As Facebook Clamps Down on Advertisers, Email Becomes an Attractive Alternative

In the wake of new Community Standards related to political advertisements and content, Facebook has delivered yet another blow to publishers and advertisers who once again find themselves struggling to maintain engagement on the world's biggest social platform. While many publishers and brands have built massive followings with advertising for which Facebook happily accepted their money, or communities they've cultivated well within the rules, Facebook is effectively pulling the rug out from under their strategies, forcing publishers and their sponsors to find new sources of audience acquisition and monetization. That means more content getting flagged based on a judgment call, which leaves some publishers and their advertisers continuously having to justify or defend benign content to keep it from getting pulled from the News Feed. Amid all of this turmoil, publishers and brands that can no longer rely on Facebook's massive audience for acquisition, engagement and monetization are scrambling for alternative channels to get their messages through with less friction but equal effectiveness. Therefore, when they've opted-in to receive content from publishers they trust, audiences are generally more engaged with the content because it speaks to their interests. And, because audiences trust the publisher, their trust is transferred by proxy to the brands featured within email ads, increasing the likelihood they'll click through and generate traffic for advertisers. Email is more targeted and relevant. Facebook relies on algorithms that prioritize what's popular to determine what shows up in users' News Feed, regardless of whether it's relevant to the individual user. And, because a single email address is rarely ever shared by more than one user, while Facebook accounts sometimes are (a husband and wife, for example), targeting through email is much more precise. By owning the platform, distribution and advertiser relationships, publishers have a much more reliable way of delivering the most relevant content and ads to their subscribers, thus putting brands in direct content with their most valuable audiences, without being at the mercy of third-party overlords