PPCChat | What now? Navigating ad platforms decisions | 14th January 2025

During this week’s PPCChat session, host Julie F Bacchini sought experts’ views about recent changes to Meta announced by Mark Zuckerberg. Here is the recap of the entire discussion.

Here is Mark Zuckerberg’s video where he talks about the changes he is making to Meta, specifically fact-checking and other policies: https://about.fb.com/news/2025/01/meta-more-speech-fewer-mistakes/

The policy changes include allowing hate speech directed toward women, LGBTQ folks and immigrants which had previously been against policy.

Q1: Much like Twitter before this, after their change in ownership and subsequent policy changes, do these changes on Meta cause you to feel any differently about the platform, either personally or professionally?

I am disappointed, but not surprised by Zuckerberg’s moves. I did read that he did a lot of this unilaterally and outside of the typical procedures they use for big changes like this. @NeptuneMoon

Yes, I judge Zuckerberg but my expectations are in the toilet now of society and capitalism. @runnerkik

This from Casey Newton’s Platformer:

An advertisers is always stop advertising when people are watching and it’s a hot topic then they go back… @runnerkik

I hate everything he did the last several weeks but it’s obvious that he’s just trying to kiss the ring the new presidency. I get it, but also if you want to talk about masculine energy, where is yours? @adwordsgirl

Well this is also happening or at least out there:

I refuse to listen to Joe Rogan, but I read excerpts and Zuckerberg sounds… so angry. Which I suppose that program brings out, but still. Not a picture of a CEO in full control and certainly not of his emotions. Just bizarre @NeptuneMoon

It just sucks because of HSM, we rely on IG to provide us with leads (although infrequent), so it puts me in this weird position where I want Meta to burn to the ground (for this and what happened to us in ’22) but so many other businesses rely on it to generate income. @adwordsgirl

I am going to post the next question because it about how/does this impact advertising. @NeptuneMoon

I saw a few jokes suggesting that he must be getting a divorce soon because the behavior is incredibly strange. @adwordsgirl

@adwordsgirl same on divorce. @runnerkik

As the controlling shareholder he can do what he wants, but it feels so US-centric for a platform that services 3 billion people all over the world. The US is only 10% of the user base (thought it’s probably over half the revenue) @robert_brady

Great point @robert_brady. Although I read that the EU is slowing its roll-on tech suits and enforcement too. I will try to find that and share. The story is paywalled on Financial Times, but here are the screenshots I saw earlier: @NeptuneMoon

I am actually considering participating in the Meta blackout next week, though it will be hard and though it’s part of my business, because the policy changes are truly frightening. Everytime I read something now, I wonder if it’s real. @revaminkoff

I know @revaminkoff like each story I see I feel like if this were a movie, it would get sent back to the writers as “too much” @NeptuneMoon

I am disgusted by this move and honestly, if it wasn’t for the fact that Facebook and Instagram are so critical to my job and dog rescues, I’d move on from all Meta platforms. That said, I think there’s something to be said for keeping our communities and keeping an ear out for what’s being said on those platforms. @navahhopkins

I will be participating in the blackout (including WhatsApp) @navahhopkins

The short answer is that Meta has been a hellscape for vulnerable folks for years. This only codifies what has been the practical situation. @ferkungamaboobo

I’m very disturbed by this move personally. I’m a domestic violence survivor and I personally saw how extremist masculine material on social media radicalised my ex and made my situation worse. Very disturbed and disgusted and professionally hate that I have to still do Meta ads for a living. So I’m kind of disassociating the 2 things in my mind…@RaeBassett

Q2: Has any of last week’s happenings with Meta given you pause over continuing to recommend advertising on their platform? If so, why and how? And if not, why not?

This is SO hard. Because from strictly a moral standpoint, I want to tell every brand to stop spending on Meta platforms. But from a business standpoint, many can’t just stop and have their businesses be fine. @NeptuneMoon

Genuinely, I wanted to stop advertising with them after our hacking but clients don’t care about the fact that the platform was hacked & they absolved themselves from any liability by putting banners on my account about how I didn’t have 2FA set up (a lie). They just want to know how I’m going to increase their bottomline., @adwordsgirl

The issue is that too many businesses built their entire business digitally and solely rely on ads. They didn’t do the organic work because they didn’t see the need to. @adwordsgirl

Some will stop. @runnerkik

I do think it is a prime opportunity though to bring up the diversification discussion with clients. @NeptuneMoon

I think saying some is a reach. Very few will stop. Agreed, but I just see a lot of resistance from clients. If Meta is working, why would we stop, go somewhere else to find out if it could work for us. @adwordsgirl

If the public shame is loud enough? I am too optimistic that people are good. @runnerkik

Yes, businesses are first and foremost about their bottom lines. And I can’t fault them for that. Does shame even exist in this day and age @runnerkik ? I would argue barely…@NeptuneMoon

@NeptuneMoon barely you are right. @runnerkik

I feel that, naturally, I’m optimistic about things. When it comes to these platforms, it’s the exact opposite.@adwordsgirl

I finished reading Sapiens a few weeks ago, so my mind has started accounting for how sapiens were before the agricultural/scientific/technological revolution, etc. This feels very in line with history. It’ll fall. @adwordsgirl

I do think there will be brands who are interested in finding alternatives. So some offerings in that area could be a good bet for PPCers? @NeptuneMoon

I mean TikTok? LinkedIn they have plenty of their own issues, hurdles etc. @runnerkik

I also think it is easy to be on auto pilot as far as which platforms you advertise on. Which is great while things are great, but can quickly become a problem if there is a scandal or if it gets bought out or if it just stops working as it has. @NeptuneMoon

The TikTok question will be resolved one way or another within a week – at least as far as a ban going into effect. That is set to happen on Jan 19th without intervention from the courts. @NeptuneMoon

If my clients’ prospective customers are on Meta, I’ll keep using it. However, this has a high likelihood of impacting certain groups’ usage of the platform, so some advertisers will need to get more serious about diversifying their channel mix (don’t just dump it all into Google either, because that will be the knee-jerk reaction of many). @robert_brady

Definitely, something to watch @robert_brady– to see if there is actually an exodus from Facebook in particular. And then advising clients accordingly. @NeptuneMoon

We haven’t been on Meta in a while, but as long as the clients’ audience is on there, and they want to advertise there, then I think it’s still something that makes sense in the marketing mix. @revaminkoff

Meta has shot itself in the foot a lot with some of its changes and measuring issues – I keep hearing it’s not performing as well – and if that’s the case I’d rather put money elsewhere. But that’s a different question arguably than what you’re asking. @revaminkoff

Keep an eye out for Google and Amazon spend to increase off of this news. TikTok is finished. Meta is going to be a brand risk but like others shared some won’t care. Brands who stay on Meta because that’s how they were built. @navahhopkins

We’re still building our paid social tools and I suspect they’ll be even more helpful than prior to this announcement. @navahhopkins

Age targeting is insufficient but for hitting millennials to boomers, you can’t do much better than Meta. Instagram has a stranglehold on a wide variety of demographics that never went to other social media platforms. I hate to say it, but most people don’t care about moderation because they never saw it either direction. @ferkungamaboobo

If the product degenerates significantly – that’s going to be where problems come in. But that’s more likely going to be the AI posting than any TOS changes. @ferkungamaboobo

From a moral standpoint, I would love to not recommend it. But I have some clients who rely on Meta ads and have great success there, so I can’t walk away from it. I have had one client walk away from the platform after the announcement. @RaeBassett

Q3: Do you think as advertising managers we have any responsibility in where our clients or brands advertise? Or do we just do what the client/brand wants no matter what?

I want to say yes to this question. But it is more complex than that. I do think we have a responsibility to keep the brands we work with as “safe” as possible in where their ads run. But each business will have a different tolerance for what that zone of “safe” is. And while we can offer opinions on that, the client will have the final say as to where they want their ad dollars spent. @NeptuneMoon

Not really…but yes…for example working with big brands they all wanted prime time on specific channels but could only afford 3 am on another channel – to an extent performance marketing changed this…@runnerkik

If the advertiser demands something then we CAN do it but we would advise not to… @runnerkik

I have my own standards and I won’t work with clients that put me in a position where I feel I’m compromising those standards. @robert_brady

That said, I feel like it’s my responsibility to have these discussions with clients. Make sure they understand the situation and the tradeoffs (many are too busy to stay current on this kind of stuff). Then they can make a fully informed decision for their business. @robert_brady

I agree with the “not really but yes” answer here. We have an obligation to advise our clients – that doesn’t mean they have to listen to us. I also agree with @robert_brady that some of us have the luxury of being able to pick and choose our clients and make sure that our values align accordingly. @revaminkoff

These same questions came up with the devolution of Twitter, but because Twitter was such a small advertising platform, it was easier to ignore for many. Meta though is a juggernaut so it is all a lot more front and center. @NeptuneMoon

At some point I would anticipate that I’ll part ways with clients over their decisions in some of these areas. It’s a price I’m willing to pay. @robert_brady

I’m in the yes, but also no camp. Like Reva & Sarah mentioned, we have the responsibility to advise the client on what we feel is best but at the end of the day, they’re paying the bill so ultimately it’s their decision. @adwordsgirl

If you have the clout with the client, you should. Point them to local sources, point them to things that will actually make them money. Every one of the major outlets is evil. There are only 6 media companies in the USA. @ferkungamaboobo

But I’m not gonna go HAM on someone who’s handed a media plan and told to execute it. I’ve talked about how digital has won – that digital is now a core part of media spends. It’s going to take years for people to filter out of a media network that’s been a top-3 digital network for 14+ years. @ferkungamaboobo

It is a place of privilege to say that we have full control. I have spent my entire career putting on happy face around certain placements and tactics. The choice comes in who we work with and for. The lesser evil of being willing to be on these morally objectionable platforms in order to help humans employ teams and help their customers seems an acceptable trade. But it is not the ideal. @navahhopkins

I agree we need to discuss (and educate) clients on the pros/cons of different platforms and provide our expertise on what we’ve seen work (or not). We also have to ask our clients about the audience that buys their products. How many will be negatively impacted by a new discourse on Meta, and do they find it an acceptable business risk to alienate a % of their customers. @JeffreyHain

Q4: Is “brand safety” a concern of yours and/or your clients or stakeholders? If so, is it a primary concern?

I definitely think it’s a concern!!! I mean the clients that approve every piece of ad copy in case they make a false claim are also the ones that don’t want to be beside hate speech. @runnerkik

Yes – not for every client, but in particular, it is a large concern for the bigger, more global clients. @revaminkoff

Good point, Sarah. @adwordsgirl

That’s why I’m optimistic…@runnerkik

I think it is for the most practical of reasons first and foremost and that is none of us want to get a scathing email or voicemail about “why are our ads showing next to XZY terrible thing” @NeptuneMoon

I will also say that brands can have quite the tolerance for questionable things if they are making money off that network… @NeptuneMoon

I feel like my mind is in a very negative place when it comes to Meta and I have, evidently, little faith in folks when money is involved. Like Julie & Sarah said, it’s going to take a lot of people taking the action of sending emails or speaking about it on social platforms to get anyone to start thinking about it more. @adwordsgirl

Well, and big brands already have brand awareness.  They can go to ctv @runnerkik

It is interesting (and there is no advertising at play) but on Threads, people are leaving in droves this week. And they are indicating that they are deleting all Meta products too. @NeptuneMoon

@adwordsgirl  What bothers me is that I’m still not sure X cares, and SO many people have already left there…@revaminkoff

I just wonder how much though. The one lesson I learned from the election is that a lot of people say they’re going to do stuff they have no intention of doing. @adwordsgirl

I have also seen a lot of people express some variation of this sentiment – I really would like to leave Meta, but I can’t because…Those folks are talking about much more limited usage rather than deleting. @NeptuneMoon

@revaminkoff I think something more sinister is happening there which is why they don’t seem to care. I’m not sure the same could be said about Meta – I think they would. @adwordsgirl

Time will tell in daily active user numbers for Meta. And I think that is where we need to be paying attention. Because at the end of all of this, clients will ask about performance dips and we need to be prepared to answer our thoughts as to the why in the coming months if it materializes. @NeptuneMoon

@NeptuneMoon  That’s a great point and something we all should be keeping an eye on. @adwordsgirl

Yes but not in e-commerce. ecommerce tends to take the business from wherever.. @navahhopkins

Brand safety has two avenues, one of which is flawed and the other is under-baked. The first avenue – the flawed one – is that you don’t want to run on “sad” news. This is the kind of stuff that prompted, for example, the dissolution of Jezebel at G/O media. Study after study shows that the real consumer does not attribute the advertising to the stories next to it, and everything else is just ads people yapping. The second one – following the money – is much more insidious and difficult. How was Steve Bannon making money from Google after he was “banned” from the platform? How are far-right organizations funded digitally? What does it mean when you’re running on weird spammy kid’s programs on YouTube? Who benefits from what placements? @ferkungamaboobo

@ferkungamaboobo So it’s less a question of “is a platform safe” — to me it’s a question of “is your media backing the POV and positioning of your company?”You say in all your marketing that you support the homeless, you do a huge push every year, but you spend $15,000 a month on a channel that gives $1.5MM a year to organizations pushing for weaker tenants rights and criminalization of things. What does that mean? How might we better represent our company’s values? @ferkungamaboobo

That under-baked part is because that is SUPER difficult to figure out in real-time. @ferkungamaboobo

That’s an interesting question. I have one big meta-spender who wouldn’t like to be alongside hate speech one little bit. Their business is very values-driven. But it is still the best way for them to find their market and there are no viable alternatives…@RaeBassett

Q5: Which ad platforms do you think are the “safest” for brands to be advertising on today? What makes you feel they are safer than others?

I would say Google search, Microsoft Search and LinkedIn are probably the safest places to advertise right now. And I am specifying search because display or PMax is not as safe as straight-up search advertising. @NeptuneMoon

I was actually just thinking about those three myself. @adwordsgirl

I would add Pinterest. @robert_brady

Pinterest lost its way with AI – Microsoft is the gold standard, followed by Google (for brand safety). I wish Amazon could be included here but the copy cat product tactic is still a problem, @navahhopkins

Local TV stations and news stations. NPR/Public broadcasting. Big media like NYT or to a lesser degree Vox. Stuff that doesn’t connect into the major players. Local-local stuff like indie rags. @ferkungamaboobo

And the reason why I say that is because the payment is uncomplicated. You know what you’re getting, who benefits. Search is relatively uncomplicated until you get to “Well what are these companies doing with this money?”@ferkungamaboobo

Yes, I think only search ads are fully safe territory. @RaeBassett

PPCChat Participants

• Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
• Reid Thomas @ferkungamaboobo
• Rae Bassett @RaeBassett
• Jeffrey Hain @JeffreyHain
• Reva Minkoff @revaminkoff
• Ameet Khabra @adwordsgirl
• Robert Brady @robert_brady
• Sarah Stemen @runnerkik
• Navah Hopkins @navahhopkins

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