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Acquisition Channel Opportunities: Traffic Sources, Facebook Ads, Live Audio Wars

This week we will cover:

  • A surprising research study that shows you the largest social networks in the US;
  • A tip on increasing your Facebook Ads ROI by feeding the algorithm more data;
  • The live audio wars have begun. Find out what this means for you as an indie hacker.

Let's get started.

1. YouTube: The Largest Social Media Network?

Around 72% of the US population uses social media. Recently, Pew Research did a study in an attempt to answer the million dollar question: "What's the most popular social media platform across all US adults?"

The answer: YouTube came in 1st with 81%. Facebook is second, with 69%, and Instagram is in third place with 40%.

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Supply/demand: YouTube and Facebook had a similar market share in 2019 (73% and 69%, respectively), but things changed after the pandemic, with YouTube jumping to 81% and Facebook staying at flat 69%.

Opportunity: There's an obvious supply/demand gap between YouTube and Facebook. Go to Google and type "Facebook ads". Now do the same for "Youtube ads". The ecosystem around small businesses advertising on Facebook is HUGE. YouTube? Not so much.

2021 might have created a gap in supply/demand that you can exploit if you can find how to use YouTube ads in an efficient way.

Get 3 insights like these every week:

2. Facebook Will Give You Better Conversions If You Give it More Data

Mathias Schroder, a data-driven marketer, wrote a tweet on how he used Facebook broad dynamic product ads (BDPA) to reach a cold audience and get ROAS > 3.5.

A small tweak: Mathias gave Facebook some additional values for his products. He's into the e-commerce space, so he added a field named google_product_category which helped the Facebook algorithm better understand what his product is about. That resulted in the algorithm showing the product to more relevant people, ultimately getting him better return on investment.

Why this works: The Facebook algorithm has gotten so advanced to a point where many advanced marketers don't touch the targeting capabilities. They just target the whole country and leave Facebook to figure out themselves whom to show their ads to.

Opportunity: The opportunity here is to explore different ways through which you can give the Facebook algorithm more information about your product so it can better figure out what your products are about and start showing it to relevant people. Mathias did a second part where he explains how to do this. Some of the tactics involve interacting with the FB Marketing API, but doing this can potentially give you an unfair advantage.

Get 3 insights like these every week:

3. The Live Audio Wars Have Begun

Reddit launched Reddit Talk, a Clubhouse clone that will allow subreddit moderators to start live audio rooms.

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Facebook announced various social audio features, and one of these features will grant Facebook Group admins the ability to create live audio rooms for their members.

The live audio wars have begun.

What this means for you: Communities are going to get even more powerful. Text is a human invention. Voice is something that came since the dawn of evolution. It's a thing that makes us bond faster vs. just typing a bunch of keystrokes onto a computer screen.

Opportunity: Now might be the best time to start a community for your industry. Choose a platform you like, because live audio is coming everywhere. LinkedIn and Slack already announced it while Discord/Telegram already have it.

Get 3 insights like these every week:

  1. 3

    Seems like every entity that's considered "community" on every major social media platform is going to get an audio room:

    • LinkedIn Groups
    • FB Groups
    • Instagram pages
    • WhatsApp groups (already happening with Telegram)
    • Pinterest boards
      etc.
    1. 1

      I bet Google will also try to do something with YouTube channels as well.

    2. 1

      Things seem to be heading in this direction.

  2. 2

    Loved this:
    Text is a human invention. Voice is something that came since the dawn of evolution.

    With audio, the word "community" is going to get on a whole another level.

    1. 2

      This is why when you talk to someone on Clubhouse you feel more connected vs. when you chat with them via text.

      1. 2

        There was a quote that said "CH creates a lot of value, but captures none of it". I've met so many incredible people on CH, but haven't given CH any money (besides some small tips). But definitely agree.

  3. 2

    Have anyone here used Facebook Dynamic Ads for SaaS?

    1. 1

      As far as I understand, dynamic ads are mostly for retargeting. You might want to use them if people landed on a page about feature X, but didn't see feature Y. That way, you'll show people the full extend of your software through carousels.

    2. 1

      I've seen businesses that have multiple products advertise using a dynamic carousel. I think people in SaaS can take some lessons from e-commerce overall to stand out in a space where everyone's doing the same thing.

    3. 1

      I've seen some SaaS businesses that advertise multiple features use it.

  4. 1

    Great read thanks for this

  5. 1

    This newsletter is turning into my favourite weekly read. I love how informative and concise the information is. Keep it up Darko!

  6. 1

    Instagram has been growing steadily too, pretty interesting stat.

    1. 1

      The social media growth slope that Pew observed in 2019 vs. 2021 is def very interesting.

      1. 1

        Reddit also grew a lot.

    2. 1

      Pinterest as well, pretty crazy how many people ignore it as a viable channel.

      1. 2

        Wrote about this several weeks back. Its audience is mainly female, but if you're good in terms of targeting you could prob reach a small % of your overall audience for a low cost.

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