrained from making changes because of the impact on their bottom line.

This is the third time Facebook has been caught lying to its users:

Facebook hasn’t faced major repercussions yet for these errors, but with an ongoing antitrust suit in the U.S. and publisher content controversy in Australia, we expect to see more trouble brewing for them soon.

So what does all this mean for you?

Building an Email List is More Important Than Ever

Social media can be an amazing tool, but it’s just that — a tool. A well-rounded marketing plan doesn’t rely too heavily on one platform or tool, because at some point they will fail.

That’s why it’s so important to have an email strategy.

No matter what stage you’re at in your business or organization, now is the RIGHT time to invest in building your email list.

Here are a few reasons why:

  1. On average, email marketing sees a 4,300 percent ROI for U.S. businesses.
  2. Email is fully yours. You can connect directly with your audience without algorithms or ad spends.
  3. Email is targeted. Your subscribers are already interested in who you are and what you do.
  4. 91% of consumers check email at least once daily. This means email is a smart move for all business types.

Email allows you to regularly show up in front of your audience. There’s no better time than now to bring in subscribers, build relationships and create followers who are loyal to who you are and what you do.

Take 10 minutes today and think through an email strategy for your brand or organization. Need help doing that? Chances are if we’re not already doing this for you, it’s time we schedule a call.